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French explorer Jacques Cousteau dies

He was one of the co-inventors of the aqualung, which made SCUBA diving possible. Cousteau also developed the Conshelf series of manned underwater habitats, the Diving Saucer, a process of underwater television and numerous other platforms and specialized instruments of ocean science. He used famous research ship Calypso.

Russian cargo spacecraft collides with space station

Docked via remote control, unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft accidentally rammed into the Spektr science module of the MIR station. The collision resulted in a hole in the pressure vessel and damaged solar arrays beyond use. To salvage the station, which consisted of a core, a connecting node, and five science modules, crew members severed electrical and data connections between Spektr and the rest of the station and then sealed off the module. They saved the station but lost about half of their electrical power.

Space Shuttle Columbia is launched

Main mission objective was the deployment of Spacelab reusable laboratory. The crew completed 31 microgravity experiments in five basic areas: fluid dynamics, crystal growth, combustion science, biological science, and technology demonstration. The crystal growth experiment resulted in longest period of protein crystal growth in Space Shuttle program.

Anniversaries of the (in)famous