Space History for August 31

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1899
Born, Paul E. Garber, founder and first curator of the US National Air & Space Museum
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1903
Born, Bernard Lovell, English radio astronomer, founded Jodrell Bank
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1921
Born, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Kovtunenko, Russian Chief Designer and General Designer of NPO Lavochkin 1977-1995, started his satellite design career at the Yangel design bureau
ref: persona.rin.ru

1927
K. Reinmuth discovered asteroids #1081 Reseda and #1085 Amaryllis.

1929
G. Neujmin discovered asteroid #1158 Luda; K. Reinmuth discovered asteroid #1157 Arabia.

1933
In the third launch of the Nebel rocket from Schwielow Lake, Germany, the rocket flew out of sight and was not found after achieving an apogee of 2 km.
ref: www.astronautix.com

1935
K. Reinmuth discovered asteroids #1370 Hella, #1371 Resi, #1372 Haremari and #2944.

1945
Born, Leonid Ivanovich Popov (at Aleksandriya, Kirovograd Oblast, Ukrainian SSR), Major General Soviet AF Reserve, Soviet cosmonaut (Salyut 6 (Soyuz 35/Soyuz 37), Salyut 6 (Soyuz 40), Salyut 7; nearly 200d 14.75h total time in spaceflight)

Cosmonaut Leonid Popov (left) and V. V. Ryumin on a 1981 USSR postage stamp
'185 days in space'
Source: Wikipedia
ref: www.spacefacts.de

1951
S. Arend discovered asteroid #1640 Nemo.

1953
Born, Pavel Vladimirovich Vinogradov (at Magadan, Magadan Oblast, Russian SFSR), Russian cosmonaut (Mir 24, ISS 13 (Commander), ISS 35/36 (Commander); over 546d 22.5h total time in spaceflight)

Cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, Expedition 13 commander in the ISS Destiny module
NASA photo (18 April 2006)
Source: Wikipedia
ref: www.spacefacts.de

1954
K. Reinmuth discovered asteroid #1825 Klare.

1955
The first solar-powered "automobile" was demonstrated, at Chicago, Illinois, USA, a 15 inch long model called the Sunmobile, built by William G. Cobb of the General Motors Corporation.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1965
Died, E[dward] E[lmer] "Doc" Smith, US science fiction author
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1973
T. Smirnova discovered asteroids #2072 Kosmodemyanskaya, #2172 Plavsk, #2447 Kronstadt, #3418 and #3460.

1977
Russian pilot Aleksandr Fedotov set the current (2022) FAI aircraft altitude record of 37.6498 km (123,523 feet, 23.395 mi) for a ground-launched airplane in a MiG E-266M.
ref: www.airspacemag.com

1978
N. Chernykh discovered asteroids #2377 Shcheglov, #2408 Astapovich, #2711 Aleksandrov, #2723 Gorshkov, #2785 Sedov, #2809 Vernadsk, #2968, #2995 Taratuta, #3038, #3234 Hergiani, #3373, #3591, #3656, and #3660.

1983
H. Debehogne discovered asteroid #3450; J. Gibson discovered asteroid #3711.

1984
E. Bowell discovered asteroid #3677; K. Suzuki and T. Urata discovered asteroid #3165 Mikawa.

1985
During the 7h 20m STS-51-I-1 EVA, Discovery astronauts van Hoften and Fisher captured Syncom F3 (LEASAT-3) and began repairs.

STS 51-I was scrubbed on 24 August 1985 at T-5 minutes because of thunderstorms in the vicinity. The flight was again scrubbed at T-9 minutes on 25 August 1985 when the orbiter's number five on-board general purpose computer failed. The launch on 27 August at 6:58:01 AM EDT was delayed three minutes, one second due to combination of weather and an unauthorized ship entering the restricted solid rocket booster recovery area.

Three communications satellites were deployed during STS 51-I: ASC-1, for the American Satellite Company; AUSSAT-1, an Australian Communications Satellite; and SYNCOM IV-4, the Synchronous Communications Satellite. ASC-1 and AUSSAT-1 were both attached to Payload Assist Module-D (PAM-D) motors. SYNCOM IV-4 (also known as LEASAT-4) failed to function after reaching the correct geosynchronous orbit. Fisher and van Hoften performed two extravehicular activities (EVAs) totaling 11 hours, 51 minutes. Part of the time (on 31 August and 1 September) was spent retrieving, repairing and redeploying LEASAT-3, deployed on Mission 51-D. The Middeck Payload on the mission was the Physical Vapor Transport Organic Solid Experiment (PVTOS).

STS 51-I ended when Discovery landed 3 September 1985 at 6:15:43 AM PDT on revolution 112 on Runway 23, Edwards Air Force Base, California. Rollout distance: 6,100 feet. Rollout time: 47 seconds. Launch weight: 262,309 pounds. Landing weight: 196,674 pounds. Orbit altitude: 242 nautical miles. Orbit inclination: 28.45 degrees. Mission duration: seven days, two hours, 17 minutes, 42 seconds. Miles traveled: 2.9 million. The mission was shortened one day when the AUSSAT sunshield hung up on the remote manipulator system camera and AUSSAT had to be deployed before it was scheduled. The orbiter was returned to the Kennedy Space Center on 8 September 1985.

The flight crew for STS 51-I was: Joseph H. Engle, Commander; Richard O. Covey, Pilot; James D. A. van Hoften, Mission Specialist 1; John M. Lounge, Mission Specialist 2; William F. Fisher, Mission Specialist 3.
ref: www.nasa.gov

1989
C. S. Shoemaker and E. M. Shoemaker discovered asteroid #6239 Minos.

1992 10:41:00 GMT
The Satcom C4 commercial communications satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 135 deg W.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1993 04:40:00 GMT
USSR launched the Meteor 2-21 weather satellite from Plesetsk which operated through the end of 1994. The Italian Temisat small space facility was released into its own orbit on the seventh transit of the flight.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1995 06:49:59 GMT
Russia launched the Sich 1 oceanographic remote sensing satellite from Plesetsk, which also carried the FASat-Alfa microsat for Chile that failed to deploy.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1998 03:07:00 GMT
North Korea attempted to launch its first satellite, Kwangmyongsong 1, from Musudan. Although it released news reports describing the satellite, the vehicle appears to have failed to reach orbit.

On 1 September 1998, North Korea reported the launch (on 31 August 1998) of its first satellite, Kwangmyongsong 1. This was followed on 14 September by the release of a photograph of the satellite, and the claim that the satellite had completed its 100th orbit of the Earth between 08:24 and 11:17 local time (2017 GMT) on 13 September. Video of the launch, the satellite, and an animation of the satellite in orbit were distributed to foreign news agencies the following weekend. The satellite appeared to be nearly identical to the first Chinese test satellite, which itself appeared almost identical to the US Telstar 1.

Despite these claims no foreign observer ever detected the satellite visually, by radar, or picked up its radio signals. The Pentagon first claimed it was an ICBM launch, and that the satellite story was just a cover for the test. After further analysis of the data collected on the launch, they admitted (nearly a month later) that there had been a satellite launch attempt. Apparently what happened is the third stage either failed and fell into the Pacific, or misfired and put the satellite into a low orbit where it decayed very quickly before it could be detected by foreign observers.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

2004 23:17:00 GMT
The US NRO launched USA 179, the 63rd (consecutive successful) and last flight of the Atlas IIAS, the 576th and final launch of Rocketdyne-powered Atlas rockets, and the final launch from Launch Complex 36A, Cape Canaveral, Florida, after 42 years of use.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

2011
Died, Valery I. Rozhdestvensk (at Moscow, Russian Federation), Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz 23; just over 2d in spaceflight)
ref: www.spacefacts.de

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