Space History for March 8

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883
Died, Albumasar [Abu Ma`shar Ja`far ibn Muḥammad ibn `Umar al-Balkhi], Arabic astronomer
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1618
Johannes Kepler discovered the third law of planetary motion (the proportion of orbital periods is 1.5 times the proportion of their mean distances). He soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations, but later (15 May) confirmed the discovery.
ref: www.mathpages.com

1861
E. W. Tempel discovered asteroid #65 Cybele.

1888
J. Palisa discovered asteroid #273 Atropos.

1893
A. Charlois discovered asteroid #358 Apollonia.

1894
A. Charlois discovered asteroid #389 Industria.

1905
M. Wolf discovered asteroid #559 Nanon.

1910
Baroness Raymonde de Laroche of Paris became the first licensed female pilot.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1910
In Britain, John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon became the first man in the UK to receive a pilot's certificate.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1917
Died, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, first large-scale builder of the rigid dirigibles which eventually became synonymous with his name
ref: www.firstworldwar.com

1923
Died, John van der Waals (at Amsterdam, the Netherlands), physicist, Nobel 1910 "for his work on the equation of state for gases and liquids"
ref: www.nobelprize.org

1938
Y. Vaisala discovered asteroid #1453 Fennia.

1946
The Bell 47 became the first helicopter certified for civilian use.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1951
M. Itzigsohn discovered asteroid #1596 Itzigsohn.

1952
Born, Vladimir Vladimirovich Vasyutin (at Kharkov, Kharkov Oblast, Ukrainian SSR), Lt General Russian AF, Soviet cosmonaut (Salyut 7 EO-4-2; nearly 64d 22h in spaceflight) (deceased)

Cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin
Source: Prabook.com
ref: www.spacefacts.de

1964
F. Borngen discovered asteroid #3181 Ahnert.

1967
Died, Aleksandr Andreyevich Raspletin, Russian Chief Designer of KB-1 (1953-1967), contributed to the RORSAT, EORSAT, and ASAT programs
ref: encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com

1976 15:00:00 GMT
The "Jilin" stony metorite fell in the northern part of the district of Kirin, Kirin Province, China, the largest piece of the eleven recovered was a 1,770 kg (3900 lb) fragment.
ref: www.lpi.usra.edu

1979
A volcanic plume on Jupiter's moon Io was discovered in Voyager 1 images by Linda Morabito, the first known extraterrestrial volcano.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1986
The Japanese probe Suisei flew within 151,000 km of Comet Halley on the sunward side, suffering only 2 dust impacts.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1986
United States Navy divers found the largely intact but heavily-damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The bodies of all seven astronauts were still inside.
ref: www.washingtonpost.com

2001 05:42:00 CST (GMT -6:00:00)
NASA launched STS 102 (Discovery) for International Space Station Flight 5A.1.

NASA launched Discovery as STS 102 on 8 March 2001 for the International Space Station Flight 5A.1 mission. Its primary objectives were to deliver the Expedition Two crew and the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station.

Discovery spent almost 13 days in orbit, with nearly nine of those days docked to the International Space Station. In addition to the crew transfer and attaching the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, the shuttle crew transferred supplies and equipment to the station, and completed two space walks.

Space walkers spent a total of 15 hours and 26 minutes during two STS-102 excursions outside the docked complex. The first space walk was the longest in space shuttle history.

Mission Specialists Susan Helms and James Voss - who later became Expedition Two crewmembers - prepared the Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 for repositioning from the Unity Module's Earth-facing berth to its port-side berth to make room for the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module supplied by the Italian Space Agency.

Two days later, Mission Specialists Paul Richards and Andy Thomas spent 6.5 hours outside the International Space Station, continuing work to outfit the station and prepare for delivery of its robotic arm.

The Expedition One/Two crew transfer was a carefully choreographed process carried out one replacement at a time to ensure the three current members of the station crew would be able to return home, at any time during the switch, aboard the Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station. As a member of the Expedition Two crew formally transferred from the space shuttle to the station, that crew member's custom-designed seat liner, called an Individual Equipment Liner Kit, was installed in the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station: Crew members officially join the station when they install their seat liners in the Soyuz. The seat liner of the replaced crew member was removed from the Soyuz, and he then became a member of the shuttle crew.

STS 102 ended 12 days, 19 hours, 49 minutes after launch, on 21 March 2001, when Discovery landed on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center following a surprising turnaround in the Florida weather: Entry Flight Director Wayne Hale made the decision to land at Kennedy just before midnight after cloudy skies and gusty winds due to a low pressure system that raced through the Shuttle Landing Facility area faster than expected the previous night had cleared. The shuttle had traveled a total of 5,357,762 statute miles during its flight.

The flight crew for STS 102 was: James D. Wetherbee, Commander; James M. Kelly, Pilot; Andrew S.W. Thomas, Mission Specialist 1; Paul W. Richards, Mission Specialist 2; Yury V. Usachev, Expedition 2 Commander (remained at ISS); James S. Voss, Expedition 2 Flight Engineer (remained at ISS); Susan J. Helms, Expedition 2 Flight Engineer (remained at ISS); William M. Shepherd, Expedition 1 Commander (returned from ISS); Sergei Krikalev, Expedition 1 Flight Engineer (returned from ISS); Yuri P. Gidzenko, Expedition 1 Soyuz Commander (returned from ISS).
ref: www.nasa.gov

2007
Died, Vasiliy Sergeyevich Budnik, Russian engineer, First Deputy Designer of KB Yuzhnoye 1954-1972
ref: www.yuzhnoye.com

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