This Day In Space History: August 30

1885

http://www.onthisday.com/events/august/30
Over the course of an hour, 13,000 meteors are seen in Andromeda, a constellation which contains a galaxy of the same name. 

1963

http://www.astronautix.com/a/august30.html

Under Robert C. Seamans Jr., the Lunar Orbiter program is approved by NASA at an estimated cost of $150-200 million.

1979

http://www.onthisday.com/events/august/30

A comet hits the Sun -the first recorded instance of such a celestial collision- and releases the amount of energy of one millions hydrogen bombs, or 1,000x the amount of energy the U.S. uses in one year, according to Dr. Donald J. Michaels in this New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/10/us/scientists-say-comet-collided-with-the-sun-2-years-ago.html

1983

https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/daysAug3.html

Challenger 3, the 8th space shuttle mission is launched, with Guion "Guy" Bluford aboard, the first African American in space. I had a chance to hear him speak at an event a few years ago - a great, animated man with lots of stories to tell!

1984

http://www.onthisday.com/events/august/30
Discovery 1, the 12th space shuttle mission is launched from the Kennedy Space Center.



For a complete list of today’s Space History, see  http://www.astronautix.com/a/august30.html