On June 22, 1978, Pluto’s moon Charon was discovered by United States Naval Observatory astronomer James Christy (born September 15, 1938).
Category Archives: This Day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration History
Manchester Baby, the world’s first electronic stored-program computer ran its first program on June 21, 1948
On June 21, 1948, Manchester Baby, the world’s first electronic stored-program computer ran its first program.
V-2 rocket (MW 18014) became the first human-made object in space on June 20, 1944
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 …
Viking 1 Entered Mars Orbit on June 19, 1976
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.
Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on June 18, 1983
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.
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on June 16, 1963
On June 16, 1963, aboard 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.
Charles Babbage Unveiled the Difference Engine on June 14, 1822
On June 14, 1822, English polymath Charles Babbage (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) announced his invention of the Difference Engine on 14 June 1822, in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society. The title of the paper was “Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables”. It …
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UNIVAC I, the world’s first commercial computer was unveiled on June 14, 1951
On June 14, 1951, UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I), the world’s first general-purpose electronic digital computer was unveiled. running on a 2.25 MHz clock, it was capable of completing 1,905 instructions per second.
Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to pass beyond the orbit of Neptune on June 13, 1983
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.
Venera 4 was launched on June 12, 1967
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.
