The Week in Space

September 28 - October 4, 2009

Separation Anxiety  Originally set for an 18 August 1994 launch, the shuttle Endeavour wasn’t quite ready to leave the home planet. The launch was aborted five seconds after the three main engines had been ignited, and a mere two seconds before the enormously powerful solid rocket boosters were to ignite. This was the fifth time in shuttle history that a launch was aborted after main engine ignition. Endeavour’s computers initiated the automatic abort when they sensed that a turbopump in one main engine was operating three degrees above its acceptable operating temperature. STS-68 launched without a hitch on its second attempt, fifteen years ago this week. Endeavor is seen here atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, being ferried back to Florida from California, where it ended its eleven-day mission.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

September 28 - October 4, 2009

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 28

Moon at apogee
Mercury appears stationary

Tuesday 29

Jupiter 3° south of Moon

1977: Salyut 6 space station launched
1988: STS-26 Discovery launched, first shuttle flight since Challenger disaster
2001: First satellite launch from Alaska
2009: MESSENGER makes its third and final flyby of Mercury

Wednesday 30

Neptune 3° south of Moon

1880: Henry Draper takes first photograph of Orion Nebula
1994: STS-68 Endeavour launched
1995: Daily communication with Pioneer 11 ends
2005: ISS Expedition 12 crew launched

Thursday 1

Friday 2

Saturday 3

Sunday 4

World Space Week begins

Full Moon 2:10 am

1957: Sputnik 1 launched
1959: Luna 3 launched
2004: SpaceShipOne wins X Prize

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