1964day.year
Jerrie Mock completes the first around-the-world airplane flight by a woman. Her solo flight in the Spirit of Columbus, which took 29 1/2 days, took off and landed at the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio.
Aviation pioneer Jerrie Mock completes the first solo circumnavigation of the globe by a woman in 1964.
On April 17, 1964, American pilot Jerrie Mock landed at Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio, completing a solo flight around the world. Flying her single-engine aircraft, the Spirit of Columbus, she covered over 22,000 miles in 29½ days. Mock faced mechanical issues, unpredictable weather, and navigation challenges during her journey. Despite these obstacles, she maintained determination and skill to stay on course. Her accomplishment shattered gender barriers in aviation and inspired women worldwide. Newspapers celebrated her as 'The Flying Housewife' and hailed her achievement. Mock received the Federal Aviation Administration’s Outstanding Aviator Award for her feat. Her pioneering spirit remains a hallmark of human courage and innovation in flight.
1964
Jerrie Mock
Spirit of Columbus
Port Columbus International Airport
1970day.year
Apollo program: The damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
Apollo 13, damaged by an in-flight explosion, made a dramatic safe return to Earth on April 17, 1970.
Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970, with the aim of landing on the Moon.
Two days into the mission, an oxygen tank exploded, crippling the service module.
NASA engineers and the crew famously improvised life support solutions to conserve power and oxygen.
Using the lunar module as a 'lifeboat', the astronauts looped around the Moon and headed back.
The spacecraft splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean, turning a near-disaster into a triumph of human ingenuity.
1970
Apollo program
Apollo 13
Earth
1998day.year
Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-90, the final Spacelab mission.
Space Shuttle Columbia launched on STS-90, the final Spacelab mission, on April 17, 1998.
STS-90, known as Neurolab, was dedicated to studying the effects of microgravity on the nervous system.
The mission carried ten experiments and a crew of six scientists and astronauts.
Launched aboard Columbia, the mission spent 16 days conducting research in orbit.
Data collected helped advance medical knowledge related to neuroscience and human physiology.
As the last flight of NASA's Spacelab module, STS-90 marked the end of an era in microgravity science.
1998
Space Shuttle Columbia
STS-90
Spacelab
2014day.year
NASA's Kepler space telescope confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.
NASA's Kepler space telescope confirms the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.
On April 17, 2014, NASA announced that the Kepler space telescope had validated Kepler-186f, the first Earth-size exoplanet discovered in the habitable zone of its star. The planet orbits a red dwarf star about 500 light-years from Earth and lies within the 'Goldilocks zone' where liquid water could exist on its surface. Kepler-186f is slightly larger than Earth and represents a major milestone in the search for potentially habitable worlds. The discovery energized the scientific community and renewed interest in exoplanet research. Kepler's findings have since led to the identification of thousands of other candidate planets. This milestone demonstrated the power of space-based observatories to expand our understanding of the universe and the possibility of life beyond our solar system.
2014
NASA
Kepler space telescope
the first Earth-size planet
habitable zone