May 23, 2016 - A Committed World

A Committed World  Fifty-five years ago this week, President John F. Kennedy delivered an address to a Joint Session of Congress in which he stated that America “should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” Just eight years later, NASA landed two Apollo 11 astronauts on the Moon and returned them to Earth. Sadly, Kennedy never witnessed this feat, having been assassinated five years before even the first crewed Apollo flight, but the program that he put into motion continued until December 1972. Here we see Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt on the Moon next to the U.S. flag, the blue marble of Earth high overhead. It was one of the last moments that a human would stand on the lunar surface.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

May 23 - 29, 2016

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 23

Victoria Day (Canada)

Vesta in conjunction with Sun

1984: NASA selects 10th astronaut group

Tuesday 24

1962: Aurora 7 launched

Wednesday 25

1961: JFK challenges nation to Moon landing before end of decade
1965: Saturn SA-8 launched
1966: Roll-out of first full-scale Saturn V
1973: Skylab 2 begins 28-day mission
2008: Phoenix lander lands on Mars

Thursday 26

1951: Sally Ride born

Friday 27

2009: Soyuz TMA-15 launched carrying ISS Expedition 20/21 crew

Saturday 28

1959: First primates in space, Able and Baker (monkeys), complete suborbital flight
1964: SA-6 launched, second Saturn I Block 2
2013: Soyuz TMA-09M launched carrying ISS Expedition 36/37 crew
2014: Soyuz TMA-13M launched carrying ISS Expedition 40/41 crew

Sunday 29

Last Qtr Moon 8:12 AM ET
Neptune 1.4° south of Moon

1919: Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity tested during total solar eclipse