See TJS 2 (Huoyan-1 ?). Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing 2 (Communications Technology Experiment Satellite 2) was developed by the Shanghai team. The lack of public information about the TJSW satellites has led to the suspicion that they may really be for defense purposes, possibly for non-communications purposes such as signals intelligence or missile early warning. TJSW 2 made the burn to circularize its orbit on Jan 6 at 0730 UTC over 114E.

Astronauts Kimbrough and Whitson, in suits EMU 3008 and 3006, depressurized the Quest airlock at about 1220 UTC for US EVA-38. They moved various batteries and adapter plates as part of a refurbishment of the ISS power system. Bundle 1 of the Node 3 axial shields were stored outside Quest.

See Jilin-1 Video-03 (Jilin Linye 1). Kuaizhou-1A quick-response rocket test. The earlier KZ-1 rocket was used for two low orbit imaging satellites which remained integrated with the upper stage; in the commercialized KZ-1A version the 4th stage separates from the payloads, and launch services are provided by EXPACE, the commercial arm of KZ-1A builder CASIC (which also builds the DF-21 missile that KZ-1/1A was based on). The main payload was Chang Guang Satellite Technology Ltd's "Jilin-1 linqiao shipin xing 03 xing", also called Jilin Linye 1 Weixing (Jilin Forestry 1 satellite). The 165 kg sat has a 1m resolution Earth imager. Two 2U cubesats were also carried. 1030LT SSO.

Astronauts Kimbrough and Pesquet, in suits 3008 and 3006, performed spacewalk US EVA-39 with depressurization about 1120 UTC and repressurization at 1720 UTC. They moved various adapter plates and batteries of the ISS power system as part of a refurbishment of the entire system. They also moved bundle 2 of the Node 3 Axial shields (covers for a soon-to-be-empty docking port) from the airlock area to Node 3, replaced a camera light tilt assembly and adjusted a worksite interface. At the end of this spacewalk, the SPDM was holding three old NiH3 batteries: 0078 and 0079 on arms 1 and 2, and 0038 on the EOTP (ORU temporary platform). These were to be placed robotically in slots D, E and F on the EP. The EP was to be returned to Kounoutori-6, and destroyed on reentry over the South Pacific.

See Iridium-NEXT 102. The first cluster of second generation communications satellites for Iridium Communications was launched, aboard the first SpaceX Falcon 9 to fly since the Amos-6 pad accident the previous year. The Falcon 9 placed all ten satellites in the correct orbit, and the first stage landed on the barge 'Just Read The Instructions'. The Falcon 9 second stage was expected to be deorbited over Antarctica. However, JSpOC was tracking 11 objects in orbit rather than the expected The Iridium satellites carry communications payloads for global mobile communications coverage as well as Aireon ADS-B airplane data relay payloads and, on four of the 10 satellites, AIS ship tracking payloads for the Canadian company ExactEarth.

See TRICOM 1. Japan attempted to launch a single cubesat into orbit with a launch vehicle massing less than 3 tonnes. The SS-520 sounding rocket was furnished with a 78 kg third stage which was intended to orbit a 3U, 3 kg cubesat, TRICOM-1. The mission was flight SS-520-4 (SS-520-1 and 2 were normal sounding rocket flights; 3 has not yet flown.) However, telemetry was lost 20 seconds into flight, during first stage burn. Following range safety rules, the command to ignite stage 2 was not sent and the vehicle flew a suborbital path to about 200 km altitude and then splashed down in the ocean. The record smallest successful orbital launch vehicle remains the 9.4-tonne Lambda 4S, also Japanese, which was retired in 1979.

GAUSS SRi (Rome), 3U cubesat containing (and ejecting) two cylindrical 'Tubesats', each 0.75 kg, 0.09m dia 0.13m long. The tubesats were TANCREDO-1 from a school in Ubatuba, Brazil and OSNSAT from the Open Space Network of Mountain View, California. TuPOD ejected its two small Tubesats, on Jan 19.

See DSN 2 (Kirameki 2). Satellite for the DSN Corporation, a Sky Perfect JSAT / NEC / NTT /Maeda consortium, to provide an X-band military communications satellite for the Japanese Defense Ministry. DSN 2 (Kirameki 2) was their first satellite, based on the Mitsubishi Electric DS-2000 bus.

See Hispasat 36W-1. Spanish Hispasat 36W-1 communications satellite (3220 kg at launch, 1700 kg dry) was the first SmallGEO bus, made by OHB of Bremen, Germany. It was launched to geotransfer orbit by a Soyuz ST-B/Fregat in the first GTO launch by a Soyuz from Kourou.

Iran made the second known test flight of the Khorramshahr, which was suspected to be a medium range missile based on the Soviet R-27, similar to North Korea's Hwasong-10/Musudan. The missile's reentry vehicle failed to survive reentry, according to US sources.

See Cartosat 2D. India's PSLV placed a record 104 payloads in orbit on Feb 15, 100 of them via 25 QuadPack cubesat dispensers from the Dutch company ISISSpace. The main payload was the 714 kg `Cartosat-2 series satellite', the fourth such imaging payload from ISRO.

See Dragon CRS-10 (SpX 10, Dragon C112). Dragon CRS-10 was launched from Kennedy Space Center LC39A aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9; the first non-NASA launch operation ever from KSC and the first launch from KSC since 2011. NASA KSC abuts USAF Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on its northern side; previous Falcon 9 east coast launches were from SLC40 at Cape Canaveral. On this flight the Falcon 9 first stage, B1031, landed at Cape Canaveral's LZ1. CRS-10 carried three packages in its trunk for installation on ISS. The USAF Space Test Program's STP-H5 experiment suite includes a NASA lightning sensor and NRL ionosphere-study experiments. SAGE-III IP continued a long series of NASA ozone monitoring studies. SAGE-III NVP (Nadir Viewing Platform) was an adapter which will allow the IP to be installed sideways on the ISS ELC platform. On Feb 22 Dragon aborted its approach to the ISS at a distance of 1.2 km due to a navigation system error. Rendezvous was rescheduled for Feb 23 when Dragon was grappled by the SSRMS at 1044 UTC, then berthed on the Harmony module. he Dextre and Canadarm-2 robot arms were used to unload the experiments in the Dragon external cargo trunk on Feb 25-Mar 7 in a rather complicated sequence involving Dextre's two main arms and its EOTP (Enhanced ORU Temp Platform, a storage position). The experiments were installed on the Express Logistics Carriers ELC-1 and ELC-4 on the station truss. Older experiments from ELC-1, ELC-2 and ELC-4 were removed for disposal. These incuded the These included the OPALS laser comm payload launched in 2014; the RRM Robotic Refuelling Mission experiment of 2011, and the MISSE FSE adapter that mounted the MISSE 7 and 8 materials exposure experiments of 2009. These packages, with a total mass of 811 kg, were destroyed on reentry when the Dragon trunk was jettisoned following Dragon's deorbit burn. Dragon was unberthed from the Harmony module at 2145 UTC Mar 18 and released by Canadarm-2 at 0911 UTC Mar 19. After a deorbit burn at 1355 UTC it splashed down in the Pacific near 31 44N 121 15W at 1446 UTC, carrying 1652 kg of ISS return cargo. This return cargo includd 104 kg of unspecified EVA equipment.

See Progress-MS 05. Launched of the final Soyuz-U-PVB rocket. Among other cargo the Progress cargo craft carried a new Orlan-MKS spacesuit. The ship docked with the Pirs module at 0830 UTC Feb 24.

See Intruder 12A (NOSS-3 8A, USA 274, NROL 79). Atlas V serial AV-068 carried a National Reconnaissance Office payload to orbit on NRO launch NROL-79. The payload was thought to be an NRO/Navy signals intelligence system code-named INTRUDER consisting of a pair of satellites in 1010 x 1200 km x 63 deg orbit. Both satellites were observed by hobbyists on Mar 3. The Centaur second stage was deorbited south of Australia on the first orbit with impact around 1956 UTC.

See Tiankun 1. China's CASIC missile agency launched the KT-2, a new orbital launch vehicle developed by CASIC's 4th Academy. It placed a small satellite, Tiankun-1, in orbit. Tiankun 1, built by the CASIC 2nd Academy (CCMETA), was a test of a new satellite bus and probably has a mass of a few hundred kg.

Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet, in suits EMU 3008 and 3006, completed spacewalk US EVA-40 from the Quest airlock. The airlock was depressurized below 50 mbar at 1116 UTC and repressurized at 1758 UTC. The astronauts replaced the EXT-2 MDM computer (old S/N: MDM-16E-0102) on the S0 truss, lubricated the LEE end-effector on the Dextre robot arm, replaced cameras on the Kibo Exposed Facility and a light on one of the CETA carts, and disconnected cables joining the PMA-3 docking unit to the Tranquility node.

See EchoStar 23. Echostar 23 communications sat to provide television services to Brazil and Latin America for Echostar Corp. It was launched by Falcon 9 F31; the first stage on this mission did not have landing legs and no recovery was attempted.

See WGS 9 (USA 275). Wideband Global Satcom 9 was to be added to the US DoD communications satellite constellation. This WGS was partly funded by allied countries, although it was still owned and operated by USAF. A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 sent the satellite aloft on Mar 19, first into a 185 x 6097 km x 27.6 deg parking orbit and then to a 430 x 44262 km x 27.0 deg supersynchronous transfer orbit. The Delta 377 second stage was deorbited over the Pacific near the Phillipines with reentry around 1230 UTC.

Kimbrough and Whitson carried out spacewalk EVA-41. The Quest airlock was depressurized at 1122 UTC and repressurized at 1833 UTC. The astronauts, in suits 3008 and 3006, emerged between 1136 and 1144 UTC. The old EXT-1 MDM computer, MDM-16E-0103, was removed from S0 and replaced by a new one. Whitson removed the fabric cover from the relocated PMA-3 docking unit, but needed Kimbrough's help to stuff it into the cover bag needed to take it back to the airlock, which was done by 1319 UTC. The next task was to install debris shields on the newly empty axial port on Node 3. Four shields were taken from near the airlock to Node 3 bundled in pairs. Unfortunately shield 1, being installed by Kimbrough, came loose and floated away at about 1357 UTC; it was cataloged in orbit as 1998-067LF (SSN 42434). After the remaining shields were installed, the astronauts retrieved the PMA-3 cover bag once more, unpacked the cover and pinned it down to cover the empty quadrant. Finally, additional shields were added to the base of PMA-3 in its new location.

See SES 10. SpaceX launched the 5300 kg SES-10 communications satellite into a 246 x 35673 km x 26.2 deg geotransfer orbit. After several orbit raising burns SES-10 reached a 35775 x 35796 km x 0.1 deg geostationary orbit at 68.5W on Apr 11. The Falcon 9 F9-033 second stage reduced its apogee slightly, ending up in a 235 x 33407 km orbit. The first stage was Falcon 9 core B1021, which had previously flown on the F9-023/CRS-8 mission in Apr 2016. The reused stage performed successfully and landed for a second time on the ASDS drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' in the Atlantic.

See SJ 13 / ZX 16 (ChinaSat 16). China's Shi Jian 13 was launched into geotransfer orbit. The satellite was for Ka-band high bandwidth communications experiments. After its experimental phase it was to be transferred to China Satcom which would operate it as Zhongxing-16.

See Cygnus CRS-7 (OA 7, SS John Glenn). Cygnus mission OA-7, the S.S. John Glenn, was launched on ULA Atlas AV-070. The 7221 kg cargo ship carried about 140 kg of small satellites for later deployment and about 3250 kg of other cargo. OA-7 arrived at ISS on Apr 22.

See Soyuz-MS 04. Soyuz MS-04 docked with the ISS Poisk module 6hr 4min after launch. Soyuz commander was Fyodor Yurchikin and flight engineer was Jack Fischer. This was the first two-person Soyuz mission in 14 years (Soyuz TMA-2 in Apr 2003), as Russia scaled back its ISS crew pending completion of the delayed Nauka module.

See Tianzhou 1 (TZ 1). China's first space station cargo resupply ship. Tianzhou-1 had a mass of 12910 kg. It flew on the second Chang Zheng 7 rocket, launched from Wenchang space centre on Hainan island. Tianzhou-1 docked with the Tiangong-2 space lab, then unoccupied. This mission was mainly for technology development; the Tianzhou frieghters were to be used operationally to resupply China's future large space station. Tianzhou 1 was inserted into a 198 x 372 km x 42.8 deg initial orbit, which was then raised to 311 x 369 km. The second stage ejected the usual four motor separation covers into 200 x 550 km orbits.

Replaced ExPRESS Carrier Avionics (ExPCA), Installed Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) Forward Shield, Installed Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) MIL-1553 Terminator, Secured Multilayer Insulation (MLI) on Japanese Manipulator System, Relocated a Portable Foot Restrain to PMA-3

See Aalto 1. 3U cubesat by Aalto University and Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finland. Mission: Technical demonstration of a miniaturized spectral imager, a radiation monitor and a plasma brake. Status as of 2019: Active.

See skCUBE. 2U (QB50 type) cubesat by Slovak Organisation for Space Activities (SOSA), University of Žilina, Slovak University of Technology by help of Belgian Von Karman Institute, Faculty of Aeronautics of Technical University of Kosice.

See Kosmos 2519. It is believed that the satellite's real name is Napryazhenie No. 1, and was probably built by the Lavochkin company. It may have carried a geodetic payload and a space surveillance (space debris monitoring) payload. However it was primarily observed in a series of anti-satellite tests with the two other payloads it was launched with:

Cosmos 2519 was launched aboard a Soyuz-2-1v rocket from Plesetsk on 2017 Jun 23 and placed in a 654 x 669 km x 98.1 deg sun-synchronous orbit with 09:54 local time descending node. The Volga upper stage was deorbited the following day. A Soyuz Blok-I stage was left in a 284 x 650 km transfer orbit.

On Jul 27 at 1200 UTC, Aug 1 at 1215 UTC and Aug 3 at about 0800 UTC Cosmos 2519 performed small (0.5 m/s each) orbit changes to lower its orbit to 649 x 669 km.

On Aug 23 at about 0640 UTC a subsatellite, Cosmos 2521, separated from Cosmos 2519 at a relative speed of about 0.5 m/s. The subsatellite was described by Russia at that time as a `satellite-inspector'. Cosmos 2521 and 2519 carried out a series of exercises involving orbital changes and mutual flybys.

Exercise 1: Distant flyby
Cosmos 2521 drifted away from its parent over the next few days to a maximum range of about 300 km and then made orbit adjustments to reverse the drift (on Aug 27 and Sep 4). By Oct 11, it had reapproached Cosmos 2519 within about 10 km. Another manuever caused it to retreat to about 50 km.

Exercise 2: Close flyby and distant stationkeeping
Further rendezvous burns by Cosmos 2521 returned it to the 10 km point by Oct 15, with approach within 2 km of Cosmos 2519 by Oct 18. It remained within 15 km of Cosmos 2519 until Oct 31, with both in a 650 x 667 km orbit.

Exercise 3: Deploy subsatellite
On Oct 30 at 0352 UTC a further subsatellite, Cosmos 2523, departed Cosmos 2521 with a relative velocity of 27 m/s into a lower-perigee 554 x 664 km orbit. As of Aug 2018 Cosmos 2523 has made no orbit maneuvers since its initial deployment. The three satellites (2519, 2521 and 2523) were registered with the UN by Russia in orbits of 651 x 683, 656 x 688, and 656 x 687 km respectively, making it hard to be sure which name refers to the lower-perigee object.

Following the deployment of Cosmos 2523, Cosmos 2519 and Cosmos 2521 began to drift apart.

Exercise 4: Close flyby by Cosmos 2519
On Dec 14 at 0900 UTC Cosmos 2519, at a range of 1000 km from Cosmos 2521, manuevered to begin an approach. At 1340 UTC on Dec 15 Cosmos 2519 flew past Cosmos 2521 at a range of less than 7 km and a relative speed of 35 km/hr. By Dec 19 the satellites were several thousand km apart again.

Exercise 5: Close flyby by Cosmos 2519
Without further orbital manuevers 2519 lapped 2521 again on 2018 Feb 3 at 0700, passing around 10 km away at about 35 km/hr again.

Exercise 6: Slow flyby
On 2018 Feb 14 at 0407 UTC it was Cosmos 2521's turn to maneuver, with a 9 m/s burn lowering its orbit to 618 x 664 km to begin a rendezvous with Cosmos 2519. The two satellites passed each other slowly at a range of about 30 km on Feb 20.

Exercise 7: Slow flyby
By Feb 27 range was 380 km; reapproach burns led to a slow flyby at a range of less than 1 km from around 0730 to 1230 UTC Mar 1.

Exercise 8: Slow flyby
Cosmos 2521 then retreated to 80 km range on Mar 6, and resumed approach to carry out another 1 km-class flyby on Mar 7 around 0700 UTC.

Exercise 9: Slow flyby
Again, Cosmos 2521 retreated to 550 km range on Mar 16, and resumed approach to carry out another slow flyby on Mar 21 around 2345 UTC, then drifted further to 24 km range by Mar 26.

Exercise 10: Rendezvous
On Mar 26, Cosmos 2521 returned to Cosmos 2519 and began a new phase of stationkeeping within 1 km, remaining near the parent satellite until Apr 30.

Exercise 11: Cosmos 2521 move to low orbit
Following the rendezvous, on Apr 30 it lowered its orbit in two large burns from 664 x 660 km to 350 x 369 km. During May and June the satellites remained in their now-different orbits without further activity.

Exercise 12: Cosmos 2519 move to elliptical orbit
Then,from Jun 27 to Jul 19, Cosmos 2519 made a series of smaller burns to change its orbit from 644 x 659 km to 312 x 606 km and then up to 317 x 664 km.

Exercise 13: Cosmos 2521 second orbit lowering
The day after the final Cosmos 2519 burn, Cosmos 2521 lowered its orbit even further, to 292 x 348 km. The timing of this change is clearly not coincidental, but as far as I can tell the two vehicles did not make any close approaches during this period. There has been no further orbit change activity since Jul 20.

See OSIRIS-3U ↑. 3U cubesat by Pennsylvania State University SSPL. Mission: In situ measurements of temporal and spatial characteristics of ionospheric space weather. Constellation of three 1U spacecraft launched simultaneously.

Retrieved the "Restavratsiya" (Restoration) Experiment Hardware, Launched 5 Nano Satellites one of them being a Sputnik satellite named "Zerkalo" which was launched to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the original Sputnik and the birth of rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Cleaned the windows on the Russian segment and installed "Test" containers on the hatches of the Pirs Docking Compartment and the Poisk Module, Retrieved CKK 9M9 cassettes from Zvezda, Installed Struts, Gap Spanners, and Handrails on Zvezda in preparation for the arrival of Nauka in the future, Installed the "Impact" trays by the Zvezda thrusters, and photographed the aft end of Zvezda and the "OHA" Antenna, Installed Struts, Gap Spanners, Handrails, and Ladders on Poisk, Photographed the Russian Segment.

ABM Target for Patriot missile battery. Intercept over Kwajalein. Janus was designed by Orbital ATK to provide a realistic threat target meeting the requirements of the U.S. Army's PATRIOT program. The Janus target utilized a refurbished SR-19 “Flexseal” motor for its first and second stage. The rocket lifted from its launch pad at Wake Island with the assistance of two U.S. Army M26 Multiple Launch Rocket System strap-on boosters. Both stages completed their nominal burn patterns placing the Re-entry Vehicle into the defended footprint of a PATRIOT fire unit. In addition to Orbital ATK's work as the prime contractor for the target, ASRC Federal Space & Defense provided mission assurance services to independently verify and validate the Janus Target's performance.

Finished Repairs to Canadarm 2 added lubricating oil to all the working parts, Replaced the Station's Cameras which are used to film NASA TV, Installed Lens Covers, Closed and Locked a Latch on the High Pressure Gas Tanks, Rotated a Pump Module in preparation for relocating to P6 on a future spacewalk, Changed the Sockets on the degraded Latching End Effector and Reinstalled them on the new unit on Canadarm 2, Removed Handrails on Tranquility in preparation for installation of the EWS Antennas on a future spacewalk.

Finished Repairs to Canadarm 2 added lubricating oil to all working parts and installed a camera and replaced a degraded one, Replaced the Station's Cameras which are used to film NASA TV, Replaced a Blown Fuse on Dextre, Removed MLI from two ORUs stored on ESP2 in preparation for them to be moved by Dextre later this year. Three get ahead task were performed by the crew MLI was removed from the Pump Modules on ESP2 Bresnik almost got the second one, but time expired and he had to close the flap on the second Pump Module it will be moved on the next spacewalk, Installed the Radiator Grapple Bars delivered on SpaceX CRS2.