2001 – In a risky flyby, NASA’s ailing Deep Space 1 spacecraft successfully navigated past Comet Borrelly, giving researchers the best look ever inside the glowing core of icy dust and gas.
1993– STS-51 Discovery landed at 07:56 GMT after a mission to deploy the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS). Discovery’s 17th flight also featured the deployment and retrieval of the SPAS-ORFEUS satellite and its IMAX camera, which captured this spectacular footage of Discovery in space.
1968 – After a first circumlunar mission with extensive biologicals aboard … “The safe entry corridor is only 13 km across, and it has to be hit at 11 km/sec. – like hitting a kopek with a rifle at 600 m range.” ~ Astronautix. Zond 5, and the two steppe turtles, has been successfully recovered.
Birthdays
1965 – Robert Lee Jr ‘Bobby’ Satcher was born in Hampton, Virginia, USA. He is American orthopedic surgeon, chemical engineer, and former NASA astronaut. 2004-2011. 1 spaceflight, 10.8 days in space. Flew to orbit on STS-129 (2009).