Jun 19 1989
From The Space Library
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, announced that the Voyager 2 space probe had discovered a giant weather system on Neptune approximately 6,200 miles wide and comparable to Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Voyager 2 made the discovery while at a distance of 58.98 million miles from Neptune, currently the most distant planet from the sun. Voyager 2 was scheduled to perform an extremely close flyby of Neptune on August 24, when it would approach to within 3,000 miles of the planet's cloud tops. This would be the fourth and final planetary flyby by Voyager 2, which was launched in 1977 and had flown by Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. (Voyager Bulletin: Mission Status Report No. 91, Aug 17/89; AP, June 16/89; W Post, Jun 21/89)
The first major private-sector launch of a satellite was delayed by several months as a result of a launch pad accident that damaged the satellite. A communications satellite owned by the government of India was seriously damaged when it was accidentally struck by a lift hook connected to a crane. The satellite was being prepared for launch at a McDonnell Douglas facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida. (W Post, Jun 27/89; 0 Sent Star, Jun 21/89)
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