On This Day in Space! Dec. 9, 2006: 1st Swedish astronaut launches to the space station

On Nov. 10, 2013, Europe’s GOCE satellite fell to Earth. GOCE is short for Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer. Its mission was to map Earth’s gravitational field. GOCE did this for four years. Then it ran out of fuel.   Controllers weren’t sure where GOCE would fall back to Earth or linger in … Read more