In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Wednesday marks the anniversaries of two significant events in space exploration, the 47th anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing and the 40th anniversary of the 1976 Viking 1 landing on Mars.
Human Deep Space Exploration
When men first walked on the Moon: A moment relived
New York Times (7/20): On July 20, 1969, the Times published the front page story, Men Walk on Moon. Wednesday marks the 47th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The touchdown enabled NASA’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to become the first humans to step on the surface of another world.
Space Science
Viking remembered: Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first search for life on Mars
America Space (7/19): In addition to the 47th anniversary of the historic moon landing of NASA’s Apollo 11, July 20, or Wednesday, also marks the 40th anniversary of NASA’s Viking 1 spacecraft landing on Mars, also a first for humanity. Viking 2 followed on Sept. 3. “The two Viking landers, and their counterpart orbiters, were genuine trailblazers, opening up the vast Martian landscape to robotic and human eyes for the first time,” America Space reports.
See all five naked eye planets in the dusk sky at once
Universe Today (7/19): Coming this week, sky watchers can expect to find five of the solar system’s planets in the sky after dusk, but just for a few weeks. Look for Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
What’s up in space?
Spaceweather.com (7/19): A geomagnetic storm raged Tuesday, following a solar coronal mass ejection. Auroral activity was predicted to be the most intense in the Earth’s southern hemisphere.
Outdated ‘Pluto: Not Yet Explored’ stamp takes spotlight as most traveled postage
Geek Wire (7/19); The Guinness Book of Records has recognized a U.S. Postal Service stamp that paid tribute to distant Pluto in 1991 as the most traveled. The stamp was placed aboard NASA’s Hew Horizons spacecraft, which on July 14, 2015, carried out the first close flyby of Pluto. New Horizons is currently headed toward an encounter with a second Kuiper Belt object.
Low Earth Orbit
UCF students design NASA firing room desks
Orlando Sentinel (7/18): Students at the University of Central Florida are helping with the office desk design for the firing room at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the work area engineers will occupy to launch rockets on future missions of human deep space exploration. Objectives include moving beyond traditional cubicles, making it possible to communicate more freely and make nothing too constrictive.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Live coverage: Commercial cargo craft set for automated Space Station rendezvous
Spaceflightnow.com (7/20): SpaceX’s ninth NASA contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station carried out a successful automated rendezvous early Wednesday. NASA astronauts Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins captured the Dragon cargo carrier and its 5,000 pounds of supplies using the Station’s Canadian-built robot arm at 6:56 a.m., ET. The capsule was to be attached to the Station’s U.S. segment Harmony Module. CRS-9 mission was launched early Monday.
20 new countries to invest in space programs by 2025
Euroconsult (7/19): An annual assessment of global space activity finds 24 nations actively involved in space operations. The number is predicted to rise to 47 by 2025 as the costs of launch services and satellite hardware eases, according to Euroconsult.
Republican platform endorses commercial space partnerships
Space News (7/19): The Republican Party platform, approved by delegates gathered in Cleveland this week, approved language supporting public-private collaborations to develop space capabilities. The strategy appears to have bi-partisan support.
Suborbital
New Mexico spaceport authority director resigns
Associated Press (7/19): New Mexico Spaceport Authority CEO Christine Anderson announced her resignation Tuesday, effective Aug. 19. The taxpayer-supported Spaceport America has struggled financially, in part because of delays in plans by Virgin Galactic to initiate passenger suborbital spaceflight.