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beyondearthsky.bsky.social @beyondearthsky.bsky.social · 14h

#OTD in 1975, Soviet Venera 9 became the first spacecraft to enter orbit around Venus, and its lander successfully transmitted images of the Venus surface, the first images ever sent back from the surface of another planet.

Venera 9 lander with shock absorbing lander ring, spherical pressurized instrument compartment, and upper disk drag brake with cylindrical wound antenna 'top hat'. A camera pod can be seen at right under the disk brake next to the 'paintroller' gamma-ray densitometer folded up against the sphere. The spectrophotometer housing is under the disk at the left. Floodlights are attached to the shock absorber struts to illuminate the fields of view of the two cameras. An anemometer for surface winds is mounted on the top of the disk at left. The outer insulating layers are removed. The two severed pipes on the left are for pre-cooling by the orbiter before separation.
Credit: NPO Lavochkin

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Emily Lakdawalla, Uranus Expert @elakdawalla.bsky.social · Mar 18

MT @NASAhistory: #Now in 1975, Venera 9 lands on Venus,1st craft to transmit images from another planetary surface: http://t.co/FkNpPQ6YLy

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SempaiScuba @sempaiscuba.bsky.social · 16h

22 October 1975: The Soviet #space probe, Venera 9, landed on the surface of Venus. The lander operated for 53 minutes before contact with the orbiter was lost.

During that time, the probe successfully transmitted the first images from the surface of another planet. #History #exploration

Model of the Venera 9 probe in the museum in Moscow.

Photograph of the surface of Venus taken by Venera 9.

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European Space History @eurospacehistory.bsky.social · 2d

#OTD 21 October 2001, ESA astronaut Claudie Haigneré became the first European (and first 🇫🇷) woman to visit International Space Station on her #Andromède mission.

www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

@cnes.fr @fr.esa.int @museeairespace.bsky.social @citedelespace.bsky.social @cieletespace.bsky.social

Claudie Haigneré pre-flight portrait (pic: CPK/CNES/M. Gubaidoullin, 2001)

Launch of Soyuz TM-33 on 21 October 2001 (pic: ESA/CNES/S.Corvaja)

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Daniel Pomarède @pomarede.bsky.social · 22d

George Smoot, who shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for detecting minute temperature variations in the Cosmic Microwave Background, dies at 80

When Smoot announced the detection in 1992, Stephen Hawking called it the greatest scientific discovery of the century. 🧪 #Cosmology

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Queen Karma and Lily Bug @dogsareperfection.bsky.social · 18d

Rest in Peace George Smoot. Your work changed the field of physics forever. Finding evidence of the Big Bang is quite literally an epic accomplishment for one’s lifetime. ✨💫

And this scene will always show you also had a great sense of humor 💔

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NPR @npr.org · 4d

An amateur satellite tracker stumbled across the signal, which is coming from Starshield satellites in a "hidden" part of the radio spectrum.

A classified network of SpaceX satellites is emitting a mysterious signal

An amateur satellite tracker stumbled across the signal, which is coming from Starshield satellites in a "hidden" part of the radio spectrum.

n.pr

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European Space History @eurospacehistory.bsky.social · 2d

#OTD 20 October 1995, Thomas Reiter performed the first spacewalk by an @esa.int astronaut (and a German citizen) during the EuroMir '95 mission. The EVA lasted 5h 11m.

www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... @exploration.esa.int @de.esa.int @dlr-spaceagency.bsky.social

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NewsFromSpace @newsfromspace.bsky.social · 2d

#SpaceHistory 20Oct2018:

beyondearthsky.bsky.social @beyondearthsky.bsky.social · 2d

BepiColombo spacecraft, a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), was launched #OTD in2018. The spacecraft is using nine planetary flybys to help steer itself into orbit around Mercury: one at Earth, two at Venus, and six at Mercury.

Artist’s impression of the BepiColombo spacecraft in cruise configuration approaching Mercury

BepiColombo lifts off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 2d

Looks like the UA1093 incident is tentatively confirmed to be a balloon and not space debris, per this exchange on the other site

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Association of Space Explorers @aseastronauts.bsky.social · 2d

#HappyBirthday to ASE President Julie Payette, who flew to space twice between 1999 and 2009 (STS-96 and STS-127) as part of trips to the International Space Station!

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Spacemen1969 @spacemen1969.bsky.social · 3d

20 octobre 1995

30ème anniversaire de STS-73 où la navette Columbia s'envole avec 7 astronautes pour une mission de 15 jours 21 heures 52 minutes avec un retour le 5 novembre.

Cady Coleman nous parle très bien de cette mission (sa 1ère) dans son livre :

spacerelics.blogspot.com/2024/08/shar...

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Astromancer @kdconod.bsky.social · 2d

Jersey Skies: meteors and comets
www.jerseysbest.com/community/je... 🔭

Jersey Skies: meteors and comets

The Orionid meteor shower is active this week. These “shooting stars” seem to come from the well-known constellation Orion.

www.jerseysbest.com

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Reuters Legal @legal.reuters.com · 2d

European aerospace groups Leonardo , Airbus and Thales have reached a framework deal on a proposed merger of their satellite businesses, two sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

European aerospace groups reach framework deal on satellite merger, sources say

European aerospace groups Leonardo , Airbus and Thales have reached a framework deal on a proposed merger of their satellite businesses, two sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

reut.rs

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European Space History @eurospacehistory.bsky.social · 2d

#OTD 20 October 2018, launch of ESA/JAXA #BepiColombo
on Ariane 5 #VA245 from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou on its seven-year journey to #Mercury 🧪🔭

www.esa.int/Science_Expl... @esa.int @cnes.fr @science.esa.int #SpaceHistory #Space #History

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury blasted off on an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou on 20 October on its exciting mission to study the mysteries of the Solar System’s innermost planet.

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Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 3d

Wild! A meteorite may have struck the windshield of a 737 flying over Colorado, according to early reports.

Whatever the object was, it cut a pilot's arm but did not seriously damage the plane. 🧪

avbrief.com/united-max-h...

Photo of a pilots wounded arm, cut by broken glass.

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beyondearthsky.bsky.social @beyondearthsky.bsky.social · 4d

Venera 4 entered the Venusian atmosphere on October 18, 1967, and became the first probe to transmit data from the atmosphere of another planet. The descent capsule reached an altitude of 27 kilometers above the planet's surface, where it succumbed to the atmospheric pressure and temperature.

Venera 4 spacecraft, without the thermal blankets. Credit: NPO Lavochkin

Venera 4 descent capsule. Credit: NPO Lavochkin

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European Space History @eurospacehistory.bsky.social · 3d

#OTD: 19 October 2006, MetOp-A, Europe's first polar-orbiting meteorological satellite was launched. MetOp-A was in operation for 15 years, three times longer than planned.

www.esa.int/About_Us/ESO... @eumetsat.int @esa.int @esaearth.esa.int #SpaceHistory #Space #History

MetOp-A, Europe's first polar-orbiting satellite dedicated to operational meteorology, was launched on 19 October 2006 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (pic: Eumetsat)

MetOp-A satellite undergoing final testing at EADS Astrium's facilities in Toulouse (pic: EADS Astrium/C. Mériaux)

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Daniel Pomarède @pomarede.bsky.social · 6d

The Dish: Fact vs fiction

The Dish is an Aussie classic, set at Murriyang, a.k.a the Parkes radio telescope. Most of the film is based on fact, but what was added for the sake of a (rollicking) good yarn?

www.csiro.au/en/news/All/... 🧪🔭

The Dish: Fact vs fiction

The Dish is an Aussie classic, set at Murriyang, our Parkes radio telescope. Most of the film is based on fact, but what was added for the sake of a (rollicking) good yarn?

www.csiro.au

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NeV-T @nev-t.bsky.social · 5d

MSL 4684 ML © NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/NeV-T

Gigapan - retry.gigapan.com/gigapans/238...
GIGAmacro - viewer.gigamacro.com/view/aCWb9kD...
Gigapan Website - www.nev-t-gigamacros.com
#Mars #science #NASA

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ESA Exploration @exploration.esa.int · 5d

🚁 Helicopter training for lunar landings 🌕
@esa.int astronauts Alexander Gerst, Matthias Maurer, Samantha Cristoforetti and Thomas Pesquet graduated today from a three-week training course with the German Bundeswehr 🎓

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NewsFromSpace @newsfromspace.bsky.social · 5d

From News12NJ: COMET LEMMON: A recently discovered celestial object will be racing its way through our night skies very soon.

#News12 #Comet #Astronomy #Science #CometLemmon #News #LocalNews

🔗 bit.ly/478evJK 👈🏼

Comet Lemmon within view from our area

Get your binoculars ready for this once-in-a-lifetime event.

bit.ly

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Space Launch Bot @spacelaunch-bot.bsky.social · 5d

SpaceX is launching a rocket! Starlink Group 11-19 is a communications mission and will launch via a Falcon 9 rocket from 🇺🇸 Space Launch Complex 4E on 2025-10-18 at 23:46 UTC.

For more information, visit the Go4Liftoff launch page.

#rocketlaunch #communications 🚀✨

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beyondearthsky.bsky.social @beyondearthsky.bsky.social · 5d

Integral, a European Space Agency's space observatory designed to study celestial gamma-ray sources was launched #OTD in 2002. Integral was the first space observatory that could simultaneously observe objects in gamma rays, X-rays, and visible light. The science mission ended on February 28, 2025.

Artist's impression of Integral – ESA's International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory.
Credit: ESA/D. Ducros

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NewsFromSpace @newsfromspace.bsky.social · 5d

UPI: NASA equipment blown off course lands on West Texas farm upi.com/3111760460339

Watch: NASA equipment blown off course lands on West Texas farm - UPI.com

A West Texas woman who spotted a large parachute in the sky discovered the object that landed on her family's farm was a piece of missing NASA equipment.

upi.com