Shuttle-Centaur was a version of the Centaur upper stage rocket that
could be carried aloft inside the Space Shuttle and used to launch
satellites into high Earth orbits or probes into deep space. Two
variants were produced: Centaur G-Prime, to launch robotic probes to
Jupiter; and Centaur G, for use with US Department of Defense Milstar
satellites and the Magellan Venus probe. Its power allowed for heavier
deep space probes, prolonging the operational life of the spacecraft.
The US Air Force agreed to pay half the cost of Centaur G. The Space
Shuttles Challenger and Atlantis were modified to carry the Centaur.
After the Challenger accident, NASA concluded it was too risky to fly
the Centaur on the Shuttle, just months before its first scheduled
flight. The Galileo and Ulysses probes were ultimately launched using
the less powerful Inertial Upper Stage. A variant of the Centaur G-Prime
was mated with the Titan rocket to produce the Titan IV, which placed
16 military satellites in orbit.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle-Centaur>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
American troops defeated the Northwestern Confederacy, a Native
American alliance, at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the decisive battle
of the Northwest Indian War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fallen_Timbers>
1905:
Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren, and others founded the Tongmenghui,
a secret society dedicated to overthrowing the Qing dynasty of China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongmenghui>
1971:
The Stanford prison experiment, one of the most infamous
psychological studies, was ended after six days, when the simulation
became too abusive.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment>
1989:
After colliding with a dredger on the River Thames in London,
the pleasure steamer Marchioness sank in just thirty seconds, killing 51
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marchioness_disaster>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
gamin:
(dated, also attributively) A homeless boy; a male street urchin; also
(more generally), a cheeky, street-smart boy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gamin>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Memories and possibilities are ever more hideous than realities.
--H. P. Lovecraft
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft>
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