This Week in Aviation History: Hale-Bopp & The First Spacewalk

Filed in archive Aviation History on March 29, 2008

This month is aviation history features the discovery of Pluto, the first nonstop hot-air balloon around the world, and the death of Sr. Isaac Newton.

March 1, 1932 - The 20-month-old son of Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped.

March 13, 1930 - Clyde W. Tombaugh announced the discovery of the planet Pluto.

March 15, 2004 - Scientists reported the discovery of Sedna, the most distant object in the solar system.

March 16, 1926 - The first liquid-fuel rocket was successfully launched by Prof. Robert Goddard at Auburn, Massachusetts. The rocket traveled 184 feet in 2.5 seconds.

March 18, 1965 - Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov made the first spacewalk.

March 20, 1999 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first to fly a hot-air balloon nonstop around the world.

March 20, 1727 - English physicist/astronomer Sir Isaac Newton died in London at age 84.

March 22, 1997 - Comet Hale-Bopp made its closest approach to Earth in the skies over the northern hemisphere. The comet's next pass is predicted for the year 4397.

March 23, 2001 - Russia's Mir space station ended its 15-year orbit of the Earth, splashing down in the South Pacific.

March 27, 1977 - Pan American and KLM Boeing 747s collided on a runway in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands. The 542 people killed is the highest ever for an aviation disaster.

Thanks Infoplease!