UPCOMING IMPORTANT CALENDAR DATES

Attention Docents, Teachers, Educators: As you know, I keep track of the anniversary dates for milestone events in aviation and Space exploration, along with dates for notable events and people, to help engage learner interest with familiar connections. It can be worthwhile to look ahead to see keys dates in 2025 that you may wish to use, or avoid, when planning educational programs, class activities, or other outreach interactions. Having info you don’t need is better than needing info you don’t have!

2026 ANNIVERSARY-RELATED PROGRAMMING OPPORTUNITIES! Round-number anniversaries/birthdays, etc. for 2026 can be found in the Archive: Other Stuff section of the website. Such dates likely attract media and other attention, and can be used in aviation, astronomy, and Space exploration programming to engage audiences.

Upcoming Round-Number Calendar Anniversaries

April 5 is the 35^th anniversary of the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, which successfully carried the Compton Gamma Ray Telescope to orbit. CGRT was the second of the four of NASA’s Great Observatories of that time (the others were the Hubble Space Telescope (1990), the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (1999). and the Spitzer Space Telescope). Alas, it was de-orbited in 2000 after a guidance gyroscope failed. Spitzer (2023) was removed from service on January 30, 2020; the HST and Chandra are still in operation. 

April 7 is the 25^th anniversary of the launch of the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, still fully operational in Mars Orbit. Its name is a homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey, IMHO still the greatest Space-related movie of all time. Not only is it still making good observations of the martian surface, it also serves as a communications relay for other spacecraft.

April 12gives us the best date for public programming this month. It is the 65^th anniversary of the launch of the first human in Space, Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1. It is also the 45^th anniversary of the launch of Columbia, the first Space Shuttle, STS-1. Imagine all that happened in Space exploration over the two decades between those launches!

April 16 is the 80^th anniversary of the first missile launch, a captured German V-2, at the White Sands Missile Range. Many more launches would follow! The WSMR is located near White Sands National Park, and is also the home of the Trinity Site.