The Soviet Mars 1 (2MV-4 No.2) is launched, though communication is lost before the craft passes Mars.
47 years ago, in 1963:
The Soviet Polyot, an orbital carrier rocket, makes its first of two flights to test ASAT (Anti-satellite) spacecraft.
16 years ago, in 1994:
The NASA WIND satellite is launched to study radio waves and plasma in the solar wind.
2
433 years ago, in 1577:
Peruvian observers are the first to view the Great Comet of 1577 (C/1577 V1).
93 years ago, in 1917:
The 100-inch Hooker Telescope sees "first light".
45 years ago, in 1965:
The Soviet Proton-2 satellite is launched for the study of high and ultra-high energy particles.
36 years ago, in 1974:
Luna 23 (USSR) goes into orbit around the Moon.
10 years ago, in 2000:
Expedition 1, the first ISS Crew, arrives at the station on board Soyuz TM-31.
8 years ago, in 2002:
Stardust flies by asteroid Annefrank on its way to Comet Wild 2.
2 years ago, in 2008:
Phoenix Mars Mission makes its final contact with Earth.
3
53 years ago, in 1957:
The Soviets launch Sputnik 2, with the first dog in orbit, Laika (Barker).
50 years ago, in 1960:
Explorer 8 is launched and confirms the existence of a helium layer in the upper atmosphere.
37 years ago, in 1973:
Mariner 10 is launched to Mercury.
4
48 years ago, in 1962:
Mars 2MV-3 No.1 (Sputnik 24) is launched by the Soviet Union, but a problem with the rocket causes it to be stranded in low Earth orbit.
41 years ago, in 1969:
2867 Steins, a main-belt asteroid, is discovered by Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory.
29 years ago, in 1981:
Venera 14 is launched to Venus.
25 years ago, in 1985:
Voyager 2 begins long-range observations of Uranus.
14 years ago, in 1996:
The High Energy Transient Explorer (HETE), designed for multiwavelength study of gamma-ray bursts, is lost on launch.
This year:
Deep Impact (EPOXI mission) flies by Comet Hartley 2.
5
46 years ago, in 1964:
Mariner 3 is launched for Mars, but its solar panels fail to deploy, and the mission is terminated.
43 years ago, in 1967:
ATS-3 is launched by NASA, with experiments in weather data collection and imagery.
34 years ago, in 1976:
The Viking 1 orbiter primary mission ends.
3 years ago, in 2007:
Chang'e 1, an unmanned Chinese lunar-orbiting spacecraft, enters lunar orbit.
6
46 years ago, in 1964:
Explorer 23, the third and last in the series of S 55 micrometeoroid satellites, is launched.
45 years ago, in 1965:
GEOS-1 (Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite); also known as GEOS-A & Explorer 29, is successfully launched for geodetic studies of the Earth.
44 years ago, in 1966:
NASA's Lunar Orbiter 2 is launched to photograph the Moon.
36 years ago, in 1974:
Luna 23 lands on the Moon, though the lander's drilling device is damaged during landing which prevents a sampling.
13 years ago, in 1997:
The Galileo probe flies by Europa, one of Jupiters moons.
7
45 years ago, in 1965:
After a successful one year mission, last contact is made with Explorer 23.
43 years ago, in 1967:
Surveyor 6 is launched for the Moon.
14 years ago, in 1996:
Mars Global Surveyor is launched.
8
52 years ago, in 1958:
Able 3 (Pioneer 2) is launched for lunar orbit, but a booster malfunction causes it to get stranded in Earth orbit.
42 years ago, in 1968:
Pioneer 9 is launched to obtain measurements of interplanetary phenomena.
41 years ago, in 1969:
West Germany's first scientific satellite, Azur, is successfully launched.
26 years ago, in 1984:
Aboard the shuttle Discovery (STS-51-A), Anna Lee Fisher becomes the first mother in space.
2 years ago, in 2008:
India's first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, is successfully inserted into lunar orbit.
9
43 years ago, in 1967:
First Saturn V launch (Apollo 4 - unmanned test flight).
40 years ago, in 1970:
The Orbiting Frog Otolith (OFO) is launched by NASA, putting two bullfrogs into orbit to study weightlessness.
26 years ago, in 1984:
Canada's Anik D2 communications satellite is deployed from shuttle Discovery (STS-51-A).
5 years ago, in 2005:
The ESA's Venus Express is launched.
10
44 years ago, in 1966:
Lunar Orbiter 2 goes into orbit around the Moon.
43 years ago, in 1967:
Surveyor 6 lands on the Moon.
42 years ago, in 1968:
Zond 6 is launched to the Moon from a parent satellite in Earth orbit.
40 years ago, in 1970:
The Luna 17/Lunokhod 1 rover combo is launched to the Moon.
38 years ago, in 1972:
Canada's Anik A1 communications satellite is launched.
2 years ago, in 2008:
Phoenix Mars Mission is declared concluded after attempts at contact fail.
1 year ago, in 2009:
The Poisk docking module is launched to the ISS aboard Progress M-MIM2, a modified Progress-M rocket.
11
438 years ago, in 1572:
Tycho Brahe observes supernova SN 1572 in the constellation of Cassiopeia.
75 years ago, in 1935:
Explorer II, a U.S. high-altitude balloon with a two-man crew, reaches a record altitude of 72,395 ft (22,066 m).
47 years ago, in 1963:
Cosmos 21 (Kosmos 21), a possible test of the Venera series space probes, is launched but never leaves Earth orbit.
44 years ago, in 1966:
Gemini XII is launched; last Gemini mission, Buzz Aldrin sets EVA record of 5 hours, 30 minutes.
28 years ago, in 1982:
Columbia is launched on the first operational Shuttle mission (STS-5), and deploys two satellites, Anik C3 and SBS 3.
28 years ago, in 1982:
Viking Lander 1 makes its final contact with Earth.
12
125 years ago, in 1885:
253 Mathilde, a minor planet in the intermediate asteroid belt, is discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Vienna Observatory.
30 years ago, in 1980:
Voyager 1 flies by Saturn.
29 years ago, in 1981:
The shuttle Columbia (STS-2) is launched.
15 years ago, in 1995:
The docking module is launched aboard the shuttle Atlantis (STS-47) to be a part of the Mir space station.
15 years ago, in 1995:
Chris Hadfield makes his first trip to space on the shuttle Atlantis (STS-74), and is the only Canadian to visit Mir.
1 year ago, in 2009:
The Rosetta probe makes its third Earth flyby.
13
433 years ago, in 1577:
Tycho Brahe observes the Great Comet of 1577 (C/1577 V1) in the evening sky.
32 years ago, in 1978:
The Einstein Observatory (HEAO-2) becomes the first imaging and extra-solar X-ray telescope to be launched into orbit.
29 years ago, in 1981:
Canadarm is tested for the first time aboard shuttle Columbia (STS-2).
5 years ago, in 2005:
Vanth, a moon of the plutino Orcus, is discovered by Michael Brown and T.-A. Suer using images acquired by the Hubble telescope.
3 years ago, in 2007:
The Rosetta probe makes its second Earth flyby.
1 year ago, in 2009:
Based on data gathered from the LCROSS mission, NASA announces that water was detected on Cabeus crater on the moon.
14
330 years ago, in 1680:
The German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680 (C/1680 V1, Kirch's Comet, Newton's Comet), the first comet discovered by a telescope.
42 years ago, in 1968:
Zond 6 flies around the Moon and heads back to Earth.
41 years ago, in 1969:
Apollo 12 is launched to land on the Moon.
39 years ago, in 1971:
Mariner 9 arrives at Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit another planet.
29 years ago, in 1981:
The shuttle Columbia (STS-2) lands three days early, due to a fuel cell problem.
7 years ago, in 2003:
Sedna, a large trans-Neptunian object, is discovered.
4 years ago, in 2006:
The Mars Global Surveyor mission ends.
2 years ago, in 2008:
India's Chandrayaan-1 Moon Impact Probe strikes the Moon near the Shackleton crater at the south pole.
15
158 years ago, in 1852:
21 Lutetia, a large asteroid in the main asteroid belt, is discovered by Hermann Goldschmidt from the balcony of his apartment in Paris.
44 years ago, in 1966:
Gemini XII lands back on Earth.
38 years ago, in 1972:
SAS-2 (Explorer 48), a gamma ray telescope, is launched.
36 years ago, in 1974:
Spain's first satellite, INTASAT, is successfully launched.
32 years ago, in 1978:
The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, nearing Venus, deploys its largest probe for atmospheric study, named Sounder.
22 years ago, in 1988:
At the radio astronomy Green Bank site, a 90.44 m paraboloid erected in 1962 collapses due to the sudden loss of a gusset plate in the box girder assembly.
22 years ago, in 1988:
The Russian "Space Shuttle" makes its first and only (unmanned) test flight in the Orbiter K1 Buran.
15 years ago, in 1995:
Telemetry contact is lost with the Japanese probe Sakigake.
16
47 years ago, in 1963:
The Soviet Voskhod carrier rocket is launched on its maiden flight.
45 years ago, in 1965:
Venera 3 is launched for Venus.
42 years ago, in 1968:
The Soviet Proton-4 satellite is launched for the study of the energy spectrum and chemical composition of cosmic rays.
37 years ago, in 1973:
Skylab 4, the third and final mission to Skylab, is launched.
36 years ago, in 1974:
The "Arecibo Message", the first message sent intentionally into space with the intent of contacting alien life, is broadcast in the direction of globular star cluster M13.
9 years ago, in 2001:
The Genesis spacecraft arrives at Legrange point 1, or L1.
1 year ago, in 2009:
The shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) is launched to the ISS with the ExPRESS Logistics Carriers.
17
49 years ago, in 1961:
Explorer 11 ceases returning data due to power supply problems.
44 years ago, in 1966:
The annual Leonid showers peaks at approximately 500,000 meteors an hour.
43 years ago, in 1967:
The Surveyor 6 probe's engines are restarted and burned for 2.5 seconds, accomplishing the first lunar liftoff.
42 years ago, in 1968:
The Zond 6 reentry capsule crash-lands on Earth.
40 years ago, in 1970:
Luna 17 lands on the Moon and releases the Lunokhod 1 rover, becoming the first rover on another world, and operating for 322 days.
35 years ago, in 1975:
Soyuz 20 (unmanned) is launched to, and docks with, the Salyut 4 space station for a long-duration test of the Soyuz spacecraft.
21 years ago, in 1989:
The Solar Maximum Mission satellite (SolarMax) loses its attitude control.
15 years ago, in 1995:
ESA launches the ISO (Infrared Space Observatory) telescope to study infrared light.
18
177 years ago, in 1833:
The annual Leonid showers peaks at approximately 14,000 meteors an hour; the night “the stars fell on Alabama”.
49 years ago, in 1961:
Ranger 2 is launched to be placed in an eliptical orbit around the Moon, but burns up in low orbit one day later.
21 years ago, in 1989:
The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) is launched on the first and only flight of the Delta 5000 rocket.
12 years ago, in 1998:
The Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) discovers 1998 WW31, the first trans-Neptunian binary to be discovered since Pluto.
19
41 years ago, in 1969:
Apollo 12 lands on the Moon.
32 years ago, in 1978:
The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, nearing Venus, deploys its three other probes.
13 years ago, in 1997:
On board shuttle Columbia (STS-87), Leonid Kadeniuk becomes the first citizen of an independant Ukraine to visit space.
20
41 years ago, in 1969:
The crew of Apollo 12 visit the Surveyor 3 lander.
32 years ago, in 1978:
International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) enters Halo orbit at Lagrangian Libration Point 1 (L1), the first craft ever to do so.
12 years ago, in 1998:
Zarya (Dawn), the first ISS Module, is launched aboard a Russian Proton rocket.
8 years ago, in 2002:
The Delta IV Medium makes its maiden flight (configured as Delta IV-M+(4,)and launches Eutelsat 33B.
6 years ago, in 2004:
The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission is launched.
1 year ago, in 2009:
This domain, NCC-1701.Ca, is registered :-)
21
105 years ago, in 1905:
The Annus mirabilis papers, Einstein's work on Mass–energy equivalence and other topics, are published in the Annalen der Physik scientific journal.
22
47 years ago, in 1963:
Relay 1 becomes the first satellite to broadcast from the United States to Japan; the announcement of the assasination of JFK.
43 years ago, in 1967:
Soyuz 7K-L1 No.5L (Zond 1967A) is launched to perform a circumlunar flyby, but fails to achieve Earth orbit.
23
45 years ago, in 1965:
Cosmos 96 (Kosmos 96) is launched to make a flyby of Venus, but fails to leave low Earth orbit.
45 years ago, in 1965:
Venera 1965A suffers a launch failure, ending its planned flyby of Venus.
27 years ago, in 1983:
The first infrared telescope, IRAS, runs out of cryogen and ceases operations.
8 years ago, in 2002:
The shuttle Endeavour (STS-113), last flight before the Columbia disaster, launches with the Port 1 (P1) truss segment for the ISS.
24
44 years ago, in 1966:
Explorer 17 burns up in the atmosphere.
41 years ago, in 1969:
Apollo 12 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean and is retrieved by the USS Hornet.
20 years ago, in 1990:
The Keck I Telescope sees "first light".
25
40 years ago, in 1970:
NASA's Northrop M2-F3, a "wingless" aircraft, makes its first powered flight.
5 years ago, in 2005:
The Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft touches down on the surface of asteroid Itokawa.
26
220 years ago, in 1790:
William Herschel discovers NGC 13, a spiral galaxy in the Andromeda constellation.
52 years ago, in 1958:
The U.S. manned satellite program is officially designated Project Mercury.
51 years ago, in 1959:
Pioneer P-3 (Atlas-Able 4, Pioneer X) is launched for a lunar orbit, but the mission fails due to the payload fairing breaking off.
45 years ago, in 1965:
France launches its first satellite, Asterix, which remains active for two days.
25 years ago, in 1985:
On board shuttle Atlantis (STS-61-B), Rodolfo Neri Vela becomes the first Mexican citizen and the second Latin-American to visit space.
21 years ago, in 1989:
The Kvant-2 (Augmentation Module) is launched to be a part of the Mir space station.
20 years ago, in 1990:
The Delta II 7000 makes its maiden flight, launching the satellite USA-66 for the Global Positioning System.
27
47 years ago, in 1963:
Explorer 18, the first satellite of the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform, is launched to study energetic particles, cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and plasmas.
46 years ago, in 1964:
Explorer 21, the second satellite of the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform, is launched to study energetic particles, cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and plasmas.
39 years ago, in 1971:
First Mars lander, Mars 2 (USSR) successfully lands but returns no data.
12 years ago, in 1998:
The International Astrophysical Observatory 'Granat' ceases tranmission after nine years.
28
46 years ago, in 1964:
Mariner 4 is launched to Mars.
44 years ago, in 1966:
The Soviet Soyuz carrier rocket is launched on its maiden flight.
27 years ago, in 1983:
On board Shuttle Columbia (STS-9), Ulf Merbold becomes the first West German citizen, second German native, and the first non-US citizen in a US spacecraft to visit space.
10 years ago, in 2000:
Varuna, a large classical Kuiper belt object, is discovered by the Spacewatch survey.
8 years ago, in 2002:
The first Algerian satellite, ALSAT-1, is successfully launched.
29
267 years ago, in 1743:
Jan de Munck of Middelburg, Netherlands, discovers the Great Comet of 1744 (C/1743 X1).
49 years ago, in 1961:
Enos, aboard Mercury-Atlas 5, becomes the first chimpanzee to orbit the Earth, and does it twice.
47 years ago, in 1963:
The NASA Launch Operations Center (LOC) at Cape Canaveral is renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
45 years ago, in 1965:
Alouette 2 (ISIS-X), a Canadian ionosphere research satellite, is launched.
43 years ago, in 1967:
The first Australian satellite, WRESAT, is successfully launched.
30
46 years ago, in 1964:
Zond 2 is launched to Mars.
40 years ago, in 1970:
OAO-B (Orbiting Astronomical Observatory B) is launched with a UV telescope, but fails when the payload shroud of the rocket fails to separate.
It's been 3824 days
