Tag Archives: moon

Space History: Once More to the Moon!

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Actually, twice more, a few years apart: once for the Soviets, once for us.

Today was quite a busy day in space history: 50 years ago — on January 31, 1961 — the reconnaissance satellite Samos-2 launched from the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range (now part of Vandenberg AFB) , while a few hours earlier Mercury Redstone-2 had launched from Cape Canaveral, carrying Ham the chimpanzee. Ham performed well despite enduring higher g-forces than planned and an accidental cabin depressurization.

But as for the lunar missions …

Five years later, on this date in 1966, the Soviet Union launched Luna-9 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Luna-9 was the first craft to successfully make a “soft landing” on the Moon, and sent back several panoramic images of the lunar surface.

But the main event on this day in space history occurred 40 years ago today — January 31, 1971 — when Apollo-14 launched from the Kennedy Space Center carrying astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Stuart A. Roosa, and Edgar D. Mitchell.


(Alan Shepard, during the Apollo-14 mission to the Moon. NASA image.)

Roosa stayed aboard the Command and Service Module “Kitty Hawk” while Shepard and Mitchell descended to the surface in the Lunar Module “Antares”. They landed in the Fra Mauro highlands, where Apollo-13 was supposed to land, and spent over 30 hours there — including over 9 hours exploring the surface.

I could go into various personal science fictional tie-ins to today’s space history, but I get tired of self-promotion. So I think today it’s best to let the day’s accomplishments stand on their own.

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Under the Dark Full Moon

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Did you get to see the lunar eclipse early this morning?

Instead of staying up late to see the beginning of the eclipse, I decided to get up early to catch it at its darkest. I didn’t even have to set an alarm; I rolled out of bed a little after 3 a.m., tossed on my sweats, and stepped outside to see … clouds.

The clouds were especially dark, in the approximate place where the Moon would have been. Normally a full Moon would shine through the clouds, but not last night.

I failed at going back to sleep, so around 4 a.m. I took a walk under the clouds and the invisible Moon. About halfway through my walk the clouds thinned enough that I thought I saw the limb of the Moon, recently unshadowed. Then the clouds re-asserted themselves and I completed my walk, and when I returned I thankfully got to sleep for a little while.

I hope you had better luck with your eclipse-viewing!

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Mercury-Redstone-1A

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Fifty years ago today — December 19, 1960 — the first Mercury-Redstone capsule was sent into space.


(Mercury-Redstone-1A launch. NASA image.)

MR-1A was a suborbital flight from Cape Canaveral, designated “1A” because MR-1 had failed its launch attempt in November. This flight was intended to qualify the systems for eventual orbital flights, and it achieved all the mission objectives.

This particular launch — and especially the name of that launch vehicle — presents a good opportunity for a plug for Redstone Science Fiction, the new online magazine that published my story, “Memorial at Copernicus.” Shameless, I know … but I can live with that.

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Gemini-VII: Another Step Toward the Moon

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Forty-five years ago today — December 5, 1965 — astronauts Frank Borman and James A. Lovell, Jr. were orbiting the earth in their Gemini capsule.


(The full Moon seen above the limb of the Earth, taken from Gemini-7 on December 8, 1965. NASA image.)

Gemini-7 actually launched 45 years ago yesterday, from Cape Canaveral atop a Titan launch vehicle. (It’s also known as Gemini-Titan-7.)

Borman and Lovell spent 2 weeks in orbit, and performed the first space rendezvous with Gemini-6, which was supposed to launch first but was delayed by a problem with its Titan booster.

Stationkeeping maneuvers involving the spacecraft circling each other and approaching and backing off continued for 5 hours 19 minutes over three and a half orbits. During the maneuvers, all four astronauts on both spacecraft took turns in the formation flying activities and photographs were taken from both spacecraft. This marked the first time two spacecraft were maneuvered with respect to each other by their crews.

Read more about the program at this Gemini history page.

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The First Moon Rover

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Forty years ago today — November 10, 1970 — the Luna-17 mission launched on a Proton-K rocket out of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.


(Sketch of Luna-17. Image from the National Space Science Data Center.)

Luna 17 landed in Mare Imbrium (the “Sea of Rains”), where it deployed the first Moon Rover, Lunokhod-1.

A team on Earth directed Lunokhod-1 by remote control as it took photos and soil samples. The rover was only intended to operate for 3 months — i.e., 3 lunar days — but it ended up working for 11 months, until operations ended on the anniversary of Sputnik-1.

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A Landmark Day for Space Robots

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Forty years ago today — September 12, 1970 — the Soviet Union launched the first fully-robotic mission to retrieve a sample from a celestial body and return it to the Earth.


(Luna-16. NASA image.)

Luna-16 launched on a Proton-K rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It landed on the Moon and collected its sample on the 20th of September. The next day, it launched its return package, which parachuted to a safe landing in Kazakhstan on the 24th.

The United States had already carried out two Lunar sample return missions, Apollo-11 and Apollo-12. Luna-16 marked the first time a sample return mission was accomplished remotely, by a robotic system.

For more on the Luna-16 mission, see this NASA solar system exploration page.

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An Observation on Publishing, Formulated at Dragon*Con

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At various conventions over the last several years I’ve worked at the Baen Books “Traveling Show.” I usually hand out things or help set up, and it’s always fun to see how exuberant Baen fans can be when they learn what’s coming soon from their favorite authors. This year at Dragon*Con Senior Editor Jim Minz ran the slide show, since Publisher Toni Weisskopf was in Australia for WorldCon, and the whole thing went very well.

During Dragon*Con I also attended similar shows by other publishers, to keep abreast of what to expect from the industry as a whole. I went to the Pyr, Del Ray, and Tor presentations, and in sum got a good look at what science fiction and fantasy publishers are buying.

Unfortunately, they’re not buying much of anything like what I’ve written. The only near-future, realistic science fiction I recall from any of the four presentations was Back to the Moon by Travis Taylor and Les Johnson, coming out from Baen in December. I saw a lot of fantasy, of many different descriptions, a lot of steampunk and alternate history, and even some hard science fiction, but only that one book tells a story that could happen in the next few decades.

I can’t help but feel that a subset of science fiction fans would like to read positive, realistic, near-future stories about folks exploring and colonizing our Solar system, but publishers don’t seem to buying stories like that. I guess I’ll have to keep track of how Back to the Moon does, to see whether or not my Walking on the Sea of Clouds has as much of an audience as I think it could.

I’d love to hear other opinions. What kinds of stories do you think readers would like, that publishers aren’t providing right now?

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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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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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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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