2015 – ISS Expedition 43 Return to Earth in Soyuz TMA-15M after 199 days, on a warm spring evening. Thumbs up all round. ASI-ESA S. Cristoforetti (Futura42), NASA T. Virts RSA A. Shkaplerov (Cmdr)
2008 – Launch of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Its mission was planned for 5-10 years.
However by 2025 it’s mission will exceed 16 years, 11 months, 31 days.
2004 – Cassini flyby of the moon Phoebe.
1294 – Philosopher, Roger Bacon, surnamed DOCTOR MIRABILIS died at Oxford, England, perhaps 11 June, 1294. As a Franciscan monk working he studied reflection and refraction in mirrors and lenses and the use of single lenses for viewing distant objects. His “Speculum Astronomiæ”, written in 1277 was considered heretical. He was imprisoned from 1281-1291 when results of his optical studies were condemned as witchcraft.
Birthdays
1867 – Charles Fabry was aFrench physicist who specialized in optics, inferometry In 1913, Fabry demonstrated that ozone in the upper atmosphere is responsible for filtering out ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. In 1913, Fabry demonstrated that ozone is plentiful in the upper atmosphere and is responsible for filtering out ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. (d. 11 December 1945)
1723 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, Astronomer born in Germany. He became famous for recovering Halley’s Comet on Christmas Day 1758.