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U.S Pegasus
U.S. Pegasus rocket is deployed from a B-52 bomber, and launched the Pegsat satellite in the first demonstration of the Pegasus launch vehicle. -
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Space travel
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Space Shuttle Discovery launches the Ulysses spacecraft
Ulysses flies toward Jupiter, to be slingshot towards the sun, to obtain data from high solar latitudes. -
Salyut 7 falls from orbit
This shuttle falls and burns over Argentina. -
Space Shuttle Atlantis
This Shuttle carried the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory into orbit. -
Shuttle Columbia
Shuttle Columbia carries the Spacelab SLS-1 into orbit, to conduct investigations into the effects of weightlessness on humans. -
Spacecraft Ulysses
This Spacecraft flies around Jupiter, on its way to the sun. -
Mars Observer lifts off
The first American probe to Mars in 17 years, since Viking 2. This probe is intended as an orbital mapper to study the red planet's atmosphere, surface, and geological make-up. -
Space Shuttle Endeavour launches
This shuttle launched on STS-61, making the first on-orbit service of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). -
Spacecraft Ulysses reaches a maximum
The Spacecraft Ulysses reaches a maximum Southern latitude of 80.2 degrees at the sun, proceeding towards the Northern latitudes, maintaining an orbital period of six years. -
Asteroid XM1
This Asteroid passes within 65,000 miles of Earth. -
Cosmonaut Valeriy Polyakov
This Cosmonaut returns to Earth after a 438-day mission aboard Russian space station Mir, setting a new space endurance record. -
Galileo spacecraft
This SpaceCraft arrives at Jupiter, performing an orbit while dropping a probe into the atmosphere, and putting a satellite into orbit, which will spend the next two years orbiting the planet. -
NASA launches first Dicovery series Spacecraft
This NASA Spacecraft, the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft, gets aboard a Delta II-7925-8 rocket. -
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off
The Space Ship lifts off on STS-76, performing the third docking with Space Station Mir. Astronaut Shannon Lucid was left on Mir, becoming the first female Astronaut to crew a Space Station. -
Space Shuttle Columbia
This Space shuttle lifts off for the shortest shuttle flight in 12 years (four days). The flight is cut short due to a failure of one of the spacecraft's three fuel cells. -
Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off
The Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off again to complete the flight aborted in April. -
Japan launches the Nozomi probe
Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, the first planetary mission by a country other than the U.S. or the Soviet Union/Russia. Using a combination of lunar gravity, Earth gravity, and rocket burns, Nozomi is scheduled to arrive at Mars in December 2003. -
NEAR space probe
The NEAR space probe flies to within 2400 miles of the asteroid 433 Eros, taking 222 photographs of nearly two-thirds of its surface. A software problem prevents the spacecraft from going into orbit around the asteroid, but a second engine burn on January 3, 1999 brings the spacecraft back to Eros in February of 2000. -
NASA satellite Stardust
The NASA satellite Stardust lifts off for a rendezvous with the Comet Wild-2 in January of 2004 -
China launches Shenzhou
China launches Shenzhou, the first unmanned test of their manned capsule. -
Galileo space probe
The Galileo space probe safely completes its encounter with Jupiter's ice moon, Europa, at an altitude of 343 km. Later in the year, on May 30, Galileo flies by Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede at an altitude of 808 km. -
NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) probe
The NEAR probe settles into orbit around the asteroid 433 Eros, producing a series of stunning close-up images. Ground controllers start tightening its orbit for an eventual soft impact with the tumbling, potato-shaped asteroid.
