1990:
China launches eight amateur radio communications satellites, including Pakistan’s first satellite, aboard the first flight of its Long March 2E rocket. Badr-A descends back to Earth after just 146 days.
July 17
1929:
Robert Goddard, sometimes referred to as the “Father of Modern Rocketry,” launches a rocket that carries with it the first set of scientific tools – a barometer and a camera – in Auburn, Mass. The launch was Goddard’s fourth.
1984:
The U.S.S.R.
launches the Soyuz-T 12 as a three-person visiting crew to the Salyut space station. Flight engineer Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a spacewalk and the first to make a second space
flight.
July 18
1965:
The U.S.S.R. launches the Zond 3, which photographs the far side of the Moon. The photos are transmitted back to Earth
nine days later.
1966:
Gemini 10 launches aboard a Titan rocket to orbit the Earth. Astronauts John Young and Michael Collins met their primary objective to intercept and dock with the Mercury Agena target vehicle.
1980:
India launches its first Earth-orbiting satellite, Rohini 1. By using its home-developed Satellite Launch Vehicle, India becomes the seventh nation capable of sending objects into space by itself.
July 20
1964:
NASA launches the Sert 1 aboard a Scout X-4 rocket. The suborbital successfully tested the performance of the Sert ion engine in space.