October 5, 2020 - Shuttle Century, Finally

Shuttle Century, Finally When it was originally conceived in the early 1970s, the space shuttle program was expected to launch a spacecraft into orbit once a week. In reality, the actual number of shuttle flights averaged less than five per year, owing mainly to the complexity of the shuttle system and to the Challenger and Columbia accidents, which grounded the fleet for several years. It was not until October 11, 2000, more than 19 years after the first shuttle flew, that the 100th space shuttle mission took place. STS-92, launched 20 years ago this week, was an assembly mission to the International Space Station which saw the delivery of the Z1 truss and Pressurized Mating Adapter-3. Seen here, astronaut Michael Lopez works outside the ISS to prepare it for permanent occupancy.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

October 5 - 11, 2020

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 5

1882: Robert Goddard born
1923: Edwin Hubble finds Cepheid variable stars in galaxy M-31
1962: European Southern Observatory founded
1984: STS-41G Challenger launched

Tuesday 6

Mars closest approach

1990: STS-41 Discovery launched
1992: NASA and RASA sign Human Spaceflight Agreement to share astronauts and cosmonauts
2008: MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second flyby of Mercury

Wednesday 7

1885: Niels Bohr born
1959: Luna 3 returns first images of the lunar far side
2002: STS-112 Atlantis launched
2010: Soyuz TMA-01M launched carrying ISS Expedition 25/26 crew