The history of early space exploration.
Episodes
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Space Rocket History #60 – Gemini IV with James McDivitt and Edward White – Part 1
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
The success of Gus Grissom and John Young’s Gemini 3 flight paved the way for long duration space missions. The longest U.S. manned space flight to date was Gordon Cooper’s 34 hour Mercury flight. The Soviets, however, had four long duration flights to their credit, ranging from 70 to 119 hours. It was time for the US to attempt a long duration flight.
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Space Rocket History #59 – Ranger 8-9, and Intelsat I
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
In total Ranger 9 transmitted 5,814 good contrast photographs during the final 19 minutes of flight. The last image taken before impact had a resolution of 0.3 meters per pixel. The spacecraft encountered the lunar surface after 64.5 hours of flight. Impact occurred at 14:08:19 UT right on target in the Alphonsus crater. Impact velocity was 2.67 km/s. The spacecraft performance was excellent.
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Grissom – What is it?
Young: Corned beef sandwich.
Grissom: Where did it come from?
Young: I brought it with me. Let’s see how it tastes. Smells, doesn’t it.
Grissom: Yes, its breaking up. I’m going to stick it in my pocket.
Young: Is it? It was a thought, anyway.
Grissom: Yep.
Young: Not a very good one.
Grissom: Pretty good, thought, if it would just hold together.
Young: Want some chicken leg?
Grissom: No you can handle that.
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
The precise scope of the Gemini 3 mission remained uncertain until very nearly the eve of flight. In April of 1963, the GT-3 mission directive was “to demonstrate and evaluate the capabilities of the spacecraft and launch vehicle system, and the procedures necessary for the support of future long-duration and rendezvous missions.” But, that was a broad scope and did not clearly specified how GT-3 would accomplish it objective…
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Leonov opened the airlocks outer hatch He was positioned on his “back” and this orientation revealed the beauty of earth in its entirety. His heart began to race as he pushed his upper body outside and saw the deep blue vista of the Mediterranean Sea, fringed by the easily recognizable shapes of Greece and Italy and, farther east, the Crimea, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Volga River…
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Wednesday Apr 04, 2018
Voskhod 2 was a high risk mission. It was the final space race victory for the Soviet Union before NASA claimed the lead and ultimately won with the lunar landing of 1969. Voskhod 2 was the peak of the Soviet Space Program. It nearly killed its two cosmonauts but it was ultimately a success…