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- April
- 1629 14: Christiaan Huygens born. Discoverer of Saturn's rings.
- 1867 16: Wilbur Wright Born.
- 1915 23: Advisory council for Aeronautics became National Advisory
- Council on Aeronautics (NACA).
- 1958 2: NACA was renamed National Aeronautics Space Agency.
- 1959 9: 1st 7 astronauts were presented to press; Shepard, Glenn,
- Cooper, Schirra, Grissom, and Slayton.
- 1960 1: TIROS 1 launched; 1st Earth meteorological satellite.
- 1961 12: Yuri Gagarin became 1st man to orbit the Earth. Vostok 1.
- 20: American Harold Graham makes 1st rocket belt flight.
- 25: Mercury/Atlas rocket lifted off with an electronic mannequin;
- when inertial guidance system failed 40 seconds after launch
- the rocket was destroyed by range safety officer.
- 1962 26: US/UK launched Ariel; 1st International payload.
- 1964 8: Unmanned Gemini 1 launched.
- 1965 6: Early Bird launched; 1st Intelsat.
- 23: Launch of 1st Soviet communications satelite.
- 1966 3: The Soviet Union claims another Moon milestone as Luna 10.
- becomes the first spacecraft to achieve lunar orbit.
- 1967 5: ATS II launched but failed to reach orbit.
- 23: USSR Soyus 1 launched with Vladimir Komarov becoming the
- 1st cosomonaut to make 2 flights. He also became 1st man
- to die in space after his parachute line tangled on re-entry.
- Soyus 1. All Soviet manned flights ceased for 18 months.
- 1968 4: Apollo 6 launched atop Saturn V; unmanned.
- 1970 11: Apollo 13 launched to moon; Lovell, Haise, Swigert.
- 13: Apollo 13 oxygen tank ruptured, destroying service module
- and aborting lunar landing.
- 17: Apollo 13 crew returns safely to Earth.
- 24: China becomes 5th nation to launch artificial satellite.
- 1971 1: US/Canada ISIS II launched to study the ionosphere.
- 19: USSR Salyut 1 launched; 1st manned lab in orbit.
- 1972 16: Apollo 16 launched; 5th lunar landing at Decartes Highlands;
- Young, Mattingly, Duke.
- 1973 6: Pioneer 11 launched to Jupiter & Saturn.
- 20: Canadian ANIK A2 became 1st commercial satellite in orbit.
- 1975 5: USSR Salyut 4 launched; failed to reach orbit; landed off
- course in snowstorm and rolled down a ravine; lines snagged
- saving both cosmonauts who were injured but safely rescued
- later.
- 1980 9: Two cosmonauts launched to Salyut 6; 185 days.
- 1981 12: Original launch date for Columbia's maiden voyage; Computer
- failed & went out of sync with others.
- 14: Maden Voyage of STS-1 into orbit. Young and Crippen.
- 16: Columbia returned.
- 1982 19: USSR Salyut 7 space station put into orbit.
- 1983 4: Maiden voyage of STS Challenger.
- 7: STS-6 mission specialist Story Musgrave and Don Peterson
- perform 1st STS spacewalk.
- 9: Challenger returned.
- 17: India entered space age launching SLV-3 rocket.
- 20: Soyuz T-8 launched; mission aborted when capsule failed to dock
- with Salyut station.
- 1984 6: Liftoff of Challenger 41C.
- 11: Celestial mechanics "Pinky Nelson and "Ox" van Hoffen repair
- Solar Max satellite during 7 hour EVA in payload bay.
- 1985 12: Launch of Discovery (STS-16) 51-D; Bobko, Williams, Garn, Griggs,
- Seddon, Hoffman, Walker.
- 19: Discovery returns, blowing tire on landing.
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