NHAS - Today in Astronomy History

	1877	American astronomer Asaph Hall discovers Mars' larger moon, Phobos, while observing Mars at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. He had found the smaller moon, Deimos, six nights earlier.
	1958	A Thor-Able rocket explodes in a failed US attempt to launch an unmanned moon probe.
	1970	USSR launches the Venera 7 spacecraft. On 15 Dec 1970 it becomes the first spacecraft to soft-land on another planet when it touches down on the surface of Venus. It transmits for 23 minutes before failing, recording a temperature of 464° C (867° F) and a pressure of 90 atmospheres, the equivalent of 930 m (3,050 feet) underwater.