News - The Physics Hypertextbook

Sputnik 3 launched (1958), Sputnik 4 launched (1960)

elert — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:00:54 +0000

Skylab Launched (1973)

elert — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:00:37 +0000

Skylab was the second manned space station to orbit the earth (the first for the US). It was launched from Kennedy Space Center atop a modified Saturn V rocket. It returned to earth over the Australia as a fiery swarm of debris during a controlled reentry on 11 July 1979.

STS-132 Atlantis penultimate flight (2010)

elert — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:20:01 +0000

STS-125 Atlantis/HST SM-4 final Hubble servicing mission begins (2009)

elert — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:01:11 +0000

Space Shuttle Atlantis flew seven astronauts into space for the fifth and final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope on this day in 2009. This should extend the observatory’s capabilities through 2013.

Shakti I: First Indian thermonuclear weapon test (1998)

elert — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:17:29 +0000

Date: 11 May 1998 (15:47 Indian Standard Time)
Code name: Shakti I
Type: boosted fission
Yield: 43 thousand tons of TNT
Location: Pokhran, India
Earthquake magnitude: 5.2

In response to this test, the Pakistan government conducted its first official test of a nuclear weapon 17 days later.

Richard Feynman born (1918)

elert — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:00:06 +0000

Transcontinental Railroad (1869)

elert — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

The tracks of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were joined at Promontory, Utah on this day in 1869 creating the first transcontinental railroad in North America.

STS-49 Endeavour first flight (1992)

elert — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:40:51 +0000

May the Fourth be with You

elert — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:04:21 +0000

Astronomy Day

elert — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:00:38 +0000

Far out!