The Week in Space

  July 6-12, 2009

United Nations in Space  The space shuttle Columbia appears suspended above the cloud-covered ocean, while its open cargo bay doors reveal the Spacelab module and the access tunnel that connects it to Columbia’s crew compartment. The fifteen-day STS-65 mission, launched fifteen years ago this week, was the longest shuttle mission to date. STS-65 was the second flight of the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) science module. A truly international effort, IML-2 allowed Columbia’s crew of seven (which included the first Japanese woman astronaut) to conduct eighty-two experiments developed by scientists from thirteen different countries in areas such as materials science, characterization of the zero-G environment, biology and bioprocessing, human physiology, and radiation biology.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

July 6-12, 2009

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 6

Tuesday 7

Full Moon 5:21 am
Moon at apogee

1995: Final test flight of DC-X rocket
1998: First satellite launch from a submarine
2003: Mars rover Opportunity launched

Wednesday 8

Thursday 9

Friday 10

Jupiter 4° south of Moon
Neptune 3° south of Moon

1962: Telstar 1 launched, allowing transatlantic transmission of TV signals
1992: Giotto spacecraft flies past comet Grigg-Skjellerup
 

Saturday 11

Sunday 12

1966: First glide test of M2-F2 lifting body
2000: Zvezda Service Module launched to ISS
2001: STS-104 Atlantis launched

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