Astronomy and Space Exploration
- May 18 – Helen Sharman becomes the first British person in space, flying with the Soyuz TM-12 mission. As of 2011 she is the only British astronaut.
- October 29 – The Galileo probe becomes the first spacecraft to visit an asteroid (951 Gaspra).
- Asteroid 6859 Datemasamune is discovered by Masahiro Koishikawa.
- 11514 Tsunenaga is discovered.
- There are four lunar eclipses: three penumbral on January 30, July 26, and June 27, and one minor partial lunar eclipse on December 21.
- There are two solar eclipses, one annular eclipse on January 15, and a very long total eclipse on July 11, lasting 6 minutes and 53 seconds.
Read more about this topic: 1991 In Science
Famous quotes containing the words astronomy, space and/or exploration:
“Awareness of the stars and their light pervades the Koran, which reflects the brightness of the heavenly bodies in many verses. The blossoming of mathematics and astronomy was a natural consequence of this awareness. Understanding the cosmos and the movements of the stars means understanding the marvels created by Allah. There would be no persecuted Galileo in Islam, because Islam, unlike Christianity, did not force people to believe in a “fixed” heaven.”
—Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan sociologist. Islam and Democracy, ch. 9, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (Trans. 1992)
“The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical,
But the good ones I’ve seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.”
—Anonymous.
“Typography tended to alter language from a means of perception and exploration to a portable commodity.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)