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September 7, 2020 - Howling at the Moon

Howling at the Moon  A pack of five dogs rode the Space Shuttle Endeavour into orbit 25 years ago this week. The STS-69 mission included astronauts David Walker and James Voss, who continued a tradition they began on the STS-53 mission of assigning dogtags or nicknames to their crewmates. Walker (“Red Dog”) and Voss (“Dog Face”) were joined by Kenneth “Cujo” Cockrell, Michael “Underdog” Gernhardt, and James “Pluto” Newman. During their 11 days in orbit (that’s 77 dog days), the canine crew deployed and fetched two free-flying satellites (Spartan 201-03 and the Wake Shield Facility), a first for the shuttle program. On one of Endeavour’s 170 orbits, a lucky dog with a keen eye for composition photographed the nearly full Moon as it appeared to float just above the horizon.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

September 7 - 13, 2020

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Moon phase Monday 7

Labor Day

Uranus 3° north of Moon

1995: STS-69 Endeavour launched

Moon phase Tuesday 8

1966: “Star Trek” premieres
1967: Surveyor 5 launched
2000: STS-106 Atlantis launched
2004: Genesis spacecraft crash-lands on return to Earth
2016: OSIRIS-REx launched

Moon phase Wednesday 9

Mars stationary

1789: William Bond born
1892: E. E. Barnard discovers Amalthea
1975: Viking 2 launched
1982: Conestoga 1 launched
1994: STS-64 Discovery launched
2006: STS-115 Atlantis launched

Moon phase Thursday 10

Last Qtr Moon 5:26 AM ET

1857: James Keeler born
1967: Surveyor 5 lands on Moon
1978: Venera 11 launched
2011: GRAIL spacecraft launched

Moon phase Friday 11

Neptune at opposition

1877: James Jeans born
1985: International Cometary Explorer satellite probes Comet Giacobini-Zinner (first comet flyby)
1997: Mars Global Surveyor arrives at Mars

Moon phase Saturday 12

Jupiter stationary

1959: Luna 2 launched
1966: Gemini XI launched
1970: Luna 16 launched
1991: STS-48 Discovery launched
1992: STS-47 Endeavour launched
1993: STS-51 Discovery launched
2017: Soyuz MS-06 launched carrying ISS Expedition 53/54 crew

Moon phase Sunday 13

1977: Second glide test of Space Shuttle Enterprise
1978: Venera 12 launched

Suggestions for new history dates or better links? Corrections for errors on this page? Please e-mail me.