CHRONOLOGY – JANUARY 2009

3/23/06

50 Years Ago - 1959

Jan 2: Lunik (Luna) 1 launched, 1702 UT, Baikonur, USSR – the first space probe to escape Earth’s gravity and become an artificial planet of the Sun.

45 Years Ago - 1964

Jan 21: Relay 2 launched, 4:15 a.m., EST, ESMC.

Jan 25: Echo 2 launched, 8:59 a.m., EST, WSMC.

Jan 29: SA-5 (Saturn 1) launched, 11:25 EST, ESMC. First test flight of the new Block II vehicles.

Jan 30: Ranger 6 launched, 10:49 a.m., EST, ESMC.

40 Years Ago - 1969

Jan 5: Venus 5 launched, 0629 UT, Baikonur, USSR.

Jan 10: Venus 6 launched, 0546 UT, Baikonur, USSR.

Jan 15: Soyuz 5 launched, 0726 UT, Baikonur, USSR.

Jan 22: OS0 5 launched, 11:48 a.m., EST, ESMC.

Jan 30: ISIS-A launched, 1:47 a.m., EST, WSMC.

35 Years Ago - 1974

Jan 18: Skynet 11-A launched, 9:38 p.m., EST, ESMC.

30 Years Ago - 1979

Jan 30: Scatha (STP 78-2) launched, ESMC. First spacecraft devoted primarily to studying the near-Earth environment.

15 Years Ago – 1994

Jan 8: Soyuz TM-18, a Russian passenger craft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:05 UT, carrying three cosmonauts: Viktor Afanasyev, Yuri Usachev, and Valery Polyakov to the MIR station.

Jan 25: Clementine Launch (USA Moon Orbiter).

10 Years Ago - 1999

Jan 3: MPL (Mars Polar Lander) launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 20:21 UT to search for near-surface ice on Mars. It was lost during its attempted landing on Mars, Dec. 3, 1999.