Author Archives: Gray Rinehart

First Orbital Mercury Test Flight

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A half-century ago today — September 13, 1961 — the unmanned Mercury-Atlas-4 (MA-4) test flight launched from Cape Canaveral.


(MA-4 launch. NASA image.)

MA-4 was the first orbital test flight of the Mercury program; the previous flights had all been sub-orbital.

The payload consisted of a pilot simulator (to test the environmental controls), two voice tapes (to check the tracking network), a life support system, three cameras, and instrumentation to monitor levels of noise, vibration and radiation. It demonstrated the ability of the Atlas rocket to lift the Mercury capsule into orbit, of the capsule and its systems to operate completely autonomously, and succeeded in obtaining pictures of the Earth.

After one orbit, the capsule splashed down east of Bermuda, where it was recovered for examination.

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Space History Double Shot: Gemini-11 and STS-48

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Forty-five years ago today — September 12, 1966 — astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad, Jr. and Richard F.Gordon, Jr., launched from Cape Canaveral on the Gemini-11 mission.

Gemini-11 mission objecttives were “to achieve a first orbit rendezvous and docking with the Agena target vehicle, to accomplish two ExtraVehicular Activity (EVA) tests, to perform docking practice, docked configuration maneuvers, tethered operations, parking of the Agena target vehicle and demonstrate an automatic reentry.” The 3-day mission also carried several experiments.

Gemini-11 marked the first time two tethered spacecraft were rotated to impart a gravity-like acceleration.

The hatch was closed at 9:57 a.m. [on September 14] and shortly afterwards the spacecraft were undocked and Gemini 11 moved to the end of the 30 meter tether attaching the two spacecraft. At 11:55 a.m. Conrad initiated a slow rotation of the Gemini capsule about the GATV which kept the tether taut and the spacecraft a constant distance apart at the ends of the tether. Oscillations occurred initially, but damped out after about 20 minutes. The rotation rate was then increased, oscillations again occurred but damped out and the combination stabilized. The circular motion at the end of the tether imparted a slight artificial “gravitational acceleration” within Gemini 11, the first time such artificial gravity was demonstrated in space. After about three hours the tether was released and the spacecraft moved apart.

Twenty-five years later, on this date in 1991, the Space Shuttle Discovery launched from the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-48. Astronauts John O. Creighton, Kenneth S. Reightler, Jr., Mark N. Brown, Charles D. Gemar, and James F. Buchli deployed the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS).


(Artist’s conception of UARS. NASA image.)

UARS was designed to operate for three years, to “make the most extensive study ever conducted of the Earth’s troposphere, the upper level of the planet’s envelope of life sustaining gases which also include the protective ozone layer.” The spacecraft was decommissioned in December 2005.

Unfortunately, UARS has been in the news recently: the 14,500-pound observatory is expected to fall back to earth later this month in an uncontrolled reentry.

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Ten Years Ago Today, I Was NOT in the Pentagon …

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… although I was supposed to be.

I had been in the Pentagon on September 10, 2001, after all, and was scheduled to go back the next day.

I’d spent part of September 10 in the Secretary of Defense Executive Support Center, monitoring the progress of a strategic command & control exercise. My presence there was strictly ancillary: I’d recently rotated back from my assignment at Thule Air Base, Greenland, and my training at the Defense Technology Security Administration had not started, so I was tagging along with friends and checking on what my old unit at Offutt AFB was doing.

On the morning of September 11, I reported first to DTSA — in our quiet civilian office building in Alexandria — and told them I was headed back to the Pentagon to monitor the exercise for another day. No, they said, you can’t go over this morning because you have an in-processing appointment to meet the Colonel upstairs.

So I didn’t go to the Pentagon that day. Instead, I saw the events unfold on a fuzzy TV picture (one of our engineers had jury-rigged an antenna onto a TV that was usually used only for showing videos). When I went to my appointment upstairs, I stood at the window and looked at the column of smoke rising above the hill to the north of our building.

I was several miles and seemingly several worlds away from what was happening.

Trouble was, my wife knew I was supposed to be in the Pentagon … and I didn’t call home for several hours. (In some respects, I’m still apologizing for that oversight.) Not that much would’ve changed for me, had I been in the building. I would’ve evacuated with everyone else, and from my friend’s reports they weren’t even in a good position to be of much help. So, not much of a 9/11 story from me.

Almost five years later, when time came for me to retire, we held my retirement ceremony in the 9/11 Memorial Chapel.


(Stained glass and altar in the Pentagon’s 9/11 Memorial Chapel.)

Knowing what that part of the building had gone through, and what that room meant, made my retirement rather poignant.

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A Brief Photo Gallery: International Space Station's P3/P4 Truss

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Five years ago today — September 9, 2006 — the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center on a mission to the International Space Station.


(Joseph R. Tanner waves at Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper during their spacewalk. NASA image.)

Mission STS-115 was the latest ISS construction mission. U.S. astronauts Brent W. Jett, Jr., Christopher J. Ferguson, Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joseph R. (Joe) Tanner, and Daniel C. Burbank, along with Canadian astronaut Steven G. MacLean, installed the P3/P4 truss, a major structural element that included additional solar panel arrays.

Here’s the station before the P3/P4 truss was installed:


(ISS, taken by STS-115 prior to docking. NASA image.)

And here’s the station after:


(ISS, taken by STS-115 after undocking, showing the new P3/P4 truss and solar arrays. NASA image.)

And here’s a nice shot of one of the new solar panels being extended:


(Detail image of new ISS solar array. NASA image.)

For more photos, check out the STS-115 Shuttle Mission Imagery page.

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Happy STAR TREK Day!

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How’s this for a “space history” item: 45 years ago today — September 8, 1966 — the first episode of Star Trek (“The Man Trap”) aired on NBC.

Ten years later, members of the cast gathered in Palmdale, California, for the rollout of the prototype Space Shuttle — named Enterprise in honor of their starship:


(Members of the STAR TREK original series cast with the Space Shuttle pathfinder vehicle Enterprise on September 17, 1976. L-R, Dr. James D. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, DeForest Kelley (Dr. “Bones” McCoy), George Takei (Mr. Sulu), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), Gene Rodenberry (series creator, “The Great Bird of the Galaxy”), unknown NASA guy, and Walter Koenig (Ensign Chekov). NASA image.)

Like so many others, I grew up watching Star Trek in syndication, though I took it a bit further as I studied the blueprints of the Enterprise, the Star Fleet Technical Manual, etc. All of which I still have, of course, and all of which explains at least in part why I am a geek.

For more on Star Trek, see Memory Alpha or the official web page.

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Honorable Mention No. 7

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On the first day of Dragon*Con (which deserves a full report but won’t get one today), I received notification of my latest “Honorable Mention” in the Writers of the Future contest.

If I’ve counted correctly, that was my 13th entry, one of which finished as a semi-finalist and now seven of which were honorable mentions. Not too bad, though I keep hoping to do better.

Speaking of which, what did I do this morning? I submitted my 14th entry.

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Viking-2 Lands on Mars, in a Genre-Significant Place

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Thirty-five years ago today — September 3, 1976 — Viking-2 landed on Mars.


(Viking-2’s first color image of Utopia Planitia. NASA image.)

Viking-2 landed “about 200 km west of the crater Mie in Utopia Planitia,” which, for those familiar with the Star Trek universe, is where the Federation shipyards are — the birthplace of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

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From the Land of the Rising Sun, a Satellite to Study the Sun

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Twenty years ago today — August 30, 1991 — the Yohkoh solar astronomy satellite launched from Kagoshima Space Center, Japan.


(Artist’s conception of the Yohkoh spacecraft. NASA image.)

Yohkoh was originally named “Solar-A,” and was a joint venture between Japan, Great Britain, and the US. “Yohkoh” means “sunlight” in English.

The Yohkoh mission lasted a decade, until an anomaly ended the satellite’s life. According to this Marshall Space Flight Center page,

Yohkoh suffered a spacecraft failure in December 2001 that has put an end to this mission. During the solar eclipse of December 14th the spacecraft lost pointing and the batteries discharged. The spacecraft operators were unable to command the satellite to point toward the sun.

If you have a child interested in such things — or if you yourself have a childlike interest in such things — you can build your own model Yohkoh satellite, using actual satellite blueprints.

And in other space history, on this date 50 years ago the U.S. launched Discoverer-29 on a Thor rocket out of Vandenberg AFB. According to this Wikipedia page, Discoverer-29 was the first of the KH-3 series of reconnaissance satellites launched by the NRO in the Corona program.

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My Dragon*Con Schedule

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I’m not an official guest of Dragon*Con 2011 — maybe someday I will be — but it turns out I will be participating in a few events:

  • Friday, 09/02, 5:30 p.m. in the Hyatt: due to a cancellation, I will either sing a song (“Monster Hunter Ballad,” maybe?) or read part of a story during “Princess Alethea’s Traveling Sideshow,” hosted by the inimitable Alethea Kontis
  • Saturday, 09/03, 2:30 p.m. in the Hyatt: I’ll do whatever my boss needs me to do at the Baen Books Traveling Road Show
  • Monday, 09/05, 1:00 p.m. in the Hilton: I’ve offered to fill in on a panel discussing “The Science of Zombies” … the final line-up is still TBD

In between, I will go to a few readings and panels featuring my writing friends, and probably attend some of the filk track; I enjoyed playing in the filk circle at ConCarolinas, and if I’m toting my guitar around on Friday afternoon I may as well show up to see what’s what. Whether I work the door or tend bar at the Baen party remains to be seen. And, of course, I have every intention of working on a short story while I’m there.

Looking forward to it!

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Suborbital Apollo-Saturn Test Flight, and Bill Dana Goes Supersonic

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Forty-five years ago today — August 25, 1966 — NASA launched another suborbital Apollo-Saturn vehicle to test Command & Service Module systems in advance of manned Apollo launches.


(AS-202 launch. NASA image.)

AS-202‘s flight objectives were to verify the Saturn 1B launch vehicle’s integrity, loads, and performance, and to evaluate the separation system, emergency detection, and heatshield of the Apollo spacecraft.

Mission controllers fired the CSM’s engines multiple times to test their rapid restart capabilities, accelerating the capsule for reentry to test the heatshield. It performed very well: “Maximum temperature of the spacecraft exterior was calculated at about 1500 deg. C, temperature inside the cabin was 21 deg. C (70 F).”

Jump ahead five years in time …

On this date in 1971, NASA pilot William “Bill” Dana made the first supersonic flight in the M2-F3 lifting body.


(NASA lifting body pilots with M2-F3 in the background. NASA image.)

Last November, I blogged about Dana making the first flight in the M2-F3. I likely will continue posting occasional references to Dana’s flights, because he’s one of the most interesting people I ever met (during my first USAF assignment, we were both on the Flight Readiness Review Committee for the very first launch of the Pegasus system). If you want to know more about him, check out his Wikipedia page.

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