Category: This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

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Space Exploration This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

Vanguard 1, the first Solar-Powered Satellite [and the Oldest Human-Made Object Still in Orbit] was Launched on March 17, 1958

Vanguard 1
Launched on March 17, 1958, Vanguard 1 was the first satellite to have solar electric power. Image: a model of Vanguard 1 on the NASA website

Vanguard 1, launched on March 17, 1958, marks a significant step in space exploration as the first solar-powered satellite. It is also the oldest human-made object still orbiting Earth. The satellite, with a diameter of about 6.4 inches (16.3 cm), demonstrated the viability of solar energy in space missions. While its primary scientific mission has long since ended, Vanguard 1 remains in orbit, serving as a historical marker of early space endeavors and the evolving technology of the era. Its presence in space continues to remind us of the early stages of human efforts in satellite technology.

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Astronomy This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

Kepler Space Telescope was launched on March 7, 2009

Kepler Space Telescope (artist imagination)
Kepler Space Telescope (artist imagination)

On March 7, 2009, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope was launched from Cape Canaveral on top of a Delta II (7925-10L) rocket. It was designed to search for exoplanets – planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. Kepler’s primary mission was to determine how common Earth-like planets are in our galaxy, and it discovered more than 2,600 confirmed exoplanets during its 9-year mission.

Kepler Space Telescope’s discoveries revolutionized our understanding of the universe and our place in it and paved the way for future space telescopes and exoplanet research.

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Solar System Space Exploration This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

Voyager 1 performed the Jupiter flyby on March 5, 1979

Voyager 1 Jupiter flyby
Voyager 1 took this photo of Jupiter and two of its satellites (Io, left, and Europa) on February 13, 1979. Io is about 350,000 kilometers (220,000 miles) above Jupiter's Great Red Spot; Europa is about 600,000 kilometers (375,000 miles) above Jupiter's clouds. Image: NASA

On March 5, 1979, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft performed a Jupiter flyby as it flew within 277,400 kilometers (172,368 miles) of the planet’s cloud tops or 348,890 km/216,790 miles from the center of mass.

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Solar System Space Exploration This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

Pioneer 10 was launched on March 2, 1972

Pioneer 10
Artist's concept of a Pioneer spacecraft going into deep space (Pioneer 10 and 11 were identical, except that a Flux-Gate Magnetometer was added on Pioneer 11). Image: NASA

On March 2, 1972, Pioneer 10, was launched by NASA on top of an Atlas-Centaur rocket (AC-27 / Atlas 3C no. 5007C / Centaur D-1A) to study Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, and its environment.

The mission’s primary goal was to fly by Jupiter and study its atmosphere, magnetosphere, and radiation belts. Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to visit Jupiter and provided scientists with the first up-close look at the gas giant and its four largest moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

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Physics This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

Henri Becquerel accidentally discovered radioactivity on March 1, 1896

Henri Becquerel accidentally discovered radioactivity.
On March 1, 1896, French physicist Henri Becquerel (15 December 1852 - 25 August 1908) accidentally discovered radioactivity.

On March 1, 1896, French physicist Henri Becquerel (15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) accidentally discovered radioactivity.

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Solar System Space Exploration This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

Venera 13 became the first spacecraft to record sounds on another planet [Venus] on March 1, 1982

Photo of the surface of Venus taken by the Venera 13 lander.
Photo of the surface of Venus taken by the Venera 13 lander.

On March 1, 1982, the landing vehicle of the Soviet Union’s Venera 13 spacecraft landed on Venus and became the first spacecraft to record sounds on another planet.

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Solar System Astronomy This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930

Pluto
This image of Pluto was taken as New Horizons zipped toward Pluto and its moons on July 14, 2015, from a range of 22,025 miles (35,445) kilometers. This single-color MVIC (Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera) scan includes no data from other New Horizons imagers or instruments added. The striking features on Pluto are clearly visible, including the bright expanse of Pluto's icy, nitrogen-and-methane-rich "heart," Sputnik Planitia. Image source: NASA

Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930, by the American astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997) at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

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Moon Landing Space Exploration This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

Apollo 1 Tragedy [January 27, 1967]

Apollo 1 Astronauts
Apollo 1 Astronauts (left to right) Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, pose in front of Launch Complex 34 which is housing their Saturn 1 launch vehicle. The astronauts died ten days later in a fire on the launch pad. Image: wikipedia Roger B. Chaffee (b. February 15, 1935), Virgil I. Grissom (b. April 3, 1926) and Edward H. White II (b. November 14, 1930) died on January 27, 1967, when a flash fire swept through the Apollo 1 command module during a launch rehearsal test. The three men inside perished despite the best efforts of the ground crew. It would take more than 18 months, and extensive redesigns, before NASA sent more men into space. The Apollo program changed forever after the incident. The improvements in astronaut safety allowed the agency to complete the rest of the program with no further fatalities. The agency also met the United States president John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the moon in 1969, during Apollo 11.

On January 27, 1967, three NASA astronauts, Roger B. Chaffee (b. February 15, 1935), Virgil I. Grissom (b. April 3, 1926), and Edward H. White II (b. November 14, 1930) died when a flash fire swept through the Apollo 1 command module during a launch rehearsal test. The three men inside perished despite the best efforts of the ground crew. It would take more than 18 months, and extensive redesigns, before NASA sent more astronauts into space.

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Space Exploration Mars This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

Opportunity landed on Mars on January 25, 2004

Opportunity Mars rover - artist conception
This artist conception portrays Opportunity on the surface of Mars. Opportunity was launched on July 7, 2003, 28 days after its twin, Spirit, which launched on June 10, 2003, as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover program. It landed in Meridiani Planum, a plain located 2 degrees south of Mars’s equator on January 25, 2004, three weeks after Spirit touched down on the other side of the planet. Both rovers had a planned 90-sol (Martian day) duration of activity (slightly more than 90 earth days). Spirit functioned until getting stuck in 2009 and ceased communications in 2010, while Opportunity was able to stay operational for 5353 sols after landing. By June 10, 2018, when it last contacted NASA and sent it last photo (the image in the right-hand-side above) to Earth, which shows the intensity of the dust storm, Opportunity had traveled a distance of 45.16 kilometers (28.06 miles) and exceeded its operating plan by 14 years, 295 days (in Earth Time), 55 times its designed lifespan. Image source: NASA

On January 15, 2004, NASA’s Opportunity rover landed on Mars (in Meridiani Planum), three weeks after its twin, Spirit, touched down on the other side of the red planet on January 4.

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Solar System Space Exploration This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History

The first Uranus flyby was performed by Voyager 2 on January 24, 1986

Voyager 2 Uranus flyby
On January 24, 1986, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft performed the first (and as of 2023, the only so far) Uranus flyby in the history of space exploration.

On January 24, 1986, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft performed the first (and as of 2023, the only so far) Uranus flyby in the history of space exploration.

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