1975-1979

Themes > Science > Physics > Astrophysics > The History of High-Energy Astrophysics > 1975-1979
11 Jul 1979	Skylab, the U.S.A.'s first space-station, re-enters the atmosphere dispersing debris over an area stretching from the south-east Indian Ocean to west Australia.
9 Jul 1979	Voyager 2 makes its closest approach to Jupiter.
19 Jun 1979	Vela 5B ceases operation.
Jun 1979	Prognoz 7 ceases operations.
2 Jun 1979	Launch of Ariel VI. The satellite's mission is subsequently compromised by interference from ground-based radar which hampers pointing operations.
9 Apr 1979	The Third Small Astronomical Satellite (SAS 3) ceases operation.
5 Mar 1979	Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to Jupiter.
24 Feb 1979	Launch of P78-1
21 Feb 1979	Launch of the first Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite Hakucho, known as CORSA-b prior to launch.
9 Jan 1979	The First High Energy Astrophysics Observatory (HEAO 1) ceases operation.
20 Sep 1979	Launch of the Third High Energy Astrophysics Observatory (HEAO-3).
late Dec 1978	Arrival of Venera 11 & 12 at Venus; landing units proceed to the Venusian surface while the mother craft flies by the planet.
9 Dec 1978	Arrival of the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe at Venus. All five probes transmitted data while descending through the Venusian atmosphere as planned.
4 Dec 1978	Pioneer Venus Orbiter arrives at Venus.
13 Nov 1978	Launch of the Second High Energy Astrophysics Observatory (HEAO 2), renamed the Einstein Observatory when it achieved orbit.
31 Oct 1978	The Seventh Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP 7) ceases operation.
30 Oct 1978	Launch of the joint French-Soviet SIGNE mission Prognoz 7. Combined with the Venera 11 & 12 probes, this constituted the first ever interplanetary gamma-ray burst detection network, allowing localization of the source of gamma-ray burst sources.
15 Oct 1978	The Eighth Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO 8) ceases operation.
14 Sep 1978	Launch of the Venera 12 probe to Venus.
9 Sep 1978	Launch of the Venera 11 probe to Venus.
8 Aug 1978	Launch of the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe.
Aug 1978	Launch of the Third International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE-3). ISEE-3 was one of a three part series of satellites to monitor solar wind and interactions with the Earth and Sun. ISEE-3 was placed at the Sun-Earth L5 point, roughly an hour upstream in the solar wind. Among other instruments, ISEE-3 carries gamma-ray burst detectors.
20 May 1978	Launch of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter, carrying (among many other instruments) a gamma-ray burst detector.
26 Jan 1978	Launch of the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE).
1978	The Seventh Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP 7) ceases operations.
5 Sep 1977	Voyager 1 launched on a Titan-Centaur rocket (still operational).
20 Aug 1977	Voyager 2 launched on a Titan-Centaur rocket (still operational).
12 Aug 1977	Launch of the First High Energy Astrophysics Observatory (HEAO 1).
Jul 1977	Solrad 11A ceases operations.
2 Feb 1977	The Soviet space station Salyut-4 performs a controlled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.
Dec 1976	Solrad 11B ceases operations.
30 Jul 1976	The Astronomische Nederlandse Satelliet (ANS) ceases operation.
20 Jul 1976	The Viking 1 lander arrives at Utopia Plantia on Mars, the first landing probe to visit Mars.
17 Apr 1976	Helios 2 achieves its perihelion distance of just 0.29 A.U.
15 Mar 1976	Launch of the paired satellites Solrad 11 A & B. Gamma-ray burst detectors were added to the Solrad 11 mission shortly before launch after the realization of gamma-ray bursts seen by the Vela series satellites.
Feb 1976	"First fringes" at the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope interferometer in New Mexico.
15 Jan 1976	Helios 2 is launched to explore the Sun and solar wind environment in the near-solar region.
21 Jun 1975	Launch of the Eighth Orbiting Solar Observatory 8 (OSO 8).
7 May 1975	Launch of the Third Small Astronomical Satellite (SAS 3).
9 Aug 1975	Launch of COS B.
Jul 1975	The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint U.S.-Soviet space mission.
Information provided by: http://guinan.gsfc.nasa.gov