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