October 05

1882 – Physicist, rocket engineer and inventor Robert Goddard is born. He developed a mathematical theory for rocket propulsion in 1912, and proved that rockets would function in a vacuum for space flight in 1915. At the time of his death, Goddard held 214 patents in rocketry.
1923 – Edwin Hubble identifies the first Cepheid variable star.
1984 – Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.