27 FEB. 2004
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1969: On 15 January 1969, the first docking of two manned spacecraft took place between the Soviet Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5. The spacecraft formed what was termed 'the world's first space station' with a crew of four on board.
They remained docked for four and a half hours - three orbits of Earth. During that time, two cosmonauts 'space walked' from Soyuz 4 to Soyuz 5, becoming the first spacefarers to return to Earth in a different spacecraft from the one in which they went into space.
The docking manoeuvre had been practised twice before - in 1967 and 1968 when Soyuz craft had docked together under fully automatic control.
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13 January
1610: On 13 January 1610, Galileo Galilei discovered Callisto, the fourth satellite of Jupiter.
11 January
1787: On 11 January 1787, Sir William Herschel discovered Titania, the first moon of Uranus. Six years earlier, he had discovered the planet.
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