Author Archives: Gray Rinehart

Verifying Gravitational Redshift, 35 Years Ago

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Thirty-five years ago this week — as of this writing, I can’t confirm the exact date — a Scout rocket launched from Wallops Flight Center, Virginia, with an experiment to test one of Einstein’s relativistic predictions.

The probe, known by several names but most commonly now as Gravity Probe A, launched on a high-altitude sub-orbital trajectory: it essentially flew nearly straight up to a height of just over 10,000 km (6200 mi), and then nearly straight back down to the Atlantic Ocean.

During its brief sojourn into space, however, the payload accomplished its mission. Gravity Probe A carried a highly accurate maser* clock, which the Theory of Relativity predicted would run faster at that altitude than its sister clock on Earth. The experiment confirmed this Gravitational redshift phenomenon.

As for the date, my original NASA history source listed it as today — June 18th — and so does the Wikipedia entry. The National Space Science Data Center, however, lists it as having launched on the 16th, though an archived version of the NSSDC page listed it as the 17th and so did another site. So, suffice it to say that sometime around this part of June, 35 years ago, experimenters confirmed a key prediction of Einstein’s theory. And if anyone knows the exact date, with confidence, let me know.

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*Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation; by analogy, a “microwave laser”

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Thus Quoth the Phoenix: 'Pottermore'

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By now you’ve seen the news, too, and maybe even clicked onto J.K. Rowling’s mysterious new Pottermore web site. Lots of speculatin’ goin’ on about what it all means: an eighth book? a new series? a charitable cause?

My crystal ball is cracked (not my fault: it was my sister’s, and it was that way when she gave it to me), so it’s not usually very accurate. Even so, I’ll say this new venture is either an homage to Poe (as I alluded to in the post title) or a repository of “approved” Harry Potter fan fiction. Why the most famous British author of our time would do an homage to Poe, I don’t know, but maybe there’s a phoenix perched upon a bust of Hecate above her chamber door. Or it could be an owl.

We’ll all know soon enough. Meanwhile, the speculation is good fun and Ms. Rowling is once again the queen of successful promotion. And, I’ve done my part for her search engine optimization by linking to her new web site. Hey, what are fans for?

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Reality Outpaces My Science Fiction

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On the New Scientist site this morning, this headline: Hybrid cars give flywheels a spin.

A British company is testing flywheels as energy-storage units in hybrid cars, to replace much heavier batteries. Their first tests will be with airport buses, which seems like a good choice.

Read down to the end of the article, and you’ll see that several other companies are working on making this technology more effective and more affordable.

Here’s where the science fiction comes into play: In the first chapter of my (still unpublished, unfortunately) novel,* the main characters drive a turbine-and-flywheel automobile … and flywheel “batteries” (if you will) are the storage medium of choice for most of the vehicles that operate in and around the lunar colony.

So, reality is ahead of my SF. I never know whether to laugh or cry over things like this.

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* WALKING ON THE SEA OF CLOUDS is the story of lunar pioneers: two couples determined to survive and succeed as part of the first commercial lunar colony. In the end, one will decide to leave, one will decide to stay, one will put off deciding, and one will decide to die so another can live.

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Putting Finishing Touches on 'The Elements of War'

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Over the last month or so I’ve been revising an old nonfiction manuscript, tentatively titled The Elements of War.

The book expands on an article I wrote over a decade ago entitled “Theory of Knowledge, and War: First Steps Toward A Unified Theory.” A few years later (and a few years ago) the book-length manuscript went through the peer review process at a publisher of military history, but didn’t quite make the cut. So I put it away for a while, and now I’ve re-structured it and included reference to some recent military actions. I should be done with the revisions in the next few weeks.

At this point I’m trying to decide whether to try to navigate the traditional publisher maze again, or whether as a “niche” publication it might be suitable for “direct-to-e-book” publishing. I’m open to suggestions, if you have any — and to publication offers, of course, if you’re of a mind.

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Crossed Genres Quarterly (a shameless plug)

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My short story “The Tower” is now available as part of the latest compilation from Crossed Genres.


(Crossed Genres Quarterly No. 2 cover art.)

“The Tower” is a swords-and-sorcery fantasy story, though much more swords than sorcery.

You can buy a copy of Crossed Genres Quarterly No. 2 in either electronic format ($2.99) or in hard copy ($11.95). Bear in mind that this is a compilation of three issues of the Crossed Genres online magazine, plus three extra stories … one of which is mine.

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Launch of a Doomed Space Station Crew

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Forty years ago today — June 6, 1971 — Soyuz-11 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the first crew to the USSR’s Salyut-1 space station.

The Soyuz-11 crew, cosmonauts Georgi T. Dobrovolskiy, Vladislav N. Volkov and Viktor I. Patseyev, spent three weeks aboard Salyut. Their separation from Salyut-1 on June 30th was nominal, and before they entered the atmosphere the service module of the Soyuz vehicle detached from the descent module; however, as reported on this Wikipedia page, a pressure equalization valve failed and the crew asphyxiated before their vehicle reached the ground.

Here’s a link to a July 1971 Time Magazine article about the Soyuz-11 disaster: Triumph and Tragedy of Soyuz-11.

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Rodents and Jellyfish in Space … It's Science, Folks

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Twenty years ago today — June 5, 1991 — the Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center.


(The Spacelab module in the shuttle cargo bay. NASA image.)

The STS-40 crew — Bryan D. O’Connor, Sidney M. Gutierrez, M. Rhea Seddon, James Bagian, Tamara Jernigan, F. Andrew Gaffney, and Millie Hughes-Fulford — spent 9 days in space conducting a variety of life sciences experiments in the Spacelab module in the shuttle’s cargo bay. Not only did they run a variety of experiments, but they ran them on a variety of test subjects: themselves, a collection of 30 rodents, and “thousands of tiny jellyfish.”

Of course, all of this serious science stuff has to give way now and then to a little frivolity:


(The STS-40 crew pose on the shuttle’s middeck, with an apparent stowaway. NASA image.)

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Another Step Toward Apollo: Gemini-9

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Forty-five years ago today — June 3, 1966 — Gemini-9 launched from Cape Canaveral on a Titan-II rocket.


(Gemini-9 in orbit. NASA image.)

The crew of Gemini-9, Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene A. Cernan, carried out a series of maneuvers to simulate future Apollo rendezvous maneuvers. They were supposed to actually dock with a target vehicle, but they saw “that the launch shroud … had failed to deploy and was blocking the docking port.”

Another part of the mission profile was to test the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit, but that test also ran into difficulty:

On 5 June at 10:02 a.m. EST the Gemini capsule was depressurized and the hatch above Cernan opened. Cernan was out of the spacecraft at 10:19, attached by an 8 meter long tether which was connected to Gemini’s oxygen supply. He had no gas maneuvering unit as was used on Gemini 4. He retrieved the micrometeorite impact detector attached to the side of the capsule and then moved about the spacecraft. He had great difficulty manuevering and maintaining orientation on the long tether. He took photographs of Gemini from the full length of the tether and finally moved to the back of the capsule where the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU) was mounted. He was scheduled to don the AMU, disconnect from the Gemini oxygen supply (although he would still be attached to the spacecraft with a longer, thinner tether) and move to 45 meters from the capsule. The task of donning the AMU took “four to five times more work than anticipated”, overwhelming Cernan’s environmental control system and causing his faceplate to fog up, limiting his visibility. It was also discovered that the AMU radio transmissions were garbled. These problems caused Stafford to recall Cernan to the spacecraft. He reentered the spacecraft at 12:05 p.m. and the hatch was closed at 12:10. Cernan was the third person to walk in space and his total time of 2 hours, 8 minutes was the longest spacewalk yet.

The image above shows one of the pictures Cernan took of the Gemini spacecraft.

Stafford and Cernan de-orbited and splashed down on June 6th.

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Surveyor-1 Lands

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Forty-five years ago today — June 2, 1966 — Surveyor-1 landed on the moon.


(Surveyor-1 landing site, imaged by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA image.)

As we noted in a previous space history item, Surveyor-1 launched on May 30th. On this date, it became the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the Moon.

Surveyor 1’s first hour on the Moon was spent performing engineering tests. Photography sessions were then initiated throughout the remainder of the lunar day. The television system transmitted pictures of the spacecraft footpad and surrounding lunar terrain and surface materials. Some 10,338 photos were returned prior to nightfall on June 14.

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Surveyor-1 and Mariner-9: to the Moon and Mars

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Forty-five years ago today — May 30, 1966 — Surveyor-1 launched from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas-Centaur rocket.


(Surveyor-1. NASA image.)

Surveyor-1 was the first U.S. mission to make a soft landing on the Moon. The Surveyor program consisted of seven robotic lunar missions, designed to prove out capabilities and technologies for the Apollo lunar landings.

(As an aside: in my yet-unpubished novel, Walking on the Sea of Clouds, a team of colonists make their way south on an “ice run” and the main character takes a moment to reflect that only a slight detour would take them by the Surveyor landing site.)

In our other space history item for the day, 5 years later — on May 30, 1971 — the Mariner-9 mission to Mars launched, also on an Atlas-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral.

Taking advantage of favorable timing and a “direct ascent trajectory,” Mariner-9 sped past the Soviet Union’s Mars-2 and Mars-3 missions to arrive at Mars after only 167 days. On November 14, 1971, Mariner-9 become the first spacecraft in orbit around another planet.

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