August 17, 2020 - Sifting the Sands of Mars
Sifting the Sands of Mars Since humans first imagined that the wandering points of light in the night sky were worlds unto themselves, we have felt a strong desire to reach out and touch those distant places. It is human nature to poke and prod, to discover with our own hands, and we are fortunate that we live in an age where sheer distance is no longer a barrier for that kind of contact. Forty-five years ago this week, NASA launched the Viking 1 mission, which landed the first fully operational spacecraft on the surface of Mars. With its digging tool and sampling arm, Viking 1 could, at the behest of human controllers on Earth, fulfill a dream and reach out to sift the sands of Mars. In looking for signs of life on one planet, Viking 1 left behind a sign, scratched in the sand, of the life that exists on another.
Image credit: NASA / JPL / image processing by Roel van der Hoorn
Weekly Calendar
August 17 - 23, 2020
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 17
Mercury in superior conjunction
1966: Pioneer 7 launched
1970: Venera 7 launched
2006: Voyager 1 is 100 AU from Earth
Tuesday 18
New Moon 10:41 PM ET
1868: Total solar eclipse leads to discovery of helium
1877: Asaph Hall discovers Phobos
1960: Discoverer XIV launched, first successful US photo reconnaissance satellite
1993: First DC-X flight
1999: Cassini spacecraft flies by Earth
Wednesday 19
1646: John Flamsteed born
1891: Milton Humason born
1982: Soyuz T-7 launched, Svetlana Savitskaya is second woman in space
Thursday 20
1953: First Redstone rocket launched
1960: Sputnik 5 launched
1975: Viking 1 launched
1977: Voyager 2 launched
Friday 21
Moon at perigee
1965: Gemini V launched
1972: OAO-3 launched
2002: First Atlas V rocket launched
Saturday 22
1963: X-15 sets world altitude record for a winged craft (354,000 feet)
1976: Luna 24 returns soil samples from Moon
Sunday 23
1966: Lunar Orbiter I returns first image of Earth from Moon