... It was designed to observe the solar wind approaching Earth, from a position near the Lagrangian point L1, and it is part of the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) Initiative . ... The original plan called for "Wind" to approach its final station over two years, undergoing two close encounters with the Moon to boost its speed. ... If however the object is moving , the encounter is not symmetric, and in the end the spacecraft may have gained or lost speed, depending on its trajectory. ...

... It was designed to observe the solar wind approaching Earth, from a position near the Lagrangian point L1, and it is part of the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) Initiative . ... The original plan called for "Wind" to approach its final station over two years, undergoing two close encounters with the Moon to boost its speed. ... If however the object is moving , the encounter is not symmetric, and in the end the spacecraft may have gained or lost speed, depending on its trajectory. ...

Target: Venus . The Soviet VEGA Spacecraft Two remarkable "busloads" of automated spacecraft were launched toward Venus by the Soviet Union in December of 1984. Each one contains three separate modules: one lander and one balloon-carried atmosphere probe to be dropped off at Venus in June, 1985, and one major package of instruments which will continue on to encounter Halley's Comet in March, 1986. ... Venus and Earth: A Comparison . Earth . ... in Earth days) . ... 243 Earth days . ...

GRANAT is the Russian x-ray sattelite launched to the high apogee orbit (200,000 km) and operated almost for 10 years (1989 -1999) , carrying out four major instruments: French SIGMA coded-mask hard x-ray telescope (30-1000 keV), Soviet ART-P coded-mask telescope (2??-60?? keV), all-sky monitor WATCH (6-150 keV), and a gamma-burst detector PHEBUS . ... Since September 1994, GRANAT is in the survey mode. ... Explore pages devoted to individual GRANAT instruments (including main scientific results): . ...

... December 28, 1999 . A Year Of New Perspectives . Credit: APOD Collage, ESA , NASA . Explanation: Fittingly, 1999 saw a decade of astronomical discoveries to an end with portents of things to come - embodied in new spacecraft, telescopes, and perspectives to explore the distant Universe across the electromagnetic spectrum. ... Ground-based astronomy will flourished too as very large telescopes and new instruments have come online or near completion. ... About APOD > . ...

... Sun images . ... December : 2015 . ... Image of Sun's photosphere obtained 09.12.2015 at 23:40 UT with HMI instrument on board SDO spacecraft . ... Image of Sun's magnetic field obtained 09.12.2015 at 23:28 UT with HMI instrument on board SDO spacecraft . ... Image of Sun's transition region obtained 09.12.2015 at 23:39 UT with AIA instrument on board SDO spacecraft . Image of Sun's corona . Image of Sun's corona obtained 09.12.2015 at 23:39 UT with AIA instrument on board SDO spacecraft . ...

Mariner 2 . Mariner 2, the world's first successful interplanetary spacecraft, was launched August 27, 1962. It reached Venus on December 14, 1962, after a 108-day journey from Earth. ... The Mariner 2 mission was authorized by NASA in August 1961, less than a year before the first launch window. ... Mariner 2, the world's first successful interplanetary spacecraft, was launched August 27, 1962, and passed 34,916 kilometers (21,648 miles) from Venus on December 14, 1962. ... Space History . ...

... Liftoff of Space Shuttle Columbia . ... In 1610, Galileo turned his telescope to the heavens and discovered that the planet Jupiter had four bright moons. ... Jupiter's Rings . ... Unlike Saturn's bright rings which are composed of chunks of rock and ice, Jupiter's rings appear to consist of fine particles of dust. ... Exploring Saturn's Rings . ... By watching a star flicker and fade as it passed behind Saturn's rings, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft was able explore the ring system in amazing detail. ...

... The damage to NIFS has freed up the RSAA instrumentation team to concentrate on the timely delivery of the Gemini South Adaptic Optics Imager (GSAOI). ... GSAOI is the second instrument that ANU is building for Gemini. ... GSAOI Website: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/gsaoi/ NIFS Website: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/nifs/ RSAA Website: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/ Australian Gemini Project Office Website: http://www.ausgo.unsw.edu.au/ Gemini Public Information Website: http://www.gemini.anu.edu.au/public/ . ...

Astronotes Armagh Planetarium's Stellar Blog! ... Space Flight . ... December . ... Posted on December 16, 2013 | 1 Comment Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut is an international educational challenge focusing on fitness and nutrition encouraging students to ?train like an astronaut.? ... Continue Reading.. ... No Comments Our Image of the Month was released to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and is a striking panoramic look at a stellar nursery which is [ ] . ...

Magnetic field experiment on Vega - 1 and 2 spacecraft. ... Two spacecrafts, Vega-1 and Vega-2 have been launched aboard Proton rockets from Baykonour on 15 and 21 December 1984, respectively. ... During the cruise phase from Earth to Venus both Vega-1 and Vega-2 spacecrafts had one-axis orientation i.e. Bx of magnetometer was directed to the Sun, By and Bz axes were rotated around Bx-axis. ... Spacecraft position data are presented in HGI and SE systems. ... Vega-1 magnetic data for 1984 . ...

... Launch of one ISS-21/22 Russian, one NASA crewmember and one participant of the visiting crew (VC-17) (Canada) by transport manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-16 in flight 18S; . ... Support of the Space Station functionality; . ... The flight duration of one ISS-21/22 Russian crewmember, one ISS-21/22 NASA crewmember delivered by Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft is 169 days . ... The flight duration of one ISS-22/23 Russian crewmember, one ISS-22/23 NASA crewmember delivered by Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft is 159 days ...