1973 in science

List of years in science (Table)
… 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 …
Related time period or subjects
… 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 … … 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s … … 19th century 20th century 21st century …
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The year 1973 in science and technology involved one significant event, listed below.

Astronomy and space exploration

March 7 - Comet Kohoutek is discovered
April 6 - Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft
May 14 - Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.
Solar eclipse of June 30, 1973 - Very long total solar eclipse visible in NE South America, the Atlantic, and central Africa. During the entire Second Millennium, only seven total solar eclipses exceeded seven minutes of totality. This was the last. Observers aboard a Concorde jet were able to stretch totality to about 74 minutes by flying along the path of the moon's umbra.
July 25 - Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.
November 3 - Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury (on March 29, 1974 it became the first space probe to reach that planet).
December 3 - Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.
December 7 - The "Big Ear" at the Ohio State University Radio Observatory begins a full time SETI radio survey, running continuously until 1995.