Author Archives: Gray Rinehart

An Echo in Space, and a Mission to Mars

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Fifty years ago today — August 12, 1960 — a Thor-Delta rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral* carrying the Echo-1 satellite.


(Echo-1 satellite, fully inflated, inside a Navy hangar in Weeksville, NC. NASA image from Wikimedia Commons.)

Echo-1 was a Mylar balloon 100 feet in diameter which reflected radio waves aimed at it. Its only transmitter was for telemetry: for communications, it was a passive reflector. One of the first signals reflected by Echo-1 was a recorded radio message from President Eisenhower.

The spacecraft should probably be known as Echo-1A, since the original Echo-1 was lost when its launch vehicle failed the previous May, but the Echo-1 name has endured.

Fast forward forty-five years …

Five years ago today, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas-5 rocket. It has been in orbit around Mars since March 2006, sending back detailed images of the red planet’s surface and sub-surface features.

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*One source gave the launch site as Vandenberg AFB, which was the launch site for Echo-2 in 1964.

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Spy Satellite Proof-of-Concept Launch, 50 Years Ago

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A half-century ago today — August 10, 1960 — Discoverer-13 launched from Vandenberg AFB on a Thor-Agena rocket.


(President Eisenhower presented with U.S. flag flown inside Discoverer capsule. Dwight D. Eisenhower Library image from the National Air & Space Museum.)

Discoverer-13, and indeed the entire Discoverer series of spacecraft, was part of the highly classified CORONA program managed by the National Reconnaissance Office. Discoverer-13 did not take any images itself, however, as it was used to prove that all the systems would work. Discoverer-14 took the program’s first images a few days later.

The Discoverer-13 capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and became the first man-made object recovered from space. The first segment of this YouTube newsreel video shows President Eisenhower being presented with a U.S. flag that flew inside the capsule.

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Happy Birthday, Neil Armstrong

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Eighty years ago today — August 5, 1930, Neil A. Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He grew up to be the first man to walk on the surface of the Moon.


(Neil Armstrong in the Lunar Module after walking on the Moon. NASA image.)

And 35 years ago today, in 1975, test pilot John Manke glided the X-24B to a safe landing at Edwards AFB, thereby proving the concept that would allow Space Shuttles to return from orbit and land safely.

[BREAK, BREAK]

Shameless plug: Speaking of (typing of?) walking on the Moon, my alternate history story “Memorial at Copernicus” concerns a lunar excursion in the future, made possible by an Apollo flight that never was. It’s in this month’s issue of Redstone Science Fiction.

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A Baen’s Bar Patron Describes My Work

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‘nother Mike, one of the long-time patrons of Baen’s Bar, recently suggested some alternatives to the “Slushmaster General” title bestowed upon me by Alethea Kontis, viz.,

  • Admiral of the Slush
  • Grand Master of the Slushy Barrens
  • Explorer Extraordinaire of Slush

In the same message, he presented this “appropriately melodramatic” (his words, not mine) portrayal of the slush reader’s trade:

His steely eyes blazed through his thick goggles as he stared over the mounds and bales of slush, looking for that rough-cut diamond he knew was buried somewhere in the stacks. He knew that it was out there, somewhere, just waiting for him to find it. Despite the storm of distractions, the allure of comfortable working conditions, and all those other temptations trying to pull him away from his true work of rooting through the unending piles of slush, he would persevere until he found it. And when he did, he would turn it over to the readers, those ultimate judges of value, who would decide whether this was a true diamond to be worked by the magic of the editors or just another hunk of glass to be cast aside.

I don’t know about all that, but “Grand Master of the Slushy Barrens” has a nice ring to it ….

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New Story: 'Memorial at Copernicus'

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My story, “Memorial at Copernicus,” went live today at Redstone Science Fiction.


(Redstone Science Fiction logo. Click to enlarge.)

It’s a brief alternate history tale that takes place (of course) on the Moon; specifically, near Copernicus Crater. Here’s the direct link if you want to check it out — I hope you enjoy it!

Also today, I completed a long-overdue web redesign.

Let me know what you think!

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Space History from 1610 (and later)

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Four hundred years ago this week — in 1610 — Galileo Galilei turned his telescope toward Saturn and observed the giant planet’s rings. He didn’t recognize them as rings, however.


(Hubble Space Telescope edge-on view of Saturn’s rings. NASA image.)

(N.B. I’ve found three different dates for the event: today, July 30; July 25; and July 15. July 25th shows up more often than the other dates, so I feel safe in saying “this week.”)

Galileo’s telescope was not powerful enough to resolve the rings; they appeared as separate bodies on either side of Saturn. Galileo wrote that “the star of Saturn is not a single star, but is a composite of three, which almost touch each other, never change or move relative to each other, and are arranged in a row along the zodiac, the middle one being three times larger than the two lateral ones, and they are situated in this form o O o.”

In his 1612 observation they were gone entirely, because he was viewing them edge-on as in the Hubble image above. In 1616 he observed them again and they appeared as two half-ellipses. He did not recognize them as rings even then: that explanation came from Christaan Huygens in 1655.

[BREAK, BREAK]

Moving forward to the last century, 55 years ago today (July 30, 1955) the Soviet Union announced its plan to launch a satellite — which the world came to know later as Sputnik — as part of the upcoming International Geophysical Year.

And on this date in 1965 — 45 years ago — NASA launched Saturn-10 from Cape Canaveral, carrying the third Pegasus micrometeroid detection satellite and Apollo Boiler Plate BP-9.

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Spacelab Mission, Plus Space History Tidbits

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Twenty-five years ago today — July 29, 1985 — the Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-51F. During the launch, the number one main engine shut down ahead of schedule; NASA declared an “Abort To Orbit,” but was able to re-plan the mission to complete all of its objectives.

Astronauts Charles G. Fullerton, Roy D. Bridges, Karl G. Henize, Anthony W. England, F. Story Musgrave, Loren W. Acton and John-David E Bartoe conducted life sciences, plasma physics, astronomy, and other experiments in the Spacelab-2 module before returning to earth on August 6th. They landed at Edwards Air Force Base.


(STS-51F landing at Edwards AFB (August 6, 1985). NASA image.)

(Of personal interest: When we were stationed at Edwards later in the 80s, General Bridges was the AF Flight Test Center commander. We only met him a couple of times, but his son was part of the Protestant Youth of the Chapel group we helped lead.)

Now, for those space history tidbits:

On July 29, 1955 — 55 years ago today — the White House announced the upcoming International Geophysical Year (IGY), for which the U.S. planned to launch a satellite. As you know, the Soviets’ Sputnik beat us to it.

Around this date 50 years ago — one source said July 29, another July 28 — NASA announced that the program aimed at the moon would be named “Apollo.” The name had actually been suggested six months earlier by NASA engineer Abe Silverstein. (Note that this was before President Kennedy was elected, and therefore long before he announced his support of the lunar landing program.)

Finally, on this date 50 years ago — July 29, 1960 — the first unmanned Mercury launch was attempted from Cape Canaveral. Mercury-Atlas-1 (MA-1) exploded at about eight miles altitude. We still had a long way to go.

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Unintended Humor in the Slush Pile

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The latest chapter in “what not to do” as an aspiring author.*

I find it interesting how many authors craft a cover letter that describes their book in superlative terms (“thrilling,” “magnificent,” “interesting,” etc.) and doesn’t provide any details about the story: nothing about the main characters and the hardships they endure, lessons they learn, or worlds they save. Don’t do that. Show us your terrific story, don’t tell us how terrific it is.

But rarely does a submission make me laugh out loud at its sheer hubris. One recent entry managed it, though: It started off in the familiar and disappointing descriptive-rather-than-detailed fashion, a little on the boastful side but not arrogant, until the first thing behind the cover letter wasn’t a chapter or a synopsis, but a contract.

That’s right, this author presented their own contract to their prospective publisher, with terms more typical for non-fiction than fiction but covering such things as manuscript delivery, subsidiary rights, and the advance.

That’s when I laughed, a full-blown guffaw that echoed in the room: when I saw the six-figure advance the author expected for their not-that-interesting debut novel.

It felt good to laugh, but I’m sure that’s not what the author wanted to happen.

So, since it seems this piece of advice doesn’t “go without saying,” I will say it: Authors, don’t specify your own advance. Wait to see if the publisher is interested enough to offer you one.

Be wary of unintended humor in your submission.

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*Yes, I’m aware that, as an aspiring novelist myself, my advice probably isn’t worth very much. Use with caution.

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Micro-Fiction

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THAUMATROPE, a “a Twitter fiction magazine for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror fiction under 140 characters,” published my micro-fiction submission yesterday.

There’s no good way to excerpt from something only 140 characters long — I’m not even sure how to title the thing — and it’s probably just as quick if I provide the link: Check it out here.

If you’re on Twitter, you can follow THAUMATROPE for more micro-fiction at http://twitter.com/thaumatrope. You can also follow my ramblings at http://twitter.com/GrayRinehart.

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First Launch from Cape Canaveral, 50 Years Ago

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A half-century ago today — July 24, 1950 — the U.S. conducted its first Cape Canaveral launch.


(Bumper-8 launch. NASA image. Note how close the people are to the launch pad, and the gantry that looks like standard construction scaffolding.)

The rocket was called a Bumper, and consisted of a single-stage V-2 rocket with a Wac Corporal rocket installed as a second stage. Several Bumper vehicles had been successfully launched from the White Sands Missile Range, but this was the first-ever launch from Cape Canaveral.

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