One major importance of going to space is the view we get of ourselves back here on Earth.

MAY

May 1


1949 - Neptune's moon Nereid is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.


May 2


1996 - Doublet Craters Show That Many Asteroids Have Moons! Jay Meloch and William Bottke. Their computer simulations showed that some asteroids, after experiencing a close approach with the Earth, are split into multiple fragments by Earth's gravitational forces.


May 3


1715 - During an eclipse in England  Edmond Halley is the first to report the phenomenon later known as Baily's Beads; also notes bright red prominences and the east-west asymmetry in the corona, which he attributes to an atmosphere on the Moon or Sun.


Courtesy JPL
Magellan on a mapping 
mission of Venus

May 4


1989 - Magellen mission to Venus. Launched from the payload bay of the shuttle Atlantis. Mission objective: to obtain high resolution images of the entire planet's surface. Cruise time to Venus 1 year, 3 months and 6 days. After a wildly successful mission and extended mission the spacecraft was commanded to plunge into the planet's dense atmosphere Tuesday, October 11, 1994.

 



Mercury Redstone 
Rocket takes the first American to space

May 5


1961 - After several delays on the launch pad, some of them planned, Alan Shepard became the first American in "space", taking a 15 minute suborbital ride aboard the Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7. He flew to an altitude of 116 statute miles  and to a landing point 302 statute miles down the Atlantic Missile Range.


Alan Shepard aboard Freedom 7 prior to liftoff



Dominion Astrophysical Observatory 1918 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

May 6



1949 - Born in Muskegon, Michigan, David Cornell Leestma. Veteran of three space flights, Leestma has logged a total of 532.7 hours in space. Selected to become an astronaut in 1980, Leestma served on the crews of the Challenger, the Columbia, and Atlantis.

1918 - Dominion Astrophysical Observatory first spectrum of a star was recorded. Only one week after the mirror's arrival by horse train this `first light' saw the new Observatory at last come into full operation with as the largest telescope in the world!

David Leestma

 

May 7


History for this day not yet available. go back to calendar

May 8


1971 - Mariner 8 launched (Mars Flyby). Failed to reach Earth orbit.

May 9


2001 - ESO (European Southern Observatory) News:  The VLT Uncovers Traces of Stellar Cannibalism. The spectral image of nearby star HD 82943 uncovers Lithium-6 at the star's surface. This discovery is strong evidence that the star engulfed one of its planets. Knowledge changes our picture of solar system evolution once again.

 artist concept:Gabi Perez (IAC)

May 10


1971 -Kosmos 419 (USSR) Launched. Failed to leave Earth orbit.


Richard Feynman 
(1918-1988)

May 11


1918 - Richard Feynman's Birthday - In 1965, he,  along with Julian Schwinger and Shinichiro  Tomonaga, shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for  work in quantum electrodynamics, famous for his unusual life style and for his popular books and lectures on mathematics and physics. Feynman also worked on the Space Shuttle Challenger  accident investigation. He shocked the world by  demonstrating the failure of the O-rings. Feynman  died February 15, 1988 at the age of 69.

1916 - Karl Schwarzschild dies at Potsdam.  Using Einstein's theory of gravity to describe the way space time bends around matter Schwarzschild described that when a star contracts, there comes a point at which its gravity is so strong that not even light can escape, a black hole. This point is now known as the Schwarzschild radiusand is equal to an object's mass multiplied by twice the constant of gravity and divided by the speed of light squared


Karl Schwarzschild
1873 - 1916

May 12


History for this day not yet available. go back to calendar

May 13
 

1999 - SETI@Home launch. After several years of preparation the world's largest distributed computing project begins to search the skies for intelligent signals from space.

1910 - Comet Halley returns and the observatory at Mt. Wilson takes the picture.
1910halley.jpg (11166 bytes)

1733 - In an account of a solar eclipse which he transmitted to the royal Society, Bigerus Vassenius the Swedish astronomer, is the first person who makes mention of earthshine during totality. He asserts that with the telescope of 21 feet focal length, he perceived several of the principal spots on the moon during the total obscuration.  		Earthshine -
sunlight reflected back 
from earth to the moon:young moon reflected light

May 14


History for this day not yet available. go back to calendar

May 15


1836 - In Scotland Francis Baily, a British explorer and stockbroker who turned to astronomy at the age of 50,  observed this day's total solar eclipse for which he explained the phenomenon at the beginning and ending of totality now known as Baily's Beads. Baily helped found the Royal Astr. Soc. of London, revised star catalogs, and studied meteorology. He died August 30, 1844

1713 - Nicholas Louis de la Caille's birthday (or de Lacaille), French astronomer and mapmaker who demonstrated that the Earth bulged at the equator. From 1751 to 1753 he mapped the southern skies from The Cape of Good Hope and established the 14 "modern" constellations there.

May 16


1997 - STS-84 docks with MIR for the 6th STS-MIR mission. It is Jerry Linenger’s 122nd day as a member of the Mir crew. 

1997 - Images from around the world of Comet Hale-Bopp are posted online. The image to the right is one is taken by David Renneke at 9:32 pm CDT at a rural Milan, Italy site using a Meade 8" telescope and an SBIG ST-6 CCD camera.


Comet Hale-Bopp: image by David Renneke


A sungrazing comet 
caught in the act
by Soho spacecraft

May 17


1882 - A sun-grazing comet is discovered on photographs of the solar corona taken during a total solar eclipse; the comet has not been seen since.

1835 - J. Norman Lockyer's birthday, discoverer of the element helium in 1868. J.N.L. was making visual spectroscopic studies of the sun (helios) when he attributed unknown absorption lines to the new element, not  "discovered" on earth until 1891. It's the second simplest and most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen. Sir  Lockyer is also known as the Father of Archeoastronomy: He was among the first to propose scientifically that Stonehenge was an astronomical observatory and that the Egyptian pyramids and great medieval Christian cathedrals were built along important astronomical orientations.

May 18


2001 - Science Magazine Special on the Breakup of Comet C/ S1999 S4  Linear.  A systematic set of water-production rates was obtained by a team of researchers which indicate that comets may be the source of water on Earth. (Makinen, J. Teemu T., Bertaux, Jean-Loup, Combi, Michael R., Quemerais, Eric Water Production of Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) Observed with the SWAN Instrument Science 2001 292: 1326-1329)
 (ed. note: If these "ancients" are likely snowballs of h2o, what kind of predictions can be sought in our astrosystem biologies if we are all sharing the same bathtub? Prebiotic Chemistry in the Outer Solar System)

1999 - Daniel S. Goldin, NASA Administrator announces the opening of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. 

"Today, we're embarking upon a new era of discovery . . . and by naming the first Director to this facility we open a new multi-disciplinary field of scientific exploration. It will couple experts in astronomy, molecular biology, genomics, geology, ecology, paleontology, physics, chemistry and zoology. This new field of study will bring a new understanding of fundamental life processes on Earth and throughout our Universe, if it exists. It is a revolution that will require its own revolution. In other words, to make these new astrobiological observations and discoveries we need a revolution in communications, networking, information technology, computing and scientific thinking."

Comet c/1999 S4
Hermann Mikuz (Crni Vrh Observatory, Slovenia) obtained this CCD image with a 15-cm, f/4 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope. (July 21/99)

It is my conclusion that human evolution and the motions of matter in space are intrinsically linked. The observation and understanding of the complexity of biological history on Earth cannot be complete without the tandem observation and understanding of a dynamic greater cosmos.  Spacegene
 


STS 77 Mission Patch

May 19


1996 - Marc Garneau flies into space for the second time! Aboard STS-77 (Endeavour), he conducted Canadian experiments using the Float Zone Furnace and the Aquatic Research Facility. The mission completed 160 orbits of the earth in 4.1 million miles.  Mission duration was 240 hours and 39 minutes. 

1971 - Mars 2 (USSR) launched. On November 27, 1971 the Orbiter arrived at Mars, it returned data until 1972. The Lander, however, crashed on the surface due to a failure in braking rockets.

1900 -  Born: Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin. She discovered the chemical composition of stars and that hydrogen and helium are the most abundant elements in stars and, therefore, in the universe. In 1977 she received the prestigious Henry Norris Russell Prize from the American Astronomical Society.



Marc Garneau
goes to space again!



Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin
(1900-1979)

May 20


1990 - The Hubble Space Telescope sent back its first photographs. However, a flaw was discovered in Hubble's main mirror which significantly reduced the telescope's ability to focus and for three years astronomers had only fuzzy images of the universe, though these were far better than images from ground based telescoes.

May 21


1998 - In the May 21 issue of Nature magazine, Kouveliotou and her colleagues describe how they eliminated the other possibilities to make the "Discovery of an X-ray pulsar with a superstrong magnetic field in the Soft Gamma Repeater called SGR 1806-20."

1961 - President John F. Kennedy, in Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs, Delivered in person before a joint session of Congress, launches the country on a journey to the Moon in this speech. His other, most famous and perhaps grandest speech on going to the Moon was given at Rice University on September 12,1962.

May 22


1995 - Images Taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on during the Saturn ring plane crossing lead to the discovery of a new Saturnian moon. Saturn ring plane crossings happen only once every 15 years, and historically have given astronomers an opportunity to discover new satellites that are normally lost in the glare of the planet's bright ring system. 		newmoons_small.gif (34014 bytes)

May 23


1999 - JP Aerospace made another attempt at the first amateur launch to space. Using a rockoon system consisting of a launch platform carried by an array of stacked weather balloons with a solid propellant rocket, they succeeded in setting a new altitude record for amateur rocketry but did not reach the originally-intended altitude. The launch altitude was 72,223 feet.

May 24

1543 - Nicolaus Copernicus dies.  Famous for "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres." He had delayed publishing his theory for some thirty years; the first completed copy of it arrived from the printers a few hours before his death. It was placed on his bed, so that he could handle it. But by then the Canon's mind was wandering, and he could not comment on the anonymous preface to the book, which told the reader that its contents need not be regarded as true, or even as probable. Thus posterity never knew for certain whether Canon Koppernigk had authorized that preface, and whether he really believed in his system or not." 'The Sleepwalkers', Arthur Koestler, Arkana (penguin) 1989, p121


Before we take to sea we walk on land,
Before we create we must understand. 

On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres 

 


Nicolaus Copernicus
(1473 - 1543)
The monument in Torun, Poland

May 25


1973 - Skylab, America's first space station is launched.

1961 - President John F. Kennedy announces the decision to send American's to the Moon.

1935 - Phillip James E. Peebles born in Winnipeg, Manitoba he graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1958.. He became a physicist and worked and taught at Princeton University for many years, where he is currently Albert Einstein professor of science (1984 - ). He is considered by some to be probably the single most important cosmologist of the last 30 years. He is a recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the A.C. Morrison award, the Eddington Medal, the Heineman Prize and the 1995 C.W. Bruce medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He is a member of numerous scientific societies.




"Jim" Peebles
Canadian Superstar

May 26


1999 - Arabsat 3A/Skynet 4E Ariane 4 Launch

1951 - Birthday of Sally Ride, first American Woman in Space on STS-7 June 18. 1983.

Julie Payette
Canadian Space Superstar

May 27


1999 - 6:49a.m. EDT. Discovery STS-96 Launch to ISS. First supply mission.  
Kent V. Rominger (4), Commander
Rick D. Husband (1), Pilot
Ellen Ochoa (3), Mission Specialist
Tamara E. Jernigan (5), Mission Specialist
Daniel T. Barry (2), Mission Specialist
Julie Payette (1), (Canada) Mission Specialist
Valery Ivanovich Tokarev (1), (Russia) Mission Specialist
sts096starshine.jpg (22102 bytes)
 STARSHINE
Student-Tracked Atmospheric Research Satellite for Heuristic International Networking Experiment (STARSHINE) satellite leaves the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery near the completion of the STS-96 mission. 

May 28


1998 - Asteroid 1998 KY26 was discovered by Tom Gehrels.  Using radar observations this asteroid's rotation speed was calculated as 10.7 minutes! The fastest rotating object in the solar system yet known. Also, because of its orbit, it is one of the most easily accessible asteroids in terms of sending spacecraft to explore it.

1971 - Mars 3 (USSR) launched. On December 2, 1971 the lander arrived at Mars but was only able to return 20 seconds of data.

1959 - Launch Of Two Monkeys Able & Baker.  Humans didn't know that humans could survive in space, even in a protected environment. The two monkeys, Able, a 3.18 kilogram (7-pound) rhesus monkey, and Baker, a 311.9 gram (11-ounce) squirrel monkey spent 16 minutes traveling to an altitude of 360 miles.  Able died a few days later due to complications of a surgery to remove the implanted electronics. Baker lived until the age of 27. Their adventure paved the way to send humans to space. 

May 29


1974 - Luna 22 Launch (Soviet Moon Orbiter)

1919 - Total Solar Eclipse which was observed by two different groups of astronomers who were trying to confirm Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. Arthur Stanley Eddington led an expedition to Principe Island off West Africa to see whether the predicted curvature of space in the region of the sun would distort the apparent positions of the stars in the Hyades cluster. The results of the observations were announced at the November 6, 1919 meeting of the Royal Society in London. The curvature of spacetime due to the sun's mass (which we normally think of as gravity) "deflects" the light coming from stars beyond the sun, causing their apparent position to be different from when they're not near the sun on the celestial sphere. You can only observe stars near the sun's limb, where the effect is most pronounced, during an eclipse.

May 30


1971 - Mariner 9 (USA) launched. On November 13, 1971 Mariner 9 arrives in Mars orbit. It returns 6900 images, ultraviolet and infra-red spectrometers and infra-red radiometer.



Mariner 9, Mars Explorer

1966 - Surveyor 1 launch, the first U.S. spacecraft to land safely on the Moon.

jupitercrescent.jpg (24265 bytes)
Bye, Bye, Jupiter

May 31


2001 - Spacecraft Cassini completes its Jupiter Flyby and says farewell to Jupiter and journeys on to Saturn. Parting shots of Io eclipse describe auroral activity at in the Ionian atmosphere.


Io in eclipse displays glow. 

Today's Space News




This page was created by me. Last updated 16 Nov 2003 .