On March 23, 2001, after 15 years and more than 86,000 total orbits, Russia’s Mir Space Station was deorbited at 9 a.m. Moscow time. The 134-ton space structure broke up over the southern Pacific Ocean. Some of its larger pieces blazed harmlessly into the sea, about 1,800 miles east of New Zealand.
Today’s (March 23) story of what happened this day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration history.
On March 22, 1995, Russian cosmonaut Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov returned to Earth from space aboard Soyuz TM-20. During this flight (it was Polyakov’s second spaceflight), he completed just over 7,000 orbits of the Earth. On 9 January 1995, after 366 days in space, Polyakov formally broke the spaceflight duration record previously set by the Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov six years earlier. The previous record was 365 days 22 hours 38 minutes.
Upon returning to Earth, Polyakov spent 437 days, 17 hours, and 58 minutes in space and set the longest duration spaceflight record that still stands.
Today’s (March 22) story of what happened this day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration history.
On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov stepped out from his Voskhod 2 spacecraft into the void of space and performed the first spacewalk in the history of space exploration.
Today’s (March 18) story of what happened this day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration history.
On March 13, 1986, European Space Agency‘s (ESA) Giotto spacecraft made the closest approach to Halley’s Comet at a distance of 596 kilometers (370 miles).
Today’s (March 13) story of what happened this day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration history.
Nicknamed “Paddle-Wheel Satellite”, NASA’s Pioneer 5 probe was launched on March 11, 1960, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Today’s (March 11) story of what happened this day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration history.
On March 8, 2022, Taikonaut Wang Yaping celebrated International Women’s Day from China’s Space Station Tiangong by delivering a special message to the world.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) took its first photo today (February 11, 2022). Despite we see multiple stars on the photo, the image is actually a mosaic of 18 images of the same star, HD 84406, which will now be used to align the 18 segments of the primary mirror to ultimately produce a single image of that star. The new space telescope also took its own selfie!
There are 4,550 satellites orbiting around the Earth right now. They serve a variety of purposes including providing internet access, global positioning, and space observation. While some of these satellites are operated by government organizations, other satellites are owned by private organizations. Which companies and countries own the most of these satellites?
On February 7, 1984, during the STS-41-B (the tenth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the fourth flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger), NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II (June 8, 1937 – December 21, 2017) made the first-ever untethered free flight using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (see notes 1). With a distance of 98 meters (320 feet) from the space shuttle, he also broke the untethered spacewalking record.