The
International Cometary Explorer, a 1978 NASA solar probe that was repurposed for a mission to explore
comets, approaches
Earth for the first time in decades. On May 29, contact was made with the spacecraft in an attempt to repurpose it for a new mission. However, in July, thrusters failed to complete the desired orbit maneuvers, though plans were made for other possible scientific data collection. Ultimately, though, contact was lost on September 16 and it is unknown if it can be brought back to life. Should it ever be returned to Earth intact, it has already been donated to the
Smithsonian Institution. [2]
August 25 –
NASA's
New Horizons spacecraft crosses the orbit of
Neptune after travelling for over eight years. New Horizons is scheduled to reach its mission target,
Pluto, in 2015. Neptune is the fifth planetary orbit the spacecraft has crossed.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
The
International Cometary Explorer, a 1978 NASA solar probe that was repurposed for a mission to explore
comets, approaches
Earth for the first time in decades. On May 29, contact was made with the spacecraft in an attempt to repurpose it for a new mission. However, in July, thrusters failed to complete the desired orbit maneuvers, though plans were made for other possible scientific data collection. Ultimately, though, contact was lost on September 16 and it is unknown if it can be brought back to life. Should it ever be returned to Earth intact, it has already been donated to the
Smithsonian Institution. [2]
August 25 –
NASA's
New Horizons spacecraft crosses the orbit of
Neptune after travelling for over eight years. New Horizons is scheduled to reach its mission target,
Pluto, in 2015. Neptune is the fifth planetary orbit the spacecraft has crossed.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).