Space History

This Week In Space History

      Saturday December 7th:

            1968 OAO-2 Launch. 2nd Orbiting Astronomical Observatory.

            1972 Launch of Apollo 17 - Cernan, Evans, Schmitt

            1976 China-7 Launch. 2nd recovery of de-orbited sat.

            2002 Return of ISS Expedition 5 crew after 184 days, aboard STS-113.
Korzun, Whitson, Treschev.

            2018 Launch of China's Chang'e-4 lunar farside lander.

      Sunday December 8th:

            1983 STS-9 Lands at Edwards Air Force Base.

            2010 Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 with first Dragon spacecraft, with sucessful Dragon splash-down after 2 orbits.

      Monday December 9th:

            1978 Pioneer Venus-2 Arrives Venus. Four probes study the atmosphere on entry.

      Tuesday December 10th:

            1977 Soyuz-26 Launch. Romanenko, Grechko. Docks with Salyut-6.

            1980 Soyuz-T-3 Lands.

            1982 Soyuz-T-5/T-7 Lands. 211 days in space.

            1990 Soyuz TM-10 lands. Manakov (130 d), Strekalov (130 d), Akiyama (Japanese TV reporter).

            2006 Launch of STS-116, Discovery to ISS with P5 truss.
Polansky, Oefelein, Curbeam, Higginbotham, Patrick, Fuglesang (ESA), and S. Williams (joining Expedition 14).

      Wednesday December 11th:

            1972 Apollo-17 Touchdown Moon. Cernan and Schimtt. 22 mile drive with lunar rover.

            1998 Mars Climate Orbiter launch.

            2015 Return of Kononeko, Yui, and Lindgren aboard Soyuz TMA-17M after 142 days.

      Thursday December 12th:

            1961 Launch of OSCAR 1, the first amateur radio satellite

            1970 Explorer-42 Launch. Small Astro Sat (SAS-1). Map X-ray sources.

            2012 Launch of North Korea's first satellite, Kwangmyongsong-3.

      Friday December 13th:

            1962 Relay-1 Launch. First ComSat. 12 simultaneous telephone, 1 TV signal.

            1967 Pioneer-8 Launch. Solar orbit. Monitor Solar activity.

            2012 China's Chang'e-2 makes a 3 km flyby of asteroid Toutatis and returns images.

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

1968	OAO-2 Launch. 2nd Orbiting Astronomical Observatory.
1972	Launch of Apollo 17 - Cernan, Evans, Schmitt
1976	China-7 Launch. 2nd recovery of de-orbited sat.
2002	Return of ISS Expedition 5 crew after 184 days, aboard STS-113. Korzun, Whitson, Treschev.
2018	Launch of China's Chang'e-4 lunar farside lander.

1983	STS-9 Lands at Edwards Air Force Base.
2010	Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 with first Dragon spacecraft, with sucessful Dragon splash-down after 2 orbits.

1977	Soyuz-26 Launch. Romanenko, Grechko. Docks with Salyut-6.
1980	Soyuz-T-3 Lands.
1982	Soyuz-T-5/T-7 Lands. 211 days in space.
1990	Soyuz TM-10 lands. Manakov (130 d), Strekalov (130 d), Akiyama (Japanese TV reporter).
2006	Launch of STS-116, Discovery to ISS with P5 truss. Polansky, Oefelein, Curbeam, Higginbotham, Patrick, Fuglesang (ESA), and S. Williams (joining Expedition 14).

1972	Apollo-17 Touchdown Moon. Cernan and Schimtt. 22 mile drive with lunar rover.
1998	Mars Climate Orbiter launch.
2015	Return of Kononeko, Yui, and Lindgren aboard Soyuz TMA-17M after 142 days.

1961	Launch of OSCAR 1, the first amateur radio satellite
1970	Explorer-42 Launch. Small Astro Sat (SAS-1). Map X-ray sources.
2012	Launch of North Korea's first satellite, Kwangmyongsong-3.

1962	Relay-1 Launch. First ComSat. 12 simultaneous telephone, 1 TV signal.
1967	Pioneer-8 Launch. Solar orbit. Monitor Solar activity.
2012	China's Chang'e-2 makes a 3 km flyby of asteroid Toutatis and returns images.