June 18, 2018 - Curfew for EURECA

Curfew for EURECA  Twenty-five years ago this week the space shuttle Endeavour began the ten-day STS-57 mission. Inside Endeavour’s cargo bay for the first time was the pressurized SPACEHAB module, which served as a mini-laboratory where the crew conducted scores of biomedical and materials science experiments. The highlight of the mission, however, was the retrieval—via a six-hour spacewalk by astronauts David Low and Peter Wisoff—of the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) free-flying satellite, which had been deployed by the STS-46 mission in August 1992.  During its 11 months in orbit, EURECA was a testbed for research in materials and life sciences and radiobiology—all requiring a controlled microgravity environment—as well as Earth science, solar physics, and astrophysics.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

June 18 - 24, 2018

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 18

1799: William Lassell born
1983: STS-7 Challenger launched; Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space
2009: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) launched

Tuesday 19

Neptune appears stationary
Vesta at opposition

1999: QuikSCAT launched

Wednesday 20

First Qtr Moon 6:51 AM ET

1985: NASA announces cola wars will take place on shuttle mission STS-51F
1996: STS-78 Columbia launched

Thursday 21

Solstice 6:07 AM ET

1993: STS-57 Endeavour launched
2004: SpaceShipOne launched, first privately-funded human space flight

Friday 22

1675: Royal Greenwich Observatory founded
1973: 28-day Skylab 2 mission ends
2000: NASA announces evidence of present-day liquid water on Mars

Saturday 23

Jupiter 4° south of Moon

Sunday 24

St. Jean Baptiste Day (Québec)

1999: FUSE spacecraft launched