On this day in space! Dec. 16, 1962: NASA launches 1st meteoroids mission Explorer 16

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On Dec. 16, 1962, NASA launched the Explorer 16 spacecraft to study micrometeoroids near Earth.

On Dec. 16, 1962, NASA launched the Explorer 16 spacecraft to study micrometeoroids near Earth.

An artist's illustration of NASA's Explorer 16 satellite, which launched on Dec. 16, 1962 to study the micrometeoroid environment in space. (Image credit: NASA)

Data from this mission helped scientists determine the size, number, distribution, and momentum of dust particles in the near-earth environment.

On This Day in Space: See our full 365-day video archive!

Hanneke Weitering
Hanneke Weitering
Contributing expert

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos. 

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