This Month in Space History - January Compiled by Ron Baalke http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/history.html January 1 4713 BC: the Julian date was arbitrarily started at zero point on this date (at Greenwich mean noon) by Joseph Scaliger in 1582. January 1 In 1801, Guiseppe Piazzi discovered the first asteroid, Ceres. Ceres is the largest asteroid found in the main asteroid belt. January 1 In 1869, a small meteorite shower fell in Hessle, Sweden. A shower of stones fell from the sky, ranging in size from a few grams to the largest stone weighing 1.8 kg. One stone missed a man by a few meters. The Hessle meteorite was later identified as a H5 meteorite, a common stony chondrite. January 2 In 1900, Leslie Peltier was born. Peltier was one of the greatest variable star observers of all time. January 2 In 1920, science fiction author Isaac Asimov was born. January 2 In 1959, the USSR launched Luna 1 and it became the first spacecraft to leave Earth's gravity. It was originally intended to impact the Moon, but instead missed it by about 5000 km, and became the first man-made artifact to enter solar orbit. January 2 In 1972, Mariner 9 is finally able to begin mapping Mars. The mapping was delayed 7 weeks due to a planet-wide dust storm. January 2 In 1991, Edward Stone became the Director of the Jet Propulion Laboratory. January 3 In 1877, a 100 pound meteorite fell in Warrenton, Missouri, struck a tree and broke into several pieces, and just missed hitting a man by a few meters. The Warrenton meteorite was identified as a CO3 meteorite, a rare carbonaceous chondrite. January 3 In 1970, a fireball was photographed by the Prairie Camera Network (now defunct) in Oklahoma. It was determined from the photographs that a meteorite fall had occurred, and in impact point was calculated near Lost City. Gunther Swartz found a 9.8 kg meteorite on January 9 lying in the middle of the road only 600 meters from the predicted impact point. Four meteorites were eventually recovered weighing a total of 17kg. The Lost City meteorite was a H5 meteorite, a common stony chondrite. January 4 In 1643, Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, England January 4 In 1958, Sputnik 1, the first satellite launched into orbit, reentered into Earth's atmosphere and burned up. January 4 In 1963, the USSR launched a spacecraft to the Moon, but it failed to leave Earth orbit. January 5 In 1834, the Kiowa Indians recorded this date as the night the stars fell. January 5 In 1892, the first successful photograph of an aurora was taken. January 5 In 1905, Charles Perrine discovered a new moon around Saturn, Elara. Elara is only about 80 km in diameter. January 5 In 1969, the USSR launched Venera 5 to Venus. Arriving at dark side of Venus on May 16, 1969, Venera 5 deployed a atmospheric probe which parachuted into the atmosphere. The probe measured the atmosphere as it floated down, and transmitted data for 53 minutes before succumbing to the high temperatures and pressure. January 5 In 1972, with the approval of President Richard Nixon, NASA begins development of the Space Shuttle program. January 5 In 1987, the debris from the space shuttle Challenger explosion is buried in missile silos at Cape Canaveral. January 6 In 1941, Robert Goddard achieved the rocket highest thrust ever (447 kg) during a rocket motor test on a static test stand. January 6 In 1968, Surveyor 7 was launched to the Moon. It landed on the lunar surface 4 days later near Crater Tycho and performed some soil analysis. Surveyor 7 sent back 20,993 images from the surface of the Moon. The spacecraft also made the first observation of artificial light from Earth. January 6 In 1985, several meteorites fell in La Criolla, Argentina. One stone, weighing 750 grams (or 1.65 pounds), crashed through the roof of the house of the Rios family. The meteorite richocheted around the room and destroyed the front door. Mrs. Rios and her children, who had just finished their dinner and were clearing the table, were terrorized by this sudden intruder. Mrs. Rios thought a bomb had been dropped by a plane onto her house. The La Criolla meteorite was later identified as a L6 meteorite, a common stony chondrite. January 7 In 1610, Galileo discovers three major moons around Jupiter: Io, Europa and Callisto. This provided proof that not all bodies revolved around the Earth, which was the belief at that time. These moons plus a fourth discovered 6 days later, would later become known as the Galilean moons. January 7 In 1888, the 36 inch Lick telescope made its very first observation. January 7 In 1985, Japan launched a spacecraft named Sakigake (Japanese word for "Pioneer"). Sakigake was Japan's first deep space probe and its mission was to measure the solar wind and magnetic field as it flew by Halley's Comet. On March 11, 1986, Sakigake made its closest approach to Halley's Comet at a distance of 6.99 million km. January 8 In 1587, Johannes Fabricius was born. Fabricius was a Dutch astronomer who discovered the sunspots. January 8 In 1868, Sir Frank Dyson was born. Dyson proved that Einsten was right about light being bent by gravity. January 8 Stephen Hawking, a brilliant British theoretical astrophysist, was born in 1942. January 8 In 1973, the USSR launched Luna 21 and it landed on the Moon 7 days later near the Sea of Serenity. The second unmanned lunar rover, Lunokhod 2, was deployed. Lunokhod 2 lasted 5 lunar days and traversed 37 km. It also returned 80,000 images and was even struck by laser beams from the Pic du Midi Observatories. January 8 In 1992, Japan's Sakigake spacecraft made an Earth flyby. January 9 In 1839, Thomas Henderson, using geometrical parallax, makes the first measurement of the distance to a distance star (Alpha Centauri). January 9 In 1990, space shuttle Columbia was launched on the STS-32 mission. A Syncom defense communications satelite was deployed, and the Long Durations Exposure Facility (LDEF) was retrieved from Earth orbit. January 10 In 1936, Robert Wilson was born. Wilson, along with Arno Penzias, discovered the cosmic microwave background. January 10 In 1946, the US Army bounced a radar beam off the Moon for the first time. January 10 In 1969, the USSR launched Venera 6 to Venus. It arrived at Venus on March 17, and a descent capsule entered the atmosphere on the planet's dark side. The Venera 6 capsule transmitted data for 51 minutes before being crushed. January 10 In 1978, Soyuz 27 was launched carrying cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Oleg Makarov. The cosmonauts spent six days in space and were the first to visit the Salyut 6 space station. January 11 In 1787, William Herschell discovered two new moons around Uranus, Titania and Oberon. January 11 In 1968, Explorer 36 was launched to provide precise information about the size and shape of the Earth, and to measure the strength of variations in the Earth's gravitational field. January 11 In 1975, Soyuz 17 was launched carrying cosmonauts Georgi Grechko and Alexei Gubarev on the first visit to the Salyut 4 space station. The cosmonauts stayed for 30 days. January 12 In 1820, the Royal Astronomical Society was founded in England. January 12 In 1986, space shuttle Columbia was launched on the STS-61C mission, which deployed a communications satellite. The flight also carried Congressman Bill Nelson, the first US House of Representative in space. This was the last shuttle flight prior to the Challenger explosion. January 12 The fictional birthdate for the HAL 9000 main computer from Author C. Clarke's science fiction novel "2001: A Space Odyssey" is January 12, 1997. January 13 In 1610, Galileo Galilei discovered the fourth moon around Jupiter, Ganymede. January 13 In 1920, an editorial in the New York Times ridiculed a proposal from Robert Goddard that rockets could be used to reach the Moon. January 13 In 1978, women are selected for the first time by NASA in its group of astronaut candidates. January 13 In 1980, a Mars meteorite, labeled EETA 79001, was was found in Elephant Morraine in the Antarctic. Weighing in at 7,900 grams (17.4 pounds), EETA 79001 was the second largest Mars meteorite ever found. EETA 79001 is only 180 million years old, the youngest of the Mars meteorites and was launched into space from Mars about 600,000 years ago. In November 1996, a British team announced that they have found evidence of possible fossil life in this meteorite. January 13 In 1993, space shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-54. The fifth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-F) is deployed. January 14 In the year 616, 10 deaths from a meteorite shower in China was reported. January 14 In 1969, Soyuz 4 was launched for a rendezvous with Soyuz 5, which was launched the next day. Two cosmonauts in Soyuz 5 left in spacesuits and pulled themselves along handrails into Soyuz 4, completing the first ever crew transfer in space. January 15 In 1976, Helios 2 was launched to observe the Sun and its solar wind. Helios 2 was constructed in West Germany and launched by theU.S. from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Because it was equipped with special heat-dispersal systems, the spacecraft were able to withstand extremely high temperatures, which reached an estimated 700 F (370 C). Helios 2's orbit took it 28 million miles from the Sun, the closest any spacecraft has approached the Sun. It returned useful data about the Sun's magnetic field, the solar wind, the relative strength of cosmic rays, and measurements of meteoroid loss from the solar system. January 16 In 1825, a meteorite was reported to have killed a man and injured a woman in Oriang, India. January 16 In 1903, the 500th asteroid, Selinur, was discovered. January 17 In 272 B.C, the first precise observation of the position of Mars was made. January 18 In 1916, a 611 gram meteorite fell through the house in Baxtor, Missouri. The Baxtor meteorite was identified as a L6 meteorite, a common stony chondrite. January 19 In 1747, Johann Bode was born. Bode is famous for the Titus-Bode law, which is a nearly geometric progression of the planet distances from the Sun. January 19 In 1840, Antarctica was discovered. The Antarctic would later turn out to have the large concentration of meteorites, including six Martian meteorites. January 19 In 1851, Jacobus Kapteyn was born. Kapteyn created the first modern model of the size and structure of the Milky Way after studying the distribution and motion of half a million stars. January 19 In 1965, Gemini 2 was launched on an unmanned suborbital flight to demonstrate the structural integrity of reentry heat protection of the Gemini capsule. January 20 In 1573, Simon Mayr was born. Mayr observed the moons of Jupiter at around the same time as Galileo, and gave the moons discovered by Galileo the Greek names that are in use today. January 20 Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, was born in 1930. January 20 In 1965, the Jet Propulsion Lab proposed to modify an Apollo flight to fly around Mars and return to Earth. The proposal was turned down. January 20 In 1965, Little Joe 2 was launched on a suborbital flight to demonstrate the Apollo launch escape vehicle performance. January 21 In 1792, John Couch Adams was born. Adams predicted the location of Neptune. January 21 In 1877, a 340 gram meteorite fell in a village in De Crewsville, Canada, and narrowlly missed a man by a few meters. The De Crewsville meteorite was later identified as an H6 meteorite, a common stony chondrite. January 21 In 1960, a Mecury capsule was launched on a Little Joe rocket on a suborbital flight carrying a monkey named Miss Sam. January 21 In 1979, Pluto passed inside of Neptune's orbit, and Neptune became the farthest planet from the Sun. In 1999, Pluto will pass back outside outside of Neptune's orbit, at which point Pluto will then regain the title of the farthest planet. January 22 In 1968, Apollo 5 was launched in an unmanned test of the Lunar Module ascent and descent propulsion systems. January 22 In 1978, the USSR's Progress 1 became the first automatic resupply spacecraft when it docked with Salyut 6. January 23 In 1941, the Lewis Research Center was opened in Cleveland, Ohio. Lewis would later become a NASA center. January 24 In 1882, Harold Babcock was born. Backcock was an American solar astronomer who proposed in 1961 that the sunspot cycle was the result of the Sun's differential rotation and magnetic field. January 24 In 1978, the USSR's Cosmos 954 satellite reeneters into Earth's atmosphere and burns up. Part of the spacecraft survive the reentry and land in Canada. January 24 In 1986, Voyager 2 made the first flyby of the planet Uranus. January 24 In 1990, Japan launched its Hiten spacecraft to the Moon. The 195 kg probe looped out from Earth and made its first lunary flyby on March 19, where it dropped off its 12 kg midget satellite, Hagoromo. Japan at this point became the third nation to orbit a satellite around the Moon, joining the Unites States and USSR. January 25 In 1736, Joseph Lagrange was born in France. Lagrange was a mathematician who had made several important contribution to the field of celestial mechanics. January 25 In 1908, the corona of the Sun was photographed for the first time. January 25 In 1983, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) was launched and made the first sky survey of objects that emit infrared radiation. IRAS discovered seven comets and several new asteroids. January 25 In 1994, the Clementine spacecraft was launched to the Moon. After going into lunar orbit, the spacecraft performed a successful mapping mission of the Moon. The mission failed in its attempt to flyby asteroid Geographos when a software error expended all of the spacecraft's available propellant and it went into an uncontrollable spin. January 26 In 1962, Ranger 3 was launched to the Moon. Intended to impact on the Moon, a launch vehicle malfunction resulted in the spacecraft in missing the Moon by 22,861 miles. However, spectrometer data on radiation were received. January 26 In 1978, the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite was launched. IUE obtained high-resolution data on stars and planets in the ultraviolet. January 27 In 1908, Pasiphae, a satellite of Jupiter, was discovered by P. Melotte. Pasiphae is only 70 km in diameter. January 27 In 1967, a fire on the launch pad during a preflight ground test killed the crew Apollo 1. Astronaust Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee diedin Cleveland, Ohio. LRC would later become a NASA center. in the fire. January 28 In 1611, astronomer Johannes Hevelius was born in Danzig (now Gdansk), Poland. Hevelius discovered the libration of the moon in longitude in 1647. He also discovered four comets and was one of the first to observe the transit of Mercury. January 28 In 1986, space shuttle Challenger was launched carrying a crew of seven. Just 72 seconds into the flight, tragedy struck when Challenger exploded killing all seven astronauts aboard: Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ron McNair, Gregory Jarvis. The cause of the explosion was traced to a leak in the solid booster rocket. January 29 In 1613, Galileo Galilei observed Neptune but failed to recognize it as a new planet. January 29 In 1984, China launched the Long March 3 booster rocket for the first time on an experimental flight. January 29 In 1989, USSR's Phobos 2 successfully entered into Mars orbit. The Soviets lost radio contact with the spacecraft two months later when the onboard control system failed. January 30 In 1868, the largest meteorite shower ever witnessed fell in Pultusk Poland. A bright fireball was observed followed by detonations, and over 100,000 meteorites fell to the ground. Most of the stones were pea-sized, thought a fragment weighing 9kg was found. The Pultusk meteorites were later identified as H5 meteorites, a common stony chondrite. January 30 In 1964, Ranger 6 was launched to the Moon. Arriving 3 days later, the spacecraft's cameras failed to turned on, and no data was returned. The spacecraft impacted in the Sea of Tranquility. January 31 In 1862, Alvan Clark discovered a white dwarf companion next to Sirius. January 31 In 1948, the first photo was taken with the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory. January 31 In 1958, the US succesfully launched its first Earth satellite into orbit, Explorer 1. The Jet Propulsion Lab designed and built the 14 kg (31 pound) satellite, and the Redstone launch vehicle was provided by the Wernher von Braun team. Explorer 1 discovered a radiation belt around the Earth, which was identified by Dr. James Van Allen of the Univeristy of Iowa. With the success of Explorer 1, JPL moved away from its rocket propulsion research which it has been doing since the 1930's, and instead concentrated in earnest on planetary exploration. Von Braun continued on with rocket work which eventually led to the development of the Saturn V rocket which was used to launch the Apollo astronauts to the Moon. January 31 In 1961, the US launched a chimpanzee named Ham in a Mercury spacecraft on a suborbital flight. January 31 In 1966, the USSR launched Luna 9 to the Moon. Arriving 4 days later, a 220 pound capsule made the first ever landing on the Moon when it landed in the Sea of Storms. The images images from the surface of the Moon were transmitted back to Earth, including three panoramic shots of the lunar landscape. January 31 In 1971, Apollo 14 was launched to the Moon carrying Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell. Apollo 14 became the third manned mission to land on the moon 6 days later. 43 kg of lunar samples were returned, and Shepard made the first golf shot from the surface of the Moon. January 31 In 1977, a bright fireball and loud detonations were observed over Louisville, Kentucky. Meteorites fell from the sky and struck three buildings and a car. Four specimens were recovered totaling 1.3 kg. The Louisville meteorite was identified as an L6 meteorite, a common stony chondrite.