# 1987 in spaceflight

The following is an outline of 1987 in spaceflight.

## Launches

* ← Jan
* Feb
* Mar
* Apr
* May
* Jun
* Jul
* Aug
* Sep
* Oct
* Nov
* Dec →
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | Launch site | LSP | LSP |
| Date and time (UTC) | | Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) | Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome |
| Remarks ||||||
| 5 February 21:38:16 | Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz-U2 | | Baikonur Site 1/5 | Baikonur Site 1/5 | | |
| 5 February 21:38:16 | | Soyuz TM-2 | | Low Earth (Mir) | Mir EO-2 | 30 July 01:04:12 | Successful |
| Crewed flight launching two cosmonauts and landing three, first crewed flight of Soyuz-TM ||||||
| 12 February 06:40 | Titan 34B/Agena-D | Titan 34B/Agena-D | | Vandenberg SLC-4W | Vandenberg SLC-4W | U.S. Air Force | U.S. Air Force |
| 12 February 06:40 | | SDS-1 F-6 | U.S. Air Force | Molniya | Communications | In orbit | Successful |
| Final flight of the Titan IIIB rocket. Final use of the RM-81 Agena upper stage in any rocket. ||||||
| 26 February 23:05 | Delta 3914 | Delta 3914 | | Cape Canaveral LC-17A | Cape Canaveral LC-17A | | |
| 26 February 23:05 | | GOES 7 | NOAA | Geostationary | Weather | In orbit | Operational |
| 20 March 23:05 | Delta-3920 | Delta-3920 | | Cape Canaveral LC-17 | Cape Canaveral LC-17 | | |
| 20 March 23:05 | | Palapa B2-P | PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara | ? | Communications | In orbit | Successful |
| 31 March 00:16:16 | Proton-K | Proton-K | | Baikonur Site 200/39 | Baikonur Site 200/39 | | |
| 31 March 00:16:16 | | Kvant-1 | 1991–2001: Roskosmos | Low Earth (Mir) | Mir module | 23 March 2001 05:59:36 | Successful |
| 31 March 00:16:16 | | Kvant FSB | | Low Earth (Kvant-1) | Space tug | 25 August 1988 | Successful |
| 15 May 17:30:01 | Energia | Energia | | Baikonur Site 250 | Baikonur Site 250 | | |
| 15 May 17:30:01 | | Polyus | | Intended: Low Earth | Weapons tests Technology | 15 May | Launch failure |
| Maiden flight of Energia, computer error resulted in spacecraft attempting to perform circularisation burn in a retrograde orientation, failed to orbit ||||||
| 8 June | RH-300 Mk II | RH-300 Mk II | | Sriharikota | Sriharikota | ISRO | ISRO |
| 8 June | | | ISRO | Suborbital | Engineering test | 8 June | Successful |
| First flight of the RH-300 Mk II, reached an altitude of 130 km (80 miles) ||||||
| 22 July 01:59:17 | Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz-U2 | | Baikonur Site 1/5 | Baikonur Site 1/5 | | |
| 22 July 01:59:17 | | Soyuz TM-3 | | Low Earth (Mir) | Mir EP-1 | 29 December 09:16:15 | Successful |
| Crewed flight with three cosmonauts, first Syrian in space, carried replacement for ill EO-2 crewmember ||||||
| 24 August 16:30 | Skylark 7 | Skylark 7 | | Woomera Test Range LA2 D | Woomera Test Range LA2 D | MORABA | MORABA |
| 24 August 16:30 | | Supernova (W-GR-147) | DFVLR | Suborbital | X-ray astronomy | 24 August | Successful |
| Apogee: ~270 km ||||||
| 8 October | Sonda IV | Sonda IV | | Barreira do Inferno Launch Center | Barreira do Inferno Launch Center | IAE | IAE |
| 8 October | | | IAE | Suborbital | Engineering test | 8 October | Successful |
| "Operation Petrópolis". R&D launch for the VLS program. 510 kg payload. 570 km apogee. ||||||
| 21 November 02:19:00 | Ariane 2 | Ariane 2 | | Kourou ELA-2 | Kourou ELA-2 | Arianespace | Arianespace |
| 21 November 02:19:00 | | TV-SAT 1 | Deutsche Bundespost | Current: Graveyard Operational: Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Spacecraft failure |
| Immediately after launch, one of its solar panels failed to deploy, and as a result of this the main uplink antenna, which was located behind the solar panel, could not deploy either. Briefly used to verify the systems of the Spacebus 300 satellite bus before being retired to a graveyard orbit. ||||||
| 21 December 11:18:03 | Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz-U2 | | Baikonur Site 1/5 | Baikonur Site 1/5 | | |
| 21 December 11:18:03 | | Soyuz TM-4 | | Low Earth (Mir) | Mir EO-3 | 17 June 1988 10:12:32 | Successful |
| Crewed flight with three cosmonauts ||||||

## Deep-space rendezvous

There were no deep-space rendezvous in 1987.