Space Rocket History Archive

Space Rocket History #235 – Apollo 12 – Introduction

At NASA Headquarters, George Mueller and other planners created a far-reaching plan that Administrator Paine made even more ambitious in adapting it for Nixon’s Space Task Group. The task group’s timetable called for a twelve-man space station and a reusable space shuttle as early as 1975. By 1980, the station would have grown into a fifty-man space base; five years later there would be a hundred men in orbit. Meanwhile, there would be a base in lunar orbit by 1976, with a base on the lunar surface two years later. Then, as early as 1981, the first manned expedition to Mars would depart from earth orbit.

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Space Rocket History #234 – Soyuz 6, 7, and 8 – Part 2 -The Vulcan Device

The Vulcan device consisted of two major units. The first unit included various welding devices and a turn-table with samples of metals to be welded. The second unit consisted of an electric power pack, a protective shield which covered the welding unit, and a remote control console.

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Space Rocket History #233 – Soyuz 6, 7, and 8 with Shonin, Kubasov, Filipchenko, Volkov, Gorbatko, Shatalov, Yeliseyev – Part 1

Finally, on April 25, 1969 during a meeting of the Soyuz State Commission, it was decided that the solo and docking flights outlined for 1969 by design bureau OKB-1 would be combined into a joint flight of three spacecraft.  The plan was to fly Soyuz 6, 7, and 8 together in August of 1969; Soyuz 7 and 8 would dock and 6 would rendezvous with the docked pair and take pictures of it as well as perform a welding experiment.

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Space Rocket History #232 – Apollo 11 – Final Duties & World Reaction Part 2

The round-the-world tour began on September 29th and lasted until November 5th covering 28 cities in 25 countries in 38 days. The astronauts’ wives were allowed to go along on the trip, as well as a large staff.

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Space Rocket History #231 – Apollo 11 – Final Duties & World Reaction Part 1

On August 10th, 1969 quarantine officially ended for the Apollo 11 crew, but that did not end the duties required for a flight of such magnitude. On August 12th, the Astronauts conducted a post flight press conference. They were greeted with a standing ovation from members of the media.

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Space Rocket History #230 – Apollo 11 – Recovery, Nixon, & Quarantine

The helicopter door slid open and Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins stepped out of the helicopter onto the lower deck of the carrier Hornet to the accompaniment of a brass band. They appeared to many, like men from another world. They were outfitted from head to toe in gray-colored Biological Isolation Garments.

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Space Rocket History #229 – Apollo 11 – Re-entry & Splashdown

At launch, Apollo 11 weighed 6,000,000 pounds, now all that was left of Columbia weighed in at a mere 11,000 pounds.

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Space Rocket History #228 – Apollo 11 – The Return

The next critical event in the Apollo 11 mission was the Trans-Earth Injection burn. The burn involved firing the big service propulsion engine for two and a half minutes on the back side of the moon.

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Space Rocket History #227 – Apollo 11 – Rendezvous, Docking and Jettisoning

The ascent of the Eagle was strikingly swift compared with the liftoff of the huge Saturn V rocket from Cape Canaveral. Of course for the Moon launch, there was no atmosphere resisting Eagle, and there was only one-sixth gravity to overcome.

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Space Rocket History #226 – Apollo 11 – Moon Launch

Until now they had been focused on reaching the moon, landing, taking a walk on its surface, setting up experiments, exploring, and gathering evidence. With those tasks completed and their lunar bounty was board, the top priority was to fly back to Earth.

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