This Week in Aviation History: First Trans-Atlantic Balloon Flight and the Death of Charles Lindbergh
Filed in archive Aviation History by Terah Shelton on August 21, 2007
This week in aviation history
features the first trans-Atlantic balloon flight and the death of Charles Lindbergh.August 17, 1978: The first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight landed outside of Paris.
Three Albuquerque, N.M., men, Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman, and Maxie Anderson, completed the crossing (Aug. 16.; landed, Aug. 17) in their helium-filled balloon, Double Eagle II.
August 19, 1960: American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was convicted of espionage in Moscow.
U-2 incident, in U.S. and Soviet history, the events following the Soviet downing of an American U-2 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft over Soviet territory on May 1, 1960. The incident led to the collapse of a proposed summit conference between the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France in Paris. President Eisenhower's initial claim that he had no knowledge of such flights was difficult to maintain when the Soviets produced the pilot, Francis Gary Powers, who had survived the crash. Eisenhower met Khrushchev's demand for an apology by suspending U-2 flights, but the Soviet Premier was not satisfied and the summit was canceled. Powers was sentenced to ten years in prison, but was released in 1962 in exchange for convicted Soviet spy Rudolph Abel.
August, 20, 1977: The space probe Voyager 2 was launched. It continues to explore to this day, and is now more than 7 billion miles from Earth.
Destination: Jupiter and Saturn. Launched: Aug. 20 (Voyager 2) and Sept. 5 (Voyager 1), 1977. Mission: To explore Jupiter and the other outer planets. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 passed Jupiter in 1979 and sent back surprising color TV images of that planet and its moons. Voyager 1 passed Saturn in Nov. 1980. Voyager 2 passed Saturn in Aug. 1981 and Uranus in Jan. 1986. Voyager 2 encountered Neptune in 1989 and discovered four rings around the planet, six new moons, a giant spot, and evidence of volcanic-like activity on its largest moon, Triton. Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft ever to have visited the worlds of Neptune and Uranus.
August 25, 2003: NASA launched the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope.
August 26, 1974: Aviator Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo, nonstop across the Atlantic, died.
Charles Lindbergh was an American aviator who made the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight. He left the Univ. of Wisconsin (1922) to study flying. After service as a flying cadet, he was commissioned (1925) in the air force reserve and later became an airmail pilot. On May 21, 1927, Lindbergh astounded the world by landing in Paris after a solo flight from New York across the Atlantic in The Spirit of St. Louis. Upon his return to the United States he received an unprecedented welcome, was promoted to colonel, and made a nationwide tour to foster popular interest in aviation.
August 27, 1962: The U.S. launched the Mariner II space probe.
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