Space History for February 26

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1616
Cardinal Robert Bellarmine of the Roman Catholic Inquisition delivered an injunction to Galileo Galilei for his support of the heliocentric model of the solar system.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1777
Charles Messier added M53 to his catalog (globular cluster in Coma Berenices, previously discovered by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode on 3 February 1775).
ref: www.messier-objects.com

1786
Born, Dominique Francois Jean Arago, French physicist, astronomer (electromagnet, chromosphere)
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1834
Died, Alois Senefelder, inventor (lithography)
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1842
Born, N. Camille Flammarion, French astronomer, writer, Mars researcher, popularizer of astronomy
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1913
Born, Minoru Honda, Japanese astronomer, discovered 12 comets, first to report Nova Cygni 1975
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1913
J. Rheden discovered asteroid #744 Aguntina.

1928
Born, Anatoli Filipchenko (at Davydovka, Voronezh Oblast, Russian SFSR), Major General Soviet AF, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz 7, Soyuz 16; over 10d 21h total time in spaceflight)
ref: www.spacefacts.de

1928
K. Reinmuth discovered asteroid #1091 Spiraea.

1935
Robert Watson-Watt gave the first public demonstration of RADAR (RAdio Detection And Ranging), a remote-sensing technology that has become a very important part of space exploration.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1938
G. Kulin discovered asteroid #1452 Hunnia.

1941
K. Reinmuth discovered asteroid #1632 Siebohme.

1943
L Oterma discovered asteroid #2841 Puijo.

1949 12:21:00 CST (GMT -6:00:00)
A USAF Boeing B-50 Superfortress named Lucky Lady II began the first nonstop around-the-world flight, departing from Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas.
ref: www.flyingmag.com

1955
George Franklin Smith became the first aviator to bail out at a supersonic speed and live.
ref: www.christopherjlynch.com

1958
Born, Susan J. Helms (at Charlotte, North Carolina, USA), Lt General USAF, NASA astronaut (STS 54, STS 64, STS 78, STS 101, ISS 2; over 210d 23h total time in spaceflight)

Astronaut Susan Helms, USAF photo
Source: US Air Force (www.jsc.nasa.gov unavailable February 2020)
ref: www.nasa.gov

1966 16:12:01 GMT
NASA launched AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket, carrying a test Apollo capsule payload.

AS-201 launching from Cape Kennedy, NASA photo
Source: NSSDCA Master Catalog

The Apollo-Saturn 201 (AS-201) mission, launched 26 February 1966, was an unmanned suborbital flight to test the Saturn 1B launch vehicle and the Apollo Command and Service Modules. It was the first flight of the two-stage Saturn 1B. The objectives of the flight were to verify the structural integrity, launch loads, stage separation, and operation of subsystems of the Saturn 1B, and evaluate the Apollo spacecraft subsystems, heatshield, and mission support facilities. Due to loss of data during maximum heating of the heatshield, the evaluation of the ablator at high re-entry rates was not achieved, but all other objectives were met.

Among other achievments during the flight, this was the first flight separation of the launch vehicle and a production spacecraft; the first Service Module (SM) burn and restart at altitude; and the first full flight test of a Block I Apollo spacecraft.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1971
NASA's Apollo 14 astronauts were released from quarantine after their mission to the Moon, the last Apollo astronauts quarantined.
ref: www.astronautix.com

1971 12:14:00 GMT
USSR launched Cosmos 398 with initial orbital data similar to a Soyuz-type flight, but with a later Lunar or interplanetary orbital launch platform configuration. It is believed to have been a possible test of new a Lunar-type engine system.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1979
The total eclipse of the Sun occurred that was the last visible from the continental USA in the twentieth century.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1981
H. Debehogne discovered asteroid #3268 De Sanctis.

1984
N. Chernykh discovered asteroids #3575 and #3576.

1987 13:40:00 GMT
USSR launched Cosmos 1824 from the Baikonur cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz rocket, a Soviet photo surveillance satellite.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1987 23:05:00 GMT
NASA launched GOES 7, the tenth in a series of NASA-developed, NOAA-operated, geosynchronous and operational weather satellites.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1998
A total eclipse was visible over Central and South America, and the Caribbean: Venezuela to the Pacific Ocean (4 minutes 9 seconds duration).
ref: en.wikipedia.org

2000
Died, Petr Aleksandrovich Tyurin, Russian Chief Designer, KB Arsenal 1953-1981, specialized in L3 Lunar program components, later performed EORSAT (ELINT Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite) work
ref: books.google.com

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