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LM-1 being prepared for launch

Apollo 5 was the uncrewed first flight of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM), which would later carry astronauts to the lunar surface. The liftoff of the Saturn IB rocket bearing LM-1 (pictured), the first LM, from Cape Kennedy followed long delays, due in part to setbacks in development of the LM at Grumman, the manufacturer. The original rocket was taken down during the delays and replaced with the one atop which the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts had taken place. LM-1 arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in June 1967; the following months were occupied in testing. After further delays, the countdown began on January 21, 1968, with launch the following day. Although due to programming problems a mission different from that originally planned was executed, the mission was successful enough that a contemplated second uncrewed mission to test the LM was cancelled, advancing NASA's plans to land an astronaut on the Moon by the end of the 1960s, with a safe return to Earth. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Blue sclerae of a patient with osteogenesis imperfecta

... that osteogenesis imperfecta causes brittle bones and blue eyes (pictured)?
... that John Hartford wrote "Gentle on My Mind" in about half an hour after seeing Doctor Zhivago?
... that George Balanchine choreographed the ballet La Valse to Ravel's music of the same name, which was rejected by an impresario and had been used in unsuccessful ballets before?
... that Frank Avery Hutchins has been called the "father of Wisconsin public libraries"?
... that St. Sylvester is a Catholic church that combines the old village church of Schwabing, now part of Munich, and a 20th-century expansion under one roof?
... that just four years after starting up, the president of Satellite Television & Associated Resources commented that his entire industry had "gone down the drain"?
... that mining entrepreneur and former model Tigui Camara is the first woman in Guinea to own a mining company, which she partially runs as a social enterprise?
... that on the Jubilee coinage, Queen Victoria wore a crown so small that critics said it might fall off her head?

In the news

Cyclone Batsirai

Cyclone Batsirai (satellite image shown) makes landfall in Madagascar, displacing at least 69,000 people and leaving at least 29 others dead.
Indian playback singer and composer Lata Mangeshkar dies at the age of 92.
The Winter Olympics open in Beijing, China.
Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi dies in a US military raid in Atme, Syria.

On this day

February 9

The Beatles arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport

1234 – The Jin dynasty capital of Caizhou was captured by Mongols and their Song allies, bringing an end to Jurchen rule.
1855 – A series of hoof-like marks in the snow continuing through the countryside for some 40 to 100 miles (60 to 160 km) were discovered in Devon, England.
1913 – A meteor procession was visible across much of eastern North and South America, leading astronomers to conclude that its source was a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.
1964 – As Beatlemania swept the U.S., the Beatles (pictured) made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show before a record-breaking audience, beginning a musical phenomenon known as the British Invasion.
1976 – The Australian Defence Force was formed by the integration of the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Royal Australian Air Force.

Minamoto no Yoritomo (d. 1199)
Gerhard Richter (b. 1932)
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (d. 2002)

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Today's featured picture

Falstaff is a comic opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian-language libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from the play The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2 by William Shakespeare. The work premiered on 9 February 1893 at La Scala in Milan. The last of Verdi's twenty-eight operas, the opera's plot revolves around the thwarted, sometimes farcical, efforts of the fat knight Sir John Falstaff to seduce two married women to gain access to their husbands' wealth. This photograph shows the Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri playing the title role in a 2016 production of Falstaff at the Vienna State Opera.

Photograph credit: Christian Michelides

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