Space History

This Week In Space History

      Friday February 3rd:

            1966 Luna-9 First soft touchdown on Moon. TV returned from surface.

            1984 Launch of STS-11 - Brand, Gibson, McCandless, Stewart, McNair.

            1994 Launch of STS-60 - Bolden, Reightler, Chang-Diaz, Sega, Krikalev, Davis.
Spacehab, Wake Shield-1.

            1995 Launch of STS-63 - Weatherbee, Collins, Foale, Harris, Janice Voss, Titov.
MIR rendezvous, SPARTAN, EVA.

      Saturday February 4th:

            1960 Discoverer-9 Launch. First stage early cutoff. Failed to orbit.

            1961 Sputnik-7 Launch. Test flight in preparation for Sputnik-8.

      Sunday February 5th:

            1971 Apollo-14 Touchdown Moon. Shepard and Mitchell.

            1974 Mariner 10 took first close-range photo of Venus.

            1974 Mariner-10 Flyby of Venus (3,585 miles).

            1987 Soyuz TM-2 Launch. Romanenko, Laveykin. Dock with Mir.

      Monday February 6th:

            1971 First time a golf ball was hit on the Moon.

            1995 First rendezvous of a Space Shuttle with MIR.
Jim Weatherbee flies Discovery to within 37 feet of MIR station.

            2009 Launch of NOAA 19, the last of the civil Polar Orbiting Environmental System satellites.

            2018 First launch of Falcon Heavy, with simultaneous landings of its two side cores at LZ-1 and LZ-2.
Test payload was Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster car.

            2020 Return of Koch (after 329 days), Skvortsov, and Parmitano (after 201 days) aboard Soyuz MS-13.

      Tuesday February 7th:

            1977 Soyuz-24 Launch. Gorbatko, Glazkov. Dock with Salyut-5.

            1984 First Manned Maneuvering Unit Flight (Bruce McCandless).

            2001 Launch of STS-98 - Cockrell, Polansky, Curbeam, Ivins, Jones.
ISS Assembly Flight 5A, US Destiny Lab.

            2008 Launch of STS-122, Atlantis to ISS with Columbus module.
Frick, Poindexter, Love, Melvin, Walheim, Schlegel (ESA) and Eyharts (ESA, joining Expedition 16).
Tani returned after 121 days.

      Wednesday February 8th:

            1974 Skylab-4 3rd Crew returns from 84 day Mission.

            1984 Soyuz-T-10B/T-11 Launch. Kizim, Solovyev, Atkov. Dock with Salyut-7.

            2010 Launch of STS-130. Endeavour to ISS
Zamka, Virts, Hire, Robinson, Patrick, Behnken. Tranquility node and the cupola.
Iconic photo of Shuttle silhouetted on the horizon during approach.

      Thursday February 9th:

            1971 Apollo-14 Splashdown 9 days.

            1975 Soyuz-17 Lands. New Soviet endurance record of 29 days 14 hrs.

            2001 US Destiny Laboratory docked with ISS.

            2021 UAE's Misabar Al'amal (Hope Probe) enters Mars orbit.

Space history data compiled by Jay Apt. Thanks to the following good sources:
TRW Space Log, NASA Glenn Research Center Space Calendar,
Rick von Glahn's CompuServe SpaceForum archive,
Jonathan's Space Report, and astronautix.com

Based on the today.cgi Perl script © 1998 The Puppet Master.
Formdate.pl subroutine © 1997 Craig Patchett & Matt Wright.

Schedule
Jay Apt Here

1966	Luna-9 First soft touchdown on Moon. TV returned from surface.
1984	Launch of STS-11 - Brand, Gibson, McCandless, Stewart, McNair.
1994	Launch of STS-60 - Bolden, Reightler, Chang-Diaz, Sega, Krikalev, Davis. Spacehab, Wake Shield-1.
1995	Launch of STS-63 - Weatherbee, Collins, Foale, Harris, Janice Voss, Titov. MIR rendezvous, SPARTAN, EVA.

1960	Discoverer-9 Launch. First stage early cutoff. Failed to orbit.
1961	Sputnik-7 Launch. Test flight in preparation for Sputnik-8.

1971	Apollo-14 Touchdown Moon. Shepard and Mitchell.
1974	Mariner 10 took first close-range photo of Venus.
1974	Mariner-10 Flyby of Venus (3,585 miles).
1987	Soyuz TM-2 Launch. Romanenko, Laveykin. Dock with Mir.

1971	First time a golf ball was hit on the Moon.
1995	First rendezvous of a Space Shuttle with MIR. Jim Weatherbee flies Discovery to within 37 feet of MIR station.
2009	Launch of NOAA 19, the last of the civil Polar Orbiting Environmental System satellites.
2018	First launch of Falcon Heavy, with simultaneous landings of its two side cores at LZ-1 and LZ-2. Test payload was Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster car.
2020	Return of Koch (after 329 days), Skvortsov, and Parmitano (after 201 days) aboard Soyuz MS-13.

1977	Soyuz-24 Launch. Gorbatko, Glazkov. Dock with Salyut-5.
1984	First Manned Maneuvering Unit Flight (Bruce McCandless).
2001	Launch of STS-98 - Cockrell, Polansky, Curbeam, Ivins, Jones. ISS Assembly Flight 5A, US Destiny Lab.
2008	Launch of STS-122, Atlantis to ISS with Columbus module. Frick, Poindexter, Love, Melvin, Walheim, Schlegel (ESA) and Eyharts (ESA, joining Expedition 16). Tani returned after 121 days.

1974	Skylab-4 3rd Crew returns from 84 day Mission.
1984	Soyuz-T-10B/T-11 Launch. Kizim, Solovyev, Atkov. Dock with Salyut-7.
2010	Launch of STS-130. Endeavour to ISS Zamka, Virts, Hire, Robinson, Patrick, Behnken. Tranquility node and the cupola. Iconic photo of Shuttle silhouetted on the horizon during approach.

1971	Apollo-14 Splashdown 9 days.
1975	Soyuz-17 Lands. New Soviet endurance record of 29 days 14 hrs.
2001	US Destiny Laboratory docked with ISS.
2021	UAE's Misabar Al'amal (Hope Probe) enters Mars orbit.