On This Date in History - January 17

Daily Extra :

Quote Of The Day

Science tells us how the heavens go. Religion tells us how to go to heaven.
Galileo Galilei

Who Was Born Today?:

Who Died Today?:

1938: William H Pickering, astronomer (predicted Pluto), age 79
1997: Clyde Tombaugh, astronomer, discovered Pluto in 1930, age 90

Today in History:

1962: A NASA civilian pilot Neil Armstrong takes X-15 to 40,690 m

1968: Soyuz 4 and 5 completed 1st docking of 2 manned spacecraft

1976: Hermes rocket launched by European Space Agency

1980: NASA launches Fltsatcom-3

1986: Voyager 2 - USA Jupiter - Saturn - Uranus - Neptune Flyby (Launched August 20, 1977) flew by Uranus[/link. Voyager 2 flew by [link url=http://space.about.com/cs/solarsystem/p/jupiterinfo.htm]Jupiter on July 9, 1979, Saturn on August 26, 1981, Uranus on January 24, 1986, and Neptune on August 24, 1989.

Featured Astronomy Image of the Week

Check out the former Astronomy Picture of the Day. See what surprises await you this week.