1997 – A SeaStar spacecraft, developed by
Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC), carrying the SeaWiFS instrument, was launched to low Earth orbit on board a Pegasus launch vehicle. The SeaWiFS instrument consists of an optical scanner and an electronics module which facilitates the collection of ocean color science data.
1971 – The crew of Apollo 15 finds the so-called Genesis Rock which proves to be a chunk of anorthosite, part of the original lunar crust and older than any Moon rock previously found.
1955 – Ad Hoc Committee on Special Capabilities rejects Army/Von Braun’s Project Orbiter (Redstone) and USAF Atlas proposals; selects Navy/Vanguard for first US satellite. The satellite contained a cosmic ray detector, a radio transmitter, and temperature and micrometeoroid sensors.
Every Year – Alpha Capricornids Meteor Shower Peak.
Birthdays
1963 – Koichi Wakata was born in Ōmiya, Saitama, Japan. NASDA/JAXA astronaut, Selection 1992 NASDA Group, Time in space: 504 days, 18 hours, 33 minutes. EVAs 2, EVA time 14 hours, 2 minutes. Missions: STS-72, STS-92, STS-119/127 (Expedition 18/19/20), Soyuz TMA-11M (Expedition 38/39), SpaceX Crew-5 (Expedition 68)
1944 – Yuri Viktorovich Romanenko. Selection Air Force Group 5. Missions: Salyut 6 EO-1 (Soyuz 26/Soyuz 27), Salyut 6 EP-8 (Soyuz 38), Mir EO-2 (Soyuz TM-2/Soyuz TM-3) Time in space: 430d 18h 21m.
1946 – Richard Oswalt ‘Dick’ Covey was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, U.S.Time in space 26d 21h 9m
Selection NASA Group 8 (1978) Missions STS-51-I, STS-26, STS-38, STS-61
1905 – 
Helen Battles Sawyer Hogg, Canadian astronomer best remembered for her astronomy column in the Toronto Star from 1951 – 1981. After graduation, she moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where she began research at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory. She won the Annie J. Cannon Award in 1949, the Rittenhouse Astronomical Silver Medal in 1967 and the Klumpke-Roberts Award in 1983. In 1968, she was made an officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 1976. The asteroid 2917 Sawyer Hogg is named after her. (d. 8 Jan 1993)
1818 – Happy Birthday, Maria Mitchell, the first woman elected as an astronomer to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Mitchell achieved worldwide fame for her discovery of a bright comet in 1847.