On July 2, 1990, European Space Agency’s (ESA) Giotto spacecraft performed the first-ever earth gravity-assisted maneuver to be retargeted for its destination, Comet P/Grigg-Skjellerup.
Category: Space Exploration
NASA’s Cassini space probe entered Saturn’s orbit on July 1, 2004, and became the first spacecraft to orbit the ringed planet.
On June 29, 1971, after completing its record-breaking 20th day in orbit, the crew of Soyuz 11, Georgy T. Dobrovolski (Commander), Viktor I. Patsayev, and Vladislav N. Volkov departed from the Salyut 1 space station, the first space station in the history of space exploration, on June 29, 1971. Unfortunately, the mission ended in disaster when the crew capsule depressurized during preparations for re-entry. The cosmonauts rapidly lost consciousness as the pressure continued to drop and died within two minutes.
Dobrovolski, Patsayev, and Volkov still remain the only humans to have died in space (above the Kármán Line, see notes 1).
On June 22, 1978, Pluto’s moon Charon was discovered by United States Naval Observatory astronomer James Christy (born September 15, 1938).
On June 20, 1944, a German A-4/V-2 rocket became the first human-made object to travel into space by crossing the Kármán line with the vertical launch of MW 18014, attaining an apogee of 176 kilometers (109.3 miles). The Kármán line commonly represents the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. It lies at an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 miles) above the Earth’s sea level.
On June 19, 1976, NASA’s Viking 1 Orbiter was inserted into Mars orbit. Both Viking 1 and Viking 2 spacecraft were consisting of an orbiter and a lander.
On June 18, 1983, Space Shuttle Challenger and the STS-7 crew launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida. With the launch, one of the mission specialists, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space.
On June 16, 1963, aboard the Vostok 6 spacecraft, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. She made 48 orbits around Earth and spent 2 days, 22 hours, and 50 minutes in space.
On June 13, 1983, Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to pass beyond the orbit of Neptune. So, it is the first spacecraft to pass beyond all the solar system planets.
On June 12, 1967, the Soviet Union launched Venera 4, which means “Venus 4” in English, a probe in the Soviet Venera program for the exploration of the planet Venus. It became the first successful probe to perform in-place analysis of the environment of another planet.