1 July
1999: On 1 July 1999, ESA's de-activated Giotto spacecraft performed its second Earth fly-by, 14 years since its launch on 2 July 1985 and five years after its previous return ...
27 FEB. 2004
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1985: On 2 July 1985, ESA's Giotto spacecraft was launched on board an Ariane-1 from ESA's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Giotto was ESA’s first deep-space mission. In 1986, it became the first spacecraft to fly past the nucleus of a comet, Comet Halley. Its images showed for the first time the shape of a comet nucleus and found the first evidence of organic material on a comet. In 1992, after a long cruise through space, Giotto was directed to Comet Grigg-Skjellerup. It sent back a lot of information, passing just 200 kilometres from the nucleus – the closest ever comet fly-by.
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30 June
1908: On 30 June 1908, over the skies of Tunguska in Russia, a meteorite no less than 50 metres in diameter travelling at approximately 100 000 kilometres per hour penetrated ...
29 June
1995: On 29 June 1995, the US Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian space station Mir for a mission which lasted until 4 July 1995.The docking tested a special ...
28 June
1965: On 28 June 1965, the first commerical transatlantic telephone conversation via a satellite took place using Early Bird I. Positioned to serve the Atlantic Ocean region, Early Bird provided ...
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