1991:
The U.S. Galileo spacecraft, on its way to Jupiter, successfully encounters the asteroid Gaspra,
capturing images and other data during its flyby.
1998:
NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery launches from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., carrying aboard the
STS-95 mission and
Sen.
John Glenn (D-Ohio), who became the first U.S. citizen to orbit Earth when he piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 in 1962.
Oct. 30
1980:
Fltsatcom
4 launches into geosynchronous orbit from the Eastern Space and Missile Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla.,
aboard an Atlas Centaur rocket
. The five-satellite Fleet Satellite Communications constellation
provided high-priority UHF command between naval aircraft, vessels and ground stations.
2006:
XM Satellite Radio’s XM-4 satellite launches on a
Zenit
3SL rocket from the
Sea Launch Odyssey launch platform near the equator in the Pacific Ocean.
Nov. 1
1962:
The Soviet Union launches the 893-kilogram Mars 1 probe from the BaikonurCosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The intended flyby mission failed when the communications system did not point to Earth along the way.
1977:
Astronomer Charles Kowal discovers the asteroid Chiron from a photographic plate taken Oct. 18 of that year.
Nov. 3
1973:
The United States launches the Mariner 10 space probe from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on an Atlas-Centaur rocket on a flyby mission to
Venus and Mercury. It was the first man-made craft to reach Mercury and the first to use a planetary gravity assist during its
slingshot
around Venus to reach Mercury.
Nov. 4
1981:
The Soviet Union’s Venera 14 launches to Venus on board a UR-500, now called Proton, rocket from the BaikonurCosmodrome.
The vessel
arrived, along with its sister craft Venera 13 which launched Oct. 30,
in March 1982. Together the orbiters and their respective landers took color photographs, and measurements of the planet’s atmosphere and soil.
