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October 29, 2018 - Mr. Glenn Goes to Space

Mr. Glenn Goes to Space  The launch of the STS-95 mission twenty years ago this week marked the 25th flight of the orbiter Discovery, but making an even more impressive return to space was John Glenn. More than 36 years earlier, when some of his STS-95 crewmates were still in diapers, Glenn made America’s first orbital spaceflight in his Friendship 7 Mercury capsule. A U.S. Senator since 1974, Glenn campaigned for his return to space, touting it as a unique opportunity to supplement a medical data set that began nearly four decades before. Many experiments aboard Discovery’s Spacehab module focused on the effects of microgravity on Glenn who, at 77, became the oldest person ever to fly in space. Spacehab is visible here in Discovery’s cargo bay. Glenn died in 2016 at the age of 96.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

October 29 - November 4, 2018

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Moon phase Monday 29

1964: First flight of Lunar Landing Research Vehicle
1987: Cosmos 1894 becomes 2,000th satellite
1991: Galileo flies past Gaspra
1998: STS-95 Discovery launched

Moon phase Tuesday 30

Mercury 3° south of Jupiter

1981: Venera 13 launched
1985: STS-61A Challenger launched
1997: First successful Ariane 5 rocket launched

Moon phase Wednesday 31

Halloween

Last Qtr Moon 11:40 AM ET
Moon at perigee

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

Moon phase Thursday 1

1962: Mars 1 launched
1999: Area Code 321 goes into effect for areas near Kennedy Space Center

Moon phase Friday 2

1885: Harlow Shapley born
1917: First light for Mount Wilson Observatory 100-inch Hooker telescope

Moon phase Saturday 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

Moon phase Sunday 4

Daylight Saving Time ends 2:00 AM

Taurid meteor shower

Suggestions for new history dates or better links? Corrections for errors on this page? Please e-mail me.