Saturday, September 16, 2017

This Day In Space History: September 16

1848

In 1848, two discoveries of Saturn's largest nonspherical moon, Hyperion, were made independent of each other. Those credited with the discovery are both William Lassell (1799-1880) and William Cranch Bond (1789-1859) and his son George Phillips Bond (1825-1868). Learn all about Hyperion here: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/hyperion

1945

One of the V-2 Blossom rockets exploded after its launch, with cynomolgus monkey Albert III aboard. Albert survived in space but died on impact. Learn about all the Alberts here: http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/vintage-space/alberts-spaceflights-unsung-heroes#page-4

1975

The maiden flight of the Russian aircraft Mikoyan MiG-31 Foxhound. This model is able to intercept, detect, and destroy cruise missiles and carry strategic bombs.  Between 1981 and 1994, 519 crafts were produced and continue to be used. 

1996

Space shuttle STS-79 (Atlantis 17) is launched for its docking on the Mir space station. The mission was delayed three times, first for a change in its assembly and twice in order to avoid Hurricane Bertha and then Hurricane Fran. The mission lasted ten days. Shannon Lucid was replaced by John Blaha as the crewmember for NASA on Mir. One of the power units failed after thirteen minutes, but it was decided that the mission would continue. 


For a complete list of today’s Space History, see  http://www.astronautix.com/s/september16.html

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