Tag Archives: launch

Mapping the Early Universe

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Ten years ago today — June 30, 2001 — a Delta-II rocket out of Cape Canaveral launched a mission to study the mysteries of the very early universe.


(A graphical representation of the growth of the universe, with WMAP at the far right. NASA image.)

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or WMAP, was originally simply the MAP — it was renamed in February 2003 after cosmologist David T. Wilkinson.

In August 2001, WMAP arrived at the L2 LaGrange point, a quasi-stable point on the other side of the Earth from the Sun, about five times farther away from the Earth than the Moon. WMAP operated in a halo orbit around the L2 point, scanning the sky over its 7-year operational life.

Among its other accomplishments, WMAP mapped the cosmic microwave background radiation from the early universe, and produced data to determine that the universe is about 13.73 billion years old (plus or minus 120 million years). Its other findings are catalogued on this WMAP page, which also includes quotes from leading researchers.

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PAGEOS: Triangulation Target in Space

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Forty-five years ago today — June 23, 1966 — the Passive Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite was launched by a Thor-Agena rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.


(Test inflation of PAGEOS. Note the relative sizes of the trucks and people in the lower right. The test took place in a blimp hangar in Weeksville, North Carolina. NASA image from Wikimedia Commons.)

The PAGEOS was an inflatable sphere exactly 100 feet (30.48 meters) in diameter, made of aluminized mylar. Being highly reflective, it was used as a tracking target by ground stations; triangulating on the spacecraft, since its orbit was known to a high degree of accuracy, allowed the ground stations to improve the accuracy of world survey maps.

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Microgravity Science Aboard Shuttle Columbia

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Fifteen years ago today — June 20, 1996 — Space Shuttle Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center on an international mission to perform a series of scientific experiments in microgravity.


(STS-78 launch. NASA image.)

Mission STS-78 carried U.S. astronauts Terence T. Henricks, Kevin R. Kregel, Susan J. Helms, Richard M. Linnehan, and Charles E. Brady, Jr., along with French astronaut Jean-Jacques Favier and Canadian astronaut Robert Brent Thirsk. The crew carried out experiments in the Spacelab module, designated LMS-1 as the Life and Microgravity Spacelab.

In addition to the U.S., French, and Canadian participation, the European Space Agency and Italian Space Agency also provided some of the experiments that made up the LMS-1 payload. The experiments ranged from the effects of microgravity on the astronauts themselves to studying the formation and behavior of metals, crystals, and fluids in low-gravity conditions.

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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.

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

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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 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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Mars-3 Launches, to Follow Mars-2

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Forty years ago today — May 28, 1971 — the USSR launched the Mars-3 probe.

With the identical Mars-2 mission already on its way, Mars-3 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to follow it to the red planet. Once it arrived, on December 2, 1971, Mars-3 became the first craft to make a soft landing on the surface of Mars. However, perhaps because of a raging dust storm at the time of landing, it only operated for about 20 seconds before contact was lost.

Interestingly, the Mars-2 and Mars-3 missions were even more ambitious than just placing landers on the surface. Each lander also carried a small robot that was intended to “walk” on the Martian surface on a set of skis, taking radiation measurements along the way.

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Remembering ENDEAVOUR … plus, the First Martian Impact

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While the Space Shuttle Endeavour is in orbit on its final flight, it seems fitting that we remember that 15 years ago today — May 19, 1996 — Endeavour launched from the Kennedy Space Center on another mission.


(The Inflatable Antenna Experiment, after deployment. NASA image.)

Mission STS-77 carried U.S. astronauts John H. Casper, Curtis L. Brown, Daniel W. Bursch, Mario Runco, Jr., and Andrew S. W. Thomas, and Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau. The astronauts conducted a variety of experiments, including deploying the free-flying Inflatable Antenna Experiment, which at its full size was as big as a tennis court.

Here’s wishing the best to the current crew of Endeavour as they carry out their mission to the International Space Station.

Also in today’s space history, 40 years ago the Mars-2 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. On its approach to Mars in November 1971, it released a lander that “entered the Martian atmosphere at roughly 6.0 km/s at a steeper angle than planned” and crashed: the first human-built article to reach the surface of Mars.

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