July 6, 2020 - Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab A wide expanse of New Mexico desert became a missile test bed 75 years ago this week when the White Sands Proving Ground was established. Renamed White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in 1958, its 8,300 square km (3,200 sq mi) of open space give experimental rockets ample room to fly in safety and secrecy. Nearly 50,000 missile firings have taken place for the Army, Navy, Air Force and NASA, including the Bumper-WAC launch of 24 February 1949 shown here. A captured German V-2 rocket with a WAC Corporal upper stage achieved an altitude of 400 km (250 mi)—the first time that an artificial object reached outer space. Bad weather forced the space shuttle Columbia (STS-3) to land here in 1982. Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945, is also part of WSMR.
Image credit: NASA
Weekly Calendar
July 6 - 12, 2020
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 6
Saturn 2° north of Moon
1687: Isaac Newton publishes his Principia
Tuesday 7
1995: Final test flight of DC-X rocket
1998: First satellite launch from a submarine
2003: Mars rover Opportunity launched
2016: Soyuz MS-01 launched carrying ISS Expedition 48/49 crew
Wednesday 8
1994: STS-65 Columbia launched
2009: First flight test of Max Launch Abort System
2011: STS-135 Atlantis launched, final shuttle mission
Thursday 9
1945: White Sands Missile Range opens
1979: Voyager 2 flies past Jupiter
Friday 10
Neptune 4° north of Moon
Venus greatest illuminated extent
1962: Telstar 1 launched, allowing transatlantic transmission of TV signals
1992: Giotto spacecraft flies past comet Grigg-Skjellerup
Saturday 11
Mars 2° north of Moon
1962: NASA selects lunar orbit rendezvous method for lunar landings
1969: X-24A lifting body rolled out for first time
1979: Skylab reenters atmosphere
Sunday 12
Venus 1° north of Aldebaran
Moon at apogee
Last Qtr Moon 7:29 PM ET
1966: First glide test of M2-F2 lifting body
2000: Zvezda Service Module launched to ISS
2001: STS-104 Atlantis launched