2012 Event Astronomers have identified the nearest planet outside of our Solar System, Alpha Centauri B, which circles its star much closer than Mercury orbits our Sun 2011 Event NASA scientists announce the discovery of a circumbinary planet - a planet the orbits two stars instead of one 1991 Event Compton Gamma Ray Observatory orbits Earth 1988 Event Soviet space shuttle makes unmanned maiden flight (2 orbits) 1969 Event Russia's Luna 15 impacts moon after 52 lunar orbits 1969 Event Apollo 9 launched for 151 Earth orbits (10 days) 1968 Event Apollo 7 (Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham) made 163 orbits in 260 hours 1966 Event Gemini 9 completes 45 orbits after rendezvous with "angry alligator" 1966 Event Luna 10 orbits Moon 1966 Event Gemini 8 launched with Armstrong and Scott, aborted after 6.5 orbits 1965 Event Gemini 4 completes 62 orbits 1963 Event Valery Bykovsky in Vostok 5 orbits earth 81 times in 5 days 1963 Event Gordon Cooper completes 22 orbits in Faith 7, ends U.S. Proj Mercury 1962 Event Scott Carpenter orbits Earth 3 times in U.S. Aurora 7 1961 Event Gherman S Titov, 2nd Russian in space aboard Vostok 2 (17 orbits) 1633 Event Galileo Galilei forced to recant Earth orbits Sun by Pope (but on Oct 31, 1992, Vatican admits it was wrong) 1571 Birthday Johann Kepler, born in Wurttemberg, Germany, astronomer, elliptical orbits
