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Post by gwiz on Apr 5, 2007 5:03:30 GMT -4
Today's 40th anniversary is of the date that the Apollo 1 accident review board submitted their findings. It wasn't comfortable reading for the NASA managers. This has been discussed before, so I'll just add a link to the report for anyone who wants to check it out: history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/content.html
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Post by gwiz on Apr 8, 2007 6:02:19 GMT -4
Kosmos 154, the second Zond prototype test, was launched 40 years ago today. Unlike Kosmos 146 the previous month, it failed to reach a simulated lunar trajectory because the final stage of the Proton-K launch vehicle jettisoned its attitude control units prematurely. It decayed in the earth's atmosphere after 9 days in low earth orbit.
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Post by Jason Thompson on Apr 12, 2007 9:37:42 GMT -4
Didn't some Russian bloke fly a rocket or something 41 ears ago today?
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Post by Al Johnston on Apr 12, 2007 11:48:51 GMT -4
Good ol' Yuri Alexeivich ;D
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Post by LunarOrbit on Apr 12, 2007 12:07:00 GMT -4
Which must mean it's also the anniversary of the first Space Shuttle launch.
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Post by gwiz on Apr 17, 2007 14:16:15 GMT -4
Today marks 40 years from the launch of Surveyor 3, NASA's second successful unmanned lunar landing mission. After a three day flight to the moon it touched down in the Oceanus Procellarum. The landing was eventful in that a radar fault prevented the engines from shutting down until the craft had made two post-landing hops down the side of a crater. In addition to a TV camera like that on Surveyor 1, it also carried a mechanical arm with a scoop that was used to dig several trenches to evaluate the mechanical properties of the lunar soil, finding it to be a fine dust that could hold crisp imprints.
In November 1969 the Apollo 12 crew landed near Surveyor 3 and removed the TV camera, the scoop and other components for return to earth so that the effects of long-tem exposure to the lunar environment could be evaluated.
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Post by gwiz on Apr 23, 2007 11:50:30 GMT -4
40 years ago saw the launch of what must have been the most reckless manned space mission ever. Following two unmanned launches, both of which suffered multiple problems, the Soyuz craft was launched for the first time with a man aboard, Vladimir Komarov. A three day mission involving a docking with a second manned Soyuz was planned. Problems arose from the start, when one of the two solar panels failed to deploy, halving the available electrical power. Furthermore, the same type of attitude sensor problems seen in the unmanned flights recurred.
The second Soyuz launch was cancelled and the mission curtailed. After a day of struggling with the problems, Komarov managed at the second attempt to hold the correct attitude for long enough to perform the retro manoeuvre. Re-entry was successful, but at 7 km altitude both main and reserve parachutes failed to deploy and the capsule crashed, killing Komarov.
Details of why the crash occurred only came with glasnost, when it was revealed that it was a combination of a poor design of the parachute compartment and a pre-launch processing error.
There were no further Russian manned launches until October 1968.
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Post by gwiz on May 4, 2007 5:19:08 GMT -4
It's 40 years since the launch of NASA's Lunar Orbiter 4. The three previous missions in the series had completed the project goal of selecting suitable initial Apollo landing sites, so this flight was assigned the more general task of mapping the entire near side of the moon at better resolution than could be obtained from earth-bound telescopes. Some coverage of the far side was also obtained.
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Post by gwiz on May 15, 2007 10:20:35 GMT -4
Today is the 50th anniversary of the first launch of the Russian R-7 missile, still in use as the first and second stages of the Soyuz launch vehicle. This is a useful fact to counter HBs who claim "primitive 1960s technology". Other 1950s technology is still in use as the first stage of the US Delta II launch vehicle, and it is only in the last year or two that the similar vintage Atlas and Titan have been retired.
Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the first launch in direct support of Russia's manned lunar programme. Kosmos 159 was a variant of the earlier Luna probes, modified to carry a test payload for the manned Lunar communications system. It was intended to fly a simulated Lunar trajectory, but due to launch vehicle underperformance only reached a maximum altitude of some 60,000 km.
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Post by gwiz on Jun 12, 2007 9:50:53 GMT -4
It's the 40th anniversary today of the launch of Venyera 4, Russia's first successful planetary probe. It reached Venus on October 18th and dropped a capsule into the atmosphere. The capsule transmitted data on the atmosphere's properties as it descended under a parachute. Unfortunately, due to lack of knowledge about the true conditions there, it was crushed by atmospheric pressure while still 27 km above the surface. NASA's Mariner 5, a Venus fly-by probe, was launched two days later and was also a success, reaching Venus on October 19th.
HBs who claim superior Russian technology should note that the Russians had launched more than a dozen earlier planetary probes since 1960 without success, while NASA succeeded at their second attempt in 1962 with Mariner 2.
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Post by kepsux on Jul 20, 2007 10:02:25 GMT -4
38 years ago Apollo 11 landed on the moon. In case you guys didn't know. Haha.
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Post by BertL on Jul 20, 2007 10:03:50 GMT -4
38 years ago Apollo 11 landed on the moon. In case you guys didn't know. Haha. Yeah, but 38 years don't really make up for an anniversary.
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Post by Count Zero on Jul 20, 2007 14:20:24 GMT -4
It's also the 31st anniversary of the Viking 1 probe landing on Mars. Unfortunately, the only local TV station that was carrying it live (it happened very early in the morning, PDT) did not come in well. I had sound, but no picture. As the first images came in I heard ooh-ing & aah-ing, but couldn't see a thing. Man, I was furious! My parents were at JPL and saw it all. They scored me a ticket to the Viking 2 landing, a few weeks later. Unfortunately, right after landing they had a link problem and the probe didn't transmit images until hours after we all had to go home. Aaarrgh!!!
Btw, howdy kepsux! I see you joined 6 months ago but didn't post until now. I wonder what the record is on that?
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Post by Count Zero on Jul 20, 2007 21:11:30 GMT -4
I just noticed: The phase of the moon is almost exactly the same as it was on this date in 1969. Technically, there's a 4% difference in phase and the moon libration is slightly different, but visually it looks just the same. When the phase is like this, the sun is rising on the southern highlands. The sunlight hitting the mountains makes the terminator uneven, like there's an extra bump of light. That night, when I was five years old and heard that the LM* had landed on the moon, I looked up and saw that bump and thought that that was the LM. Now, every month when I see that bump, I remember - and smile. *Yes, I knew exactly what the LM was. Gulf Oil gas stations sold cardboard-paper models of it. Dad bought several for me, because I enjoyed building them so much. At Kennedy Space Center, where we were a few days before to see the launch, they had a full-size replica outside the visitors' center. I was disappointed that it was painted grey, instead of the cool black & gold of the models.
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Post by gwiz on Jul 22, 2007 10:44:57 GMT -4
40 years ago today a small NASA probe called Explorer 35 was placed in lunar orbit. It carried a comprehensive set of instruments to measure radiation, including high energy particles, the Solar wind and Solar X-radiation, plus magnetometers and detectors for micrometeorites. Although the prime mission was scientific, mapping the tail of the magnetosphere and monitoring Solar flares, the mission also provided data on the radiation environment for the Apollo flights. It remained in operation until June 1973.
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