Donald Williams, Space Shuttle astronaut, born 1942

Donald Williams, born February 13, 1942, was a veteran of two space shuttle flights.  He earned his Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering and received a commission through the Naval ROTC both from Purdue University.

His first flight was on Discovery (STS-51-D) as pilot in April 1985.  During the mission, he became the first person to juggle in microgravity!

His second and final flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-34) as commander in October 1989. The Galileo spacecraft to Jupiter was deployed during this mission.

Williams passed away in February 2016.

Galileo spacecraft performs first asteroid flyby of 951 Gaspra, 1991

The Galileo spacecraft, launched from Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-34) October 18, 1989, made the first flyby of an asteroid, 951 Gaspra, October 29, 1991.  After being launched, it made flybys of Earth and Venus to gather speed to make its journey to the asteroid belt.

Galileo revealed Gaspra to be a cratered, elongated body, measuring 11.8 x 7.5 x 6.8 miles.

Galileo probe, launched from Atlantis, 1989

The Galileo probe to Jupiter wa launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis, October 18, 1989, a mere 6 hours after take-off.  The STS-34 mission crew consisted of Commander Donald Williams, Pilot Michael McCulley, Shannon Lucid(!), Franklin Chang-Diaz (remember him?) and Ellen Baker.

Galileo became the first spacecraft to orbit and fly into the atmosphere of an outer planet.

Ellen Baker, a medical doctor, studied the effectiveness of anti-motion sickness medication in space.  I'm sure some of those early cosmonauts wished they had some of that.

The wake-up calls included Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Centerfield by John Fogerty, Fly Like an Eagle by the Steve Miller Band and the OU Fight Song (Shannon!).

The original date of the launch was scheduled for October 12, which was the first day of the optimum window to launch a spacecraft directly to Jupiter, but they had to replace a faulty main engine controller on Engine No. 2.  The date was re-set to October 17, but the crew wanted to get Billy Joel's new album Storm Front, which was released that day, so they took off on October 18.

(Not really)

Galileo spacecraft discovers asteroid Ida's moon Dactyl 1993

Dactyl 

Asteroid Ida and her moon Dactyl

On August 28, 1993, Galileo spacecraft snapped this photo of the asteroid Ida and captured an image that helped NASA scientists discover her moon, Dactyl. The picture was taken about 14 minutes before Galileo made its closest approach to Ida on its way to Jupiter.

Ida was discovered by Johann Palisa in September 1884.  Dactyl, named for the creatures that inhabited Mount Ida in Greek mythology, is about 90 km from Ida.  It measures about 1.6km x 1.4km x 1.2km.