1961:
A
Soviet mission
to Venus launches on an A-1 rocket from the U.S.S.R.’sBaikonurCosmodrome, but the spacecraft
fails to leave Earth orbit.
1983:
Japan launches the commercial communications satellite Sakura 2-A from its Tanegashima Space Center on an N-2 rocket.
Feb. 5
1959:
NASA establishes a working group to study multiple aspects of lunar exploration during a meeting at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
1967:
NASA’s
Lunar Orbiter 3 launches on an Atlas-Agena D rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The orbiter was the last in a series designed to photograph potential landing sites for the Apollo lunar landing missions.
2002:
The solar observatory ReuvenRamaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) launches on an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket, which was dropped from beneath an L-1011 jet aircraft operating out of
Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla.
Feb. 7
1984:
Astronaut
Bruce McCandless performs the first untethered spacewalk outside Space Shuttle Challenger during mission STS-41B. The spacewalk was conducted using the manned maneuvering unit, a self-propelled backpack-like propulsion device.
1999:
NASA’s Stardust spacecraft
launches on a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla. The spacecraft was sent on a rendezvous with Comet Wild 2 and became the first to return dust from a comet to researchers on Earth.
2001:
Space Shuttle Atlantis
launches from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on mission STS-98 and delivers the Destiny laboratory module to the international space station.
Feb. 8
1985:
Arianespace launches Brazil’s Brasilsat A1 and the 21-country Arab League’s Arabsat 1A, both first generation communications satellites.
Feb. 10
1998:
Celestis-02 is launched into orbit aboard
an Orbital Sciences-built Taurus launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The spacecraft carried cremated human remains as part of a commercial service venture.
