Here are significant technology-related events that occurred on May 30th:
1. On May 30, 1971, NASA launched Mariner 9, which would become the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Mars. It successfully mapped 70% of the Martian surface, providing crucial images and data that transformed our understanding of the Red Planet.
2. NASA’s Surveyor 1 was launched on May 30, 1966, and went on to become the first American spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. This mission demonstrated the feasibility of lunar soft landings and returned thousands of images of the lunar surface, vital for the Apollo program.
3. The convention formally establishing the European Space Agency (ESA) was signed on May 30, 1975, in Paris. This act created the intergovernmental organization dedicated to the exploration of space, pooling the resources and expertise of member states.
4. On May 30, 2020, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission launched, carrying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station. This was the first crewed orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since the final Space Shuttle mission in 2011, and the first ever operated by a private company.