Dragon berths with the ISS on May 25 — the first commercial cargo delivery to the station — and Curiosity lands in Gale Crater on August 6 after seven minutes of autonomous descent. In December, North Korea places its first satellite in orbit on an Unha-3, becoming the tenth nation to reach orbit on a domestic rocket.
Astronauts caught the capsule with the station's robotic arm. Dragon later splashed down with cargo, something no other station supply ship could do then.
Italy paid 65 percent of its development cost. Vega gave Europe a rocket for small satellites, flying from French Guiana alongside Ariane 5 and Soyuz.
Shenzhou 9's three astronauts made China's first crewed docking, with the Tiangong-1 space lab. They then undocked and docked again by hand.
Scientists had known of two radiation belts since 1958. The Van Allen Probes watched a third form in 2012 and vanish four weeks later.
Its previous attempt, in April 2012, had failed. In January 2013 the UN Security Council condemned this launch and expanded its sanctions on North Korea.
Quick filters
78 launches
| January | ||||
Jan 9, 2012 | Ziyuan 3 China • Long March 4B | |||
Jan 13, 2012 | Fengyun 2F China • Long March 3A | |||
Jan 20, 2012 | WGS-4 USA • Delta IV-M+ (5,4) | |||
Jan 25, 2012 | Progress M-14M Russia • Soyuz U | |||
| February | ||||
Feb 3, 2012 | Navid Iran • Safir 1B | |||
Feb 13, 2012 | LARES France • Arianespace • Vega | |||
Feb 14, 2012 | SES-4 Russia • Proton M / Briz-M Enhanced | |||
Feb 24, 2012 | Compass-G5 China • Long March 3C | |||
Feb 24, 2012 | MUOS-1 USA • Atlas V 551 | |||
| March | ||||
Mar 23, 2012 | Edoardo Amaldi ATV France • Arianespace • Ariane 5 ES | |||
Mar 25, 2012 | Intelsat 22 Russia • Proton M / Briz-M Enhanced | |||
Mar 30, 2012 | US-KMO Russia • Proton K / DM-2 | |||
Mar 31, 2012 | Apstar-7 China • Long March 3B/E | |||
| April | ||||
Apr 3, 2012 | USA-234 USA • Delta IV-M+(5,2) | |||
Apr 12, 2012Failure | Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 North Korea • Unha 3 | |||
Apr 20, 2012 | Progress M-15M Russia • Soyuz U | |||
Apr 23, 2012 | Yahsat 1B Russia • Proton M / Briz-M Enhanced | |||
Apr 26, 2012 | RISAT-1 India • PSLV XL | |||
Apr 29, 2012 | Compass-M3-4 China • Long March 3B | |||
| May | ||||
May 4, 2012 | USA-235 USA • Atlas V 531 | |||
May 6, 2012 | Tianhui 1B China • Long March 2D | |||
May 10, 2012 | Yaogan 14 China • Long March 4B | |||
May 15, 2012 | Soyuz TMA-04M Russia • Soyuz FG | |||
May 15, 2012 | JCSAT-13 France • Arianespace • Ariane 5 ECA | |||
May 17, 2012 | Kobalt-M No.8 Russia • Soyuz U | |||
May 17, 2012 | GCOM-W 1 Japan • H2A 202 | |||
May 17, 2012 | Nimiq 6 Russia • Proton M / Briz-M | |||
May 22, 2012 | Dragon C2 USA • SpaceX • Falcon 9 v1.0 | |||
May 23, 2012Failure | Fajr Iran • Safir 1B | |||
May 26, 2012 | ChinaSat 2A China • Long March 3B/E | |||
May 29, 2012 | Yaogan 15 China • Long March 4C | |||
| June | ||||
Jun 1, 2012 | Intelsat 19 Russia • Zenit 3SL | |||
Jun 13, 2012 | NuSTAR USA • Pegasus XL | |||
Jun 16, 2012 | Shenzhou 9 China • Long March 2F | |||
Jun 20, 2012 | NROL-38 USA • Atlas V 401 | |||
Jun 29, 2012 | NROL-15 USA • Delta IV Heavy | |||
| July | ||||
Jul 5, 2012 | EchoStar XVII France • Arianespace • Ariane 5 ECA | |||
Jul 9, 2012 | SES-5 Russia • Proton M / Briz-M Enhanced | |||
Jul 15, 2012 | Soyuz TMA-05M Russia • Soyuz FG | |||
Jul 21, 2012 | Kounotori 3 Japan • H2B | |||
Jul 22, 2012 | Kanopus V-1 Russia • Soyuz FG / Fregat | |||
Jul 25, 2012 | Tianlian I-03 China • Long March 3C | |||
Jul 28, 2012 | Gonets-M 3-4 Russia • Rokot Rokot / Briz-KM | |||
| August | ||||
Aug 1, 2012 | Progress M-16M Russia • Soyuz U | |||
Aug 2, 2012 | Intelsat 20 France • Arianespace • Ariane 5 ECA | |||
Aug 6, 2012Failure | Telkom-3 Russia • Proton M / Briz-M Enhanced | |||
Aug 19, 2012 | Intelsat 21 Russia • Zenit 3SL | |||
Aug 30, 2012 | Van Allen Probes USA • Atlas V 401 | |||
| September | ||||
Sep 9, 2012 | SPOT 6 India • PSLV CA | |||
Sep 13, 2012 | USA-238 USA • Atlas V 401 | |||
Sep 17, 2012 | MetOp-B Russia • Soyuz 2.1a / Fregat | |||
Sep 18, 2012 | Compass-M5-6 China • Long March 3B/E | |||
Sep 28, 2012 | Astra 2F France • Arianespace • Ariane 5 ECA | |||
Sep 29, 2012 | VRSS-1 China • Long March 2D | |||
| October | ||||
Oct 4, 2012 | USA-239 USA • Delta IV M+(4,2) | |||
Oct 8, 2012Partial failure | CRS-1 USA • SpaceX • Falcon 9 v1.0 | |||
Oct 12, 2012 | Galileo L2 France • Arianespace • Soyuz ST-B / Fregat-MT | |||
Oct 14, 2012 | Shijian 9A-9B China • Long March 2C/SMA | |||
Oct 14, 2012 | Intelsat 23 Russia • Proton M / Briz-M Enhanced | |||
Oct 19, 2012 | NS-0 USA • Blue Origin • New Shepard | |||
Oct 23, 2012 | Soyuz TMA-06M Russia • Soyuz FG | |||
Oct 25, 2012 | Compass-G6 China • Long March 3C | |||
Oct 31, 2012 | Progress M-17M Russia • Soyuz U | |||
| November | ||||
Nov 2, 2012 | Luch 5B Russia • Proton M / Briz-M Enhanced | |||
Nov 10, 2012 | Eutelsat 21B France • Arianespace • Ariane 5 ECA | |||
Nov 14, 2012 | Meridian 6 Russia • Soyuz 2.1a / Fregat | |||
Nov 18, 2012 | Huanjing 1C China • Long March 2C | |||
Nov 20, 2012 | EchoStar XVI Russia • Proton M / Briz-M Enhanced | |||
Nov 25, 2012 | Yaogan 16A-16C China • Long March 4C | |||
Nov 27, 2012 | ChinaSat 12 China • Long March 3B/E | |||
| December | ||||
Dec 2, 2012 | Pléiades-HR 1B France • Arianespace • Soyuz ST-A / Fregat | |||
Dec 3, 2012 | Eutelsat 70B Russia • Zenit 3SL | |||
Dec 8, 2012Partial failure | Yamal-402 Russia • Proton M / Briz-M Enhanced | |||
Dec 11, 2012 | X-37B OTV-3 USA • Atlas V 501 | |||
Dec 12, 2012 | Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 North Korea • Unha 3 | |||
Dec 18, 2012 | Göktürk-2 China • Long March 2D | |||
Dec 19, 2012 | Soyuz TMA-07M Russia • Soyuz FG | |||
Dec 19, 2012 | Skynet 5D France • Arianespace • Ariane 5 ECA | |||
