Space History

This Week In Space History

      Tuesday February 18th:

            1930 Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto (at Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff).

      Wednesday February 19th:

            1960 Discoverer-10 Launch. Veered off course, destroyed.

            1986 Mir Base Block Launch.

            1990 Soyuz TM-8 lands. Viktorenko (166 days), Serebrov (166 days).

      Thursday February 20th:

            1962 Launch of Mercury 6 - Glenn (100 x 163 nm, 32.5 degrees, 3 orbits) "Friendship 7"

            1999 Soyuz TM-29 Launch. Afanasyev, Bella, Haignere (French).

            2008 Landing of Atlantis, after mission STS-122, on KSC runway 15 with Tani from Expedition 16.

      Friday February 21st:

            1963 Telestar-1 electronics knocked out by atomic test.

            1972 Luna-20 Touchdown on Moon.

            1996 Soyuz TM-23 Launch. Onufrienko and Usachyov (Mir-21 crew)

            2008 Destruction of the NRO satellite USA 193 by an SM-3 missile fired from the USS Lake Erie.

            2010 Landing of Endeavour after mission STS-130, on KSC runway 15.

            2019 Japan's Hayabusa-2 lands on asteroid Ryugu, fires a projectile, collects sample, lifts off.

      Saturday February 22nd:

            1972 Luna-20 Samples launched from Moon to Earth.

            1986 Spot-1 Launch. French commercial remote sensing satellite in polar orbit.

            1996 Launch of STS-75 - Allen, Horowitz, Hoffman, Cheli, Nicollier, Chang-Diaz, Guidoni. TSS, USMP.

      Sunday February 23rd:

      Monday February 24th:

            1968 Jocelyn Bell discovers the first Pulsar.

            1969 Launch of Mariner 6. Flew over equator of Mars at 2120 miles on 7/31/69; sent 75 TV pictures.

            2009 Failed launch of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory
lost due to Taurus XL's payload fairing failure to separate.

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

1960	Discoverer-10 Launch. Veered off course, destroyed.
1986	Mir Base Block Launch.
1990	Soyuz TM-8 lands. Viktorenko (166 days), Serebrov (166 days).

1962	Launch of Mercury 6 - Glenn (100 x 163 nm, 32.5 degrees, 3 orbits) "Friendship 7"
1999	Soyuz TM-29 Launch. Afanasyev, Bella, Haignere (French).
2008	Landing of Atlantis, after mission STS-122, on KSC runway 15 with Tani from Expedition 16.

1963	Telestar-1 electronics knocked out by atomic test.
1972	Luna-20 Touchdown on Moon.
1996	Soyuz TM-23 Launch. Onufrienko and Usachyov (Mir-21 crew)
2008	Destruction of the NRO satellite USA 193 by an SM-3 missile fired from the USS Lake Erie.
2010	Landing of Endeavour after mission STS-130, on KSC runway 15.
2019	Japan's Hayabusa-2 lands on asteroid Ryugu, fires a projectile, collects sample, lifts off.

1972	Luna-20 Samples launched from Moon to Earth.
1986	Spot-1 Launch. French commercial remote sensing satellite in polar orbit.
1996	Launch of STS-75 - Allen, Horowitz, Hoffman, Cheli, Nicollier, Chang-Diaz, Guidoni. TSS, USMP.

1968	Jocelyn Bell discovers the first Pulsar.
1969	Launch of Mariner 6. Flew over equator of Mars at 2120 miles on 7/31/69; sent 75 TV pictures.
2009	Failed launch of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory lost due to Taurus XL's payload fairing failure to separate.