Category Archives: Space

A Lifting Body and a 'Misty' Launch

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Two space history anniversaries today:

Forty years ago today — May 9, 1969 — John A. Manke flew the HL-10 lifting body in its first supersonic flight at the Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base.

(HL-10 on the Edwards AFB lakebed, with B-52 flyover. NASA photo ECN-2203. Click to enlarge.)

And fifteen years ago — May 9, 1994 — a Scout rocket launched from Vandenberg AFB carrying the second Miniature Sensor Technology Integration spacecraft: MSTI-2, pronounced “Misty-two.” I was stationed at Vandy at the time, though I confess I don’t remember that particular launch.

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Space History: Magellan, Mission to Venus

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Twenty years ago today — May 4, 1989 — the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-30. Astronauts David M. Walker, Ronald J. Grabe, Norman E. Thagard, Mary L. Cleave, and Mark C. Lee deployed the Magellan spacecraft on its voyage to map the planet Venus.

(STS-30 mission patch. Click to enlarge.)

The Magellan mission used synthetic aperture radar to map 98% of the planet’s surface before contact with the spacecraft was lost in October 1994. More information about the mission is available on this NASA page.

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Gravity Probe-B Launch Anniversary, Plus Two Launches

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Five years ago today — April 20, 2004 — NASA’s Gravity Probe-B spacecraft was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB. The mission carried four gyroscopes that were

the most perfect spheres ever made by humans. If these ping pong-sized balls of fused quartz and silicon were the size of the Earth, the elevation of the entire surface would vary by no more than 12 feet.

according to this NASA page. The mission was designed to test Einstein’s theory of space-time, and especially the effects of a rotating mass like the Earth on space-time. It collected date for 17 months, but solar flares and other glitches corrupted some of the data according to this report.

In more recent launch news, the Indians launched an Israeli-built spy satellite and Sea Launch launched a military communications satellite for Italy.

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First X-24 Flight, Forty Years Ago

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Forty years ago today — April 17, 1969 — Air Force test pilot Jerauld R. Gentry flew the X-24 lifting body demonstrator on its first glide flight at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, California. The X-24 program investigated the flight regime of unpowered vehicles returning from space, and provided important data for developing the Space Shuttle.

(NASA Image ECN-2006. Click to enlarge.)

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Space Station Node Honors Lunar Landing

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NASA accepted a write-in suggestion for the name of the new Space Station node, but not the one that earned the most votes. Instead of being named “Colbert” after comedian Stephen Colbert, the node will be named “Tranquility” after the Apollo-11 landing site. And a creative NASA acronym-meister figured out a way to name the station’s new treadmill the COLBERT. (Here’s the Spaceflight Now story.)

I think it’s fitting, even though I voted for “Serenity.”

And it’s appropriate to honor Apollo-11 this year, since this summer will be the 40th anniversary of that landing.

Of course, this would also be the perfect year to publish my novel of lunar survival, tentatively titled WALKING ON THE SEA OF CLOUDS, except for one small detail: I didn’t get it written in time. And the revision I was supposed to have done today? Ha! Maybe by the end of the month, though I’m going to try to finish it sooner.

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Challenger Launch, 25 Years Ago

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Twenty-five years ago today — April 6, 1984 — the Space Shuttle Challenger launched from the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-41C. , 8:58 a.m., EST, KSC. Astronauts Robert L. Crippen, Francis R. Scobee, Terry J. Hart, George D. Nelson, and James Van Hoften launched the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF)-1 launched and performed the first in-orbit spacecraft repair on the Solar Max satellite.


(NASA image of STS-41C launch.)

[BREAK, BREAK]

The past few days, I’ve seen a lot of space-related news stories — the North Korean launch failure, the possibility that Congress might start letting U.S. companies sell militarily critical space technology, etc. — so I posted some of them in the Space Warfare Forum for anyone who might be interested.

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50 Years Ago: The Dawn of Project Mercury

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Project Mercury was announced in 1958, but 50 years ago this month the astronauts were selected and presented to the public. I found two different selection dates — April 1st, according to this NASA page about the 40th anniversary, and April 2nd, according to this NASA list of anniversaries.*


(NASA publicity photo of the Mercury Seven)

All sources agree that the “Mercury Seven” astronauts were announced at a NASA press conference on April 9, 1959. They were Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., John H. Glenn, Jr., Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Donald K. “Deke” Slayton.

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*From which I get the space anniversaries I want to highlight here on the blog.

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Today in Space History: Shuttle Delivery

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Thirty years ago today — March 24, 1979 — the Space Shuttle Columbia was transported to Kennedy Space Center, marking the first time a shuttle was delivered to the launch base. It was carried atop a modified Boeing 747 as shown in the attached image.*

(NASA Photo EC01-0055-1. Click to enlarge.)

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*The image is of a later flight, in March 2001.

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Space History — Shuttle Launches With TDRS

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Twenty years ago today — March 13, 1989 — Space Shuttle Discovery launched from KSC on mission STS-29. Astronauts Michael L. Coats, John E. Blaha, James P. Bagian, James F. Buchli, and Robert C. Springer launched the TDRS-4 satellite to complete the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite constellation. The crew landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California on March 18th.

Unfortunately, I can’t remember if that was one of the landings I watched. I know it wasn’t one of the landings I worked as part of the AFFTC recovery crew; somewhere I have the mission emblems from those four landings, framed together, and the STS-29 mission emblem isn’t among them.*

And finally, if you’re interested, here’s a little bit about TDRS.
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*I should take that memento to my office and hang it up, but that would require finding it first.

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