Gemini 7's Frank Borman & Jim Lovell, & BUps Ed White & Mike Collins, gave a preflight news conference, OTD 1965, at MSC. A rendezvous was planned with Gemini 6 on FD8, but there would be no EVA. Lessons learned from Gemini 5 led to an emphasis on stowage reviews during training

25 years ago today, on 2 November 2000, the first 3-person ISS expedition crew, aboard Soyuz TM-31, docked at Zvezda & entered the space station to begin their four-month residency & a permanent presence in space. Today, on ISS, EO-73 will hand over to EO-74 in December

The five-person STS-129 crew participated in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) OTD 2009. The dress rehearsal was conducted in Atlantis on Pad 39A at KSC, part of the final pre-mission training activities before launch, which occurred two weeks later (16 November)

Apollo 12s lunar surface operations would be monitored by a Westinghouse colour TV camera, it was announced OTD 1969. Unfortunately during surface set up on 19 Nov (EVA 1) it was inadvertently pointed directly into the Sun, destroying the tube, terminating any further TV coverage

Rocketdyne are awarded an $8.4M contract OTD 1963 to extend the duration of the (Saturn) J-2 LH engine from 250 sec to 500 sec. A single J-2 was flown on the upper stage of the Saturn 1B & the third stage of the Saturn 5, & five J-2s were used on each of the Saturn 5's 2nd stage.

ESA's Venus Express (VEX) was launched on a mission to observe Venus from polar orbit OTD 2005. Entering orbit in April 2006, its 7 instruments were initially scheduled to study the planet for 2 years, but this was extended four times to over 9 years. [All images courtesy ESA]

During a preflight crew press conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center, OTD 1972, Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan announced the callsigns for their spacecraft. The Command and Service Module (CSM #114) would be named "America", and the Lunar Module (LM #12) "Challenger."

The final Gemini mission, Gemini 12, left Pad 19 at the Cape OTD 1966. The legacy of the Gemini series is the initiation of routine spaceflight techniques still used internationally to this day & beyond - rendezvous, docking & prox ops, EVA & exploring extended duration flight.

The USAF announced the first group of 8 MOL pilot astronauts OTD 1965. Michael Adams, Albert Crews, Richard Lawyer, Lachlan Macleay, Francis Neubeck, and James Taylor were all from the USAF, and were joined by John Finley & Richard Truly from the USN.

Remembering Gennady Dolgopolov, who would have turned 90 OTD. Selected in 1966 (civilian engineers), he completed little training & was stood down in May 1967 due to medical problems, returning to NPO Energiya. Dolgopolov died on 13 Nov 2008,the day before he would have turned 73

Atlantis launched on OTD 1990, its 7th & the program's 37th mission (this was my first and, so far, only personally witnessed launch. At night, what a memorable experience it was). STS-38 flew a 4+d classified mission to deploy the recon satellite AFP-658 (Magnum-3/USA-67).

Two days into their 163+day mission, OTD 2011, the 3 members of ISS EO29/30 (Shkaplerov, Ivanishin & Burbank) docked their Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft at the zenith port on MRM-2 Poisk. This was the final flight of the TMA variant, now replaced by the modernised TMA-M spacecraft.

Soyuz MS-03 (#733) launched from Baikonur OTD 2016. Onboard were ISS-EO50/51 crewmembers Oleg Novitsky, Peggy Whitson & Thomas Pesquet. At age 56, Whitson, on her 3rd flight, became the oldest woman to fly into space. MS-3 docked to ISS at Rassvet's nadir port two days later.

During STS-126 EVA-1 OTD 2008, the team transferred an empty nitrogen tank assembly from ESP-3 to the Endeavour's cargo bay; a new flex hose rotary coupler to ESP-3, removed an insulation cover on the Kibō EF berthing mechanism and began cleaning & lubricating the SARJ joints.

Rockwell announced OTD 1975 that, to save costs, the Shuttle orbiter being constructed for the ALT programme (OV-101) might travel on a former Apollo-era off-the-road vehicle rather than by air from the assembly facility in Palmdale, 32km to Edwards AFB.

Discoverer 8 (VIII/Corona 9005) launched OTD 1959. An Agena-A upper stage overburn placed the satellite in an unplanned higher apogee orbit. The surveillance camera failed to operate correctly, & during recovery a day later, the recovery parachute failed & the capsule was lost.

The first NASA dual launch on a single booster (Scout X-4/S-135R) occurred OTD 1964. Launched from Vandenberg AFB in California, Explorer 24 (AD-B air density satellite) & 25 (Injun-B) were designed to provide detailed information on complex radiation and air density measurements

Remembering Skylab & Spacelab astronaut Owen Garriott (d. 2019) on what would have been his 95th birthday. Selected in the first Scientist Astronaut Class of 1965, in 2 flights he logged over 69 days & 3 EVAs (Skylab 3 in 1973 & STS-9 in 1983) before retiring from NASA in 1986

Columbia was rolled, OTD 1980, from the OPF, where it had been since March 1979, to the VAB for mating to the ET & SRBs in preparation for the STS-1. In 'work days', a total of 531 had been in the OPF, another 33 would be in the VAB & 104 on the Pad before launch, totalling 668.

On its way to Venus, Mariner 2 set a new communications record OTD 1962. At more than 22.5M miles, this surpassed the record set by Pioneer 5 in 1960 when its position signals had ceased (scientific data from Pioneer 5 had ceased at 17.7M miles). Mariner 2 passed Venus on Dec 14.