Daily Extra :
radiation: Energy that is emitted in the form of electromagnetic waves. The electronics of spacecraft camera system are sensitive to radiation. Radiation can affect the images a spacecraft sends - similar to "snow" on a television with poor reception - which is referred to as "noise."
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Today in History:
1958: Explorer 1, the first U.S. Earth-orbiting satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch vehicle was an Army Jupiter-C rocket. Explorer 1 orbited the Earth every 115 minutes. Its orbit carried it from a low of about 220 miles to a high of nearly 1,600 miles.
1961: Ham is 1st primate in space (158 miles) aboard Mercury/Redstone 2
1961: USAF launches Samos spy satellite to replace U-2 flights
1966: Luna 9 - USSR Lunar Soft Lander launched. Luna 9 landed on the lunar surface and retuned the first photographs from the surface.
1971: Apollo 14 - USA Lunar Manned Lander (January 31 to February 8, 1971) launched. Crew: Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell, Stuart A. Roosa. Shepard and Mitchell landed on the moon on February 5, 1971, in the Fra Mauro highlands, located at 3°40' S and longitude 17°28' E. They collected 42.9 kilograms of lunar samples and used a hand-held cart to transport rocks and equipment.
1972: US launches HEOS A-2 for interplanetary observations (396/244,998)
