On this day in December

Chang'e 5 Mission

Landed near Mons Rümker in Oceanus Procellarum.

SOHO Mission

SOHO launched on an Atlas II rocket.

A shower of stones over Strathmore Fall

Several stones fall across the Strathmore valley in Perthshire and Angus, the largest meteorite fall recorded in Scotland.

The Kaidun meteorite falls in Yemen Fall

A small stone that fell on a military base in Yemen in 1980 and turned out to be a jigsaw of many different worlds.

Hayabusa2 Mission

Hayabusa2 launched on an H-IIA rocket.

OSIRIS-REx reaches Bennu Mission

NASA's OSIRIS-REx arrives at the asteroid Bennu, finding a rugged surface covered in boulders and even throwing out small pebbles into space.

OSIRIS-REx · Dante Lauretta

Comet Blanpain Comets and showers

A Phoenicid meteor storm, from the remains of Comet Blanpain, was seen from Japan.

Ryugu samples land in Australia Mission

Hayabusa2's capsule lands in the South Australian desert with about 5.4 grams of asteroid. The samples are like CI chondrites, but untouched by Earth's air and water.

Hayabusa2

Chang'e 5 Mission

The ascent stage docked with the orbiter in lunar orbit.

Apollo 17 Mission

Apollo 17 launched, the only Apollo night launch.

Galileo Mission

Went into orbit around Jupiter.

Chang'e 4 Mission

Chang'e 4 launched on a Long March 3B rocket.

Comet Borisov Comets and showers

Comet Borisov passed closest to the Sun.

Apollo 17 Mission

Cernan and Schmitt landed in the Taurus–Littrow valley.

The Wold Cottage stone lands in Yorkshire Fall

A stone of about 25 kilograms buries itself in a field at Wold Cottage, near Wold Newton, only metres from a farm worker. The landowner, Edward Topham, exhibits it in London and later builds a monument on the spot.

In the timeline · Edward Topham · John Shipley

Chang'e 2 Mission

Flew past the asteroid 4179 Toutatis.

Lucy Mission

Second gravity-assist flyby of Earth.

Weston: the first recorded American fall Fall

Stones fall on farms around Weston, Connecticut, after a fireball and explosions. Yale's Benjamin Silliman and James Kingsley investigate within days and publish a careful report.

In the timeline · Benjamin Silliman

Apollo 17 Mission

The last people to walk on the Moon left the surface.

NEOWISE Mission

WISE launched on a Delta II rocket.

Vega 1 and 2 Mission

Vega 1 launched.

Comet Wirtanen Comets and showers

Comet Wirtanen passed about 11.6 million km from Earth.

Chang'e 5 returns Moon rock Mission

China's Chang'e 5 brings back about 1.7 kilograms of lunar rock and soil, including volcanic rock about 2 billion years old, younger than any Apollo sample.

Chang'e 5

Deep Space 1 Mission

The ion engine was switched off and the mission ended.

A shower of stones falls at Benares Fall

Villagers near Benares, now Varanasi, in India see a fireball and collect fallen stones. Samples sent to London are among those Edward Howard analyses in 1802.

Edward Howard

Comet Tempel–Tuttle Comets and showers

Wilhelm Tempel discovered the comet now called Tempel–Tuttle.

Apollo 17 Mission

The crew splashed down with 110.5 kg of samples.

Comet Giacobini–Zinner Comets and showers

Michel Giacobini discovered the comet now called Giacobini–Zinner.

Vega 1 and 2 Mission

Vega 2 launched.

International Cometary Explorer Mission

A final close pass of the Moon sent it towards comet Giacobini–Zinner; it was renamed ICE.

NEAR Shoemaker Mission

Flew past Eros after a failed engine burn delayed its arrival.

Barwell: Britain's biggest meteorite shower Fall

On Christmas Eve, stones fall across the village of Barwell in Leicestershire. About 46 kilograms are recovered, the largest total mass of any British fall.

In the timeline

Halley's Comet Comets and showers

Johann Palitzsch recovered Halley's Comet, proving Halley's prediction of its return.

Mars Express Mission

Entered orbit around Mars; Beagle 2 was lost on landing.

ALH 84001 is found Find

On the ice of the Allan Hills, Roberta Score spots a greenish stone of about 1.9 kilograms. It is later shown to be a 4-billion-year-old rock from Mars.

In the timeline · Roberta Score

Comet Borrelly Comets and showers

Alphonse Borrelly discovered Comet Borrelly.

Murrili is pulled from a salt lake Find

The Desert Fireball Network team led by Philip Bland finds a 1.7-kilogram meteorite in the mud of Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, a month after cameras caught its fireball.

Philip Bland

OSIRIS-REx Mission

Entered orbit around Bennu, the smallest body ever orbited by a spacecraft.