On This Date in History - December 14
Daily Extra :
Astronomy & Space Word of The Day
terra: An extensive land mass.
Today in History:
1546: Tycho Brahe born, Danish astronomer who established the first modern observatory on the island of Hveen, in 1582. He gave Kepler his first job in the field.
1962: Mariner 2 flies by Venus, becoming the first operating spacecraft to encounter another planet. Arrived at a distance of 34,800 kilometers and scanned its surface with infrared and microwave radiometers, capturing data that showed Venus's surface to be about 425°C (800°F).
Three weeks after the Venus flyby Mariner 2 went off the air on January 3, 1963. It is now in a solar orbit.
1972: Apollo 17 - USA Manned Lunar Lander (December 7-19, 1972) Crew: Eugene A. Cernan, Harrison H. Schmitt, and Ronald B. Evans. Cernan and Schmitt landed on the moon on December 12, 1972. The landing site was Taurus-Littrow at latitude 20°10' N and longitude 30°46' E. They returned 110.5 kg of rock and soil samples. The astronauts covered 30.5 kilometers in the lunar rover during a 75-hour stay. Gene Cernan steps off the lunar surface into the Apollo 17 LM to end the final Apollo visit to the Moon.
2003: Nozomi passes by Mars at 1000 km altitude, fails to go into orbit.
Astronomy & Space Word of The Day
terra: An extensive land mass.
Today in History:
1546: Tycho Brahe born, Danish astronomer who established the first modern observatory on the island of Hveen, in 1582. He gave Kepler his first job in the field.
1962: Mariner 2 flies by Venus, becoming the first operating spacecraft to encounter another planet. Arrived at a distance of 34,800 kilometers and scanned its surface with infrared and microwave radiometers, capturing data that showed Venus's surface to be about 425°C (800°F).
Three weeks after the Venus flyby Mariner 2 went off the air on January 3, 1963. It is now in a solar orbit.
1972: Apollo 17 - USA Manned Lunar Lander (December 7-19, 1972) Crew: Eugene A. Cernan, Harrison H. Schmitt, and Ronald B. Evans. Cernan and Schmitt landed on the moon on December 12, 1972. The landing site was Taurus-Littrow at latitude 20°10' N and longitude 30°46' E. They returned 110.5 kg of rock and soil samples. The astronauts covered 30.5 kilometers in the lunar rover during a 75-hour stay. Gene Cernan steps off the lunar surface into the Apollo 17 LM to end the final Apollo visit to the Moon.
2003: Nozomi passes by Mars at 1000 km altitude, fails to go into orbit.
