Science

America mourns its space heroes

The United States yesterday went into official mourning for the loss of the space shuttle Challenger and its crew of seven as the grim search for debris stretched over a 7,200 square-mile area of the Atlantic.

Alex Brummer·30 Jan

Challenger and what comes after

Space tragedies either unfold behind the impenetrable net of Soviet security or in the full, exhaustive glare of America's free media. The death of Challenger yesterday - and the death of its seven passengers - was all the more horrific for the instant spread of agonised faces and weeping relatives brought to you, coast to coast, by television.

29 Jan

Challenger disaster casts doubt on need for manned flights

January 28 2005: On this day the Challenger space shuttle exploded, killing all passengers. This is how the Guardian reported the events.

Harold Jackson·29 Jan

Spiking the cultural roots

Tourists fortunate enough to be permitted to visit the Flong settlements of San Serriffe during the summer solstice will be rewarded by the colourful spectacle of the Gallee sect stamping and shrieking in unison in the Dance of the Pied Slugs

Tim Radford·31 Mar

Weightlessness may be space killer

The outlook for manned space flights looks bleak as an explanation is awaited for the Russian cosmonaut tragedy. After a brief early morning announcement of the death of the three men returning after 24 days in space, Moscow remained silent yesterday.

Anthony Tucker, Science Correspondent·1 Jul

Apollo heads home after 4min. 'burn'

April 14 1970: On this day the Apollo 13 space ship suffered a mysterious explosion, putting the mission in jeopardy. This is how the Guardian reported the event.

15 Apr

The Moonwalkers

July 21 1969: Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the surface of the moon. Here is how the Guardian reported the news.

by Anthony Tucker·21 Jul

On the moon after perfect touchdown

20 July 1969: On this day the first man walked on the moon. This is how the Guardian reported the event.

Anthony Tucker, our Science Correspondent·21 Jul

Spaceship falls four and a half miles in landing failure

Russia's celebratory gesture in manned space flight ended in tragedy yesterday. After the most dangerous part of atmospheric re-entry had been completed, a parachute failure brought Soyuz-1 crashing to the ground from a height of four and a half miles. Colonel Vladimir Komarov, the only Russian to have undertaken two space flights, was killed instantly.

Anthony Tucker, Science Correspondent·25 Apr

US spacemen die as rocket catches fire

Cape Kennedy: Disaster during rehearsal for Apollo flight.

27 Jan

Anglo-US team shares Nobel Prize

From our Correspondent, Stockholm, October 18·19 Oct

Home and dry after three orbits

February 20 1962: US astronaut Colonel John Glenn circled the Earth three times in the space capsule Friendship 7. This is how the Guardian reported the events.

21 Feb

Space travel comes true – archive, 1957

November 3 1957: On this day the Russians launched a dog into space. This is how the Guardian reported the events

Our Scientific Correspondent·4 Nov

Einstein

Einstein is dead. To say that he was a genius is commonplace. To compare him with other great scientists is not a great help, for there are so few of the right stature. To assess the importance of his achievements is an impossible task.

19 Apr

The Eclipse Spectacle

Giggleswick, where the astronomer Royal's expedition was encamped, had the best view of yesterday morning's total eclipse. Watchers at the various points on the totality belt had strange variations of fortune, a mile or two sometimes making the difference between a good view and no view at all. The Welsh end of the totality belt had almost unrelieved bad luck, Southport was moderately fortunate, and at the Hartlepool end of the belt only Sunderland on the fringe was not disappointed.

30 Jun

The Watchers in the Sky

About six thousand feet up over the Ribble, near Preston, where lights could be seen at the time, we beheld the mystery of the eclipse. We beheld it without its full majesty, without Baily's beads, with only a silver, watery corona, and with no signs of stars or meteor in the moments of darkness.

30 Jun

With the Astronomer Royal

Sir Frank Dyson, the Astronomer Royal, has been singularly blessed in his choice of the site for the official British observations of the eclipse. From their camp on the grounds of Giggleswick School the scientists had a wonderful view of the flaming corona of the sun through the whole 23 seconds of its total eclipse, and when Sir Frank received the press correspondents in audience this morning, he was able to announce that the photograph of the corona taken with the giant camera had already been developed, and that the result was excellent. 'We have had extraordinary luck,' he observed, 'in getting one good day after fourteen bad ones. It was an exciting race between the sun and the clouds, wasn't it?'

Our Special Correspondent·30 Jun

'This will be the first English eclipse that has not struck terror into people'

Whether the sun's rise is properly visible tomorrow morning or whether there is only a gradual lightening of darkness, more people will be inspectors of the dawn in England than have ever before been engaged with that occupation on on a single day. ...

28 Jun

Einstein's first lecture in Britain

Professor Albert Einstein, of Berlin, delivered yesterday afternoon the Adamson lecture in the University of Manchester.

1 Oct

The tricolour flies for M Bleriot

From the archive: On this day in 1909 the Manchester Guardian reported that Louis Bleriot had accomplished the feat of flying across the English Channel in 'a heavier-than-air machine'

26 Jul