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

This Day In Space History: August 8

1864

http://www.onthisday.com/events/august/8
Comet C/1864 N1  ("Temple") passes close to Earth, at 0.0964 AU. One AU ("astronomical unit") is the approximate distance between the Earth and Sun, equivalent to near 150 million kilometers (britannica.com).

1908

https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/day-wilbur-wright-flies-europe
Wilbur Wright flies in Le Mans, France - the first time in Europe - making the brothers "world celebrities overnight."

1977

https://www.space.com/37183-today-in-space.html
Launched in 1976, the Soviet space station Salyut 5 burned in the atmosphere from a lack of fuel.

2007

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts118/main/index.html
The 22nd space shuttle to the ISS, the STS 118 Endeavour mission was launched at 18:36 EDT, spending 12 days, 17 hours, and 55 minutes in space.



For a complete list of today’s Space History, see  http://www.astronautix.com/a/august08.html

This Day In Space History: August 5

1864

Giovanni Donati is the first to observe the spectrum of a comet.

1930

Neil Armstrong - the first man to step foot on the moon - was born.

1969

Just five days after Mariner 6 flew by Mars on July 31st, its twin Mariner 7 flew by Mars.

1973

The Soviet spacecraft Mars 6 is launched.

1986

The Senate approves Star Wars, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) - an anti-ballistic missile system which would intercept Soviet and other enemy missiles (coldwar.org).

2011

The Juno spacecraft is launched for Cape Canaveral to Jupiter - it would not arrive at Jupiter for another 5 years.

learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html

follow the Juno Mission on Twitter @NASAJuno

All events came from one of the following sources:
(1930, 1969, 2011) http://www.yearinspace.com/the-week-in-space/365-august-5-2013-this-is-why-we-explore
(1864, 1973, 1986) http://www.onthisday.com/events/august/5

For a complete list of today’s Space History, see  http://www.astronautix.com/a/august05.html