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Post by gwiz on Aug 10, 2006 3:07:28 GMT -4
Today marks 40 years since the launch of Lunar Orbiter 1, the first NASA probe to enter lunar orbit, four months after the Russians first achieved this feat. The main payload was two cameras to obtain high-resolution coverage of potential Apollo landing sites. Nine sites were covered, and extra instrumentation gathered data on the radiation and meteorite environment, also in support of Apollo. The cameras also obtained a few pictures of sites of scientific interest, plus the first picture of the earth hanging above the lunar horizon.
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Post by gwiz on Aug 24, 2006 3:03:30 GMT -4
40 years ago the Russians launched their second moon orbiting mission, Luna 11. It carried a different payload from Luna 10, aimed at gathering data for their manned lunar landing programme, with a camera for surface mapping, sensors for remote mapping of surface composition and a wheel motor from their Lunokhod rover for vacuum testing. Unfortunately, an attitude control failure shortly after injection into lunar orbit meant that little data was obtained.
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Post by gwiz on Sept 12, 2006 2:58:14 GMT -4
Forty years ago today the crew of Gemini 11 carried out a first-orbit rendezvous, demonstrating a technique that was to be used on the later Apollo lunar missions. They also set a new altitude record of over 1350 km, though as they only stayed in the high orbit for three hours, their radiation dose was less than that for Gemini 10. Later in the mission they demonstrated a rendezvous without using the radar. However, EVA still proved troublesome, with some tasks much more difficult than expected.
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Post by Jason Thompson on Sept 13, 2006 5:50:35 GMT -4
That mission scored another first: the first astronauts to fall asleep during EVA and in a depressurised spacecraft!
Dick Gordon was doing a standup EVA taking pictures. Pete Conrad during the post flight press conference described it more or less like this:
'We had the whole rest of the Atlantic to go with nothing to do, so lo and behold I fell fast asleep. I woke up with a start with my arms out in front of me and I realised that not only was I asleep on the job but I was asleep with the hatch open and the cabin depressurised. I turned to Dick and said: 'hey Dick, would you believe I fell asleep?' and all I got out of him was: 'huh? What?' 'cos he'd fallen asleep too!'
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Post by gwiz on Oct 25, 2006 3:12:15 GMT -4
Today's 40th anniversary is of Luna 12's entry into lunar orbit. The probe was a repeat of Luna 11 which met with more success, taking the first Russian pictures of the moon from orbit. As NASA had managed this a few months before with Lunar Orbiter 1, this is an indication that by this time the Russians didn't have the unassailable lead in the moon race that the HBs like to claim.
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Post by gwiz on Nov 15, 2006 4:30:36 GMT -4
It's 40 years today since the Gemini programme ended with the landing of Gemini 12. This four-day mission with Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin included rendezvous and docking with an Agena target vehicle, which was achieved in spite of the loss of the radar, and a series of three EVAs by Aldrin. This was the mission on which the EVA problems encountered in the earlier Gemini flights were finally solved, thanks to the use of more tethers and other aids to body positioning and Aldrins extensive use of pre-flight underwater training. Plans for the third high-altitude excusion of the programme were dropped due to a problem with the Agena propulsion, but Aldrin successfully attached a 30 m tether to the Agena that enabled Lovell to set up the first gravity-gradient stabilised manned spacecraft.
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Post by gwiz on Nov 28, 2006 4:25:31 GMT -4
Today is the 40th anniversary of the first unmanned test launch of the Soyuz spacecraft under the cover name of Kosmos 133. The plan was for it to carry out a rendezvous with a second Soyuz, but immediately after launch the primary attitude control system failed, using all its propellant and leaving the craft in a tumble. The next two days were spent in attempts to control the craft with a secondary system. The attitude was considered accurate enough to fire the retro motor at the fifth attempt, but the attitude drifted off during the burn so that the craft was not slowed enough. With no prospect of a landing in Russian territory, the Soyuz was deliberately destroyed by an explosive charge.
The second Soyuz, the intended rendezvous target, was lost in a pre-launch pad accident on December 14.
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Post by gwiz on Dec 21, 2006 6:49:35 GMT -4
Today's 40th anniversary is of the launch of Luna 13, the Soviet Union's second successful lunar lander. Using the same braking rocket and airbag technique as Luna 9, it landed on the 24th December in the Ocean of Storms. The payload was similar to Luna 9, with the addition of instrumentation to measure soil density in support of future landings.
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Post by james on Jan 1, 2007 23:53:28 GMT -4
Just saw this on the main page of IMDB and thought of this thread.
48th anniversary of Luna 1
On January 2nd in 1959 - Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the Moon, was launched by the Soviet Union.
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Post by Count Zero on Jan 27, 2007 6:18:25 GMT -4
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 204 (aka Apollo 1) fire that killed Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
"If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life." - Gus Grissom, 1926-1967
Tonight at 5:30pm CST I will watch episode 2 of "From the Earth to the Moon" in their memory.
*********
Egad, I just noticed that I am now older than Gus was when he died.
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Post by Obviousman on Jan 27, 2007 20:40:41 GMT -4
Godspeed the crew of Apollo 1.
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Post by gwiz on Jan 28, 2007 7:05:07 GMT -4
As with the Challenger and Columbia disasters, after Apollo 1 there was much blame, re-thinking and re-design before the return to flight on Apollo 7.
The USSR response, accusing NASA of deliberately risking the lives of the crew, was particularly ill-judged, both in the light of the subsequent Soyuz 1 accident and the later revelation that one of their trainee cosmonauts had died in an oxygen chamber fire several years before.
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Post by Count Zero on Jan 28, 2007 8:50:58 GMT -4
Godspeed to the crew of Challenger, who "touched the face of God" 21 years ago today.
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Post by gwiz on Feb 7, 2007 17:59:14 GMT -4
Today marks 40 years from the launch of the second unmanned Soyuz orbital test,known as Kosmos 140. Once again, the craft experienced attitude control problems which led to the decision to bring it down after only a day. During re-entry the heat shield burnt through, causing a decompression which would have killed a crew. It landed in a lake and sank.
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Post by gwiz on Mar 10, 2007 15:52:10 GMT -4
It's 40 years today from the launch of Kosmos 146, the first test of Russia's Zond manned circumlunar spacecraft and its Proton-K launch vehicle. The payload was a version of the Soyuz manned spacecraft, without the orbital module that provided extra habitable volume. It was placed in low earth orbit, still attached to the Block D upper stage of the launch vehicle. After a day of tests of propellant behaviour in zero-g, the Block D was restarted to send the payload on a simulated lunar trajectory. No recovery of the payload was planned.
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