2003 – Final communication between Earth and Pioneer 10.
1999 – Astronomers racing the clock managed to take the first-ever optical images of one of the most powerful explosions in the Universe — GRB 990123, a gamma ray burst. The typical gamma ray burst is one million times brighter than a typical supernova. The Sky & Telescope News Bulletin (1/29/99) said “The catch turned out to be so bright and powerful that it may be hard to explain by any theory yet devised.”
Birthdays
1936 – Edward Carroll Stone, born in Knoxville, Iowa, U.S., director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1991-2001. He also served as project scientist for the Voyager program since 1972 and as the Principal Investigator and co-investigator on other missions and experiments, including investigations of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; and developing instruments for studying galactic cosmic rays, solar energetic particles, and planetary magnetospheres. (d. 9 June 2024)
1930 – William R. Pogue, American colonel, pilot, astronaut, teacher and writer. (d. 3 March 2014)
