2006, OTT

2006 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2006th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 6th year of the 3rd millennium, the 6th year of the 21st century, and the 7th year of the 2000s decade.

2006 was designated as:

International Year of Deserts and Desertification[1] International Asperger's Year


 * January 15 – NASA 's Stardust mission successfully ends, the first to return dust from a comet.


 * January 19 – NASA launches the first space mission to Pluto as a rocket hurls the New Horizons spacecraft on a nine-year journey.


 * March 9 – NASA's Cassini–Huygens spacecraft discovers geysers of a liquid substance shooting from Saturn's moon Enceladus, signaling a possible presence of water.


 * March 10 – NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enters orbit around Mars.


 * The European Space Agency' s Venus Express spaceprobe enters Venus' orbit.


 * May 17 – The Human Genome Project publishes the last chromosome sequence, in Nature.


 * August 24 – The International Astronomical Union defines 'planet' at its 26th General Assembly, demoting Pluto to the status of dwarf planet more than 70 years after its discovery.