The InSight Mars lander, launched in May 2018, recorded the first marsquake April 6, 2019. A smaller tremor had been recorded in March but the signals were so small, its origin made it difficult to determine their source.
On May 2022, a marsquake of magnitude 5 was detected on May 4, 2022.
Marvel Studio's groundbreaking blockbuster Black Panther was nominated for twelve Critics' Choice Awards and took home three of the awards at the 24th annual ceremony January 13, 2019.
Black Panther won Best Production Design for Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart, Best Costume Design for Ruth E. Carter, and Best Visual Effects, beating Avengers: Infinity War.
Black Panther was nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Michael B. Jordan for his work as N'Jadaka/Erick "Killmonger" Stevens, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, Best Cinematography for Rachel Morrison, Best Hair and Makeup, Best Action Movie, Best Score for Ludwig Goransson, and Best Score for All the Stars.
Chandrayaan-2, launched July 22, 2019, is the second mission to the moon, developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The spacecraft launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre and reached lunar orbit on August 20, 2019.
The Vikram lunar lander with the Pragyan rover attempted to land on the lunar surface September 6, but the lander crashed due to a software error. The lunar orbiter continues to operate from orbit around the moon.
Chandrayaan-3 was launched in 2023 and successfully made a lunar landing.
Chandrayaan-2, Indian Space Research Oganisation (ISRO)'s second lunar mission, crashed onto the surface of the moon September 6, 2019. It doesn't seem that the exact cause of the crash has been determined but ISRO has reported it was a software glitch.
The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover were lost in the crash. The orbiter continues to operate and is expected to complete its seven-year mission.
Fortunately for the ISRO, their third lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the moon August 23, 2023.
Soyuz MS-15 crew (L-R): Hazza Ali Mansouri, Oleg Skripochka, Jessica Meir
Soyuz MS-15, launched September 25, 2019, carried three people to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Oleg Skripochka, Flight Engineer Jessica Meir, and Hazza Al Mansouri, the first person from the United Arab Emirates to go into space.
Skripochka and Meir participated in Expeditions 61 and 62, and returned to Earth in April 2020. Al Mansouri stayed on board for eight days and returned on Soyuz MS-12.
Andrew Morgan returned in April 2020 on Soyuz MS-15 after participating in Expeditions 60-62. He was in space for over 271 days.
FEDOR (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research) was a Russian humanoid robot, planned to be able to carry out rescue operations at the International Space Station. It was launched aboard Soyuz MS-14 on August 22, 2019. The spaceship docked successfully on August 27. IT conducted a set of tests successfully on August 30, and on September 6, it returned to earth in the Soyuz re-entry capsule. Russian scientists concluded that it could not fulfill its mission to replace humans on space walks. The project has been cancelled.
Soyuz MS-14, an unmanned spacecraft, was launched August 22, 2019 to the International Space Station. It was the first unpiloted mission of the Soyuz program to the ISS and the first Soyuz crew vessel without a crew in 33 years.
Its mission was to test a modification of the launch abort system. Its first attempt at docking with the ISS on August 24 was unsuccessful and cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin commanded it to back a safe distance away from the space station. They tried again, this time using a manual docking procedure and successfully docked with the ISS on August 27.
James Cooper was sworn in April 2019 as Oklahoma City's first openly gay city councilman. He had previously served on OKC's transportation board and campaigned to expand public transit. Mayor David Holt welcomed Cooper who was 37 at the time as bringing in "new energy".
Soyuz MS-12 crew (L-R): Nick Hague, Aleksey Ovchinin, Christina Koch
Mission patch
Soyuz MS-12, launched March 14, 2019, carried the crew of Expedition 59 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksey Ovhinin, Nick Hague and Christina Koch.
Ovchinin and Hague retunred to Earth in October 2019 with space participant Hazza Al Mansouri of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates.
Christina Koch returned to Earth in February 2020 after a record-breaking stay in space.
Ruth Carter, born April 10, 1960 in Springfield, Massachusetts, is the first African-American to win an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. She had been nominated twice before but her work on Black Panther is what got her the award in February 2019. She won numerous awards for her work on Black Panther, and more recently for her work on Dolemite Is My Name, starring Eddie Murphy.
The little rover that could, Opportunity, has reached the end of its record-setting mission. Launched in July 2003, Opportunity was meant to last only three months and travel only about 1000 meters, but it exceeded its life expectancy and went for almost 15 years. It traveled more than 28 miles. It made its way into Perseverance Valley, its final resting place.
It set a one-day Mars driving record by traveling 721 feet and returned more than 217,000 images. Opportunity got trapped in a sand ripple but NASA managed to free it by putting in reverse and gunning it.
Last year, a planet-wide dust storm passed over it. Before the storm, Opportunity signaled that its batteries were running low. Afterwards, NASA tried a thousand commands to restore contact but to no avail. Its last communication was received June 10.
British actor Clive Swift, best known and loved as the hen-pecked, beleaguered husband Richard to Hyacinth Bucket (Patricia Routledge) in Keeping Up Appearances, passed away yesterday February 1.
I've watched him over the past twenty+ years and always made me laugh. He will be missed.
"Lonesome" George, the last known member of the Hawaiian tree snail species has died, the the species is now extinct. He was raised in a breeding facility at the University of Hawaii in Manoa in the early 2000s. George died January 1, 2019.
Hawaiian tree snails feed on the "gunk" that grows on leaves, which reduces the abundance of fungi and that helps protect the host tree from diseases. Biologists think healthy snail populations could have helped prevent a new fungal pathogen that is currently wiping out native trees.
The reason for the snails' decline is an invasive species, the rosy wolfsnail, introduced to Hawaii to eat other the giant African snails in 1995. Unless this invasive species is eliminated, there will not be a safe place for the indigenous species.
Early this morning, China's Chang'e 4 landed on the far side of the moon, becoming the first spacecraft to touch down on the 'dark side'. The lander and rover were launched last month, a follow-up to Chang'e 3, China's very first lunar lander in 2013.
Chang'e 4 landed in the Aitken Basin, created by an ancient collision. The rover will measure the lunar surface temperature, measure chemical compositions of rocks and soils and study cosmic rays.
2019 has been designated the International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT2019), the 150th anniversary of Dmitry Mendeleev developing the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements. This is a partnership of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), European Association for Chemical and Molecular Science (EuCheMS), the International Council for Science (ICSU), International Astronomical Union (IAU), and the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IUHPS).
They plan to have celebrations all over the globe.
The little spacecraft that could (and is still going strong), New Horizons will make a flyby of Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) 2014 MU69, nicknamed Ultima Thule on January 1, 2019. It will be the farthest celestial body ever visited by a spacecraft.
New Horizons made an historic flyby of Pluto in July 2015 and NASA was searching for a KBO suitable for it to study. Ultima Thule was discovered using the Hubble Telescope in 2014 and chosen to be the next target.
Ultima Thule is an irregular shaped object, being two smaller bodies orbiting each other at close range, or a contact binary system (two bodies joined together). It will take 6 hours for signals to reach Earth from New Horizons.
It has been announced just earlier today that Def Leppard, Janet Jackson and Stevie Nicks are among the 2019 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Def Leppard and Stevie Nicks and Roxy Music (another inductee) were all voted in during their first year as nominees.
Stevie is already a member as part of Fleetwood Mac. Miss Jackson was voted in after her third time as a nominee.
Def Leppard received the most fan votes, over half a million!
The other inductees are the Cure, Radiohead, and the Zombies.
