1877
Astronomer Asaph Hall (1829-1907) discovers Mars' moon Phobos.1958
77 seconds after its launch, Pioneer (or Thor-Able 1), a probe meant to orbit the moon, exploded.
"This spacecraft was the first U.S. attempt at a lunar mission and the first attempted launch beyond Earth orbit by any country." (nasa.gov)
1962
Carl Sagan urges the need to sterilize lunar spacecraft, speculating the probable contamination by terrestrial microorganisms (already by Lunik II and Ranger IV) of both the moon and Earth.
1966
Satellite Pioneer 7 was launched into solar orbit. learn more here: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1966-075A
1970
Venera 7 is launched, a mission which would land on Venus and observe its atmosphere. learn more here: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1970-060A2006
Voyager 1 reaches 100 AUs from Earth. If you remember my post where an 1864 comet passed Earth at 0.0964 - that was very close to Earth.
One AU ("astronomical unit") is the approximate distance between the Earth and Sun, equivalent to near 150 million kilometers (britannica.com).
According to NASA, already being the most distant object in space, "'The Spacecraft That Could' Hits New Milestone."
For a complete list of today’s Space History, see http://www.astronautix.com/a/august17.html
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