Tag Archives: launch

Satellite Triple Play, Plus One

By | |
Comments Off on Satellite Triple Play, Plus One

Twenty-five years ago today — August 27, 1985 — astronauts Joe H. Engle, Richard O. Covey, James D. Van Hoften, William F. Fisher and John M. Lounge lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.


(Unidentified STS-51I astronaut in the Shuttle Discovery’s open cargo bay. NASA image.)

Mission STS-51I lasted a week, during which the crew deployed three communications satellites: American Satellite Company 1 (ASC-1), Australian Communications Satellite 1 (AUSSAT-1), and Synchronous Communications Satellite IV-4 (SYNCOM-IV-4), also known as LEASAT-4 because most of its communications capacity was to be leased out to the military.

The crew also retrieved SYNCOM-IV-3 (LEASAT-3), which had been launched the previous April by STS-5lD but had failed to activate. As described on this Boeing page,

After attaching special electronics assemblies to LEASAT 3 during two days of space walks, astronauts manually launched the satellite again. The electronics allowed ground controllers to turn on the satellite and, at the end of October, fire its perigee rocket and send LEASAT 3 into orbit.

While LEASAT-3’s repair was a success, LEASAT-4 developed its own problems. The satellite reached its intended orbit, but its ultra high frequency (UHF) downlink failed during testing and it was declared a total loss.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Gemini-V

By | |
Comments Off on Gemini-V

Forty-five years ago today — August 21, 1965 — astronauts Gordon L. Cooper, Jr., and Charles P. “Pete” Conrad, Jr. launched from Cape Canaveral on the Gemini-V mission.


(Gemini-V launch. NASA image.)

Cooper and Conrad spent eight days in space, evaluating the effects of prolonged weightlessness and testing rendezvous capabilities and maneuvers in advance of the Apollo missions to the Moon.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Going A-Viking to the Red Planet

By | |
Comments Off on Going A-Viking to the Red Planet

We haven’t really gone “a-viking” to another world (yet), but 35 years ago today — August 20, 1975 — we did launch the Viking-1 mission from Cape Canaveral. Viking-2 was launched a few weeks later, on September 9th.


(Viking-1 image of Chryse Planitia, looking northwest over the lander’s radioisotope thermal generator (RTG) cover. NASA image, August 30, 1976.)

Launched by Titan-IIIE boosters, the Viking missions each consisted of a lander and an orbiter. In addition to cameras that returned stunning images of the Martian landscape, the Viking landers carried instruments to study the Martian surface in terms of biology, chemical composition, meteorology, seismology, and other properties.

Viking-1 entered Mars orbit on June 19, 1976. The orbiter and lander orbited Mars together for a month while the orbiter took images which NASA used to select a landing site. The lander and orbiter separated and the lander descended to the surface on July 20th.

Other than the failure of the seismometer and difficulty with a stuck locking pin on the sampler arm, all of the experiments on the Viking-1 lander performed well. The lander “was named the Thomas Mutch Memorial Station in January 1982 in honor of the leader of the Viking imaging team.” Contact with Viking-1 was lost on November 13, 1982.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Space Goes to the Dogs … No, the Other Way Around

By | |
Comments Off on Space Goes to the Dogs … No, the Other Way Around

Fifty years ago today — August 19, 1960 — the USSR launched Sputnik-5 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.


(Strelka, shown in a television image from Sputnik-5. Image from the National Space Science Data Center. The raster lines in the TV signal give the image an interesting quality.)

Sputnik-5 carried two dogs, “Strelka” and “Belka,” into orbit to test Russian systems intended for their manned space program.

Sputnik-5 and its canine crew spent one day in orbit, after which the spacecraft and dogs de-orbited and were successfully recovered. This marked the first time a “biologic payload” was brought back safely from orbit.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

First Successful CORONA Mission

By | |
Comments Off on First Successful CORONA Mission

Fifty years ago today — August 18, 1960 — Discoverer-14 launched from Vandenberg AFB. It was known to the public by that name, but to insiders in what would become the National Reconnaissance Office it was known as CORONA Mission 9009.


(Aerial recovery of Discoverer-14. USAF image from Wikimedia Commons.)

Discoverer-14 was the first CORONA mission in which the film canisters were successfully recovered from orbit.

The National Space Science Data Center describes the film recovery process:

Over Alaska on the 17th pass around the earth, the Agena ejected Discoverer 14 from its nose and retrorockets attached to the reentry vehicle fired to slow it for the return from orbit. After Discoverer 14 reentered the atmosphere, it released a parachute and floated earthward. The descending parachute was sighted 360 miles southeast of Honolulu, Hawaii, by the crew of a US Air Force C-119 recovery aircraft from the 6593rd Test Squardon based at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. On the C-119’s third pass over the parachute, the recovery gear trailing behind the aircraft successfully snagged the parachute canopy. A winch operator aboard the C-119 then reeled in the Discoverer after its 27-hour, 450,000 mile journey through space. This was the first successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite and the first aerial recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit.

The NSSDC also notes that “38 Discoverer satellites were launched by February 1962,” although the CORONA project itself continued until 1972. CORONA was declassified in 1995.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Venus Lander Launched, Four Decades Ago

By | |
Comments Off on Venus Lander Launched, Four Decades Ago

Forty years ago today — August 17, 1970 — the USSR launched the Venera-7 mission from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.


(Venera-7 capsule. Image from the National Space Science Data Center.)

Venera-7 landed on Venus on December 15, 1970, and was “the first man-made object to return data after landing on another planet.”

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

An Echo in Space, and a Mission to Mars

By | |
Comments Off on An Echo in Space, and a Mission to Mars

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.

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

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

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

By | |
Comments Off on Spy Satellite Proof-of-Concept Launch, 50 Years Ago

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Spacelab Mission, Plus Space History Tidbits

By | |
Comments Off on Spacelab Mission, Plus Space History Tidbits

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

First Launch from Cape Canaveral, 50 Years Ago

By | |
Comments Off on First Launch from Cape Canaveral, 50 Years Ago

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather