As part of this year’s Summer Reading program, Dream Big…Read!, we focus not only on dreams but all things nighttime, including the sky, space and stars. July seems to be jam-packed with space milestones.
July 16, 1969: Launch of Apollo 11, which resulted in man’s first moon landing.
July 20, 1969: Also known as Moon Day, this is the day in history when man first landed on the moon.
Jul 23, 1999: First female commander of a space shuttle Colonel Eileen Collins led a mission to deploy the Chandra observatory (a $1.5 billion x-ray telescope) into space.
July 26, 1971: Apollo 15 launched on this date.
July 28, 1973: A 59-day mission began on this date to test human spaceflight endurance. Alan L. Bean, Owen K. Garriott and Jack R. Lousma were on this mission.
And this is just a handful of this month’s many space milestones. Want to learn more about space and space-related stuff? Register for the Dog Days Astronomy program at the Columbia Public Library, check out our Space Place display or read some books about all things space!
Milestones in this article are from “Chase’s Calendar of Events 2012.”