Space History

This Week In Space History

      Friday December 3rd:

            1965 Luna-8 Launch. Retros fire late. Impact, Ocean of Storms.

            1974 Pioneer-11 Flyby of Jupiter (26,683 miles). Enroute interstellar.

            1985 STS 61-B Lands at Edwards Air Force Base.

            1999 Mars Polar Lander contact lost during Mars entry.

            2010 Landing of DARPA/US Air Force X-37B orbital spaceplane OTV-1 after 226 days.
Second automated runway landing following orbital re-entry (first was Buran in 1988).

            2018 Launch of Kononenko, Saint-Jacques, and McClain aboard Soyuz MS-11 to join ISS Expedition 57/58.

            2018 OSIRIS-REx arrives at asteroid Bennu.

            2020 Chang'e-5 lunar robotic sample return mission launches from moon with retrieved samples.

      Saturday December 4th:

            1965 Launch of Gemini 7 - Borman, Lovell (100 x 162, 28.9 deg, 220 orbits).

            1973 Pioneer-10 Flyby of Jupiter (80,968 miles). Enroute interstellar.

            1978 Pioneer Venus-1 Arrives Venus orbit.

            1996 Mars Pathfinder launch.

            1998 Launch of STS-88 - Cabana, Sturcow, Ross, Newman, Curie, Krikalev.
Attached Unity, PMA-1, PMA-2 to Zarya.

      Sunday December 5th:

            2001 Launch of STS-108 - Gorie, M. Kelly, Godwin, Tani,
Onufrienko, Walz, Bursch (ISS Expedition 4)

            2014 First test flight of Orion Crew Module, aboard a Delta IV Heavy.

            2020 Japan's Hayabusa-2 asteroid mining mission returns sample from minor planet Ryugu, landing in South Australia.

      Monday December 6th:

            1957 First Project Vanguard launch failure.

            1958 Pioneer-3 Fails moon approach, but discovers outer Van Allen belt.

            1988 STS-27 Lands at Edwards Air Force Base.

      Tuesday 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.

      Wednesday 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.

      Thursday December 9th:

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

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	Luna-8 Launch. Retros fire late. Impact, Ocean of Storms.
1974	Pioneer-11 Flyby of Jupiter (26,683 miles). Enroute interstellar.
1985	STS 61-B Lands at Edwards Air Force Base.
1999	Mars Polar Lander contact lost during Mars entry.
2010	Landing of DARPA/US Air Force X-37B orbital spaceplane OTV-1 after 226 days. Second automated runway landing following orbital re-entry (first was Buran in 1988).
2018	Launch of Kononenko, Saint-Jacques, and McClain aboard Soyuz MS-11 to join ISS Expedition 57/58.
2018	OSIRIS-REx arrives at asteroid Bennu.
2020	Chang'e-5 lunar robotic sample return mission launches from moon with retrieved samples.

1965	Launch of Gemini 7 - Borman, Lovell (100 x 162, 28.9 deg, 220 orbits).
1973	Pioneer-10 Flyby of Jupiter (80,968 miles). Enroute interstellar.
1978	Pioneer Venus-1 Arrives Venus orbit.
1996	Mars Pathfinder launch.
1998	Launch of STS-88 - Cabana, Sturcow, Ross, Newman, Curie, Krikalev. Attached Unity, PMA-1, PMA-2 to Zarya.

2001	Launch of STS-108 - Gorie, M. Kelly, Godwin, Tani, Onufrienko, Walz, Bursch (ISS Expedition 4)
2014	First test flight of Orion Crew Module, aboard a Delta IV Heavy.
2020	Japan's Hayabusa-2 asteroid mining mission returns sample from minor planet Ryugu, landing in South Australia.

1957	First Project Vanguard launch failure.
1958	Pioneer-3 Fails moon approach, but discovers outer Van Allen belt.
1988	STS-27 Lands at Edwards Air Force Base.

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.