January 8 


8 January 1942

Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking, an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author, was born on January 8, 1942. One of the most influential scientists of our times, he explored the origins and fate of the Universe. Hawking's scientific works included a collaboration with Roger Penrose (born 1931) on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation.

   Hawking suffered from motor neurone disease and, confined to a wheelchair, after the loss of his speech, communicated through a voice synthesizer. He was a successful science popularizer through lectures, television and other public appearances, and published a bestselling popular book on cosmology "A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes" (1988). He died on March 14, 2018.


"Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious."

– Stephen Hawking


© 2026, Andrew Mirecki



8 January 1973

Model of Lunokchod 2 rover

Luna 21 mission with Lunokhod 2 lunar rover was launched from Baikonur on January 8. 1973. The primary objectives of the mission were to collect images of the lunar surface, examine ambient light levels to determine the feasibility of astronomical observations from the Moon, perform laser ranging experiments from Earth, observe solar X-rays, measure local magnetic fields, and study mechanical properties of the lunar surface material. The spacecraft successfully landed in Le Monnier crater on January 15, 1973. Communications with the rover ceased on May 10, 1973.

The rover stood 135 cm high and had a mass of 840 kg. It was about 170 cm long and 160 cm wide and had 8 wheels, each with an independent suspension, motor and brake. The rover had two speeds, ~1 km/hr and ~2 km/hr. Lunokhod 2 was equipped with three TV cameras, one mounted high on the rover for navigation, which could return high resolution images at different rates (3.2, 5.7, 10.9 or 21.1 seconds per frame). These images were used by a five-man team of controllers on Earth who sent driving commands to the rover in real time. Power was supplied by a solar panel on the inside of a round hinged lid which covered the instrument bay, which would charge the batteries when opened. A polonium-210 isotopic heat source was used to keep the rover warm during the lunar nights. There were 4 panoramic cameras mounted on the rover. Scientific instruments included a soil mechanics tester, solar X-ray experiment, an astrophotometer to measure visible and UV light levels, a magnetometer deployed in front of the rover on the end of a 1.5 m boom, a radiometer, a photodetector (Rubin-1) for laser detection experiments, and a French-supplied laser corner-reflector. The launch mass was 4850 kg. The lander and rover together weighed 1814 kg.


© 2026, Andrew Mirecki


8 January 1994

Valeri Polyakov

On January 8, 1994, Russian cosmonaut Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov (Russian: Валерий Владимирович Поляков) (1942–2022) was launched aboard Soyuz TM-18 from Baikonur on a long-duration mission to the Mir space station. He returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-20 on March 22, 1995, after a record flight of 437 days, 17 hours and 58 minutes. It is still the longest continuous human stay in space.

Launch of Soyuz TM-18 spacecraft. Credit: Science Photo Library/ESA/ITAR-TASS

Polyakov conducting medical experiments at the Mir station, and after his return to Earth


© 2026, Andrew Mirecki


Komentarze

Prześlij komentarz

Popularne posty z tego bloga

Obraz
January 1    1 January 1801 A view of Ceres in natural colour, pictured by the Dawn spacecraft. Images were acquired by Dawn at 04:13 UT May 4, 2015, at a distance of 13,641 km. At the time, Dawn was over Ceres' northern hemisphere. The prominent, bright crater at right is Haulani. The smaller bright spot to its left is exposed on the floor of Oxo. Ejecta from these impacts appears to have exposed high albedo material similar to deposits found on the floor of Occator Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Justin Cowart On January 1, 1801, Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi (1746–1826)  from the observatory in Palermo, Sicily, discovered the first known asteroid, a dwarf planet (1) Ceres. Originally considered a planet, it was reclassified as an asteroid in the 1850s after the discovery of dozens of other objects in similar orbits. In 2006, it was reclassified again as a dwarf planet. ...
Czytaj więcej
Obraz
  January 19  19 January 2006 Artist's concept of New Horizons. Credit: JHUAPL/SwRI New Horizons, the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet Pluto, was launched from Cape Canaveral at 19:00 UT on January 19, 2006, on an Atlas V 551 booster with a Star 48B third stage directly into an interplanetary trajectory. New Horizons flew by Jupiter in February 2007, Pluto on July 14, 2015, and the Kuiper belt object (486958) Arrokoth on January 1, 2019. It is the fifth space probe to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System.     The primary objectives of the mission are to characterize the global geology and morphology and map the surface composition of Pluto and Charon and characterize the neutral atmosphere of Pluto and its escape rate. Other objectives include studying the time variability of Pluto's surface and atmosphere, imaging Pluto and Charon in stereo, mapping the terminators and composition...
Czytaj więcej