Wiki143:WikiProject Spaceflight/Timeline of spaceflight working group

{{Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Timeline of spaceflight working group/Tab header}} {{Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Nav}} This working group is responsible for the creation and maintenance of lists and timelines related to spaceflight, particularly the article timeline of spaceflight and related pages.

Duties

This working group is currently responsible for:

• Creation and maintenance of articles related to the timeline of spaceflight
• Creation and maintenance of launch logs and lists for individual rockets or families.
• Updating lists and timelines relating to current or future events.
• Placing relevant links on pages about spacecraft. (eg. a link to 2005 in spaceflight on the STS-114 page.)
• Maintaining the Years in spaceflight categorisation system
• Maintaining templates relevant to the working group

Guidelines

[Year] in spaceflight articles

Page naming should follow the format [Year] in spaceflight, replacing "[year]" with the year that the list is documenting. (eg. 2025 in spaceflight)

In order to facilitate consistency throughout the timeline, the D MMMM (day-month) long date format should be used within articles, for example 28 October. British English should be used throughout, with the exceptions of place names and organisations within the United States, or another English-speaking country, where the name differs, for example, the United States Department of Defense, or the Kennedy Space Center. All times should be in UTC. Within tables, commonly repeated terms such as "Space Centre" should be dropped, and if possible, word wrapping should be avoided.

Format

Lead

{{Infobox Year in spaceflight
|first=
|last=
|total=
|success=
|failed=
|partial=
|catalogued=
|firstflight=
|firstsat=
|firstlaunch=
|firsttrav=
|maidens=
|retired=
|orbital=
|suborbital=
|totalcrew=
}}

The first item on the page should be an infobox. Template:Tl (code right) should be used. For full instructions on its use, please refer to Template:Lt. The infobox should contain a freely-licensed image which either represents or shows a significant event that occurred that year.

The next thing on the page should be a summary of events that took place that year, including space exploration, human spaceflights, and launch failures. This should be illustrated where possible with free-use images. Remember that this section will appear to the left of the infobox, so unless the lead section is sufficiently long as to pass the bottom of the infobox, all images should be aligned to the left. There should also be a brief definition of the term "spaceflight", such as "The internationally accepted definition of a spaceflight is any flight which crosses the Kármán line, 100 kilometres above sea level.", early on in the lead.

The last two lines of the lead section should be:

{{TOC limit|2}}
{{clear}}

Which prevent display issues that can be caused by either the table of contents growing too big, or the infobox protruding into the launches section.

Launches

The first section of the article should be entitled "Launches". It should contain a comprehensive list of all rocket launches that crossed, or are/were intended to cross the Kármán line in the year which that article documents. If the number of launches are exceeding the WP:PEIS and the sections are collapsing into a single article (see WP:AS), affecting the readability and navigability of the article, the list of launches can be split in the following ways:

No split required
0	The number of launches does not impact readability or navigation, so a split is unnecessary; all launches for the year can be listed on the main page. Usually around 100 launches Example: 2020 in spaceflight, but in some cases like 2018 in spaceflight, the main article may be long enough to cause a list of 100 launches to collapse the article, in such cases, the article can be split in two or more as mentioned below.
Two articles
1	The article exceeds WP:AS or the list is long enough for it to be split in to two half-yearly articles: January to June and July to December. Example: 2024 in spaceflight article's H1 and H2.
Three articles
2	Two articles may not suffice with list of launches being long enough for a three article split: January to April, May to August and September to December. Example: 1960 in spaceflight article's T1, T2 and T3.
Four articles
3	Two or three articles may not suffice with the launches requiring to be split in to four seasonal articles: January to March, April to June, July to September and October to December. Example: 1964 in spaceflight article's Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.
4	A standalone article can also be created for suborbital launches along with the four seasonal orbital launches. Possibly required for 2026 and beyond.
Twelve monthly articles
5	Seasonal articles may no longer suffice in the near future, thus the list can be split into twelve monthly articles. No requirement as of 2025.
Notable spaceflights only
6	Spaceflight becomes common enough in future for it to list only notable flights such as scientific missions in the main article. No requirement as of 2025.
Broad overview
7	Spaceflight becomes extremely common, close to airlines in the far future where it does not make sense to list all the launches as it goes against WP:NOTDATABASE. The major events in spaceflight can be listed in the main article like [Year] in science articles. No requirement as of 2025.

This list should be formatted using a series of templates. First of all, the navigation template, Template:Tl:TLS-M, should be transcluded. The first parameter of this template should be the year (eg: {{TLS-M|2025}} for 2025). This should be followed on the next line by the table header, Template:Tl, which should also be transcluded, but requires no parameters.

A new subsection should be started for each month, using a level three header. A colspan of 8 should be set to avoid breaking the table. For example:

|colspan="8"|
=== January ===
|-

Individual launches are listed using the templates Template:Tl and Template:Tl:

Transcluded from Template:TLS-RL/doc

Flags should be inserted, using the Template:Tl template, to show the nationalities of the rocket, launch site, LSP and spacecraft.

All items that require it should be linked on the first occurrence. The link should encompass the full name. In the case of rockets, the configuration should not be linked unless there is no space between it and the rocket name (eg [[Ariane 5|Ariane 5ECA]] not [[Ariane 5]]ECA, and [[Delta II]] 7925 not [[Delta II|Delta II 7925]]), and that the configuration is not necessary to identify the type of rocket (eg [[Delta 2000|Delta 2913]] not [[Delta 2000|Delta]] 2913). Rocket names which contain version numbers rather than configuration numbers should be linked in full (eg [[Saturn V]] not [[Saturn V|Saturn]] V). Missiles should use their full designation when being launched as missiles, but the common name if conducting an orbital or civilian launch. (eg. SM-65B Atlas B for missile tests, Atlas B for launching SCORE).

At the end of the launches section, close the table using

|}

Then insert another instance of Template:Tl, the same as above.

Deep Space Rendezvous

The Deep Space Rendezvous section should immediately follow the launches section. It should contain a table listing of all encounters between spacecraft and astronomical objects, such as planets, in the year. Note that the spelling "rendezvous" should be used, not "rendez-vous". The same table format should be used in all articles:

{| class=wikitable width="100%"
!Date (GMT)
!Spacecraft
!Event
!Remarks
|-

Deep Space Rendezvous sections should only occur in articles where they are required. There should be no Deep Space Rendezvous section in articles prior to 1959, or in the 1960, 1984, 1987 or 1988 articles.

EVAs

The EVAs section should follow the Deep Space Rendezvous section if present, or otherwise the table of launches. It should list all spacewalks and moonwalks conducted during that year. It should only be present in years where EVAs occurred. There should be no EVAs section for years prior to 1965, or for 1967, 1968, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981 or 1989, or for any year which has not yet occurred. The same template format should be used for all EVA sections:

{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|- 
!Start Date/Time
!Duration
!End Time
!Spacecraft
!Crew
!Remarks
|-

(Sub)Orbital launch statistics

The suborbital and orbital launch summary should follow the EVAs section where present, otherwise the Deep Space Rendezvous or Launches section, depending on the article. It provides statistical information on the numbers and types of orbital launches conducted during that year. For the purpose of statistics, catalogued suborbital launches are also included in this section. This section should be included in all articles from 1957 onwards. It should be split into three level three subsections:

By country

This subsection gives statistics for orbital launches by country. It starts with a pie chart, which was earlier generated using the template Template:Tl, before switching to the standard pie chart template used across Wikipedia.

• For less than 100 launches:

{{Pie chart
| radius = 120
| legend = false
| thumb = left
| [ 
 {"value":300, "color":"#484785", "label": "United States: 30 (32.97%)"},
 {"value":200, "color":"#a52a2a", "label": "Russia: 20 (21.98%)"},
 {"value":180, "color":"#ff0000", "label": "China: 18 (19.78%)"},
 {"value":70, "color":"#ffffff", "label": "Japan: 7 (7.69%)"},
 {"value":60, "color":"#318ce7", "label": "France: 6 (6.59%)"},
 {"value":50, "color":"#ff9933", "label": "India: 5 (5.49%)"},
 {"value":30, "color":"#808000", "label": "Italy: 3 (3.3%)"},
 {"value":10, "color":"#239f40", "label": "Iran: 1 (1.1%)"},
 {"value":10, "color":"#ffd700", "label": "Ukraine: 1 (1.1%)"},
]
}}

• For greater than 100 launches:

{{Pie chart
| radius = 120
| legend = false
| thumb = left

| value1 = 39 | color1 = #ff0000 | label1 = China:
| value2 = 34 | color2 = #484785 | label2 = United States:
| value3 = 20 | color3 = #a52a2a | label3 = Russia:
| value4 = 7  | color4 = #ff9933 | label4 = India:
| value5 = 6  | color5 = #ffffff | label5 = Japan:
| value6 = 6  | color6 = #318ce7 | label6 = France:
| value7 = 2  | color7 = #808000 | label7 = Italy:
}}

This should be followed by a table showing the raw data displayed by the pie chart, with remarks if any placed as a note next to the number.

{| align="left" class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Country
! Launches
! Successes
! Failures
! Partial<br/>failures
|-

Note that former Soviet republics (eg. Ukraine) should be listed as "Russia/CIS". The section should be followed with a clearing linebreak to prevent the pie chart overlapping into the next subsection

{{clear}}

By rocket

This subsection gives statistics for individual rockets. It consists of one table:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Rocket
! Country
! Launches
! Successes
! Failures
! Partial failures
! Remarks
|-

By orbit

This subsection gives statistics for different orbital regimes. Unlike the rest of the article, in this section a "success" is a launch which reached the planned orbit, and a "failure" is one which did not. For more details, see Outcomes. The section contains one table, and should list the following trajectories in the following order:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Orbital regime
! Launches
! Successes
! Failures
! Accidentally<br />Achieved
! Remarks
|-
| [[International Designator|Catalogued]] [[Sub-orbital spaceflight|Suborbital]]     ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
|-
| [[Low Earth orbit|Low Earth]]                                                      ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
|-
| [[Medium Earth orbit|Medium Earth]]                                                ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
|-
| [[Geosynchronous orbit|Geosynchronous]]/[[Geosynchronous transfer orbit|transfer]] ||   ||   ||   ||   || 
|-
| [[High Earth orbit|High Earth]]                                                    ||   ||   ||   ||   || 
|-
| [[Heliocentric orbit|Heliocentric]]                                                ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
|-
| [[Galactocentric orbit|Galactocentric]]                                            ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
|}

Orbits to which no launches were made should be removed.

Maiden flights

This section should list all the inaugural flights and their outcomes within a table, arranged according to dates. Add references for each in the column for same. First successful orbital flights can also be listed if the rocket had a failure the previous time.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:small;"
! Rocket
! Origin
! Organization
! Launch
! Outcome
! Ref.
|-
|}

Rocket color scheme

The color scheme we have adopted, at least for the earlier end of the Timeline, is outlined here: User_talk:Sotakarhu#Spaceflight_Colors

Rockets

	V-2 (UK)	Rocket metallic	#8a7f8d
	V-2 (US)	Cool gray	#9090c0
	Bumper	Gray-green	#5e716a
	Viking	Blue - 50%	#0000ff
	Vanguard	75%	#8080ff
	Vanguard (X-248)	85%	#b3b3ff
	Aerobee RTV-N-8	American Blue - 50%	#5b59a6
	Aerobee RTV-N-10	30%	#363663
	Aerobee RTV-N-10b/c	50%	#5b59a6
	Aerobee RTV-N-10a	70%	#9c9cc9
	Aerobee Hi (NRL)	85%	#cecde4
	Aerobee XASR-SC-1	US Army Green - 30%	#646e2b
	Aerobee XASR-SC-2	50%	#a7b847
	Aerobee RTV-A-1	SkyBlue - 50%	#25a7da
	Aerobee RTV-A-1b/c	70%	#7ccae9
	Aerobee RTV-A-1a	40%	#1e85ae
	Aerobee Hi (USAF)	50%	#25a7da
	Aerobee AJ10-27/34	70%	#7ccae9
	Aerobee (Unknown)	85%	#bee5f4
	Deacon Rockoon (SUI)	Sky blue (Crayola)	#80daeb
	Deacon Rockoon (NRL)	Robin egg blue - 40%	#00cccc
	Loki Rockoon	60%	#33ffff
	Deacon-Loki Rockoon	85%	#b3ffff
	Farside	85%	#b3ffff
	Nike-Nike-T40-T55	DeepSkyBlue - 50%	#00bfff
	Nike-Deacon	70%	#66d9ff
	Nike-Nike-Tri-Deacon-T40	85%	#b3ecff
	Nike-Cajun	30%	#007399
	Terrapin	40%	#0099cc
	Nike-Asp	(not great)	#1c98b0
	Nike-Apache	40%	#0099cc
	Arcon	50%	#00bfff
	Nike-Nike-Cajun	70%	#66d9ff
	Terrier-ASROC-Cajun	85%	#b3ecff
	Nike-Nike-Recruit	50%	#00bfff
	Kisha-Judi	50%	#00bfff
	Nike-Yardbird	70%	#66d9ff
	Hugo	85%	#b3ecff
	Ute-Apache	50%	#00bfff
	Paiute-Apache	70%	#66d9ff
	X-17	Blue Green - 50%	#828b74
	Polaris FTV-5	65%	#a8ae9e
	Polaris FTV-3	80%	#cdd1c7
	HJ-Nike	Honest John Red - 30%	#971e02
	HJ-Nike-Nike (Boa)	50%	#f93004
	Exos	40%	#c92703
	Jason / Trailblazer-1	60%	#fc5a36
	HJ-Nike-Nike-20"SM	65%	#fc6f4f
	Javelin	70%	#fd8468
	Strongarm	85%	#fec1b4
	Jupiter-C / Juno I / SPARTA	US Army Green - 40%	#859339
	SM-78 Jupiter	30%	#646e2b
	Juno II	50%	#a7b847
	Redstone-Mercury (MRLV)	60%	#b8c66c
	ASCAMP		#ffffff
	Terrier-Asp		#ffffff
	Terrier-Asp-IV		#ffffff
	SM-75 Thor	SteelBlue - 30%	#2b506e
	Thor Able / Agena-A	50%	#4785b8
	Thor Able-1/2	60%	#6c9dc6
	SM-75A Thor	40%	#396a93
	Thor Able-2 (mod)	70%	#91b6d4
	Thor Able-3	80%	#b6cee2
	SM-75C Thor	80%	#b6cee2
	Thor Able-4	90%	#dae7f1
	XSM-65A Atlas	Atlas Gray - 30%	#3f4d5a
	XSM-65B Atlas	40%	#556677
	XSM-65C Atlas	50%	#6a8095
	SM-65D Atlas	60%	#8899aa
	V-2 (Soviet)	Puce	#cc8899
	R-1	Brown - 30%	#7a1f1f
	R-1A/V	50%	#cb3434
	R-1B	70%	#e08585
	A-1	50%	#cb3434
	R-1D/E	70%	#e08585
	R-1UK	85%	#efc2c2
	R-2E	Dark Orange - 30%	#994700
	R-2	50%	#ff7700
	R-2A	70%	#ffad66
	R-5	Soviet Yellow - 20%	#665000
	R-5M	30%	#997800
	R-5RD/A	40%	#cca000
	R-5R/V	50%	#ffc800
	R-5B	70%	#ffde66
	R-5 VAO	85%	#ffeeb3
	R-7	R-7 Green - 41%	#8e9a39
	Sputnik (8K71PS/8A91) / R-7A	50%	#acba45
	Vostok-L		#ffffff
	R-12	Yellow Brown - 30%	#996600
	Veronique-NA	Bleu de France - 55%	#318ce7
	Veronique-AGI	Bleu de France - 55%	#318ce7
	Veronique-61		#ffffff
	Vesta		#ffffff
	Veronique-61M		#ffffff
	Long Tom	Austr. Wattle - 45%	#e8af00
	Skylark (Raven 1/2C)	British Khaki - 40%	#7d6b4f
	Skylark (Raven 2)	30%	#5e513b
	Skylark (Raven 5C)	50%	#9d8662
	Skylark (Raven 5)	60%	#b09e82
	Skylark (Raven 7C)	70%	#c4b7a1
	Skylark (Raven 7)	80%	#d8cfc0

Country color scheme

Countries

		Austr. Wattle	#e8af00
		Green (old)	#008000
		Brazil Green	#009c3b
		#fe6f5e (old)	#fe6f5e
		OrangeRed	#ff4500
		red	#ff0000
		navy (old)	#000080
		ESA blue	#0e2180
	(old)	Amethyst	#9966CC
		French Blue	#318CE7
	Template:GER	Dust grey	#7c7f7e
	Template:GER	German yellow	#ffcc00
		darkorange (old)	#ff8c00
		India Orange	#ff9933
		darkgreen (old)	#006400
		Iran green	#239F40
		teal	#008080
		Olive	#808000
		white	#ffffff
		Oman green	#007e3c
		#91a3b0	#91a3b0
		Chinook green	#Ace1af
		Polish fuchsia	#f54293
		crimson (old)	#dc143c
		pink	#ffc0cb
		Navy Blue	#000066
		Purple	#800080
		Brown	brown
		Brown	brown
		Gualda yellow	#ffc500
		Earth blue	#0000a0
		#7c3030	#7c3030
		Yellow (old)	#ffff00
		Ukraine Yellow	#ffd700
	(unused)	Tan 30-80	tan
		British Khaki	#beaf97
	(old)	Blue	#0000ff
		American Blue	#484785
		US Army Green	#4b5320
		Sky Blue	#87ceeb
		Iridium	#3b3c36

See also

The see also section should follow the orbital launch summary if present, or otherwise the table of launches. It should contain links to the appropriate page of the list of human spaceflights (if the article is for 1961 or later), an article providing more details of suborbital flights in that year (Suborbital spaceflight in [year]), and the main Timeline of spaceflight. Other relevant links which are not covered elsewhere in the article may also be included here.

References

The references section, which should follow the See also section, should start with the generic references, which are inserted by transcluding Template:Tl. This should be followed by a level three subsection entitled "Footnotes", containing a Template:Tl template.

==References==
{{TLS-R}}

===Footnotes===
{{Reflist|30em}}

After this, there should be a linebreak followed by the Timeline navigation box:

<br />
{{TLS-L|year=2008|nav=on}}

This should be followed by categories:

[[Category:Space lists]]
[[Category:Timeline of spaceflight working group|XX]]
[[Category:XXXX in spaceflight]]

Replacing "XX" with the last two digits of the year, and "XXXX" with the whole year.

Finally, interwiki links to foreign language versions of the page should be the last item on the page.

This section can be added by substituting Template:Tl at the bottom of the page, in the format:

{{subst:TLS-F|XXXX|XX}}

Replacing the Xs as above.

Talk pages

Talk pages should be tagged by placing Template:Tlx at the top.

Mission outcomes

A standard set of criteria are used to determine the outcome of missions, to ensure consistency within the articles.

A mission is considered successful if

The mission is complete, and

All objectives have been accomplished

A mission is considered a failure if

No primary objectives are met, or

There is an LOC or LOCV scenario on a crewed flight, or

The rocket fails to orbit (does not apply to sub-orbital launches), or

The spacecraft is placed inexorably in a useless orbit, or

The spacecraft fails to contact the ground after separation, or

The spacecraft malfunctions and cannot be recovered with a significant portion of its mission remaining

A mission is considered a partial failure if

Some primary mission objectives are met, but some are not, or

The spacecraft malfunctions and cannot be recovered, but has completed a significant portion of its mission, or

The spacecraft operates, or is predicted to operate for less than its design life, or

The carrier rocket places the payload into an incorrect orbit, but

The spacecraft can still operate in the incorrect orbit, or

The spacecraft can correct its own orbit

A distinction should be made between launch failures and spacecraft failures. Note that spacecraft-induced launch failures should be considered launch failures and not spacecraft failures, however a note to this effect should be placed in the remarks field. No operational spacecraft should be listed as an outright failure.

The entries in the outcome field should be one or more of the following:

• Operational
• Successful
• Unknown
• Launch failure
• Spacecraft failure
• Partial launch failure
• Partial spacecraft failure

The Template:Tl template should be placed around the longest entry to prevent wrapping. The field should be left blank for spacecraft awaiting launch.

Progress

{{Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Timeline of spaceflight working group/Status}}

Resources

http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/

Useful for Shuttle Mission details and information, officially released by the United Space Alliance Space Agencies.

https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/data/derived/launchlog.html

This list, by Jonathan McDowell has a complete list of all orbital spaceflights up to early 2006. We just need to format it for Wikipedia, and add sub-orbital and more up-to-date flights.

http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/ Defunct

A nice site with information about current and some future launches, and launch log's for previous years.

http://www.orbireport.com/Log.html

Another list, this time including more information on sub-orbital flights, but only in 2006.

http://www.astronautix.com

A very useful resource, all spaceflights, orbital and suborbital, up to 2005.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com

Useful for orbital flights since 2004, and also upcoming flights.

http://www.nasa.gov

Useful for NASA missions, past present and future.

http://space.skyrocket.de/chrono.htm

Useful for all past missions.

Join us

Anyone can help out or use the resources here whether a member or not but if you would like to join us, you can indicate participation by adding your name to our active members list. Also, if you like, you could add a userbox to your user page:

{{Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Timeline of spaceflight working group/Userbox}}

{{Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Timeline of spaceflight working group/Userbox}}

See also

• Spaceflight Portal