Encyclopedia Astronautica
Your Flight Has Been Cancelled....

Is what might have been better than what was?

  • 1958 June 25 - Cancelled: Man-In-Space-Soonest. Prime Crew: Walker Joseph, Crossfield, Armstrong, Rushworth, Bridgeman, White Alvin, Kincheloe, White Robert, McKay. In a US Air Force briefing a preliminary astronaut selection for the Man-In-Space Soonest project is made. The list consisted of USAF test pilots Robert Walker, Scott Crossfield, Neil Armstrong, Robert Rushworth, William Bridgeman, Alvin White, Iven Kincheloe, Robert White, and Jack McKay. This was the first preliminary astronaut selection in history. The project was cancelled when NASA was formed in and took responsibility for all manned space flight on 1 August 1958. Prospective contractors estimated it would take from 12 to 30 months to put the first American in orbit. In retrospect the orbital flight portion of NASA's Mercury program was paced by the availability of the Atlas booster. Therefore it is unlikely Man-in-Space-Soonest would have put an American in orbit any earlier than Mercury.
  • First quarter 1960 - Cancelled: Mercury-Jupiter 2 (MJ-2). In the January 1959 Mercury program plan, flights of the capsule on a Jupiter IRBM were to take place in addition to flights atop the Redstone and Atlas boosters. The second Mercury-Jupiter flight was planned as a maximum dynamic pressure test to qualify a production Mercury capsule with a chimpanzee aboard. A human astronaut was considered briefly before the Mercury-Jupiter flights were cancelled in July 1959 on cost grounds.
  • Late 1960 - Cancelled: Little Joe 5A. Little Joe was a booster lashed together by NASA Langley, consisting of four Castor I rocket motors in an aerodynamic fairing. When Project Mecury began in October 1958, the purpose of the Little Joe phase was to propel a full-scale, full-weight development version of the manned spacecraft to some of the flight conditions that would be encountered during exit from the atmosphere on an orbital mission. By April 1959, plans were made for three or four Mercury-Little Joe flights with animal passengers. NASA secretly considered a manned mission but quickly dropped the idea when the dynamic pressures involved were reviewed (the concept nevertheless emerged in the trade press in ‘Aviation Leak' – Aviation Week and Space Technology). An alternative plan to put Pigs in Space was dropped in May 1959 when it was learned that pigs could not survive on their backs for a long time. Pigs were however used in drop tests of the Mercury capsule to confirm survivability of land landings without landing bag deployment.
  • January 1961 - Cancelled: Mercury Balloon Flight Tests. In January 1959, a series of balloon flights were planned for qualification of the Mercury spacecraft. These would occur from July 1959 to January 1961, take the capsule to high altitudes at the edge of space, then release it for a test of the recovery ssytems. The final flights would be manned tests of up to 24 hours duration, with recovery of the capsule at sea. This program was sharply cut back in the March 1959 to two balloon flights to qualify the spacecraft at altitudes up to 24 km. On May 22, 1959 the balloon flights were cancelled entirely. The necessary data would be obtained in the altitude wind tunnel at the Lewis Research Center. The Soviets conducted an analogous test series, however, with the Vostok spacecraft. On one such test a (non-cosmonaut) parachutist died when his suit depressurised in a high-altitude jump.
  • 1961 March 24 - Cancelled: Mercury MR-3A. Prime Crew: Shepard. Backup Crew: Grissom. After booster problems on the Mercury MR-2 chimp test flight, Von Braun insisted on a further unmanned booster test flight, against the wishes of Shepard and others at NASA. A Mercury boilerplate capsule was launched on a flawless test on 24 March. If NASA had overruled Von Braun, the manned Freedom 7 capsule would have flown instead. Shepard would have been the first man in space (though not in orbit), beating Gagarin's flight by three weeks.
  • 1961 Late summer - Cancelled: Mercury MR-5. Prime Crew: Glenn. Backup Crew: Slayton. The original Mercury project plan envisioned all of the astronauts making an initial suborbital hop aboard a Redstone booster before making an orbital flight aboard an Atlas. However delays in the program resulted in the Redstone flights coming much closer to the Atlas flights than planned. By the time of the first suborbital Mercury flight, the Russians had already orbited Yuri Gagarin. After Grissom's capsule sunk, it was still planned to fly Glenn on a suborbital flight to prove the capsule. But Gherman Titov was launched on a full-day orbital flight in August 1961, making NASA's suborbital hops look pathetic. Glenn was moved to the first orbital Atlas flight, and further suborbital Mercury flights were cancelled.
  • 1961 Autumn - Cancelled: Mercury MR-6. Prime Crew: Slayton. Slayton would probably have flown the fourth manned suborbital Mercury. But after the Russians began orbiting cosmonauts, NASA cancelled further suborbital flights. The MR-6 mission was cancelled by NASA administrator James Webb at the beginning of July, 1961.
  • 1962 May - Cancelled: Mercury MA-7 Delta 7. Prime Crew: Slayton. Backup Crew: Schirra. Astronaut Deke Slayton was to have been the second American in orbit. When Slayton was selected as an astronaut in 1959, it was known he had a minor heart fibrillation. This however did not prevent him from being an Air Force test pilot or being selected as an astronaut. But on January 23, 1962 John Glenn's wife refused to do a television appearance with Vice President Lyndon Johnson after a launch scrub of Glenn's mission. Soon thereafter rumours began in McNamara's Pentagon that Glenn had a secret heart condition. It was not Glenn, and his flight went as planned, but in the process Slayton's heart fibrillation came up. After a series of quick developments, Slayton was told he couldn't fly, and was forced to appear at a press conference making that announcement on March 16. The action was seen by many as a warning to the astronauts who was really in charge, although Slayton didn't think there was a direct cause and effect. Slayton's three orbit flight would have been called Delta 7. Instead Carpenter was selected for the mission, and Schirra, Slayton's backup, was moved to the Mercury 8 flight.
  • By the end of 1962 - Cancelled: Mercury MA-9A. Prime Crew: Cooper. Backup Crew: Shepard. NASA's Mercury orbital operations plan of July 19, 1961 had four spacecraft equipped for three-orbit flights (SC13, SC16, SC18, and SC19) and four for one day/eighteen-orbit flights (SC20, SC15B, SC12B, and SC10). Manned 3-orbit missions would take place every 60 days after Glenn's flight during 1962. The four one-day capsules would be flown in 1963. This would give all seven Mercury astronauts experience in orbital flight prior to Gemini.

    Despite delays due to technical problems and weather this plan was followed on the first three orbital flights: Mercury MA-6 (Glenn/SC13), MA-7 (Carpenter/SC16) and MA-8 (Schirra/SC19). However by Schirra's flight he seven-astronaut corps was down to four - Glenn, Carpenter and Slayton were off the flight roster (Glenn on President Kennedy's orders because he was a national icon; Carpenter because he had screwed up; and Slayton on medical grounds). So even thought the flight-ready SC19 had been delivered to Cape Canaveral on March 20, 1962, the decision was taken to cancel the remaining short-duration mission and move directly to an 18-orbit mission. Cooper was the only astronaut not yet to fly and would have been the pilot for the original MA-9.

  • 1963 June - Cancelled: Vostok 6A. Prime Crew: Ponomaryova. Backup Crew: Yerkina. From August 1962 until February 21, 1963 it was planned that the next two Vostok flights (Vostok 5 and 6) would take place in March-April 1963 and be a dual female flight. Two capsules would be launched a day apart; each would remain aloft for three days. Tereshkova would be pilot for Vostok 5, and Ponomaryova was considered most qualified candidate for Vostok 6. This dual female flight plan was approved all the way up the Soviet hierarchy until it was killed at the last moment at a meeting of the Presidium of the Communist Party on 21 March 1963 by party ideologue Kozlov and Ministry of Defence Chief Ustinov. Only one female would be allowed to fly for propaganda purposes. A male cosmonaut (Bykovsky) was rushed into final training, delaying the dual flights for two months. Tereshkova made it into space aboard Vostok 6, following Bykovsky aboard Vostok 5. Ponomaryova and the other female cosmonauts trained in the 1960's never flew.
  • 1963 October - Cancelled: Mercury MA-10. Prime Crew: Shepard. Backup Crew: Cooper. Mercury 10 was originally planned to be the first one-day Mercury flight. This objective was later assigned to Mercury 9 and Mercury 10 then became the second one-day flight. Later there was budgetary pressure to shut down Mercury and move funds and workers to the Gemini program. NASA and the Mercury managers had to decide whether to undertake another flight after Cooper's planned 22 orbit Mercury 9. By May 11, 1963 Julian Scheer, the new NASA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs, announced 'It is absolutely beyond question that if this shot (MA-9) is successful there will be no MA-10.' But at the end of Cooper's flight there was enough oxygen remaining for five days, six days left until his capsule decayed from orbit, and enough attitude control propellant for another two days.

    Walter Williams, Alan Shepard, and others at MSC pushed for a three to six day Mercury 10 endurance mission. This would give America the manned space endurance record for the first time and also cover the biological objectives of the first two Gemini missions. The Mercury 15B capsule had already been modified for long-duration flight and Shepard had the name 'Freedom 7 II' painted on the side. But the risk and work pending on Gemini persuaded NASA managers not to undertake another mission unless Mercury 9 failed. The massive breakdown of nearly all systems aboard Mercury 9 convinced NASA that this was the right decision. Their risk assessment was also influenced by Martin Caidin's novel, Marooned. In the book, Mercury 10's retrorockets fail, stranding astronaut Pruett in orbit. He is saved by the combined efforts of NASA Gemini and Russian modified Vostok spacecraft. Such resources were not available in real life. On June 12 NASA administrator James Webb told Congress that there would be no Mercury 10 mission. It would have only cost $ 9 million to fly the mission, but deleting it freed up 700 workers to concentrate on project Gemini, which was behind schedule and over budget. On June 13 McDonnell's remaining contract work for Mercury was terminated.

    In actuality astronaut Shephard was removed from flight status in October 1963 due to Meniere's syndrome. So if Mercury 10 had occurred, it might well have been flown by Cooper.

  • By the end of 1963 - Cancelled: Mercury MA-11. Prime Crew: Grissom. Backup Crew: Schirra. On July 27, 1961 NASA met with McDonnell engineers to discuss modification of the Mercury spacecraft for Project MODM (Manned One-Day Mission). On October 25, 1961 NASA authorized McDonnell to proceed with the modification of four capsules and associated testing to support four manned MODM flights beginning in late 1962 and finishing by the end of 1963. From then until April 1962 NASA's Mercury program plan included four one-day flights in 1963: MA-10 through MA-13. But by October 1962 the decision was taken to cancel the last short-duration flight and move directly to the one-day flights. Therefore Carpenter's MA-9 flight switched capsules from the short duration SC19 to the long-duration SC20. By this time the decision had been quietly taken to limit the long-duration flights to only MA-9 and MA-10 (SC15B). There were several good reasons for this. The Mercury program was behind schedule and it would be difficult to fly more than two long-duration flights before the mandated completion of the program at the end of 1963. The flight roster of astronauts had been reduced to four, and of these only Grissom would not have made an orbital flight.

    If SC12B had flown on a long-duration flight it would have been crewed by Grissom. Given the plans to follow SC15B for three days, it probably also would have undertaken a three to six day flight. Grissom was however already deeply involved with the follow-on project Gemini. It is likely that, as a test pilot, he considered commanding the first manned Gemini flight a far superior assignment to spending several days in the cramped, trouble-prone Mercury design that had already tried to kill him once. Cooper would have been the only available alternate pilot.

  • By the end of 1963 - Cancelled: Mercury MA-12. Prime Crew: Schirra. Final planned flight of four one-day duration Mercury capsules manufactured. The mission was to have taken place by the end of 1963. This flight was scheduled until mid-1962, when it was quietly removed from the schedules. Delays in Mercury and budget problems resulted in NASA management's decision to stop further planning for the last two one-day flights and move on to Gemini as quickly as possible.
  • 1964 June - Cancelled: Vostok 7. Prime Crew: Volynov. Backup Crew: Khrunov. Vostok 7 was an eight day manned flight that was originally planned for the last quarter of 1963. Opposition by the Ministry of Defence led to it being cancelled, only to be resurrected and scheduled for June 1964. Finally all further Vostok flights were cancelled in favor of the multi-manned Voskhod in February 1964.
  • 1964 August - Cancelled: Vostok 8. Prime Crew: Khrunov. Backup Crew: Belyayev. Vostok 8 was a ten day manned flight that was originally planned for the last quarter of 1963 and would be the second high altitude flight into the lower Van Allen radiation belt for radiological-biological studies. Opposition by the Ministry of Defence led to it being cancelled, only to be resurrected and evolving into a ten-day group flight with Vostok 9 set for the late summer of 1964. Finally all further Vostok flights were cancelled in favor of the multi-manned Voskhod in February 1964.
  • 1964 August - Cancelled: Vostok 9. Prime Crew: Belyayev. Backup Crew: Leonov. Vostok 9 was originally proposed as a high altitude manned Vostok flight for extended scientific studies to be flown by the end of 1963. The spacecraft would have been allowed to naturally decay to a re-entry after ten days. After the plans for additional Vostok missions were revived later in 1963, purposes of these flights were to be: geophysical and astronomical research; photography of the solar corona; solar x-ray imagery; medical-biological research; detailed study of the effects of weightlessness on the human organism; dosimetry; and engineering tests of ion flow sensors to be used for orientation of later Soyuz spacecraft. By the end of 1963 Vostok 9 was set to make a ten-day group flight with Vostok 8 in the late summer of 1964. Finally all further Vostok flights were cancelled in favor of the multi-manned Voskhod in February 1964.
  • 1965 April - Cancelled: Vostok 10. Prime Crew: Leonov. Backup Crew: Komarov. In the flight series originally planned in January-March 1963 this would have been flown by the end of 1963 and would have been an unmanned thirty day biosat flight. In the late 1963 - early 1964 series it was changed to a high altitude manned Vostok flight for extended scientific studies. Spacecraft would have been allowed to naturally decay to a re-entry after ten days. Purposes of these flights were to be: geophysical and astronomical research; photography of the solar corona; solar x-ray imagery; medical-biological research; detailed study of the effects of weightlessness on the human organism; dosimetry; and engineering tests of ion flow sensors to be used for orientation of later Soyuz spacecraft. All follow-on Vostok missions cancelled in Spring 1964.
  • June 1965 - Cancelled: Soyuz A-1. Prime Crew: Nikolayev, Demin. Backup Crew: Shonin, Kugno. During 1964, four crews were put in training for a manned circumlunar mission. The complex flight plan involved the automated docking of a rocket stage with a series of refuelling tankers in earth orbit. The Soyuz would then dock with the rocket stage and be accelerated on a loop around the moon. Nikolayev would have led the first crew to the moon in 1965. Instead delays in Soyuz led to the crash Voskhod program, and circumlunar Soyuz missions did not begin until 1967.
  • 1965 June - Cancelled: Vostok 11. Prime Crew: Komarov. Backup Crew: Beregovoi. Proposed Vostok flight to conduct extra-vehicular activity tests. The mission was first suggested as early as November 1962. The Vostok would be modified by having the ejection seat removed and an airlock built into the spacecraft. A braking rocket carried in the parachute lines would provide a soft landing (as was later used on Voskhod). The single cosmonaut would have conducted the first spacewalk in 1965. All follow-on Vostok missions cancelled in Spring 1964.
  • July 1965 - Cancelled: Soyuz A-2. Prime Crew: Bykovsky, Artyukhin. Backup Crew: Zaikin, Gulyayev. The planned second manned Soyuz circumlunar mission in 1965 would have been commanded by Bykovsky. The cosmonauts trained docking with the 9K and 11K rocket stages for months before the mission concept was dumped in August 1964.
  • August 1965 - Cancelled: Soyuz A-3. Prime Crew: Popovich, Ponomaryova. Backup Crew: Gorbatko, Kolodin. Popovich was to have been accompanied by female cosmonaut Ponomaryova in what would have been the first mixed crew crew flight to the moon in 1965. The program was cancelled in August 1964.
  • 1965 August - Cancelled: Vostok 12. Prime Crew: Beregovoi. Backup Crew: Komarov. Proposed Vostok flight to conduct extra-vehicular activity tests. The Vostok would be modified by having the ejection seat removed and an airlock built into the spacecraft. All follow-on Vostok missions cancelled in Spring 1964.
  • September 1965 - Cancelled: Soyuz A-4. Prime Crew: Beregovoi, Solovyova. Backup Crew: Shatalov, Zholobov. Titov, the second man in space, was to have commanded the fourth mission and second uni-sex mission around the moon in 1965. But his continued bad behavior resulted in his replacement by Beregovoi in July 1964. The project was cancelled completely a month later.
  • 1965 Winter - Cancelled: Apollo SA-11. From September 1962 NASA planned to fly four early manned Apollo spacecraft on Saturn I boosters. A key prerequisite for these flights was complete wringing out of the launch escape system.
  • 1966 Spring - Cancelled: Apollo SA-12. NASA originally planned to fly four early manned Apollo spacecraft on Saturn I boosters. The decision was made to conduct all Apollo CSM tests on the more powerful Saturn IB booster. These flights were cancelled in October 1963, before crews were selected. This series of four partial-system lightweight Apollos would have run from fall 1965 to the end of 1966, concurrent with the Gemini program.
  • 1966 April - Cancelled: Vostok 13. Prime Crew: Gorbatko. Proposed high altitude manned Vostok flight for extended scientific studies. Spacecraft would have been allowed to naturally decay to a re-entry after ten days. Purposes of these flights were to be: geophysical and astronomical research; photography of the solar corona; solar x-ray imagery; medical-biological research; detailed study of the effects of weightlessness on the human organism; dosimetry; and engineering tests of ion flow sensors to be used for orientation of later Soyuz spacecraft. All follow-on Vostok missions cancelled in Spring 1964.
  • 1966 Summer - Cancelled: Apollo SA-13. NASA originally planned to fly four early manned Apollo spacecraft on Saturn I boosters. The decision was made to conduct all Apollo CSM tests on the more powerful Saturn IB booster. These flights were cancelled in October 1963, before crews were selected. This series of four partial-system lightweight Apollos would have run from fall 1965 to the end of 1966, concurrent with the Gemini program.
  • 1966 June - Cancelled: Gemini 9A. Prime Crew: Bassett, See. Backup Crew: Cernan, Stafford. Elliot See and Charlie Bassett were the prime crew for Gemini 9. On February 28, 1966, they were flying in a NASA T-38 trainer to visit the McDonnell plant in St Louis, where their spacecraft was in assembly. See misjudged his landing approach, and in pulling up from the runway, hit Building 101 where the spacecraft was being assembled. Both astronauts were killed, and 14 persons on the ground were injured. As a result, the Gemini 9 backup crew became the prime crew, and all subsequent crew assignments were reshuffled. This ended up determining who would be the first man on the moon.…
  • 1966 June - Cancelled: Voskhod 3. Prime Crew: Shonin, Volynov. Backup Crew: Beregovoi, Shatalov. World-record 18-day space endurance mission, tasked primarily with testing ballistic missile detection equipment. Deferred just 15 days before launch in May 1966. Never formally cancelled, it just faded away in Brezhnev-era stagnation...
  • 1966 July - Cancelled: Dynasoar 3. Prime Crew: Wood. At the time the Dynasoar project was cancelled, the first manned single-orbit flight was planned for July 1966. The flight would have been devoted to demonstrating pilot control of the spacecraft and evaluation of the systems (this was to hve followed two unmanned flight tests). A nominal re-entry would be flown at a pitch angle of 36 degrees.
  • 1966 Fall - Cancelled: Apollo SA-14. NASA originally planned to fly four early manned Apollo spacecraft on Saturn I boosters. The decision was made to conduct all Apollo CSM tests on the more powerful Saturn IB booster. These flights were cancelled in October 1963, before crews were selected. This series of four partial-system lightweight Apollos would have run from fall 1965 to the end of 1966, concurrent with the Gemini program.
  • 1967 Autumn - Cancelled: Voskhod 4. Prime Crew: Beregovoi, Katys. Backup Crew: Demin, Shatalov. Planned second long-duration 20 day Voskhod flight. Cancelled in spring 1966 after near-disaster with Voskhod 2 and death of Korolev. A follow-on Voskhod 3V s/n 7 mission was also planned that would have conducted an artificial gravity experiment, unreeling a tether between the Voskhod spacecraft and the Block I final rocket stage.
  • 1966 Late - Cancelled: Dynasoar 4. Objectives of the second manned Dynasoar single-orbit flight were to demonstrate maneuver in orbit and during re-entry, and systems evaluation. Orbital attitude maneuvers would have been made to plus/minus 90 degrees in all axes, including visual reference checks. During re-entry control maneuvers would be made at pitch angles of from 10 to 50 degrees with a 3000 m altitude margin.
  • 1966 Late - Cancelled: Voskhod 5. Prime Crew: Ponomaryova, Solovyova. Backup Crew: Kuznetsova, Yerkina. Planned all-female ten day long-duration flight. Solovyova would have conducted the first female space walk. Cancelled in spring 1966, after death of Korolev, in order to concentrate on Soyuz and Lunar landing programs.
  • 1967 January 27 - Cancelled: Apollo 204. Prime Crew: Chaffee, Grissom, White. Backup Crew: McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart, Schirra, Eisele, Cunningham. The first manned flight of the Apollo CSM, the Apollo C category mission, was planned for the last quarter of 1966. Numerous problems with the Apollo Block I spacecraft resulted in a flight delay to February 1967. The crew of Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee, was killed in a fire while testing their capsule on the pad on 27 January 1967, still weeks away from launch. The designation AS-204 was used by NASA for the flight at the time; the designation Apollo 1 was applied retroactively at the request of Grissom's widow.
  • 1967 Early - Cancelled: Dynasoar 5. Objectives of the third manned Dynasoar single-orbit flight were to demonstrate maneuver in orbit and during re-entry, and systems evaluation. The pilot would control the transtage engine, maneuvering to change the altitude and inclination of the orbit. During re-entry control maneuvers would be made at pitch angles of from10 to 50 degrees and roll angles of plus to minus twenty degrees with a 1800 m altitude margin.
  • 1967 April - Cancelled: Apollo 205. Prime Crew: Cunningham, Eisele, Schirra. Backup Crew: Borman, Collins, Stafford. It was originally planned to make a second solo flight test of the Block I Apollo CSM on a Saturn IB. This flight was referred to by everyone outside of the astronaut office as AS-205 or CSM-014. This flight was finally seen as unnecessary; the decision to cancel it came on November 16 and was officially announced on December 22, 1966; the Schirra crew instead became, briefly, the backup crew to Apollo 1 (replacing the original backup crew of McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart). After the Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967, the Schirra crew was assigned to Apollo 7, the first manned flight test of the new Block II Apollo CSM-101.
  • 1967 April - Cancelled: Soyuz 2A. Prime Crew: Bykovsky, Khrunov, Yeliseyev. Backup Crew: Gorbatko, Kubasov, Nikolayev. The first manned Soyuz flights were an attempt at an 'all up' manned rendezvous, docking, and crew transfer spectacular (eventually accomplished by Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5). Komarov was the pilot for the Soyuz 1 active spacecraft, which would be launched first. Soyuz 2, with the crew of Bykovsky, Khrunov, and Yeliseyev would launch the following day, with Khrunov and Yeliseyev space-walking to Soyuz 1 and returning to earth with Komarov. Komarov's spacecraft developed serious problems after launch, including the failure of one of the spacecraft's solar panels to deploy. The Soyuz 2 crew were given the order to rendezvous with Soyuz 1 and to try during the planned EVA to unfold the undeployed solar panel. But the launch of Soyuz 2 was cancelled due to heavy rain at the cosmodrome. Low on power and battery reserves, Komarov made an attempt to land the following day. Parachute failure led to the crash of Soyuz 1 and the death of Komarov. After the disaster the Soyuz 2 spacecraft was checked, and the parachute system had the same technical failure. If Soyuz 2 had launched, the docking may have been successful, but then both spacecraft would have crashed on landing, killing four cosmonauts instead of one.
  • 1967 Spring - Cancelled: Dynasoar 6. Objectives of the fourth manned Dynasoar single-orbit flight were to demonstrate maneuver in orbit and during re-entry, and systems evaluation. In orbit subsystems would have been evaluated that were not covered in the previous flight, and alternate and back-up control modes would be checked. During re-entry dynamic stability and aerothermal maneuver would be demonstrated using pitch and roll pulses of 2 to 5 degrees per second.
  • 1967 Summer - Cancelled: Dynasoar 7. Objectives of the fifth manned Dynasoar single-orbit flight were to demonstrate reuse of a minimally-refurbished spacecraft flown on an earlier mission. On orbit use of visual references to control attitude and tests of control and navigation systems would be conducted. During re-entry performance, dynamic stability, and aerothermal maneuver using the reused glider would be checked.
  • 1967 August - Cancelled: Apollo 207. Prime Crew: McDivitt, Schweickart, Scott. Backup Crew: Cernan, Stafford, Young. Before the Apollo 1 fire, it was planned that McDivitt's crew would conduct the Apollo D mission - a first manned test in earth orbit of the Lunar Module. Separate Saturn IB launches would put Apollo Block II CSM 101 / AS-207 and Lunar Module LM-2 / AS-208 into earth orbit. The crew would then rendezvous and dock with the lunar module and put it through its paces. After the fire, it was decided to launch the mission on a single Saturn V as Apollo 9. CSM-101 instead would be used to accomplish the Apollo C mission that Grissom's crew was to have flown.

    When Schirra's Apollo 2 / AS-205 mission was cancelled in November 1966, the booster went to McDivitt's mission, and it was called AS (or Apollo) 205/208, or AS-258 (before Schirra's cancellation, McDivitt's was AS-278, because it used Saturn IB boosters 207 and 208).

  • 1967 Fall - Cancelled: Dynasoar 8. Objectives of the sixth manned Dynasoar single-orbit flight were to demonstrate maneuver in orbit and during re-entry, and a precision recovery. The use of aerodynamic range control during an early re-entry would be tested, as well as the dynamic stability and aerothermal maneuver in pitch, yaw, and roll during re-entry.
  • 1967 December - Cancelled: Apollo 503. Prime Crew: Borman, Collins, Anders. Backup Crew: Conrad, Williams Clifton, Gordon. The third Apollo flight announced on December 22, 1966, was the Apollo E mission - a test of the Apollo lunar module in high earth orbit. The Borman crew would be launched aboard a Saturn V, and put into a very high earth orbit. In mid-1968 Collins had to leave the crew due to a medical problem, and was replaced by Lovell. By late 1968, Apollo 7 had flown the Apollo C mission, but delays with the lunar module meant that neither the D or E profile missions could be flown. In order to beat the Russians around the moon, it was decided that the E mission would be cancelled and instead Borman's crew would fly an Apollo CSM into lunar orbit. This became Apollo 8.
  • 1967 December - Cancelled: Dynasoar 9. The first multi-orbit flight and seventh manned flight of the series would have the objectives to demonstrate maneuver in orbit and during re-entry, and a precision recovery. The apogee of the orbit would be adjusted using the transtage engine. During re-entry sustained flight would be made near the thermal limits of the spacecraft, at pitch angles of 40 degrees and roll angles of plus/minus 30 degrees.
  • 1968 Early - Cancelled: Dynasoar 10. The eighth manned flight, second multi-orbit flight, and final flight of the Dynasoar program would have the objectives to demonstrate maneuver in orbit and during re-entry, and a precision recovery. The inclination of the orbit would be adjusted three degrees using the transtage engine. During re-entry sustained flight would be made near the thermal limits of the spacecraft demonstrating an 1850 km cross-range capability.
  • 1969 Early - Cancelled: Soyuz VI Flight 1. Prime Crew: Kolesnikov, Popovich. Backup Crew: Belousov, Gubarev. The planned first flight of the Soyuz VI combat spacecraft was planned for early 1969, beating America's equivalent Manned Orbiting Lab. The project was cancelled in 1968 in favour of Mishin's OIS (in turn cancelled in 1970) and Chelomei's Almaz stations.
  • 1969 March - Cancelled: Soyuz 7K-L1 mission 1. Prime Crew: Leonov, Makarov. Backup Crew: Kuklin. Planned first manned circumnavigation of the moon. On 24 September 1968 Bykovskiy/Rukavishnikov were the prime candidates for the first Soviet circumlunar flight. Just three days later, when the crews were named, Leonov was selected as commander of the first mission, with Makarov as the flight engineer. Soviet plans to beat America around the moon were upstaged by the sudden decision to fly Apollo 8 into lunar orbit over Christmas 1968. Given problems with obtaining a trouble-free Soyuz 7K-L1 unmanned flight, it would probably not have been possible to make a Soviet equivalent flight until March 1969. It was decided after the American success to cancel any 'second place' Soviet manned circumlunar flights.
  • 1969 May - Cancelled: Soyuz 7K-L1 mission 2. Prime Crew: Bykovsky, Rukavishnikov. Backup Crew: Klimuk. Planned second Soviet circumlunar flight. Cancelled after the success of the American Apollo 8. On 24 September 1968 Bykovskiy/Rukavishnikov were the prime candidates for the first Soviet circumlunar flight. When the crews were named, they had been bumped to the second flight.
  • April-May 1969 - Cancelled: Soyuz s/n 14. Prime Crew: Kubasov, Shonin. As of February 1969 Soyuz s/n 14 was set for a solo seven day mission in April-May 1969. The spacecraft and crew were reassigned to the three-spacecraft Soyuz 6/7/8 mission and flew as Soyuz 6.
  • 1969 July - Cancelled: Soyuz 7K-L1 mission 3. Prime Crew: Popovich, Sevastyanov. Backup Crew: Voloshin. Planned third and final Russian circumlunar flight. On 24 September 1968 Popovich/Makarov were the prime candidates for the third Soviet circumlunar flight. When the crews were named, Makarov was moved to the first crew and Sevastyanov was named Popovich's flight engineer.
  • August-September 1969 - Cancelled: Soyuz s/n 15+16. Prime Crew: Filipchenko, Gorbatko, Volkov, Shatalov, Yeliseyev. As of February 1969 Soyuz s/n 15 and 16 were set for a mission with a total of 5 cosmonauts aboard in August-September 1969. They would have remained docked together for three days. These spacecraft and crews were reassigned to the three-spacecraft Soyuz 6/7/8 mission and flew as Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8.
  • November 1969 - Cancelled: Soyuz n 17. Prime Crew: Grechko, Kuklin. Would have simulated the passive LK lunar lander in an earth-orbit test of the Kontakt docking system. These would have been 15 to 16 day missions to demonstrate both the new SZhO life support system for the L3, to conduct rendezvous and docking operations using the L3's Kontakt system, and to conduct EVA transfer of one cosmonaut.
  • November 1969 - Cancelled: Soyuz n 18. Prime Crew: Khrunov, Yeliseyev. The Kontakt system designed for the lunar orbit rendezvous and docking of the LOK lunar orbiter and LK lunar lander was to be mounted on two Soyuz spacecraft and tested in earth orbit. The first Kontakt crews were established in February 1969. By April 1969, two separate docking missions were to be executed after the triple Soyuz-6/7/8 mission. The first crew would have piloted the active spacecraft, simulating the LOK. The second launch would have launched a passive spacecraft, simulating the LK. These would have been 15 to 16 day missions to demonstrate both the new SZhO life support system for the L3, to conduct rendezvous and docking operations using the L3's Kontakt system, and to conduct EVA transfer of one cosmonaut.
  • February-March 1970 - Cancelled: Soyuz n 19. Prime Crew: Fartushny, Shatalov. The active spacecraft in the second planned test of the Kontakt lunar rendezvous/docking system. These would have been 15 to 16 day missions to demonstrate both the new SZhO life support system for the L3, to conduct rendezvous and docking operations using the L3's Kontakt system, and to conduct EVA transfer of one cosmonaut.
  • February-March 1970 - Cancelled: Soyuz n 20. Prime Crew: Patsayev, Shonin, Yazdovsky. The passive spacecraft in the second planned test of the Kontakt lunar rendezvous/docking system. One or two of the crew would have spacewalked to the Soyuz 11 Kontakt and returned in the other spacecraft. These would have been 15 to 16 day missions to demonstrate both the new SZhO life support system for the L3, to conduct rendezvous and docking operations using the L3's Kontakt system, and to conduct EVA transfer of one cosmonaut.
  • 1972 Early - Cancelled: Soyuz sn 18. Prime Crew: Filipchenko, Grechko. Backup Crew: Lazarev, Makarov. Soyuz s/n 18 would have been the active spacecraft of the first dual-spacecraft test of the Kontakt docking system. A crew transfer using the Krechet spacesuit would presumably have taken place.
  • 1972 Early - Cancelled: Soyuz sn 19. Prime Crew: Lazarev, Makarov. Backup Crew: Vorobyov, Yazdovsky. Soyuz s/n 19 was to have been equipped with the passive Kontakt rendezvous/docking system of the LK lunar lander. It would have been the docking target for Soyuz s/n 18. A crew transfer using the Krechet spacesuit would presumably have taken place.
  • 1972 Early - Cancelled: MOL 3. Prime Crew: Taylor, Crews. At the time of the cancellation of the MOL program in June 1969, the first manned mission was planned for early 1972. A crew of two would have spent thirty days in orbit operating sophisticated military reconnaisance equipment and other experiments. Walt Williams told Michael Cassutt that Jim Taylor would have commanded the first MOL flight, and given Williams's background in flight test operations, Mercury. and Gemini, that call was pretty much his at that time. As for the pilot, Al Crews, a holdover from the Dynasoar program, is considered by Cassutt as good a guess as any.
  • 1972 Early - Cancelled: Soyuz sn 20. Prime Crew: Vorobyov, Yazdovsky. Backup Crew: Yakovlelv, Porvatkin. Soyuz s/n 20 would have been the active spacecraft of the second dual launch to test the Kontakt lunar orbit rendezvous system. A crew transfer using the Krechet spacesuit would presumably have taken place.
  • 1972 Early - Cancelled: Soyuz sn 21. Prime Crew: Yakovlelv, Porvatkin. Backup Crew: Kovalyonok, Isakov. Soyuz s/n 21 equipped with the passive Kontakt rendezvous/docking system of the LK lunar lander. Would have served as a docking target for Soyuz s/n 20 . A crew transfer using the Krechet spacesuit would presumably have taken place.

  • 1972 - Cancelled: Soyuz sn 22. Prime Crew: Kovalyonok, Isakov. Backup Crew: Shcheglov. Soyuz s/n 22 would have been the active spacecraft of the second dual launch to test the Kontakt lunar orbit rendezvous system. A crew transfer using the Krechet spacesuit would presumably have taken place.
  • 1972 - Cancelled: Soyuz sn 23. Prime Crew: Shcheglov. Soyuz s/n 23 would have been equipped with the passive Kontakt rendezvous/docking system of the LK lunar lander. The spacecraft would have served as a docking target for Soyuz s/n 22. A crew transfer using the Krechet spacesuit would presumably have taken place. In Kamanin's diary, the name of the second crewmember is illegible.
  • 1972 June 1 - Cancelled: Soviet Lunar Landing. The Russians were never able to have enough success with the N1 booster to have a serious schedule for the first Soviet lunar landing. In January 1969, before the first N1 launch, it was not expected that a Soviet landing would take place until 1972 at the earliest. In such circumstances only a disaster leading to cancellation of the Apollo program would allow the Russians to be first to the moon. After the explosions of the first two N1 rockets, and the success of Apollo 11, Russian engineering efforts were diverted into crash development of the Salyut space station in order to beat the American Skylab. Cosmonauts trained for L3 lunar landing missions until October 1973, when the last training group was dissolved. By that time actual manned flight of the original single-launch L3 LOK/LK spacecraft to the moon had been abandoned. Instead work was underway on the N1F-L3M, a twin launch scenario that would put the L3M lander on the surface in 1978 for extended operations, and eventually, a lunar base. This in turn was cancelled with the entire N1 program in 1974.
  • 1972 Late - Cancelled: MOL 4. Planned date of second manned MOL mission at time of the program cancellation.
  • 1973 Early - Cancelled: Soyuz Kontakt A. Prime Crew: Filipchenko, Gorbatko. Backup Crew: Vorobyov, Yazdovsky. Final crews selected for a dual Soyuz mission in Earth orbit to test the Kontakt docking system to be used on the lunar landing LOK and LK spacecraft. The Kontakt-A Soyuz would have been the active spacecraft, simulating the LOK lunar orbiter.
  • 1973 Early - Cancelled: Soyuz Kontakt P. Prime Crew: Lazarev, Makarov. Backup Crew: Fartushny, Klimuk. Final crews selected for a dual Soyuz mission in Earth orbit to test the Kontakt docking system to be used on the lunar landing LOK and LK spacecraft. The Kontakt-P Soyuz would have been the passive spacecraft, simulating the LK lunar lander.
  • 1973 July - Cancelled: Apollo 18. Prime Crew: Gordon, Brand, Schmitt. Support Crew: Allen, Henize, Parker. Apollo 18 was originally planned in July 1969 to land in the moon's Schroter's Valley, a riverlike channel-way. The original February 1972 landing date was extended when NASA cancelled the Apollo 20 mission in January 1970. Later in the planning process the most likely landing site was the crater Gassendi. Finally NASA cancelled Apollo 18 and 19 on 2 September 1970 because of congressional cuts in FY 1971 NASA appropriations. There was also a feeling after the Apollo 13 emergency that NASA risked having its entire manned space program cancelled if a crew was lost on another Apollo mission. Total savings of cancelling the two missions (since the hardware was already built and the NASA staff had to stay in place for the Skylab program) was only $42.1 million. Before the cancellation, Schmitt was pressing for a more ambitious landing in Tycho or the lunar farside. It seems Copernicus, the final program goal as previously set for Apollos 19 and 20, was also considered before the cancellation. Pressure from the scientific community resulted in geologist Schmitt flying on Apollo 17, the last lunar mission, bumping Joe Engle from the lunar module pilot slot.
  • 1973 - Cancelled: MOL 5. Planned date of third manned MOL mission at time of the program cancellation.
  • 1973 September - Cancelled: Skylab Rescue. Prime Crew: Brand, Lind. Influenced by the stranded Skylab crew portrayed in the book and movie 'Marooned', NASA provided a crew rescue capability for the only time in its history. A kit was developed to fit out an Apollo command module with a total of five crew couches. In the event a Skylab crew developed trouble with its Apollo CSM return craft, a rescue CSM would be prepared and launched to rendezvous with the station. It would dock with the spare second side docking port of the Skylab docking module. During Skylab 3, one of the thruster quads of the Apollo service module developed leaks. When the same problem developed with a second quad, the possibility existed that the spacecraft would not be maneuverable. Preparation work began to fit out a rescue CSM, and astronauts Vance Brand and Don Lind began preparations to rescue astronauts Bean, Garriott, and Lousma aboard the station. However the problem was localized, work arounds were developed, and the first space rescue mission was not necessary. The Skylab 3 crew returned successfully in their own Apollo CSM at the end of their 59 day mission.
  • 1973 December - Cancelled: Apollo 19. Prime Crew: Haise, Pogue, Carr. Support Crew: England, Hartsfield, Peterson. Apollo 19 was originally planned to land in the Hyginus Rille region, which would allow study of lunar linear rilles and craters.The original July 1972 landing date was extended when NASA cancelled the Apollo 20 mission in January 1970. Later planning indicated Copernicus as the most likely landing site for Apollo 19. Finally NASA cancelled Apollo 18 and 19 on 2 September 1970 because of congressional cuts in FY 1971 NASA appropriations.
  • 1974 April - Cancelled: Skylab 5. Prime Crew: Brand, Lind, Lenoir. After completion of the three programmed Skylab flights, NASA considered using the remaining backup Saturn IB and Apollo CSM to fly a fourth manned mission to Skylab. It would have been a short 20 day mission - the CSM systems would not have been powered down. Main objective would be to conduct some new scientific experiments and boost Skylab into a higher orbit for later use by the shuttle. The marginal cost of such a mission would have been incredibly low; but NASA was confident that Skylab would stay in orbit until shuttle flights began in 1978 - 1979. But the shuttle was delayed, and faster atmospheric decay than expected resulted in Skylab crashing to earth before the first shuttle mission was flown.
  • 1974 - Cancelled: MOL 6. Prime Crew: Truly, Crippen. Planned date of fourth manned MOL mission at time of the program cancellation. From the beginning of the project, the Navy had demanded that this be an all-Navy crew, which would limit the crew to Truly, with either Overmeyer or Crippen as co-pilot.
  • 1974 July - Cancelled: Apollo 20. Prime Crew: Roosa, Lind, Lousma. Apollo 20 was originally planned in July 1969 to land in Crater Copernicus, a spectacular large crater impact area. Later Copernicus was assigned to Apollo 19, and the preferred landing site for Apollo 20 was the Marius Hills, or, if the operational constraints were relaxed, the bright crater Tycho. The planned December 1972 flight was cancelled on January 4, 1970, before any crew assignments were made. Work was stopped on LM-14; CSM-115A was studied for use on a second Skylab mission; Saturn V 515 was earmarked for use on Skylab. The remaining Apollo missions were stretched out to six-month intervals, which would have placed the Apollo 20 flight in 1974 had it not been cancelled. No crew was formally selected. In the normal three-mission-ahead crew rotation, a Conrad-Weitz-Lousma would have been named. Instead they were transferred to the Skylab program. At one time it was considered possible that Mitchell would command the crew in place of Conrad. But it has also been stated that since both Conrad and Mitchell had been on the lunar surface, Stuart Roosa would have been commander. Astronaut Lind was considered by Slayton as next in line for a chance to land as lunar module pilot. So the most likely crew would have been Roosa (Commander); Lind (Lunar Module Pilot); and Lousma (Command Module Pilot).
  • 1975 January 1 - Cancelled: Skylab B. NASA realized that after the completion of the Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP programs there would still be significant Apollo surplus hardware. This amounted to two Saturn V and three Saturn IB boosters; one Skylab space station, three Apollo CSM's and two Lunar Modules. After many iterations NASA considered use of these assets for a second Skylab station in May 1973. A range of options were considered. Saturn V SA-515 would boost the backup Skylab station into orbit somewhere between January 1975 and April 1976. It would serve as a space station for Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft in the context of the Apollo ASTP mission. The Advanced or International Skylab variants proposed use of Saturn V SA-514 to launch a second workshop module and international payloads. This station would be serviced first by Apollo and Soyuz, then by the space shuttle. Using the existing hardware, these options would cost anywhere from $ 220 to $ 650 million. But funds were not forthcoming. The decision was taken to mothball surplus hardware in August 1973. In December 1976, the boosters and spacecraft were handed over to museums. The opportunity to launch an International Space Station, at a tenth of the cost and twenty years earlier, was lost.
  • 1975 - Cancelled: MOL 7. Planned date of fifth manned MOL mission. This mission was already deleted from the FY 1970 budget request in April 1969, two months before the entire project was cancelled.
  • 1977 July - Cancelled: Soyuz 25A. Prime Crew: Berezovoi, Lisun. Backup Crew: Kozelsky, Preobrazhensky. A Soyuz 25 mission to the Salyut 5 space station with the crew of Berzovoi and Lisun was to have followed Soyuz 24. However during the four months it took to prepare the Soyuz, Salyut 5 consumed higher than expected fuel in maintaining the station's orientation. As a result, in the opinion of Glushko (Chief Designer of the Soyuz), the fuel reserves were 70 kg below those required for the planned 14 day mission. He therefore refused to ready another Soyuz for the mission. The flight was cancelled over the objections of Chelomei. The spacecraft allocated for Soyuz-25 flew as Soyuz 30 to Glushko's civilian Salyut station.
  • 1977 Late - Cancelled: Soyuz 26A. Prime Crew: Dzhanibekov, Kolodin. Backup Crew: Lazarev, Makarov. Planned mission to Salyut 6 that would make first docking with rear docking port and be the first crew to swap spacecraft and return in the spacecraft that ferried the Soyuz 25 crew. But Soyuz 25 failed to dock with Salyut 6. One result of the investigation of the failure of the mission was that all future crews would have to have at least one cosmonaut with previous space flight experience. Kolodin was replaced by Makarov, and Soyuz 26 as flown had quite a different profile. Kolodin never flew in space.
  • 1978 March 30 - Cancelled: Cosmos 997. Given the on-pad explosion of the LVI-2 launch attempt, plans to crew the upper VA re-entry capsule in the next test was abandoned. LVI-3 (VA's 102P and 102L / Cosmos 997 and Cosmos 998) was launched unmanned four months behind the original schedule. Both capsules were recovered after one orbit. One source indicates that one of the capsules was 009P, on its third launch and second flight to orbit. This was said to have demonstrated the multiple re-entry capability of the heat shield and the first planned reuse of a spacecraft (Gemini 2 was refurbished and reflown as MOL-1 in the 1960's, but was not designed for that purpose).
  • 1979 April 20 - Cancelled: TKS VA s/n 008. On 20 April 1979 LVI-4 VA (VA s/n 103 and s/n 008) was awaiting launch. The booster ignited, but then shut down on the pad. This triggered the launch escape system, which pulled the top capsule away from the booster. The parachute system failed and the capsule crashed to the ground. The lower capsule remained in the rocket. The top capsule was to have been manned, but the inability to demonstrate two consecutive failure-free launches of the Proton/TKS-VA combination made that (luckily) impossible.
  • 1979 May 23 - Cancelled: Cosmos 1100. The Proton launch vehicle that shut down on the original LVI-4 launch attempt was undamaged, and just a month later, with a switch of payload, LVI-4 was orbited as Cosmos 1100 and 1101. The pair launched were the 102P/102L twins from LVI-3. One capsule failed when the automatic system suffered an electrical distribution failure and it did not land correctly, spending two orbits in space, while the other landed as planned after one orbit. The launch again successfully demonstrated the reusability of the VA capsule. Plans to launch the upper capsule manned were scrubbed due to the inability to get two consecutive failure-free launches of the Proton/TKS-VA.
  • 1979 Late - Cancelled: STS-2A. Prime Crew: Haise, Lousma. In late 1977 shuttle orbital missions were due to start in 1979. The orbiting Skylab space station was not expected to decay until 1983. A plan to save Skylab was developed. In Phase 1a small Skylab Reboost Module would be docked to Skylab on the second Shuttle flight. This would boost the station to a higher orbit for later use, and also provide the capability of deorbiting the station into empty ocean if the decision was taken to abandon it. Astronauts Haise and Lousma were selected for this flight, and development of the reboost module was begun. But it was not to be. Aside from intense resistance from some factions at NASA headquarters, higher solar activity resulted in heavier than predicted drag on Skylab. The shuttle program also was hit with delays. Before the first shuttle flew, Skylab burned up in the atmosphere and crashed into the Australian outback on July 11, 1979.
  • 1981 Beginning of - Cancelled: TKS-1. Prime Crew: Berezovoi, Glazkov, Makrushin. Backup Crew: Kozelsky, Artyukhin, Romanov. Planned first test manned flight of the TKS large ferry craft. Would have docked with the Almaz OPS 4 military space station. Flight cancelled with the rest of the Almaz program in 1981. The spacecraft was instead flown unmanned to Salyut 6 as Cosmos 1267.
  • 1981 Late - Cancelled: TKS-3. Prime Crew: Sarafanov, Preobrazhensky, Yuyukov. Backup Crew: Vasyutin, Rozhdestvensky, Grechanik. Third TKS flight that would have docked with the cancelled Almaz OPS 4 military space station. The spacecraft was instead flown unmanned to Salyut 7 as Cosmos 1686. For that mission the VA reentry capsule was retained but stripped of its heat shield and all recovery equpment. In their place military optical test sensors (infrared telescope and Ozon spectrometer) were installed.
  • During 1982 - Cancelled: Salyut 7/TKS-2. Prime Crew: Glazkov, Makrushin, Stepanov Eduard. Backup Crew: Artyukhin, Yuyukov, Berezovoi. Following the cancellation of the Almaz military station it was still planned that two of the TKS ferries would be flown manned to Salyut stations. In September/October 1979 three crews were formed for flights TKS-2 and TKS-3. On 20-28 November 1979 GKNII conduced state ground trials test of the TKS using two crews. Many problems were uncovered requiring rework. But in December 1981 Ustinov finally killed Chelomei's plans for manned TKS flights. The TKS training group was dissolved and TKS-2 flew unmanned to Salyut 7 as Cosmos 1443.
  • 1982 First half - Cancelled: Soyuz Almaz 4. Prime Crew: Malyshev, Laveykin. Planned Soyuz flight to a dock with the Almaz OPS 4 space station. The mission was cancelled together with the Almaz program in 1981.
  • During 1983 - Cancelled: Salyut 7/TKS-3. Prime Crew: Sarafanov, Romanov, Preobrazhensky. Backup Crew: Artyukhin, Yuyukov, Berezovoi. Planned second manned flight of TKS ferry to the Salyut 7 space station. The crews were assigned in September/October 1979. But in December 1981 Ustinov finally killed Chelomei's plans for manned TKS flights. The TKS training group was dissolved and TKS-3 flew unmanned to Salyut 7 as Cosmos 1686.
  • 1984 August - Cancelled: STS-41-F. Prime Crew: Bobko, Williams Donald, Seddon, Griggs, Hoffman. Canceled after the STS-10 launch abort required reshuffling of the shuttle schedule. Planned shuttle mission for deployment of commercial communications satellites. The STS-41F payload was added to STS-41D.Officially "cancelled due to payload delays".
  • 1985 March - Cancelled: Soyuz T-13A. Prime Crew: Savinykh, Vasyutin, Volkov Aleksandr. Backup Crew: Aleksandrov, Saley, Viktorenko. In 1982 a cosmonaut training group was formed again to perhaps fly the TKS and also to operate the military experiments aboard TKS-3 after it had docked with Salyut 7. This was changed to an unmanned launch of TKS-3 to be followed by delivery of three-man crews to Salyut to operate the military experiments aboard. Salyut 7 problems resulted in a complete breakdown of the TKS-3 plans. The first crew was bumped and instead a repair crew of Dzhanibekov and Savinykh was launched aboard Soyuz T-13 on 6 June 1985. This first 'TKS' crew was only completed with the launch to Salyut of Soyuz T-14 with Grechko, Vasyutin, and Volkov aboard on 17 September 1985. Grechko returned with Dzhanibekov aboard Soyuz T-13 on 26 September, clearing the aft port of Salyut for the TKS. For almost two months the crew of Vasyutin, Savinykh, and Volkov conducted military experiments. However Vasyutin became sick and the crew returned prematurely on 21 November 1985, leaving the station unmanned.

  • 1985 November - Cancelled: STS-51-H. Planned EOM-1/2 shuttle mission. Cancelled due to payload delays.
  • 1986 June - Cancelled: Soyuz T-15B. Prime Crew: Aleksandrov, Saley, Viktorenko. Backup Crew: Moskalenko, Serebrov, Solovyov. Planned second crew to operate TKS-3 military experiments aboard Salyut 7. These had been left uncompleted with the early return of the EO-4-2 crew due to Vasyutin's illness. The new crew would have been shuttled to the station aboard a Soyuz-T spacecraft. Salyut 7 was moved to a higher orbit after the departure of the TKS-3 first crew to await the second crew, but then control of the station was lost. There were plans to return it aboard Buran for inspection, but first flight of the spaceplane was delayed. Salyut 7 and Cosmos 1686 burned up in the atmosphere together in a fiery show over Argentina on February 7, 1991.
  • 1986 September - Cancelled: Soyuz T-15C. Prime Crew: Dobrokvashina, Ivanova, Savitskaya. Backup Crew: Viktorenko, Aleksandrov, Solovyov. To have docked with Mir. Cancelled all-female flight to be launched on International Woman's Day. Breakdown of Salyut 7, exhaustion of stock of Soyuz T spacecraft, and official resistance led to cancellation of the mission. Officially cancelled due to birth of Savitskaya's baby. No female cosmonauts would be in training again until a decade later.
  • 1986 September - Cancelled: STS-62-B. Prime Crew: Roberts. Planned Department of Defense shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
  • 1986 November - Cancelled: STS-61-L. Prime Crew: Konrad. Backup Crew: Cunningham Stephen. Planned shuttle mission for deployment of commercial communications satellites. Would have launched the first American journalist in space from Launch Complex 39B. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
  • 1986 December - Cancelled: STS-71-B. Prime Crew: Jones Charles. Planned shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
  • 1987 January - Cancelled: STS-71-A. Prime Crew: Nordsieck. Planned Astro-2 shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
  • 1987 January - Cancelled: STS-71-C. Prime Crew: Longhurst. Backup Crew: Holmes. Planned shuttle mission for deployment of commercial communications satellites. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
  • 1987 February - Cancelled: STS-71-D. Prime Crew: Wood Robert. Backup Crew: Walker. Planned shuttle mission for deployment of commercial communications satellites. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
  • 1987 March - Cancelled: STS-71-F. Prime Crew: MacLean. Backup Crew: Tryggvason. Planned shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
  • Middle of 1987 - Cancelled: Soyuz-Almaz-T-1. The bizarre deaths of Chelomei and Ustinov within days of each other in December 1984 opened the way for the Almaz-T military space station program to be publicly resumed. It was planned that the man-tended station would be periodically visited for refuelling and repair by Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. A small group of cosmonauts was put into training for Soyuz flights to the man-tended Almaz-T. In the second half of 1986 the first Almaz-T s/n 303 was readied for launch. General V V Favorskiy ordered it to be completed and launched with a full-up lab module in place of trials equipment. Unfortunately the Proton second stage exploded on the way to orbit on 29 November 1986. At the beginning of 1987 it was decided not to man the next Almaz-T, instead operate it in a fully automatic mode. Thus was the final Almaz cosmonaut training group disbanded.
  • 1987 August - Cancelled: STS-71-M. Prime Crew: Nordsieck. Planned Astro-3 shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
  • 1988 February - Cancelled: STS-81-G. Prime Crew: Mohri, Mukai. Backup Crew: Doi. Planned Spacelab-J shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
  • 1988 July - Cancelled: STS-81-M. Prime Crew: Hughes-Fulford. Planned SLS-2 shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
  • 1988 September - Cancelled: STS-51-K. Planned Spacelab-D1 shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster. No crew selected; renamed STS-61A
  • 1991 August - Cancelled: Soyuz TM-13A. Prime Crew: Kaleri, Viehboeck, Volkov Aleksandr. Backup Crew: Avdeyev, Lothaller, Viktorenko. Soyuz TM-13 and TM-14 crews were reshuffled extensively due to commercial considerations and necessity of flying a Kazakh cosmonaut. This was the original crew assignment. Kaleri and Avdeyev were replaced by Kazakh researchers in the final crew.
  • 1991 End - Cancelled: Soyuz TM-14A. Prime Crew: Aubakirov, Avdeyev, Viktorenko. Backup Crew: Musabayev, Polishchuk, Solovyov. Soyuz TM-13 and TM-14 crews were reshuffled extensively due to commercial seat bookings by Austria and Germany and the necessity of flying a Kazakh-born cosmonaut as part of the Baikonur rental agreement. This was the original crew assignment. The Kazakh researchers were moved to the earlier Soyuz TM-13 flight.
  • 1991 December - Cancelled: Soyuz Buran Support. Prime Crew: Bachurin, Ivanchenkov. Backup Crew: Borodai, Balandin. Planned Soyuz flight to Mir. Main purpose was to provide spaceflight experience to Bachurin and Borodai, who had been selected as back-up crew of the first manned Buran flight (the original back-up crew of Levchenko and Shchukin both died in 1988). Cancelled in cut-backs after fall of the Soviet Union.
  • 1991 End - Cancelled: Soyuz TM-14B. Prime Crew: Korzun, Aleksandrov, Aubakirov. Backup Crew: Tsibliyev, Laveykin, Musabayev. Soyuz TM-13 and TM-14 crews were reshuffled extensively due to commercial seat bookings by Austria and Germany and the necessity of flying a Kazakh-born cosmonaut as part of the Baikonur rental agreement. This was the second crew assignment. The Kazakh researchers were moved to the earlier Soyuz TM-13 flight and paying German researchers took their place in the final crew.
  • 1994 Late or Early 1995 - Cancelled: Buran 5. Prime Crew: Volk, Tolboyev. Backup Crew: Zabolotski, Sultanov. Buran Flight 5 (3K1) would have been the first flight of the third orbiter. It would be the first manned Buran flight; the third orbiter was the first outfitted with life support systems and ejection seats. Two cosmonauts would deliver the 37KBI module to Mir, using the Buran manipulator arm to dock it to the station's Kristall module. Final crew selection had still not been made at the time the program was cancelled. The original crew was Volk and Stankiavicius, with Levchenko and Shchukin as back-ups. Both Levchenko and Shchukin died in 1988; Bachurin and Borodai were selected as the new back-up crew. By July 1992 the Soviet Air Force and NPO Energia were still arguing about the final crew composition. The Air Force wanted all test pilot crews (those indicated) while Energia wanted to include a flight engineer in each crew. The Buran project was finally cancelled in June 1993 when further funding was deleted from the Russian space budget.
  • 2003 March 1 - Cancelled: STS-114A. Prime Crew: Collins Eileen, Kelly, Noguchi, Robinson, Malenchenko, Kaleri, Lu. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. STS-114 was to have been the seventeenth station flight (ULF1). It would have carried the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module and carried out a crew rotation (replacing the ISS EO-6 crew of Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit with the Malenchenko, Kaleri, and Lu). Instead the EO-6 crew would return in May aboard the Soyuz TMA-1 lifeboat already docked to the station, being replaced by a new two-man emergency crew of Malenchenko and Lu (launched aboard Soyuz TMA-2).

    The mission was finally flown in July 2005 with Andrew Thomas, Lawrence, and Camarda flying instead of Malenchenko and Lu. No crew change was accomplished; instead the primary objective was to verify fixes to the shuttle external tank and test heat shield examination and repair techniques. Station resupply was accomplished, but was secondary.

  • 2003 April 18 - Cancelled: Soyuz TMA-2A. Prime Crew: Padalka, Duque, Kotov. Soyuz TMA-2 was originally to switch lifeboats on the International Space Station. The crew would have returned to earth in the Soyuz TMA-1 already docked to the station. The presence of Kotov in the third seat of the spacecraft was not confirmed up to the time of the Columbia disaster. After the loss of Columbia, and the grounding of the remaining shuttles, it was decided instead that the EO-6 crew (Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit) aboard the station would return in Soyuz TMA-1. Soyuz TMA-2 would be instead flown by a two-man skeleton crew (Malenchenko and Lu) to keep the station alive until shuttle flights could resume.
  • 2003 May 23 - Cancelled: STS-115A. Prime Crew: Jett, Ferguson, Tanner, Burbank, MacLean, Stefanyshyn-Piper. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. STS-115 was to have flown a ten-day ISS Assembly mission ISS-12A. It would have delivered the second left-side truss segment (ITS P3/P4); a solar array; and batteries. The crew would first have attached the P3/P4 Truss to the first port truss segment (P1 Truss). Then they would have deployed solar array set 2A and 4A, activated and checked out the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), and deployed the P4 Truss radiator. The mission was finally flown in September 2006 .
  • 2003 July 24 - Cancelled: STS-116A. Prime Crew: Wilcutt, Oefelein, Curbeam, Fuglesang, Foale, McArthur, Tokarev. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. STS-116 was to have flown ISS Assembly mission ISS-12A.1. It would have delivered the third left-side truss segment (ITS P5), logistics and supplies aboard a Spacehab single cargo module. The crew would have attached the P5 truss segment to the P3/P4 second port truss segment; deactivated and retracted the P6 Truss Channel 4B (port-side) solar array; reconfigured station power from the 2A and 4A solar arrays; and delivered the EO-8 Expedition Eight crew (Foale, McArthur, Tokarev) to the station and returned the EO-7 Expedition Seven crew (Malenchenko, Kaleri, and Lu) to Earth. Instead Malenchenko and Lu were to have been delivered to the ISS by Soyuz TMA-2 and Foale and Kaleri would make up the Soyuz TMA-3 crew that would replace them.
  • 2003 October 2 - Cancelled: STS-117A. Prime Crew: Sturckow, Polansky, Reilly, Mastracchio, Higginbotham, Forrester. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. STS-117 was to have flown ISS Assembly mission ISS-13A. It would have delivered the second right-side truss segment (ITS S3/S4) and a solar array set and batteries. The crew would have attached the S3/S4 Truss to the first starboard truss, the S1, along with the third set of solar arrays. They then would have delivered four external attachment sites for truss-mounted exterior experiments and research; activated and checked out the S4 Truss Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ); deployed the channel 1A and 3A solar arrays; reconfigured the station power supply; and retracted the P6 Truss Channel 2B (starboard) solar arra
  • 2003 November 12 - Cancelled: Soyuz TMA-3A. Prime Crew: Dezhurov, Kuipers, Skripochka. Soyuz TMA-3 was originally to switch lifeboats on the International Space Station. The crew would have returned to earth in the Soyuz TMA-2 already docked to the station. The third crew position (Skripochka) was uncertain -- a paying space tourist would have taken that spot if one could be found and trained in time. After the Columbia disaster, the remaining shuttles were grounded. The Soyuz was then the only means of keeping the station manned. It was therefore decided that Soyuz TMA-3 would fly with the skeleton crew of Foale and Kaleri.
  • 2003 November 13 - Cancelled: STS-118A. Prime Crew: Kelly Scott, Hobaugh, Parazynski, Williams Dave, Morgan, Nowak. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. STS-118 was to have flown ISS Assembly mission ISS-13A.1. It would have delivered the a Spacehab Single Cargo Module with station supplies, and the third starboard truss segment (ITS S5). The crew would have attached the S5 Truss to the station.
  • 2004 January 15 - Cancelled: STS-119A. Prime Crew: Lindsey, Kelly Mark, Gernhardt, Noriega, Padalka, Fincke, Kononenko O D. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. STS-119 was to have flown ISS Assembly mission ISS-15A. It would have delivered the fourth and final set of U.S. solar arrays along with the S6 fourth starboard truss segment. The crew would have relocated the P6 Truss from atop the Z1 Truss to its final assembly location attached to the P5 Truss (becoming the final port-side truss segment). The would then redeploy and activate the P6 Truss Channel 2B and 4B solar arrays. The misson would also have delivered the EO-9 crew (Padalka, Fincke, Kononenko) to the station and returned the EO-8 crew (Foale, McArthur, Tokarev) to earth.
  • 2004 February 19 - Cancelled: STS-120A. Prime Crew: Halsell, Poindexter, Lawrence, Sellers, Wilson, Foreman. Flight delayed, then completely reorganized with a different crew and different orbiter after the Columbia disaster. STS-120 was to have flown ISS Assembly mission ISS-10A. It would have delivered to the station the second of three station connecting modules, Node 2. This would be attached to the end of the US Lab and provide attach locations for the Japanese laboratory, European laboratory, the Centrifuge Accomodation Module and later Multipurpose Logistics Modules.
  • May 2004 - Cancelled: Soyuz TMA-4A. Prime Crew: Musabayev, Schlegel. Soyuz TMA-4 was originally to switch lifeboats on the International Space Station. The crew would have returned to earth in the Soyuz TMA-3 already docked to the station. The third crew position (was uncertain -- a paying space tourist would have taken that spot if one could be found and trained in time. After the Columbia disaster, the remaining shuttles were grounded. The Soyuz was then the only means of keeping the station manned. It was therefore decided that Soyuz TMA-4 would fly with the skeleton crew of McArthur and Tokarev.
  • Mid-2004 - Cancelled: STS-121A. Prime Crew: Chiao, Phillips, Sharipov. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-121 was to have flown ISS Assembly mission ISS-9A.1, delivering the SPP with 4 Solar Arrays to the station. It would probably have returned ISS EO-9 crew (Padalka, Fincke, Kononenko) to earth and delivered the EO-10 crew (Chiao, John Phillips and Sharipov) to the station.
  • Fall 2004 - Cancelled: STS-123A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-123 was to have flown ISS resupply mission ISS-UF4. It would have delivered the contents of an Express Pallet, plus the SPDM and AMS to the station.
  • April 2005 - Cancelled: STS-126A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-126 was to have flown ISS resupply mission ISS-UF3. It would have carried an MPLM module and Express Pallet for delivery of equipment and supplies to the station.
  • August 2005 - Cancelled: STS-128A. Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Flight 5. Flight delayed, then cancelled after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia.
  • Early 2006 - Cancelled: STS-130A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-130 was to have flown ISS resupply mission ISS-UF5. Equipment and supplies would have been delivered to the station aboard an MPLM and Express Pallet in the cargo bay.
  • Spring 2006 - Cancelled: STS-131A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-131 was to have flown ISS assembly mission ISS-14A. 4 SPP Arrays and the MMOD would have been delivered to the station.
  • Late Spring 2006 - Cancelled: STS-132A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-132 was to have flown ISS resupply mission ISS-UF6. Supplies and equipment would have been delivered via an MPLM and EXPRESS Pallet in the cargo bay.
  • Summer 2006 - Cancelled: STS-133A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-133 was to have flown ISS assembly mission ISS-20A. Node 3 would have been delivered to the station.
  • Late 2006 - Cancelled: STS-134A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-134 was to have flown ISS assembly mission ISS-16A. The Habitation module would have been delivered to the station.
  • Late 2007 - Cancelled: STS-138A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-138 was to have flown ISS resupply mission ISS-UF7. The Centrifuge Accomodations Module (CAM) would have been delivered to the station.
  • Early 2007 - Cancelled: STS-135A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-135 was to have flown ISS assembly mission ISS-17A. An MPLM would have delivered Destiny lab racks and a CBA to the station.
  • Spring 2007 - Cancelled: STS-136A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-136 was to have flown ISS assembly mission ISS-18A. The first US Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) would have been delivered to the station.
  • Mid-2007 - Cancelled: STS-137A. Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. No crew had been named at the time of the loss of Columbia. STS-137 was to have flown ISS assembly mission ISS-19A. An MPLM and other station hardware would be delivered.

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