May 18, 2015 - Spektr Spectacle
Spektr Spectacle Launched twenty years ago this week, the Spektr module, seen with its two pairs of solar panels at the bottom of this image of the Mir space station, provided power, scientific equipment for Earth observation, and living quarters for U.S. astronauts visiting Mir. Spektr was badly damaged on June 25, 1997, when Progress M-34, a remote-controlled resupply vessel, crashed into the module during tests of a new guidance system. The module lost pressure and electricity so it had to be shut down and sealed off from the remainder of Mir. In September 1998, two cosmonauts donned space suits to search for leaks and perform repairs inside the unpressurized Spektr. They restored Spektr’s power-generating capabilities, but the module remained sealed and uninhabited until Mir’s deorbiting in 2001.
Image credit: NASA
Weekly Calendar
May 18-24, 2015
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 18
Victoria Day (Canada)
New Moon 12:13 AM ET
1969: Apollo 10 launched
1984: Viking 1 lander given to National Air & Space Museum
1996: First test flight of DC-XA rocket
2009: 23rd and final spacewalk to service the Hubble Space Telescope
Tuesday 19
Mercury 6° north of Moon
Mercury appears stationary
1965: Apollo A-003 launched
1996: STS-77 Endeavour launched
2000: STS-101 Atlantis launched
Wednesday 20
1978: Pioneer-Venus 1 launched
1995: Spektr module launched to Mir space station
Thursday 21
Venus 8° north of Moon
2010: IKAROS spacecraft launched; first successful solar-sail propulsion
Friday 22
Saturn at opposition
1969: Apollo 10 lunar module descends to within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface
2012: Dragon C2+ spacecraft launched, first commercial mission to dock with ISS
Saturday 23
1984: NASA selects 10th astronaut group
Sunday 24
Whit Sunday—Pentecost
Jupiter 5° north of Moon
1962: Aurora 7 launched