Space Exploration
- January 15 - The Stardust spacecraft successfully completes its primary mission of returning samples of cometary and interstellar dust to Earth. Its sample return capsule touches down safely inside its intended landing area in Utah, close to the Army Dugway Proving Ground.
- January 19 - The NASA spacecraft New Horizons launches successfully from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and leaves Earth's orbit shortly afterwards on its journey to Pluto
- February 2 - NASA's public affairs office is accused of censoring the comments by James Hansen of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.
- March 24 - The maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket ends in failure.
- July 12 - The launch of the first private experimental space habitat, Genesis I.
- September 12 - The construction of the International Space Station is continued for the first time after a hiatus of almost four years.
Read more about this topic: 2006 In Science
Famous quotes containing the words space and/or exploration:
“The peculiarity of sculpture is that it creates a three-dimensional object in space. Painting may strive to give on a two-dimensional plane, the illusion of space, but it is space itself as a perceived quantity that becomes the peculiar concern of the sculptor. We may say that for the painter space is a luxury; for the sculptor it is a necessity.”
—Sir Herbert Read (1893–1968)
“The future author is one who discovers that language, the exploration and manipulation of the resources of language, will serve him in winning through to his way.”
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)