Quote Of The Day
No being exists or can exist which is not related to space in some way. God is everywhere, created minds are somewhere, and body is in the space that it occupies; and whatever is neither everywhere nor anywhere does not exist. And hence it follows that space is an effect arising from the first existence of being, because when any being is postulated, space is postulated.
Isaac Newton (1642–1727)
1962: Ranger 5 - USA Lunar Flyby launched. Ranger 5 was to be a lander but became a flyby because of a spacecraft failure. It is now in a solar orbit.
1967: Venera 4 - USSR Venus Atmospheric Probe (Launched June 12, 1967) arrived at Venus. This was the first probe to be placed directly into the atmosphere and to return atmospheric data. It showed that the atmosphere was 90-95% carbon dioxide. It detected no nitrogen. The surface temperature reading was 500°C and pressure reading was 75 bar. It was crushed by the pressure on Venus before it reached the surface.
1989: Galileo - USA & Europe Jupiter Orbiter/Atmospheric Probe launched. Galileo was designed to study Jupiter's atmosphere, satellites and surrounding magnetosphere for 2 years. In order to get there, it used gravity assist techniques to pick up speed by flying past Venus on February 10, 1990. It then flew past the Earth & Moon on December 8, 1990 and then again on December 8, 1992. It has made encounters with asteroid 951 Gaspra on October 29, 1991, and asteroid 243 Ida on August 28, 1993.
1960: Four operational-type Polaris missiles successfully launched from submerged Patrick Henry off the Florida coast.