This Day in Spaceflight History

[The Raging Sandwich]

Just noticed I actually did December 12 but put it as December 11 and didn't even do December 11 at all. I'll have to fix that tomorrow as I can.

(I've been a bit late on posting on here because of exams and all that, all my other posts on the forums are just from when I have small snipits of time to spare. This takes a lot more time to do.)

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

December 13

1944: The program to build the X-1 rocket plane begun

1972: The landing crew of Apollo 17 completed its 2nd EVA.

1993: STS-61 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth after a mission into orbit to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

2004: The Cassini probe completed its second flyby of the moon Titan.

[The Raging Sandwich]

December 14

1962: Mariner 2 completed a flyby of Venus.

1966: The mission of Soyuz 7K-OK s/n 2 was attempted. The main booster ignited but the strap-on boosters did not causing an engine shutdown and an abort of the mission. After inspections were being made about 30 minutes later, the LES detected that the spacecraft was off course due to the movement of the Earth and the gyros malfunctioning. The LES fired sending the spacecraft away from the rocket but caused an explosion of the rest of the rocket when it hit the third stage fuel tank. The explosion killed 1 and injured many others.

1972: The landing crew of Apollo 17 made their third and final EVA of the lunar mission.

2003: The Japanese probe Nozomi did a flyby of Mars.

2013: Iran launched a 3-year-old rhesus monkey named Fargam on a suborbital flight on the Kavoshgar Pazhuhesh spacecraft.

[The Raging Sandwich]

As exam week is (finally) over, I'll have a lot more time to do this.

December 15

1965: After a delay from the launchpad abort a few days prior, the mission was ready to go again. It rendezvoused with Gemini 7 and its crew. It was to dock with an Agena target vehicle but it exploded during launch. It completed four seperate burns before reaching Gemini 7.

1970: The Soviet's Venera 7 spacecraft landed succesfully on Venus.

1984: The Soviet's Vega 1 probe was launched. It was to deploy a lander on Venus and investigate Halley's comet. The lander was deployed and landed on Venus on June 19.

1998: STS-88 and its crew of six landed back at Earth after a mission to the ISS.

2004: The Cassini spacecraft did a flyby of Saturn's moon Dione.

2010: Soyuz TMA-20 and its crew of 3 was launched into orbit on a mission to the ISS. It docked to the station on December 17. 

Edited December 16, 2016 by The Raging Sandwich

[James Kerman]

I just wanted to say thanks for your time and effort.  This is a great thread and I always find something here that provokes thought and research.  Keep up the good work and good luck with your exam results.

[Wolfair corp.]

Could I add?

The 15 december 1612, the german astronomer Simon Marius was the first to spot another galaxy with a telescope: Andromeda

[The Raging Sandwich]

December 16

1954: The Atlas ICBM was publically announced.

1958: The first missile was launched from Vandenburg Air Force Base, a Thor missile.

1965: Gemini 6 and its crew of Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford landed back at Earth after a mission with Gemini 7 in Earth orbit.

1979: A new Soyuz capsule was launched, the Soyuz T-1. It was an unmanned mission to the Salyut 6 space station. 

1994: The Mars meteorite QUE 94201 was discovered.

December 17

1903: The Wright Brothers flew their first airplane at Kitty Hawk.

1958: The name of Project Mercury was publically announced.

2001: STS-108 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth after a mission to the ISS. 

[The Raging Sandwich]

December 18

1958: The first comsat Score, or Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment, was launched by an Atlas rocket. It sent President Eisenhower's Christmas message all over the world.

1965: Gemini 7 and its crew of Borman and Lovell landed back at Earth after a record-breaking 14-day mission into Earth orbit.

1973: Soyuz 13 and its crew of 2 was launched into orbit on a test mission of the new 7K-T/AF modified Soyuz vehicle.

More coming later today!

[The Raging Sandwich]

Nothing else from December 18

December 19

1960: Mercury MR-1A was launched. A repeat of the mission from  November 27 and November 21. It was to qualify this rocket/spacecraft configuration for spaceflight-worthiness. The mission was completely successful and the Mercury Redstone was ready for a manned flight.

1961: A flight of an X-15A was aborted.

1972: Apollo 17 and its crew of Cernan, Evans, and Schmitt landed back at Earth after the final lunar landing mission.

2012: Soyuz TMA-07M and its crew of 3 was launched into orbit on a mission to the ISS. It docked to the station on December 21. It brought up Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian ISS commander, to the station.

[Jonfliesgoats]

The V bombers were all weird looking!  

On this day in 1928 a Lockheed Vega was the first plane to fly over Antarctica.

[Jonfliesgoats]

Sandwich, where are you finding your photographs?  They are good.

[The Raging Sandwich]

 

3 hours ago, Jonfliesgoats said:

Sandwich, where are you finding your photographs?  They are good.

Google images

 

Edited December 20, 2016 by The Raging Sandwich

[benzman]

12 hours ago, Jonfliesgoats said:

The V bombers were all weird looking!  

 

The Vulcan was gorgeous!

 

[Jonfliesgoats]

The Vulcan was the best looking V bomber.  The silhouette is beautiful, but the cockpit always seems a little goofy looking.  

Britain always seemed to make things in aesthetic extremes.  There were few okay looking British aerospace systems.

Did that picture load?

[The Raging Sandwich]

December 20

1999: STS-103 and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on an 8 day mission. It was a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. They captured the telescope with the robotic arm on December 22. It was released on December 25 and the shuttle landed back at the KSC on December 28.

2002: The Japanese Nozomi spacecraft completed a flyby of Earth on its way to Mars, arriving at the planet in 2003.

2009: Soyuz TMA-17 and its crew of 3 launched into orbit on a 163 day mission to the ISS. It docked to the station on December 22.

 

December 21

1966: Luna 13 was launched. It was a Soviet lunar landing probe. It landed on the Moon safely on December 24. 

1968: Apollo 8 and its crew of Anders, Borman, and Lovell was launched. It was the first crewed launch of the Saturn V. It was only a few months beforehand that the mission was planned to fly to the Moon and only about 2 months before that the mission was approved. About 3 hours after the launch the third stage reignited to boost the spacecraft into a translunar trajectory. 69 hours after launch the SM fired the spacecraft into the Moon's orbit. After the first orbit, the spacecraft reimerged from behind the Moon and the crew read the first 10 verses of the book of Genesis. They were also the first to witness the Earthrise, capturing the most iconic photo of the Apollo program. After 10 orbits, the SM boosted the spacecraft out of the Moon's gravitational field and back to Earth.

1978: The Soviet Venera 12 landed on Venus.

1987: Soyuz TM-4 and its crew of 3 launched into orbit on a 179 day mission to the Mir space station. It docked to the station on December 23.

1988: Soyuz TM-6 and its crew of 3 landec back at Earth after a mission to the Mir space station.

2011: Soyuz TMA-03M and its crew of 3 lanched into orbit on a 192 day mission to the ISS. It docked to the station on December 23.

Edited December 22, 2016 by The Raging Sandwich

[cubinator]

12 minutes ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

Moonrise

Surely you mean earthrise?

[The Raging Sandwich]

Just now, cubinator said:

Surely you mean earthrise?

Yeah, that's what I meant. I'm tired! 

[DDE]

On ‎20‎.‎12‎.‎2016 at 6:42 PM, Jonfliesgoats said:

Sandwich, where are you finding your photographs?  They are good.

Except when they turn out wrong, curtesy of the internet.

3 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

1978: The Soviet Venera 12 landed on Venus.

Please be advised that about the upper four-fifths of the images are an artist's impression produced via Photoshop.

[Wjolcz]

How dare you not include the first successful Falcon 9 landing on December 21? :0 I've been waiting for that one to be included here!

EDIT: Ok, so it actually was Dec 22 local time. My mistake!

Great thread btw.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Veeltch

[The Raging Sandwich]

Thanks, and I'll make sure to include that in today's post.

[The Raging Sandwich]

December 22

1960: A Vostok prototype Korabl-Sputnik was launched. It carried two dogs named Kometa and Shutka. The spacecraft decoupled from the third stage whilst it was in the middle of burning into orbit and the ejection seats failed to deploy. It landed in harsh-wintered Siberia but Kometa and Shutka were recovered safely after some time.

1988: Mars meteorite LEW 88516 was discovered.

2006: STS-116 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth after a mission to the ISS.

2015: SpaceX successfully landed a Falcon 9 rocket for the first time. (It may have been the 21 too, depending on the way you look at it)

[The Raging Sandwich]

December 23

1672: Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovered Saturn's moon Rhea.

[The Raging Sandwich]

December 24

1965: A meteorite fell in the UK hitting cars and buildings. It was dubbed the Barwell Meteorite.

2004: The Cassini spacecraft released the Huygens probe to land on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14.

 

December 25

1978: The Soviet Venera 11 landed on Venus.

1991: Mikhail Gorbachev resigns from political duty causing the fall of the Soviet Union. As a result, an urban legend was aroused that a lone cosmonaut named Igor Fedrov on the Mir space station was stranded in orbit as a result and died manually returning to Earth.

2003: The ESA's Mars Express successfully entered orbit of Mars. It released the Beagle 2 lander which successfully touched-down on Mars.

 

December 26

1973: Soyuz 13 and its crew of two landed back at Earth in a snowstorm after a mission into orbit.

1974: The Soviet space station Salyut 4 was launched. It was in orbit for a total of 768 days. 

2005: The Cassini spacecraft did a flyby of Saturn's moon Titan

 

December 27

1571: German scientist and astronomer Johannes Kepler was born.

1968: Apollo 8 landed back at Earth after a mission in to orbit the Moon.

1982: Apollo 13 astronaut John Swigert died.

1984: Mars meteorite ALH 84001 was discovered.

[The Raging Sandwich]

I'm very sorry for getting so behind again, starting tomorrow I'll be able to start doing it everyday again.

December 28

1999: STS-103 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth after a mission into orbit.

2000: The Galileo spacecraft did a flyby of Jupiter's moon Ganymede.

 

December 29

1977: Mars meteorite ALHA 77005 was found in Antarctica.

1987: Soyuz TM-3 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth after a mission to the orbiting Mir space station.

2002: The Chinese Shenzhou 4 was launched. It was the last unmanned test of the spacecraft before an official manned flight. It carried dozens of experiments to be conducted in orbit. It lasted a total of 6 days before landing back at Earth.

<--- The only picture I could find that wasn't from Getty Images.

 

December 30

1930: Goddard flew a liquid-fuel rocket for the fifth time, reaching 2,000 feet.

1985: Astronomer Steven Synnott discovered Uranus' moon Puck.

2000: The Cassini spacecraft did a flyby of Jupiter on its way to Saturn.

More later today, probably sometime tonight

[The Raging Sandwich]

December 31

1959: The Mercury 7 astronauts completed their classroom training. In this training, they learned all they needed to know for space travel.

2004: The Cassini spacecraft did a flyby of Saturn's moon Iapetus.

Unfortunately, the main site I use for this information had no information on January 1 or 2, but does for January 3. I couldn't find any more information on these days from any other site, so I'll just have to skip these days until the problem is resolved or I find information on another source. Stay tuned for tomorrow!