Space History

This Week In Space History

      Monday December 17th:

            2001 Return of ISS Expedition 3 crew after 128 days, aboard STS-108.
Culbertson, Dezhurov, and Tyurin.

      Tuesday December 18th:

            1965 Gemini-7 Splashdown 13 days 18 hrs 35 mins.

            1973 Soyuz-13 Launch. Klimuk, Levedev. First time US and Soviets are in space simultaneously.

      Wednesday December 19th:

            1960 Mercruy-1 Launch. unpiloted mission flew to 130.7 miles.

            1963 Explorer-19 Launch. 2nd in series of air density experiments.

            1972 Apollo-17 Splashdown 12 days 13 hrs.
Last piloted visit to the Moon in the Twentieth Century.

            1979 Soyuz-T-1 After 3 days of maneuvers, docks with Salyut-6.

            2012 Launch of Soyuz TMA-07M. Romanenko, Hadfield (first Candadian to command ISS), and Marshburn to join ISS Expedition 34/35.

            2013 Launch of ESA's Gaia stellar distance measuring satellite.

      Thursday December 20th:

            1999 Launch of STS-103 - C. Brown, S. Kelly, Clervoy, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier.
HST Servicing Mission 3A.

            2009 Launch of Soyuz TMA-17. Kotov, Creamer and Noguchi to join ISS Expedition 22.

      Friday December 21st:

            1966 Luna-13 Launched to Moon. 2nd Soviet soft lander.

            1968 Launch of Apollo 8 - Borman, Lovell, Anders 10 Lunar orbits, 147 hours. First piloted circumlunar flight.

            1978 Venera-12 Probe decends to surface.

            1984 Vega-2 Launched to Venus and Halley's Comet.

            1987 Soyuz TM-4 Launch. Titov, Levchenko, Manarov. Dock with Mir.

            1988 Soyuz TM-6 lands. Titov (365 d), Manarov (365 d), Chretien (French)

            2011 Launch of Soyuz TMA-03M. Kononenko, Kuipers, Pettit to join ISS Expedition 30/31.

            2013 ISS crew Mastraccio and Hopkins perform the first of 2 EVAs to replace a failed thermal control system.

      Saturday December 22nd:

            2006 Landing of Discovery, after mission STS-116, on KSC runway 15 with Reiter from Expedition 13.

            2015 Succesful vertical landing of Falcon 9 first stage, from an altitude of 200 km, at CCAFS LC-13 (now LZ-1).

      Sunday December 23rd:

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

1965	Gemini-7 Splashdown 13 days 18 hrs 35 mins.
1973	Soyuz-13 Launch. Klimuk, Levedev. First time US and Soviets are in space simultaneously.

1960	Mercruy-1 Launch. unpiloted mission flew to 130.7 miles.
1963	Explorer-19 Launch. 2nd in series of air density experiments.
1972	Apollo-17 Splashdown 12 days 13 hrs. Last piloted visit to the Moon in the Twentieth Century.
1979	Soyuz-T-1 After 3 days of maneuvers, docks with Salyut-6.
2012	Launch of Soyuz TMA-07M. Romanenko, Hadfield (first Candadian to command ISS), and Marshburn to join ISS Expedition 34/35.
2013	Launch of ESA's Gaia stellar distance measuring satellite.

1999	Launch of STS-103 - C. Brown, S. Kelly, Clervoy, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier. HST Servicing Mission 3A.
2009	Launch of Soyuz TMA-17. Kotov, Creamer and Noguchi to join ISS Expedition 22.

1966	Luna-13 Launched to Moon. 2nd Soviet soft lander.
1968	Launch of Apollo 8 - Borman, Lovell, Anders 10 Lunar orbits, 147 hours. First piloted circumlunar flight.
1978	Venera-12 Probe decends to surface.
1984	Vega-2 Launched to Venus and Halley's Comet.
1987	Soyuz TM-4 Launch. Titov, Levchenko, Manarov. Dock with Mir.
1988	Soyuz TM-6 lands. Titov (365 d), Manarov (365 d), Chretien (French)
2011	Launch of Soyuz TMA-03M. Kononenko, Kuipers, Pettit to join ISS Expedition 30/31.
2013	ISS crew Mastraccio and Hopkins perform the first of 2 EVAs to replace a failed thermal control system.

2006	Landing of Discovery, after mission STS-116, on KSC runway 15 with Reiter from Expedition 13.
2015	Succesful vertical landing of Falcon 9 first stage, from an altitude of 200 km, at CCAFS LC-13 (now LZ-1).