Howardites
On this day

On this day in August

25 dates to remember in August: meteorites that fell, discoveries, space missions, comets and the birthdays of the people who built the science.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

6 7 8 9 10 12 13 14 15 18 20 22 25 26 27 28 30

6 August

  1. 2012

    Curiosity Mission

    Landed in Gale crater using a sky crane.

  2. 2014

    Rosetta and Philae Mission

    Arrived at comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

    Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

7 August

  1. 1971

    Apollo 15 Mission

    The crew splashed down with 77.3 kg of samples.

  2. 1996

    Elst–Pizarro, the first main-belt comet Comets and showers

    Eric Elst and Guido Pizarro saw a tail on an asteroid, revealing the first main-belt comet.

  3. 2006

    Comet McNaught Comets and showers

    Robert McNaught discovered the Great Comet of 2007.

8 August

  1. 1779

    Benjamin Silliman is born Born

    The Yale chemist who investigated the 1807 Weston fall in Connecticut, the first recorded meteorite fall in the United States.

  2. 2001

    Genesis Mission

    Genesis launched on a Delta II rocket.

  3. 2024

    NEOWISE Mission

    The survey ended.

9 August

  1. 1976

    Luna 24 Mission

    Luna 24 launched.

10 August

  1. 1972

    A fireball skips off the atmosphere History

    A large meteoroid grazes the upper atmosphere over the western United States and Canada in daylight, filmed by tourists, and passes back out into space.

12 August

  1. 1978

    International Cometary Explorer Mission

    Launched as ISEE-3 to study the solar wind.

13 August

  1. 2015

    Rosetta and Philae Mission

    The comet passed closest to the Sun, with Rosetta watching.

14 August

  1. 1992

    Mbale: a shower of stones in Uganda Fall

    Stones fall on the town of Mbale, damaging roofs. A small piece strikes a boy after being slowed by a banana tree, without harming him.

    In the timeline

15 August

  1. 2002

    CONTOUR Mission

    The spacecraft was lost during the engine burn to leave Earth orbit.

18 August

  1. 1976

    Luna 24 Mission

    Landed in Mare Crisium and drilled about 2 m deep.

  2. 1985

    Sakigake and Suisei Mission

    Suisei launched.

20 August

  1. 1921

    Ursula Marvin is born Born

    The Smithsonian geologist who studied Moon rocks and meteorites, searched the Antarctic ice for ANSMET and wrote the history of meteoritics.

  2. 1975

    Viking 1 and 2 Mission

    Viking 1 launched.

22 August

  1. 1976

    Luna 24 Mission

    The capsule landed in Siberia with 170 g of core.

25 August

  1. 1865

    The Shergotty meteorite falls in India Fall

    The 1865 fall in India that gave its name to the most common family of Martian meteorites.

26 August

  1. 1743

    Antoine Lavoisier is born Born

    The founder of modern chemistry, who was among the French academicians who decided that a stone seen to fall in 1768 was an ordinary rock struck by lightning.

27 August

  1. 2021

    Comet Tuttle Comets and showers

    Comet Tuttle passed closest to the Sun.

28 August

  1. 1993

    Galileo Mission

    Flyby of 243 Ida, which turned out to have a moon, Dactyl.

  2. 2009

    Chandrayaan-1 Mission

    Contact with the orbiter was lost.

30 August

  1. 2019

    Comet Borisov Comets and showers

    Gennady Borisov discovered the first known interstellar comet.