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

http://theflightblog.com/plane-of-the-week-mikoyan-mig-31-foxhound/

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

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-79.html

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

This Day In Space History: September 3

1968

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4009/v4p2n.htm

The Apollo 8 readiness date is announced to have been changed to Dec. 13,1968, according to Program Director Samuel C. Phillips.

1976

Launched Sept. 9, 1975, Viking 2 made a soft landing on the surface of Mars in the crater Utopia Planitia, returning images of the soil (no evidence of life) and frost - contributing to the mission's provision of information about Mars' climate and its mapping of Mars' surface: "The Viking program provided the first up-close look at Mars" (space.com). 

This article gives much additional information about Viking 2 and includes links to the incredible images from the program: https://www.wired.com/2010/09/0903viking2-mars/

1985

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-51I.html

STS 51-I (Discovery 6) which was launched Aug. 27 (on its third attempt) returns to Earth at the Edwards Air Force Base after 7 days, 2 hours, 17 minutes, and 42 seconds.

1995

http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-tm22.htm

Members of the Mir-20 crew were launched on Soyuz TM-22 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the Mir space station where they would dock two days later and conduct experiments alongside with other crews.

2006

https://amp.space.com/21197-moon-crash-meteor-impact-explosion.html
Launched on Sept. 27, 2003, the ESA's high tech space probe, the first European craft to orbit the moon, Small Missions for Advanced Research and Technology (START 1) makes its controlled crash into the moon at 1:42 am EDT -just seconds within its predicted time.


For a complete list of today’s Space History, see  http://www.astronautix.com/s/september03.html

This Day In Space History: August 10

1966

http://www.astronautix.com/a/august10.html
Lunar Orbiter 1 is launched at 15:26 EDT from Cape Canaveral.

1972

https://www.space.com/37183-today-in-space.html

Meteor "Great Daylight Fireball" passes through the sky. Within just under two minutes, it entered the atmosphere over Utah and traveled north, leaving the atmosphere over Alberta, Canada.

1990

The Magellan spacecraft enters Venus' orbit.

1992

The TOPEX/Poseidon satellite, a project bewteeen the French space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and NASA, is launched. A goal was to measure the topography of the ocean surface, which led to many interesting feats. Learn more about them here: https://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/topex/ 

1999

http://www.astronautix.com/a/august10.html
Shuttle Mir experiences a computer failure, ending the over-a-decade-long Soviet mission.

2001

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-105.html
The Discovery shuttle STS-105 is launched at 17:10 EDT to the International Space Station.



For a complete list of today’s Space History, see  http://www.astronautix.com/a/august10.html