Type: Astronomy Fact of the Day

On this date in 1969, Apollo 11 achieves the first landing of humans on the moon. The LM touched down on the moon at 4:18pm EDT.. Armstrong reported to mission control at MSC, “Houston, Tranquillity Base here – the Eagle has landed.” Later, Man’s first step on the moon was taken by Neil Armstrong at… Continue reading →

In 1969 on this date, Apollo 11, after over three days’ transit, enters lunar orbit in preparation to land on the surface for the very first time. During the second lunar orbit, a live color telecast of the lunar surface was made. A second service-propulsion-system burn placed the spacecraft in a circularized orbit, after which… Continue reading →

If you look northeast tonight at 10:00pm, you will see a preview of the Fall sky. Rising in the northeast are the constellations Cepheus and Cassiopeia. These two constellations are circumpolar, so we see them throughout the year; they are best seen, however, in the Fall.

First quarter moon occurs today. Until the invention of the telescope, the Moon was the only one we knew about. Today, however, we now know of over 200 moons in the solar system.

On this date in 1969, Apollo 11 (AS-506) – with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., aboard – was launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, KSC, at 9:32 a.m. In just four days, Armstrong and Aldrin would become the first two people to set foot on the moon.

On this date in 1975, the Soviet Union launched Soyuz 19, their part of the joint US-Soviet flight known as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, a flight meant to demonstrate the thawing political tensions between the two nations.. On 17 July the two spacecraft docked, and for the next two days the crew members rotated between… Continue reading →

Tonight you can find the constellation Leo the Lion in the western sky by 9:00pm. You can also find the Moon, Venus and Mars in Leo.

On this date in 1969, the Soviet Union launched the unmanned Luna 15 probe to the Moon in a last-ditch effort to return lunar soil to Earth before the United States. The attempt failed when it crashed into the moon on July 20 in an attempted landing.

Tonight, look west 30 minutes after sunset to find the Moon and the planets Venus and Mars. The Moon will be just over two days old so look for a thin waxing crescent moon. About 4° from the Moon, you will find Mars and Venus less than 1° apart.

Following a long controversy, today in 1962 marks NASA’s selection of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) as the fastest, cheapest, and safest way to get Apollo missions to the moon. LOR would allow landing 6-8 months earlier than originally planned, and cost $9.2 billion vs $ 10.6 billion for other methods.