* Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" made first and only flight (1947).

* Alabama woman was struck and bruised by a meteor (1955).

* Panic in Europe over the approach and possible major impact of a comet(1679).

* Sputnik 2 launched with a dog (Laika) as passenger (1957). To the left is a Russian drawing of the dog Laika. In the back- ground are the first three Sputniks.

* Launch by Soviets of a Venus probe designated Venera 14. Earlier, Venera 13, a sister craft was launched. Both are intended to land on Venus (1981).

* The search for a planet beyond Neptune was begun by David Todd at the U.S. Naval Observatory (1877).

* The first picture of a full side of Earth was taken from space (1967).

* Cal Rodgers became first to fly by air across the United States (1911).

(The following was written by Janet Ruff of Goddard Spaceflight Center and appeared in "Air and Space," Jan. - Feb. 1980. It is an excerpt from page 57 of "Of Wings and Things" by NASA Aerospace Education Specilists Norman O. Poff.)

FIRST MAN TO CROSS THE UNITED STATES BY AIRPLANE

Few men have met and conquered the obstacles that Calbraith Perry Rodgers faced in accepting the challenge of a coast-to-coast flight across the United States in 1911‹fewer than 8 years after the Wright brothers made the first successful flights in an airplane.

William Randolph Hearst, publisher of the Los Angeles "Examiner," offered a $50,000 prize to the first pilot to cross North America by air in 30 days. "Cal" Rodgers planned to compete for the prize by flying a Wright EX biplane. He received financial support for airplane parts, fuel, mechanics, a special railroad train, and other expenses from the J. Ogden Armour Company. In return for this financial support, Rodgers agreed to advertise the Armour Company's Vin Fiz grape soda drink. He painted the Vin Fiz name on the tail and wings of his airplane.

Rodgers took off from Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, NY, on September 17, 1911. Because of numerous delays, his transcontinental flight to Pasadena, California, took 49 days, too long to win the Hearst prize. Nevertheless, Rodgers did become the first to fly across the continent, reaching Pasadena on November 5, 1911. Today the restored "Vin Fiz" hangs in the Pioneers of Flight gallery at the National Air and Space Museum.

Flight Notes: (Also quoted from "Of Wings & Things," p. 58.)

Well-wishers cheered Cal Rodgers as he lifted off from a grassy field in Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, on September 17, 1911.

Rodgers jammed newspapers under his vest for extra warmth. Cal Rodgers enjoyed a seemingly ever-present cigar between flights while mechanics made last-minute adjustments to the "Vin Fiz."

Miraculously surviving several crashes, like one at Huntingdon, Indiana, Rodgers broke both legs and ankle, and a collarbone, cracked several ribs, and was thrown from the "Vin Fiz" 15 times during the cross-country flight.

Cal Rodgers felt his transcontinental trip would not be complete until he actually flew to the Pacific Ocean. On December 10, 1911, he taxied the "Vin Fiz" into the ocean off Long Beach, California with his crutches lashed to the top of his lower left wing; Rodgers was still recovering from a recent crash.

* Lunar Orbiter 2 was launched atop an Atlas-Agena D and photographed the moon to determine potential Apollo landing sites (1966).

* British airman John Alcock born (1892). Alcock and Brown were the first to fly across the Atlantic nonstop in 1919. Their plane was a Vickers Vimy.

* A "Bazooka"-like rocket was fired by Goddard in a demonstration of solid- fuel rockets in the city of Aberdeen, Maryland (1919). Goddard's rocket used a tube for launching. Perhaps, Jules Verne's rocket cannon (pictured at left) was an inspiration for Goddard's tube launcher.

* Astronaut Anna Fisher became the first mother to fly in space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger (1984).

* Norman Rockwell, illustrator, died (1978). Rockwell's paintings included space program themes.

* First flight of the Saturn 5 unmanned rocket on the Apollo 4 mission (1967). (Click on Saturn 5 button above for more information.) The Saturn 5's F-1 engine with its 1.5 million pounds of thrust is the most powerful single liquid propellant rocket engine ever produced.

* Zond 6 was launched for a lunar flight which circled the Moon and returned to the Soviet Union, using a skipping technique. The craft orbited within1,500 miles (2418 km.) of the Moon and returned (1968).

* Soviets launched Luna 17 with the first remote- controlled moon rover (1970).