CHRONOLOGY OF SPACE EXPLORATION
1991 - 1995

August 31, 1991 - Yohkoh - Japan/USA/England Solar Probe
Yohkoh spacecraft studied high-energy radiation from solar flares.

September 25, 1992 - Mars Observer - USA Mars Orbiter
Communication was lost with Mars Observer on August 21, 1993, just before it was to be inserted into orbit.

January 25, 1994 - Clementine - USA Lunar Orbiter
The official name for Clementine is " Deep Space Probe Science Experiment" (DSPSE). It was a Department of Defense program used to test new space technology. Clementine was a new design using lightweight structure and propellant systems. It spent 70 days (between February 6 and May 5, 1994) in lunar orbit. Its four cameras mapped the surface of the Moon at 125-250 meters/pixel resolution. Clementine also used a laser to gather altimeter data which will make it possible to generate the first lunar topographic map.

December 12, 1995 - SOHO - Europe/USA Solar Probe
The main scientific purpose of SOHO ( Solar and Helispheric Observatory) is to study the Sun's internal structure, by observing velocity oscillations and radiance variations, and to look at the physical processes that form and heat the Sun's corona and that give rise to the solar wind, using imaging and spectroscopic diagnosis of the plasma in the Sun's outer regions coupled with in-situ measurements of the solar wind. SOHO will be put into a "halo orbit" around the L1 Lagrange point -- the point 1.5 million kilometers (932,000 miles) away from us at which the gravitational pull of the Earth balances that of the Sun.


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