June 1, 2015 - Catching Up
Catching Up By mid-1965, the former Soviet Union was leading the space race. In 1963, the Soviets set a space endurance record of five days. In late 1964, a year in which NASA had no human space flights at all, the Soviets launched a three-cosmonaut crew. The following March, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made the world’s first space walk. The Soviet lead in space was increasing, but the Gemini IV mission, launched fifty years ago this week, closed the gap. Four hours into the mission, astronaut Ed White opened the hatch of the capsule and made America’s first spacewalk, floating in space for twenty minutes. This was NASA’s second two-astronaut flight, and White and crew mate Jim McDivitt spent just over four days in space, nearly three times as long as the previous American record set in 1963.
Image credit: NASA
Weekly Calendar
June 1-7, 2015
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 1
Saturn 1.9° south of Moon
Tuesday 2
Full Moon 12:19 PM ET
1930: Charles “Pete” Conrad born
1966: Surveyor 1 lands on Moon
1970: First glide test of M2-F3 lifting body
1998: STS-91 Discovery launched
2003: Mars Express / Beagle 2 launched
Wednesday 3
1948: 200-inch Hale telescope dedicated
1965: Gemini IV launched; Ed White takes America’s first space walk
1966: Gemini IX launched
Thursday 4
1971: Last X-24A lifting body flight
1974: Construction begins on space shuttle Enterprise
2000: Compton Gamma Ray Observatory reenters atmosphere
Friday 5
1819: John Couch Adams born
1989: Voyager 2 begins regular observations of Neptune
1991: STS-40 Columbia launched
2002: STS-111 Endeavour launched
Saturday 6
Venus at greatest elongation (45° E)
Ceres appears stationary
1932: Dave Scott born
1971: Soyuz 11 launched, first crew to occupy Salyut 1 space station
1983: Venera 16 launched
Sunday 7
1992: Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer launched
2011: Soyuz TMA-02M launched carrying ISS Expedition 28/29 crew