2007 – Cassini image released of Saturn‘s strange north polar hexagon.
1999 – Inaugural Sea Launch Zenit(Boeing) from Oydessy Launch Platform 2,250 kilometers S.E. of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. A dummy payload launched into geosynchronous orbit. The program lasted for until 2014.
1989 – Phobos 2 probe lost. Mission to Mars’ moon Phobos launched on July 12, 1988. On this day, the spacecraft was to approach within 50 meters of Phobos’ surface and release its two landers. The mission was lost due to a suspect onboard computer failure or radio transmitter.
1972 – Venera 8 (USSR) launched. Venus lander mission it
arrived on July 22, 1972 and returned data for 50 minutes.
1968 – Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the first human in space, killed in a MiG trainer crash while requalifying for flight status, after being denied flight status by the Soviet leadership because of his fame.
“Poyekhali!”
See Monument to Gagarin July 4
Birthdays
1845 – German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovered x-rays in 1895. He received the Nobel Prize for his research in 1901.