On October 22, 1975, Soviet Union’s Venera 9 spacecraft landed on Venus and took the first photos from the surface of another planet.
Category Archives: This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History
‘Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object in our solar system was detected on October 19, 2017
‘Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object to visit our solar system was first detected on October 19, 2017, by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope.
Galileo spacecraft was launched on October 18, 1989
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft was launched on October 18, 1989, with the mission of studying Jupiter and its moons. It orbited Jupiter for almost eight years and made close passes by all its major moons. By doing so, it became the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet in our solar system. Galileo also studied two …
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Voskhod 1 became the first multi-person spacecraft in space on October 12, 1964
Voskhod 1, the seventh crewed Soviet spacecraft was launched on October 12, 1964. Three cosmonauts, Vladimir Komarov (16 March 1927 – 24 April 1967), Konstantin Feoktistov (7 February 1926 – 21 November 2009), and Boris Yegorov (26 November 1937 – 12 September 1994) were aboard, so Voskhod 1 became the first multi-person spacecraft in space. …
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Apollo 7 was launched on October 11, 1968
Apollo 7, the first crewed flight in NASA’s Apollo program was launched on October 11, 1968, exactly ten years after the space agency’s first launch. The mission successfully demonstrated the crewed performance of the Command and Service Modules and featured the first American live broadcast from space.
The first photo of the far side of the Moon was taken by Luna 3 on October 7, 1959
On October 7, 1959, Soviet Union’s Luna 3 spacecraft photographed the far side of the moon for the first time ever. These photographs, despite being of poor quality, caused excitement when they were published because the humanity had never saw the far side of the moon before.
The first “actual” computer bug was found on September 9, 1947
On September 9, 1947, a team of computer scientists and engineers operating Harward University’s Mark II electromechanical computer started getting an error. They traced the error and found a moth trapped in a relay. The moth was carefully removed and taped to the logbook with a note saying “first actual case of bug being found”. …
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Voyager 1 launch [September 5, 1977]
Voyager 1 launch: On September 5, 1977, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft was launched on top of a Titan IIIE/Centaur rocket from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex in Florida, 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2. The reversal of order was because the two spacecraft were sent on different trajectories, and Voyager 1 was put …
Viking 2 landed on Mars on September 3, 1976
On September 3, 1976, the lander of NASA’s Viking 2 spacecraft (which consisted of an orbiter and a lander) separated from the orbiter and safely landed on Mars.
Pioneer 11 performed the first Saturn flyby on September 1, 1979
On September 1, 1979, NASA’s Pioneer 11 spacecraft performed the first Saturn flyby in the history of space exploration, at a distance of 21,000 km (13,000 miles) from Saturn’s cloud tops.
