October 30, 2017 - Addition to the Family
Addition to the Family Europe’s most powerful launch vehicle, the Ariane 5, made its first successful flight twenty years ago this week. This latest member of the Ariane family of launch vehicles, which date back to 1979, is operated by Arianespace and launched from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou in French Guiana. The Ariane 5 features two solid rocket boosters and a central liquid propellant rocket core. The latest variant of the Ariane 5, the ECA, can deliver 10,500 kg (23,100 lbs) of payload to geosynchronous orbit (35,700 km or 22,300 mi above the Earth). The Ariane 5 was used to launch the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory, numerous telecommunication satellites, all five of the International Space Station ATV resupply ships, as well as the Herschel Space Observatory, seen here.
Image credit: European Space Agency
Weekly Calendar
October 30 - November 5, 2017
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 30
Neptune 0.9° north of Moon
1981: Venera 13 launched
1985: STS-61A Challenger launched
1997: First successful Ariane 5 rocket launched
Tuesday 31
Halloween
2005: Hubble Space Telescope discovers two new moons orbiting Pluto
2006: NASA announces SM4, the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission
2014: SpaceShipTwo crashes during atmospheric test flight, one pilot killed
Wednesday 1
Venus 4° north of Spica
1962: Mars 1 launched
1999: Area Code 321 goes into effect for areas near Kennedy Space Center
Thursday 2
Uranus 4° north of Moon
1885: Harlow Shapley born
1917: First light for Mount Wilson Observatory 100-inch Hooker telescope
Friday 3
Taurid meteor shower
1957: Sputnik 2 carries dog Laika, first living creature to orbit Earth
1966: Test flight of Manned Orbital Laboratory components
1973: Mariner 10 launched
1994: STS-66 Atlantis launched
Saturday 4
Full Moon 12:23 AM ET
Taurid meteor shower
Sunday 5
Daylight Saving Time ends 2:00 AM
Moon at perigee
Aldebaran 0.8° south of Moon
2013: Mars Orbiter Mission launched, India's first interplanetary mission