24 August

2002: On 24 August 2002, the Integral satellite arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome after a trip from the ESA test centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

The satellite, shipped in two separate modules, was transported by road to Schiphol airport, where it was loaded in the cargo bay of an Antonov 124 aircraft. After a stopover in Moscow, it arrived on 24 August in Yubileiniy airport, Kazakhstan. Finally, a train transferred the spacecraft containers from the airport to the Baikonur integration facilities. To avoid any shock to the spacecraft, this final leg took more than 6 hours for a distance of only 20 kilometres.

79: On 24 August 79 AD, Pliny the Elder died.

Pliny was a Roman author of the Natural History in 37 volumes, an encyclopaedic work of uneven accuracy that was an authority on scientific matters up to the Middle Ages. He prepared this as a digest of two thousand ancient books written by nearly five hundred writers.

He was undiscriminating and opinionated regarding the accuracy of the content. He rejected Pytheas's valid theory that the Moon was responsible for tides. On the contrary, he accepted the spherical form of Earth.

He died in the eruption of Vesuvius, too anxious to witness the event to retreat from the ashes and toxic gases.