Astronomy and Space Exploration
- January 31 - Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to the moon.
- February 5 - Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
- February 9 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned moon landing.
- May 19 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
- May 30 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
- June 30 - The crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply leaks out through a faulty valve during re-entry preparations, the only human deaths to occur outside Earth's atmosphere.
- July 26 - Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15. On July 31 the Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover a day after landing on the surface.
- November 13 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 enters Mars orbit.
Read more about this topic: 1971 In Science
Famous quotes containing the words space and/or exploration:
“A set of ideas, a point of view, a frame of reference is in space only an intersection, the state of affairs at some given moment in the consciousness of one man or many men, but in time it has evolving form, virtually organic extension. In time ideas can be thought of as sprouting, growing, maturing, bringing forth seed and dying like plants.”
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