Space History for February 1

If you are not already a subscriber, you are welcome to enter your email address here to sign up to receive the Space History newsletter on a daily basis. Under no circumstances will we release your legitimate email address entered here to outside persons or organizations, and it will only be used for mailing the specific information you have requested.

Enter your email address here:

Unsubscribe instructions are included in every newsletter issue in case you decide you no longer wish to receive it.

Note: We record the IP address from which subscriptions are entered to help prevent SPAM abuses.

Race To Space
Someone will win the prize...
... but at what cost?
Visit RaceToSpaceProject.com to find out more!

1550
Born, John Napier, Scottish mathematician, inventor (logarithms)
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1783
William Herschel announced the star Lambda Herculis as being at the Solar Apex, the farthest point from the galactic center in the Sun's orbit around the galaxy.
ref: messier.seds.org

1916
H. Thiele discovered asteroid #1847 Stobbe.

1925
Born, John F. Yardley, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight (1974-1981), President of McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company (1981-1989)
ref: www.nap.edu

1935
Born, Vladimir V. Aksyonov (at Giblitsy, Kazimov Rayon, Ryazan Oblast, Russian SFSR), Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz 22, Soyuz-TT 2; nearly 11d 20.25h total time in spaceflight)

Yury Malyshev and Vladimir Aksyonov (right) on a USSR postage stamp (15 September 1980)
Source: Wikipedia
ref: www.spacefacts.de

1958 03:48:00 GMT
Explorer 1 became the first US satellite to orbit the Earth.

Explorer 1, the first US satellite, NASA photo
Source: NSSDCA Master Catalog

Explorer 1 was the first successfully launched US satellite. Launched 1 February 1958 on an adapted Jupiter-C rocket, Explorer 1 carried instrumentation for the study of cosmic rays, micrometeorites, and for monitoring of the satellite's temperature. Explorer 1 made its final transmission on May 23, 1958. Explorer 1 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on 31 March 1970, after more than twelve years in orbit.

See also NASA's Explorer and Early Satellites page
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1958 15:00:00 GMT
James Van Allen discovered the Van Allen radiation belt from data returned by the Explorer 1 satellite when the cosmic ray count proved to be much less than expected.
ref: www.jpl.nasa.gov

1959
Lowell Observatory discovered asteroid #2847.

1972
The first scientific hand-held calculator, the HP-35, was introduced with a price of $395.

Hewlett-Packard HP-35, the first handheld scientific calculator
Photographed by Holger Weihe (2005)
Source: Wikipedia
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1976
Died, Werner Karl Heisenberg, physicist (Nobel 1932 "for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen")

Werner Karl Heisenberg (5 December 1901 - 1 February 1976) was a celebrated physicist and Nobel laureate, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. He invented matrix mechanics, the first formalization of quantum mechanics in 1925. His uncertainty principle, discovered in 1927, states that the determination of both the position and momentum of a particle necessarily contains errors, the product of these being not less than a known constant. Together with Niels Bohr, he went on to formulate the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.

He received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1932 "for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen."

See also Wikipedia
ref: www.nobelprize.org

1981
Died, Donald W. Douglas Sr., US aviation pioneer, aircraft builder
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1993 03:49:57 GMT
Russia's Soyuz-TM 15 landed, returning from the Mir space station.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1994
A large meteor fell near Kusaie in the Pacific Ocean and exploded at an estimated 20 km altitude.
ref: adsabs.harvard.edu

2003 08:59:00 EST (GMT -5:00:00)
As it was re-entering the atmosphere over Texas, NASA's STS 107 (Columbia) Shuttle disintegrated, killing the seven crew members aboard.

STS 107 began 16 January 2003 when Columbia, NASA's first Shuttle to go into space, was launched from Kennedy Space Center for a microgravity research mission. 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes later, the entire seven member crew, Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Michael Anderson, Dave Brown, Laurel Clark and Kalpana Chawla and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon of Israel, was killed on 1 February 2003 when the Shuttle disintegrated over Texas during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. This was the second total loss of a Space Shuttle (in flight), the first being Challenger (STS 51-L).

Based on publically available news reports at the time, Fred Koschara, President of The L5 Development Group, published an analysis indicating the disaster was most likely due to insulating foam breaking off the Shuttle's external fuel tank during launch. (The original article incorrectly stated the Shuttle had been docked at the International Space Station during its mission, the error was corrected the next day.) It was not until late June that NASA's Columbia Accident Investigation Board came to the same conclusion; the first volume of their report was released on 26 August 2003.

2003 08:59:00 EST (GMT -5:00:00)
Died (Columbia re-entry disaster), David M. Brown, Captain USN, NASA astronaut (STS 107 Mission Specialist 1; 15d 22h 20m in spaceflight)

Astronaut David M. Brown, NASA photo (25 September 2001)
Source: Wikipedia (spaceflight.nasa.gov killed 25 Feb 2021)
ref: history.nasa.gov

2003 08:59:00 EST (GMT -5:00:00)
Died (Columbia re-entry disaster), Ilan Ramon, first Israeli astronaut (STS 107 Payload Specialist 1; 15d 22h 20m in spaceflight)

Astronaut Ilan Ramon, NASA photo
Source: Wikipedia (www.jsc.nasa.gov unavailable February 2020)
ref: en.wikipedia.org

2003 08:59:00 EST (GMT -5:00:00)
Died (Columbia re-entry disaster), Kalpana Chawla PhD, NASA astronaut (STS 87, STS 107 Mission Specialist 2; 31d 14h 54m total time in spaceflight)

Astronaut Kalpana Chawla, NASA photo (8 March 2002)
Source: Wikipedia (spaceflight.nasa.gov killed 25 Feb 2021)
ref: history.nasa.gov

2003 08:59:00 EST (GMT -5:00:00)
Died (Columbia re-entry disaster), Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Captain USN, astronaut (STS 107 Mission Specialist 4; 15d 22h 20m in spaceflight)

Astronaut Laurel B. Clark, NASA photo (19 August 1996)
Source: Wikipedia (spaceflight.nasa.gov killed 25 Feb 2021)
ref: history.nasa.gov

2003 08:59:00 EST (GMT -5:00:00)
Died (Columbia re-entry disaster), Michael P. Anderson, Lieutenant Colonel USAF, NASA astronaut (STS 89, STS 107 Payload Commander; over 24d 18h total time in spaceflight)

Astronaut Michael P. Anderson, NASA photo
Source: Wikipedia (www.jsc.nasa.gov unavailable February 2020)
ref: history.nasa.gov

2003 08:59:00 EST (GMT -5:00:00)
Died (Columbia re-entry disaster), Rick Douglas Husband, Colonel USAF, NASA astronaut (STS 96, STS 107 Commander; 25d 17h 33m total time in spaceflight)

Astronaut Rick D. Husband, STS-107 mission commander, NASA photo (January 1999)
Source: Wikipedia (spaceflight.nasa.gov killed 25 Feb 2021)
ref: en.wikipedia.org

2003 08:59:00 EST (GMT -5:00:00)
Died (Columbia re-entry disaster), William "Willie" Cameron McCool, Commander USN, astronaut (STS 107 Pilot; 15d 22h 20m in spaceflight)

Astronaut Willie McCool, STS-107 pilot, NASA photo JSC2001-02492 (10 August 2001)
Source: Wikipedia (spaceflight.nasa.gov killed 25 Feb 2021)
ref: history.nasa.gov

We are going to run out of oil!
Visit SpacePowerNow.org to help fix the problem.
SpacePowerNow.org - For Human Survival

Please help support our efforts by shopping from our sponsors.

In affiliation with AllPosters.com

pixel

This newsletter and its contents are
Copyright © 2006-2024 by The L5 Development Group.  All rights reserved.
 - Publication, in part or in whole, requires previous written permission.
 - Academic or personal-use citations must refer to http://L5Development.com as their source.
Thank you for your cooperation.

Space History Department
Resources
The L5 Development Group Home Page

The L5 Development Group Keyword Access System