First Successful Landing on Mars

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Forty years ago today — December 2, 1971 — the Soviet Mars-3 lander made the first successful soft landing on the Red Planet.


(Mars-3 lander model at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Russia. Image from the National Space Science Data Center.)

Mars-3 had been launched on May 28th (see this space history blog entry), hot on the heels of Mars-2. When Mars-3 landed, Mars-2 had already become the first manmade object to reach the Martian surface.

Mars-3’s landing, in contrast to Mars-2’s, went smoothly. Once the petals opened and it began transmitting, however,

After 20 seconds, at 13:52:25, transmission stopped for unknown reasons and no further signals were received at Earth from the martian surface. It is not known whether the fault originated with the lander or the communications relay on the orbiter. A partial panoramic image returned showed no detail and a very low illumination of 50 lux. The cause of the failure may have been related to the extremely powerful martian dust storm taking place at the time which may have induced a coronal discharge, damaging the communications system. The dust storm would also explain the poor image lighting.

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Part of the Profession

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Meet the newest Active member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America: me.

It’s nice to check that off the “writing career” list —

  • First story sale … CHECK (2007)
  • First professional story sale … CHECK (2010)
  • SFWA qualification (3 pro stories or a novel) … CHECK

— especially as my entry into SFWA was a little unconventional. I originally joined as an Affiliate member, based on my work with Baen Books, since I hadn’t yet made any qualifying sales of my fiction. Even my first professional-level story, “Memorial at Copernicus,” didn’t qualify me for Associate membership because Redstone Science Fiction was too new and had not yet been recognized as a professional market.

Of all the professional organizations I’ve joined at various times in my life (e.g., Air Force Association, American Society for Quality Control [now just ‘ASQ’]) SFWA’s entrance qualifications were the hardest to meet. Now that they’ve let me in, I’m reminded of the Groucho Marx bit — wondering if I should be leery of joining a group that would have me as a member — especially as I feel more like a lucky hack than a professional. Maybe it’s something I have to live up to.

Of course, this doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. To paraphrase one of my parents’ favorite sayings, to account for inflation and personal preference: that and a buck will buy me a diet soda.*

So, on to the next thing: finishing the next story.

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*Even though “That and 50 cents will buy you a cup of coffee” sounds better, since I don’t drink coffee I’m not sure how many places still sell it for 50 cents.

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Two Chimps: One an Astronaut, One a Writer

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Fifty years ago today — November 29, 1961 — NASA launched the last “orbital qualification flight” for the Mercury program.


(Enos, the Mercury-Atlas 5 passenger. NASA image.)

Mission Mercury-Atlas 5 carried a chimpanzee, Enos, that “performed various psychomotor activities during the flight and was found to be in excellent physical condition following splashdown.” Enos was supposed to make three orbits around the Earth, but mission controllers brought him back after only two orbits because of a propulsion system problem.

(Aside: Lucky chimp, got to be an astronaut.)

As for the writer chimp, that would be me.

Usually, when it comes to literary primates, I think about hypothetical monkeys at typewriters, trying to produce Shakespeare; you too may be familiar with the infinite monkey theorem.* But monkeys have tails, and we already have Shakespeare, so I’ll live with the chimp metaphor.

Anyway, yesterday marked another metaphorical milestone for me in terms of my writing career, such as it is: I sent in my contracts — and, perhaps more important, my money — to upgrade to “Active” membership in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.

Soon, then, even though my fiction doesn’t come close to paying the bills, I may be considered a “professional” writer.

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*An even more entertaining Wikipedia entry: the infinite monkey theorem in popular culture.

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Space History: Apollo Enters the 'Hardware Phase'

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Fifty years ago today — November 28, 1961 — North American Aviation won the prime contract to develop the Apollo Command & Service Module.


(Apollo-15 Command & Service Module, in lunar orbit. NASA image from Wikimedia Commons.)

This NASA history page has an interesting run-down of the competition and the source selection. The contract was critical to the overall Apollo effort:

The prime spacecraft contractor would develop and build the command module, service propulsion module, adapter (to fit the spacecraft to a space laboratory for earth-orbital flights and to the lunar landing propulsion section for lunar missions), and ground support equipment.


(Diagram of the Command Module interior. NASA image from Wikimedia Commons.)

While 14 companies received the request for proposal, in the final source selection North American Aviation competed against only General Dynamics Astronautics, General Electric, the Martin Company, and McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. Each company submitted a detailed technical and program management package in October 1961, which “were scrutinized and evaluated by more than a hundred specialists.”

The Martin Company actually had the highest aggregate rating from the source evaluation board, but North American Aviation had scored highest in technical qualifications and had “the longest record of close association with NACA-NASA and the most straightforward advance into space flight.” That apparently won the day for them, although Martin employees had been told — erroneously, as it turned out — on the 27th that they had won the contract.

With this contract, the Command & Service Module was the first part of the Apollo system to enter the “hardware phase.”

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Happy Thanksgiving! Oh, and Some Space History

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Wishing you and yours a most Happy Thanksgiving!

Walking the dog this morning, I thought about things for which I’m thankful — the list is long, and I’m sure I didn’t think of everything. More things are coming to mind even as I type this.

I think it’s good for us to pause, reflect, and express appreciation for what we have — especially family and friends — rather than being bitter and resentful over things we don’t have. The Apostle Paul wrote that he had learned how to be content in every situation;* I’m not quite there yet, but I hope to be.

So, may we all find things for which we can be truly thankful, today and every day.

[BREAK, BREAK]

Now, the promised “Space History”…

Twenty years ago today — November 24, 1991 — the Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on a Department of Defense mission.


(DSP satellite being tilted to its predeployment position in the shuttle’s payload bay. NASA image.)

During mission STS-44, astronauts Frederick D. Gregory, Terence T. “Tom” Henricks, James S. Voss, Story F. Musgrave, Thomas J. Hennan, and Mario Runco deployed the third Defense Support Program (DSP) missile warning satellite.

Without going into too much detail, DSP satellites stare at the earth, looking for the infrared signatures of rocket exhaust that would indicate ballistic missile launches.

Which, if nothing else, perhaps we can all be thankful for eyes in the sky that are watching out for sneak attacks.

___
*Philippians chapter 4.

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It's Official, for My Part: Story Sale to Asimov's

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I’ve mentioned this before in other contexts, but now that I’ve signed the contract it feels more real: my short story “Sensitive, Compartmented” is slated to appear in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

They currently plan to run the story in the April/May 2012 double issue.

For those of a military or Intelligence Community bent, the title should be suggestive. But not only in the way they might think.

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Free-Flying Space Experiments

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Fifteen years ago today — November 19, 1996 — the Space Shuttle Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center carrying a spacecraft with a really long acronym.


(STS-80 launch. NASA image.)

Mission STS-80 carried the “Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrograph-Shuttle Pallet Satellite II,” known also as ORFEUS-SPAS II, a free-flying research spacecraft built in Germany. It also carried the Wake Shield Facility on its third flight. Both free-flying payloads were deployed, completed their experiments, and were retrieved without incident.

Astronauts Kenneth D. Cockrell, Kent V. Rominger, Tamara E. Jernigan, Thomas D. Jones, and F. Story Musgrave spent 17 days in space, carrying out all the planned experiments except for two spacewalks that were cancelled because of a problem with the shuttle’s hatch.

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Second Shuttle Shakedown

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Thirty years ago today — November 12, 1981 — astronauts Joe H. Engle and Richard H. Truly launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.


(STS-2 launch. NASA image.)

Mission STS-2 began at 10:10 a.m. EST at Kennedy Space Center, and ended a little over 48 hours later — having been cut short by three days — when Engle and Truly landed at Edwards Air Force Base. Mission controllers ended the flight early because one of the shuttle’s fuel cells failed, reducing the amount of electricity and fresh water available; nevertheless, the crew achieved most of the mission objectives.

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Last Gemini Launch

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Forty-five years ago today — November 11, 1966 — Gemini XII launched from Cape Canaveral atop a Titan-II rocket.


(Gemini-12 astronaut “Buzz” Aldrin outside the capsule during an EVA. NASA image.)

Gemini-12 astronauts James A. Lovell, Jr. and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., spent 4 busy days in space, completing three extra-vehicular activities (EVA) — including one full-up “spacewalk” — as well as docking with a target vehicle, an Agena that was launched less than 2 hours earlier.

During one of the spacecraft’s orbits on November 12th, the crew were able to take pictures of a total eclipse that was visible in the Southern Hemisphere.

With the completion of the Gemini program, the U.S. space program turned its full attention to Apollo and the Moon.

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