1984 - Exploration, Colonization

Exploration, Colonization

U.S. astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart take the first untethered space walks February 7, using jet backpacks; two astronauts from the shuttle Challenger perform the first in-orbit retrieval and repair mission April 10 to 12 on the failing Solar Max satellite.

The People's Republic of China launches its first successful communications satellite April 8 (see 1981). The Shiyan Tongbu Tongxin Weixing will remain in geostationary orbit and function for more than 4 years (see 1990).

Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, 35, is the first woman to walk in space July 25. Biologist Kathryn Sullivan, 33, follows suit October 11 as a member of the seven-member Challenger crew, largest ever, and is the first U.S. woman to perform any extra-vehicular activity in space.