| Year: | 1997 |
| First: | 12 January |
| Last: | 24 December |
| Total: | 89 |
| Success: | 83 |
| Failed: | 3 |
| Partial: | 3 |
| Catalogued: | 86 |
| Maidens: | M-V Titan IVB VLS-1 Taepodong-1 |
| Retired: | Atlas I |
| Orbital: | 10 |
| Totalcrew: | 51 |
| Firstsat: |  Philippines |
This article outlines notable events occurring in 1997 in spaceflight, including major launches and EVAs.
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| Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 February | ||||
| 5 April | Galileo | |||
| 7 May | Galileo | 4th flyby of Ganymede | ||
| 25 June | Galileo | |||
| 27 June | Closest approach: | |||
| 4 July | Location: Ares Vallis; first Mars rover and rover on another planet | |||
| 11 September | Areocentric orbit injection | |||
| 17 September | Galileo | 3rd flyby of Callisto | ||
| 6 November | Galileo | 3rd flyby of Europa | ||
| 16 December | Galileo | 4th flyby of Europa |
| Start Date/Time | Duration | End Time | Spacecraft | Crew | Function | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 February 04:34 | 6 hours | 11:16 | STS-82 |  Mark C. LeeSteven Smith | Swapped out the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph for the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer and replaced the Faint Object Spectrograph with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. Stowed the GHRS and FOS for return to Earth in the payload bay.[1] | Hubble Space Telescope servicing | |
| 15 February 03:25 | 7 hours 27 minutes | 10:52 | STS-82 Discovery | Joseph R. Tanner | Replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor and an Engineering and Science Tape Recorder with spare replacement units. Also installed the Optical Control Electronics Enhancement Kit.[2] | Hubble Space Telescope servicing | |
| 16 February 02:53 | 7 hours 11 minutes | 10:04 | STS-82 Discovery | Mark C. LeeSteven Smith | Replaced a Data Interface Unit with a spare unit and replaced a reel-to-reel tape drive Engineering and Science Tape Recorder with a solid-state digital version. Also replaced one of the four Reaction Wheel Assembly units that help point the telescope at targets.[3] | Hubble Space Telescope servicing | |
| 17 February 03:45 | 6 hours 34 minutes | 10:19 | STS-82 Discovery | Gregory J. HarbaughJoseph R. Tanner | Replaced the Solar Array Drive Electronics package with a spare, also replaced the covers of the satellite's magnetometers. Installed thermal blankets over areas of degraded insulation.[4] | Hubble Space Telescope servicing | |
| 18 February 03:15 | 5 hours 17 minutes | 08:32 | STS-82 Discovery | Mark C. LeeSteven Smith | Installed more thermal insulation on three more areas that had undergone degradation.[5] | Hubble Space Telescope servicing | |
| 29 April 05:10 | 4 hours 59 minutes | 10:09 | Mir EO-23 Kvant-2 |  Vasily TsibliyevJerry M. Linenger | Installed the Optical Properties Monitor on the exterior of Kristall. Used the Strela crane to move to the Kvant-2 module. At Kvant-2 they retrieved two American experiments, the Partial Impact Experiment and the Mir Sample Experiment, from the Kvant-2 hull, and installed the Benton Radiation Dosimeter on Kvant-2.[6] | First use of the new Orlan-M space suit. | |
| 22 August 11:14 | 3 hours 16 minutes | 14:30 | Mir EO-24 | Anatoly SolovyevPavel Vinogradov | Reconnected power cabling to the Spektr solar arrays, thus restoring part of the power lost in the collision. Although the spacewalkers were able to recover equipment and supplies from the module, they were not able to find the puncture hole.[7] | Internal EVA to inspect the damaged Spektr module | |
| 6 September 01:07 | 6 hours | 07:07 | Mir EO-24 Kvant-2 | Anatoly Solovyev / Michael Foale | Solovyev rode the Strela crane operated by Foale on the base block to Spektr to inspect for damage. Although an extensive documentation and search of Spektr, he was unable to find the hole. Before he returned to the airlock, Foale collected the radiation dosimeter installed outside earlier.[8] | Foale became the first person to conduct EVAs in both American and Russian spacesuits.[9] | |
| 1 October 17:29 | 5 hours 1 minute | 22:30 | STS-86 Mir | Scott E. ParazynskiVladimir Titov | Retrieved the four Mir Environmental Effects Packages from the docking module surface. Also installed the Solar Array Cap to the docking module, to be used to plug the hole in the Spektr module on a future EVA. To close out the EVA, the spacewalkers tested the Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue jet packs.[10] | ||
| 20 October 09:40 | 6 hours 38 minutes | 16:18 | Mir EO-24 | Anatoly SolovyevPavel Vinogradov | Attempted to install three control cables between the solar array servo motors to the special adapter plate that seals Spektr from the rest of Mir. After cleaning up some of the debris and loose items in Spektr, Solovyev was able to connect the three cables to the servos. But even after an effort that extended into the "emergency oxygen supply" of the Orlan space suits, Solovyev was only able to connect two of the cables to the adapter plate.[11] | Internal EVA to repair the damaged Spektr module | |
| 3 November 03:32 | 6 hours 4 minutes | 09:36 | Mir EO-24 Kvant-2 | Anatoly SolovyevPavel Vinogradov | Released a minispunik (mini-satellite) into orbit. The spacewalkers then dismantled the old solar panel MSB-4 on Kvant-1. They stowed the panel on the outside of the base block.[12] | ||
| 6 November 00:12 | 6 hours 12 minutes | 06:24 | Mir EO-24 Kvant-2 | Anatoly SolovyevPavel Vinogradov | Installed a new solar array on Kvant-1 to replace the panel removed on their previous spacewalk.[13] | ||
| 25 November 00:02 | 7 hours 43 minutes | 07:45 | STS-87 | Winston E. Scott Takao Doi | Captured the Spartan satellite by hand and secured it in the payload bay. Then the spacewalking team set up and tested a crane that will be used to construct the International Space Station.[14] | Doi became the first Japanese spacewalker. | |
| 3 December 09:09 | 4 hours 59 minutes | 14:09 | STS-87 Columbia | Winston E. ScottTakao Doi | Conducted more testing and evaluation of the crane in the payload bay. They repeated many of the same crane motion tests with smaller objects than in the earlier EVA. During the EVA a small free-flying video camera was deployed to record the work.[15] |