Daily Extra :
Astronomy & Space Fact
At any given moment, there are 1,800 thunderstorms happening somewhere on Earth. This amounts to 16 million storms each year! We know the cloud conditions that produce lightning, but we cannot forecast the location or time of a lightning strike.
Today in History:
1958: Pioneer 0 - USA Lunar Orbiter launched. First stage exploded.
1966: Pioneer 7 - USA Solar Probe launched. Solar-orbiting probe was recently turned off.
1970: Venera 7 - USSR Venus Lander launched. Venera 7 arrived at Venus on December 15, 1970 and was the first successful landing of a spacecraft on another planet. It used an external cooling device which allowed it to send back 23 minutes of data. The surface temperature was 475°C, and surface pressure was 90 bar.