The second person to ever walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin was the pilot of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission and was a member of the third group of astronauts ever selected by NASA. He served as an astronaut from his selection in 1963 until his retirement in 1971. Aldrin served as an U.S. Air Force officer and had a Command Pilot rating. Appropriately enough, his mother’s maiden name was Moon.
Aldrin walks on the surface of the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.
Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019)
The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm on this day in 1991. The operation was designed to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf is shown above at ease with his tank troops in Saudi Arabia in January 12, 1991 before the U.S. executed the operation.
On the evening of January 16,1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to discuss the launch of Operation Desert Storm.
Coalition troops from Egypt, Syria, Oman, France and Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm.
The launch of Space Shuttle Columbia was planned to begin on January 11, 2001, but the mission was delayed 18 times and eventually launched on January 16, 2003 (above).
During the lift-off of Columbia’s 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle’s external tank and struck the left wing of the craft. An accident investigation board determined the damage to the wing allowed hot atmospheric gases to inter the heat shield, destroying the internal wing structure and caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere on February 1, killing all seven crew members.
Surveyor 7 was the seventh and last lunar lander of the American unmanned Surveyor program sent to explore the surface of the Moon on this day in 1968. A total 21,091 pictures were transmitted back to Earth.
Photo of Surveyor model taken on Earth.
Photomosaic of a panorama taken by Surveyor 7 of its landing site.
Apollo 8 astronauts, James A. Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman, reached the moon on this day in 1968. They orbited the moon 10 times before coming back to Earth. Seven months later man first landed on the moon.
Apollo 8 crew members (from left) James A. Lovell Jr., William A. Anders and Frank Borman.
