JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
DECEMBER 11
* Last day humans stood on the Moon. The words of the plaque say:
HERE MAN COMPLETED HIS FIRST EXPLORATION OF THE MOON DECEMBER 1972 A.D. MAY THE SPIRIT OF PEACE IN WHICH WE CAME BE REFLECTED IN THE LIVES OF ALL MANKIND. (Apollo 17, 1972)
Click here to return to the calendar page.
* First pad abort of a manned spacecraft after the engines were fired, (Gemini 6), 1965.
* The first amateur radio ("ham") satellite launched (1961).
Click here to return to the calendar page.
* Pioneer 8 successfully launched to explore Earth's magnetotail and wake which streams from the Sun (1967).
* Two balloon satellites were launched by USAF using Scout rockets. Balloons with orbits between 194 miles and 481 miles are to be targets for missles launched from F-15 jet fighters (1985).
Click here to return to the calendar page.
* Mariner 2 passed within 34,762 kilometers (21,600 miles) of Venus on December 14, 1962, and became the first spacecraft to scan another planet. (Click on Mariner for more information.)
Click here to return to the calendar page.
* First rendezvous in space of two manned spacecraft, Gemini 7 and Gemini 6 (1965).
* Soviets launched Vega, a Halley fly-by spacecraft (1984).
Click here to return to the calendar page.
* Soviet craft landed on Venus, which was the first time for a spacecraft from Earth reached the planet's surface (1970).
* Pioneer 6 left Earth successfully (1965).
Click here to return to the calendar page.
* The Wright brothers performed the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (1903).
Click here to return to the calendar page.
* The first human voice transmitted from space was by an Atlas rocket. The voice from Project Score was that of President Eisenhower, a pre- recorded Christmas greeting (1958).
Click here to return to the calendar page.
* First airplane flight in Japan was flown by Y.Tolugawa in an H. Farman bi-plane (1910).
Click here to return to the calendar page.
DECEMBER 20
* The European Space Agency (ESA)
used an Ariane rocket to launch a
maritime (Marecs 1) communications
satellite. It was launched from
French Guiana (1981).
Click here to return to the calendar page.
Return to the top of this page
Click here to return to the SPACE EDUCATORS' HANDBOOK HOME PAGE.
