Explorer 1 reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, having travelled 2.67 billion kilometers (1.66 billion miles) and made 58,408 revolutions of the Earth during its 13-year lifetime.

This is the third of four supermoons for 2020. The Moon will be at its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

Apollo 13 launched on its ill-fated flight to the moon. James A. Lovell Jr, John L. Swigert Jr. and Fred W. Haise Jr. aborted the mission after the service module oxygen tank ruptured on April 13.

The Lyrids meteor shower runs from April 16th-25th and usually produces about 20 meteors per hour at its peak, which will occur on the night of the 22nd April. The Lyrids meteor shower is produced by dust particles left behind by comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher and the meteors can occasionally produce bright dust trails that last for several seconds.

This shower will be best viewed after midnight on April 22nd, in a dark location, with as little light pollution as possible, the almost new Moon will provide dark skies for this year’s event. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Lyra, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Hubble Space Telescope launched from shuttle Discovery, weighing approximately 11,355 kg. The first image taken by Wide Field/Planetary Camera was released 20 May 1990. A spherical aberration in the optical system, which severely reduced the quality of the images produced was announced publicly June 27.

May 6th and 7th.
The Eta Aquarids is an above average meteor shower, with up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. Most of the activity is seen in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, the rate can reach about 30 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust particles left behind by comet Halley, which has known and observed since ancient times. The shower runs annually from April 19 to May 28. It peaks this year on the night of May 6 and the morning of the May 7. The Moon will be almost full at the peak which may block out all but the brightest meteors. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Aquarius, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

This is the last of the four supermoons for 2020. The Moon will be at its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

There are 10 founding members: Belgium, Germany, Denmark, France, United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. Ireland joins later in the year. ESA launches its first major scientific mission, Cos-B, a satellite monitoring gamma-ray emissions in the Universe, which operates for over six years, four years longer than planned.

Soyuz 9 was a 1970 Soviet crewed space flight. The two-man crew broke the five year old space endurance record held by Gemini 7, with their flight lasting 17days 16hours 58minutes and 55 seconds doing 286 orbits of the Earth. This paved the way for the Salyut space station missions to investigate the effects of long-term weightlessness on crew. It was also the last flight of the first-generation Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft, as well as the first crewed space launch to be conducted at night. To date, Soyuz 9 marks the longest crewed flight by a solo spacecraft. During their mission  Valentina Tereshkova (first women in space) and her daughter communicated via radio and television with husband and father Andriyan Nikolayev, the commander of the flight. The crew got a day off and the spent this playing chess via radio with cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko on Earth.

20-24 July

The 2020 Farnborough International Airshow is a global platform for companies in the aerospace industry to showcase their capabilities and technology. This year’s Space Zone is set to feature its largest ever international presence, providing visitors with the opportunity to meet with the global space community at one of the world’s leading space events. Space Zone returns to the Farnborough International Airshow for its biggest show yet!
Find out more here.

Bluedot is a music, science and culture event held annually at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England, combining music, live science experiments, expert talks and immersive artworks. The festival is named after Pale Blue Dot, a famous 1990 photograph of planet Earth.

Highlights this year include:

Björk – One of the most influential and ground-breaking musicians of all time
Time Peake – British ESA Astronaut
Phill Jupitus: Artist in Residence
Intergalactic Planetary Kids Rave

Click here for more information.

Bluedot is a music, science and culture event held annually at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England, combining music, live science experiments, expert talks and immersive artworks. The festival is named after Pale Blue Dot, a famous 1990 photograph of planet Earth.

Highlights this year include:

Björk – One of the most influential and ground-breaking musicians of all time
Time Peake – British ESA Astronaut
Phill Jupitus: Artist in Residence
Intergalactic Planetary Kids Rave

Click here for more information.

Bluedot is a music, science and culture event held annually at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England, combining music, live science experiments, expert talks and immersive artworks. The festival is named after Pale Blue Dot, a famous 1990 photograph of planet Earth.

Highlights this year include:

Björk – One of the most influential and ground-breaking musicians of all time
Time Peake – British ESA Astronaut
Phill Jupitus: Artist in Residence
Intergalactic Planetary Kids Rave

Click here for more information.

Bluedot is a music, science and culture event held annually at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England, combining music, live science experiments, expert talks and immersive artworks. The festival is named after Pale Blue Dot, a famous 1990 photograph of planet Earth.

Highlights this year include:

Björk – One of the most influential and ground-breaking musicians of all time
Time Peake – British ESA Astronaut
Phill Jupitus: Artist in Residence
Intergalactic Planetary Kids Rave

Click here for more information.

Galileo Galilei was the first to observe Saturn with a telescope in 1610. Because of the crudeness of his telescope, he couldn’t determine what the rings were, he guessed that there were two large moons on either side of Saturn. Two years later when he viewed Saturn again, the “moons” had disappeared, this is because Galileo was viewing the rings edge-on so that they were invisible, but at the time it was very confusing to Galileo. After yet another two years, Galileo viewed Saturn again and found that the “moons” had returned. He concluded that the rings were “arms” of some sort. It wasn’t until almost 50 years after the Galileo first observed Saturn in 1659 that a dutch astronomer named Christiaan Huygens correctly deduced that the “arms” were actually a ring system.

5th August, 1930 – 25th August 2012

Neil A. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

He was a American astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval aviator, test pilot and university professor.