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
Monday 7
Labor Day
Uranus 3° north of Moon
1995: STS-69 Endeavour launched
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
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
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
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
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
Sunday 13
1977: Second glide test of Space Shuttle Enterprise
1978: Venera 12 launched