Back 1981 йылда йыһанға осороуҙар исемлеге Bashkir 1981 en els vols espacials Catalan Luettelo vuoden 1981 miehittämättömistä avaruuslennoista Finnish 1981 en astronautique French 1981 באסטרונאוטיקה HE 1981 йисуз космосдиз ахъаюнрин сиягь LEZ Список космических запусков в 1981 году Russian
 | This timeline of spaceflight may require cleanup to ensure consistency with other timeline of spaceflight articles. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Timeline of spaceflight working group for guidelines on how to improve the article. Details |  |
 The launch of STS-1, the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 6 January |
| Last | 23 December |
| Total | 126 |
| Successes | 119 |
| Failures | 6 |
| Partial failures | 1 |
| Catalogued | 123 |
| National firsts | |
| Satellite |  Bulgaria |
| Space traveller |  Mongolia Romania |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden flights | N-II Space Shuttle Columbia |
| Retirements | Feng Bao 1 |
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 5 |
| Total travellers | 10 |
The following is an outline of 1981 in spaceflight.