Tag Archives: space history

A Bleak Day in Space History: The Apollo-1 Tragedy

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Some space history moments we might rather forget … but in some ways they’re more important to remember. Like this one.

Forty-five years ago today — January 27, 1967 — the Apollo-1 capsule caught fire during an on-pad test, killing astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee.


(The Apollo-1 crew. L-R: White, Grissom, Chaffee. NASA image.)

Originally known as AS-204 (Apollo-Saturn-204), the mission was scheduled to be launched on February 21st. The test being run was officially known as the Space Vehicle Plugs-Out Integrated Test, Operational Checkout Procedures (OCP) FO-K-0021-1, and was intended to “demonstrate all space vehicle systems and operational procedures in as near a flight configuration as is practical and to verify their capability in a simulated launch.” The specific objectives were:

  • To verify overall spacecraft/launch vehicle compatibility and demonstrate proper function of spacecraft systems with all umbilicals and Ground Support Equipment disconnected.
  • To verify no electrical interference at the time of umbilical disconnect.
  • To verify astronaut emergency egress procedures (unaided egress) at the conclusion of the test.

That last objective was actually added by the astronauts themselves, “because a subsequent test, Countdown Demonstration, would involve a fully fueled Launch Vehicle and this latter test was identified as hazardous.”

Unfortunately, few if any of the operators and engineers had considered how hazardous the Plugs-Out test conditions would turn out to be.

The Review Board’s Findings, Determinations And Recommendations found that power failed in the capsule momentarily, and several electrical arcs occurred but “no single ignition source of the fire was conclusively identified.”

The most probable initiator was an electrical arc in the sector between -Y and +Z spacecraft axes. The exact location best fitting the total available information is near the floor in the lower forward section of the left-hand equipment bay where Environmental Control System (ECS) instrumentation power wiring leads into the area between the Environmental Control Unit (ECU) and the oxygen panel.

What made the Command Module more dangerous than anticipated were “many types and classes of combustible material in areas contiguous to possible ignition sources,” and the test being conducted “with a 16.7 pounds per square inch absolute, 100-percent oxygen atmosphere.” With respect to the spacecraft itself, the investigators found “deficiencies [in] design, workmanship and quality control,” some of which were:

  • Components of the Environmental Control System installed in Command Module 012 had a history of many removals and of technical difficulties including regulator failures, line failures and Environmental Control Unit failures. The design and installation features of the Environmental Control Unit makes removal or repair difficult.
  • Coolant leakage at solder joints has been a chronic problem.
  • The coolant is both corrosive and combustible.
  • Deficiencies in design, manufacture, installation, rework and quality control existed in the electrical wiring.
  • No vibration test was made of a complete flight-configured spacecraft.
  • Spacecraft design and operating procedures currently require the disconnecting of electrical connections while powered.
  • No design features for fire protection were incorporated.

When the fire started during the Plugs-Out test, it spread rapidly and increased the pressure in the capsule, which sealed the inner hatch so tightly that the crew could not open it. Eventually the Command Module actually ruptured, spreading fire into the surrounding structure, but by that time the crew had died “from asphyxia due to inhalation of toxic gases due to fire.”

The investigation into the accident led to many significant improvements in the vehicle design, as well as better test and flight procedures that made the ensuing Apollo missions much safer. It’s unfortunate that the cost of those lessons was so high, but that seems to be the case with many of the important lessons we learn.

May we never forget.

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Missing the Moon, 50 Years Ago: Ranger-3

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Fifty years ago today — January 26, 1962 — Ranger-3 launched from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas-Agena rocket.


(Ranger-3. NASA image.)

Ranger-3 had several mission goals, only the last of which would be fulfilled:

  • “Transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon”
  • “Rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon”
  • “Collect gamma-ray data in flight”
  • “Study radar reflectivity of the lunar surface”
  • “Continue testing of the Ranger program for development of lunar and interplanetary spacecraft”

The mission profile called for the Atlas-Agena to provide the initial boost toward the Moon, with one mid-course correction on the way. Unfortunately,

A malfunction in the booster guidance system resulted in excessive spacecraft speed. Reversed command signals caused the spacecraft to pitch in the wrong direction and the TM antenna to lose earth acquisition, and mid-course correction was not possible. Finally a spurious signal during the terminal maneuver prevented transmission of useful TV pictures. Ranger 3 missed the Moon by approximately 36,800 km on 28 January and is now in a heliocentric orbit.

Sounds like Mr. Murphy of the eponymous law paid the Ranger program a visit. But, to paraphrase my friend Bill Hixon, a test is worth a thousand expert opinions — and sometimes we learn more from failures than from successes.

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'Buckshot' Launch Attempt

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A half-century ago today — January 24, 1962 — a Thor AbleStar rocket out of Cape Canaveral attempted, but failed, to launch a group of five small satellites for the U.S. Navy.


(SOLRAD-1, the precursor to SOLRAD-4. US Navy image.)

The launch was called Composite-1, or “Buckshot,” and intended to launch:

  • SOLRAD-4 (Solar Radiation or SR-4) — intended to measure and analyze solar emissions, but also incorporating the GREB IV (Galactic Radiation Experimental Background, also known as Galactic Radiation and Background, or GRAB) reconnaissance payload
  • Lofti III — Low-Frequency Trans-Ionospheric satellite, a follow-on to Lofti-I
  • Injun-II — a University of Iowa payload to study the Van Allen radiation belt
  • Secor — Sequential Collation of Range, an experiment in geolocation
  • Surcal — Surveillance Calibration satellite, used to calibrate the Naval Space Surveillance system

According to the 02/01/62 issue of FLIGHT International, the launch failed because “the second stage of the Thor AbleStar failed to build up thrust after ignition.”

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International Microgravity Laboratory, Flight 1

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Twenty years ago today — January 22, 1992 — the Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center carrying the International Microgravity Laboratory on its maiden voyage.


(IML-1 spacelab module and tunnel in the shuttle’s payload bay. NASA image.)

The STS-42 crew — U.S. astronauts Ronald J. Grabe, Stephen S. Oswald, Norman E. Thagard, David C. Hilmers, and William F. Readdy, Canadian astronaut Roberta L. Bondar, and German astronaut Ulf D. Merbold — “was divided into two teams for around-the-clock research on the human nervous system’s adaptation to low gravity and the effects of microgravity on other life forms.” The crew also conducted materials processing experiments.

The IML-1 experiments were so successful that the mission was extended an exra day — after “mission managers concluded enough onboard consumables remained to extend the mission.”

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Flying Atlantis to Orbiting Peace

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Fifteen years ago today — January 12, 1997 — the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center to dock with the Mir (“peace”) space station.


(Shuttle Atlantis rolling out to the pad from the VAB [December 1996]. NASA image.)

Mission STS-81 astronauts Michael A. Baker, Brent W. Jett, Jr., John M. Grunsfeld, Marsha S. Ivins, Peter J. K. Wisoff, and Jerry M. Linenger docked with the Russian station; Linenger stayed behind, while Atlantis brought home astronaut John Blaha after his 4-month stay.

On a belated space history note, 45 years ago yesterday — January 11, 1967 — the Intelsat II F-2 communications satellite launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta rocket. It was positioned over the Pacific as the first fully-operational Intelsat II platform.

F-2 was the first Intelsat II satellite over the Pacific because its predecessor, F-1, did not reach its intended orbit. F-1’s “apogee engine thrust terminated approximately 4 seconds after ignition,” stranding the spacecraft in the wrong orbit.

Interestingly, an apogee engine malfunction nearly caused the loss of the USAF’s Advanced Extreme High Frequency (AEHF) satellite after its launch in July 2010. AEHF operators and engineers figured out an innovative orbit-raising sequence that rescued the spacecraft and put it in the proper operating position last October. Well done!

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India's Space Program Matures

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Five years ago today — January 10, 2007 — a PSLV-C7 rocket launched from Sriharikota, India, carrying four spacecraft including India’s first recoverable space capsule.


(CartoSat-2 remote sensing satellite. ISRO image.)

The largest of the four spacecraft was CartoSat-2, a three-axis-stabilized remote sensing platform with one-meter resolution. The SRE-1 technology demonstrator was the recoverable capsule, equipped with a heat shield for re-entry and a floatation system. SRE-1 “re-entered in the Bay of Bengal precisely as planned at 04:14 UT on 22 January at 150 km east of Sriharikota, and was hauled by a helicopter from a coast guard vessel.”

The other two spacecraft were LAPAN-Tubsat, a microsatellite built by Indonesia, and PehuenSat-1, a picosatellite from Argentina.

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Iowans, the Choice is Clear … And Here's Some Space History

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I suppose most Iowans who are disappointed with the field of potential Republican candidates — and let’s face it, the field as a whole has been pretty disappointing for the last several months — will just stay away from the caucuses, but here’s an alternative for the more daring: show up and support the Anti-Candidate!

As always, I’m available as your convenient throwaway write-in vote for any office, anywhere. I don’t make any promises, not even to show up for the job … that way I won’t be as much of a disappointment as your run-of-the-mill politicians.

And what other candidate offers you occasional space history items? None, I tell you!

Speaking of which: a half-century ago today — January 3, 1962 — NASA announced that its two-manned vehicle program, a major precursor to the eventual Apollo missions to the Moon, would be named “Gemini.” Up until that point it had been called Mercury Mark II, and NASA considered other names such as “Diana,” “Valiant,” and “Orpheus.” But Gemini it became.

For more on the names of NASA’s early missions, check out the “Origins of NASA Names”.

I’m the Anti-Candidate, and I approved this space history post.

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HL-10 Heavy Lifting Body, First Flight

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Forty-five years ago today — December 22, 1966 — the HL-10 made its first flight at the Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards AFB.


(The HL-10 coming in for its first landing. NASA image.)

The HL-10

was built by the Northrop Corporation as a “heavy” lifting body. “HL” stands for horizontal landing, and “10” refers to the tenth design studied by engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.

NASA research pilot Bruce Peterson made the first flight, which uncovered serious control problems in the craft. Solving those and similar problems on the various lifting body designs eventually made the Space Shuttle possible.

On a personal note, I love the fact that I got to live and work where all of this took place. Many years after the fact, of course, but it still had a high coefficient of “awesomosity.”

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Another STARSHINE, and a Descendant of BioSat

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A pair of small satellites launched on this date in space history …


(STARSHINE-2, released from the shuttle payload bay. NASA image, from Wikimedia Commons.)

First, 10 years ago today — December 16, 2001 — the crew of STS-108 released STARSHINE-2 while preparing for their return to Earth. Like its predecessors — STARSHINE-1 and STARSHINE-3 — this “microsatellite” was built with the help of students from around the world: students in 26 countries helped to polish the over 800 mirrors that studded the spacecraft’s surface, making the satellite highly reflective so they could track it in its orbit. The STARSHINE acronym stands for “Student Tracked Atmospheric Research Satellite Heuristic International Networking Experiment,” and more than 25,000 students participated in the project.

Five years later, on this date in 2006, a Minotaur rocket launched from Wallops Island, Virginia, carrying the “nanosatellite” GeneSat-1. Conceptually similar to BioSatellite-1, GeneSat-1 carried samples of bacteria — specifically, E. Coli — to monitor the effects of space radiation. Unlike the BioSatellite series, which involved returning the samples to earth for study, GeneSat-1 carried special optical instruments to observe the bacteria and radioed those observations to the ground.

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Sometimes a Successful Launch Isn't Enough

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Forty-five years ago today — December 14, 1966 — a Delta rocket launched from Cape Canaveral carrying a set of biological specimens to study how microgravity affected them.


(Biosatellite-1 launch. NASA image from Wikimedia Commons.)

Biosatellite-1 made it to orbit successfully. The overall mission failed, however, because the capsule could not be de-orbited. Its retro rocket malfunctioned, leaving the spacecraft in orbit; its orbit eventually decayed in February 1967, but that was long after the experiment’s usefulness would have passed.

Nevertheless, this NASA page about the program notes that Biosatellite-1 “provided technical confidence in the program because of excellent performance in most other areas.” The next biosatellite launch was a complete success.

One might wonder why experiments like these would be carried out, since human beings had been launched into space for years. Didn’t we already know how the space environment affected biological organisms? To an extent, yes, but as I understand it sending up small-scale, short-lived species and studying the effects on them would allow scientists to extrapolate to longer-term effects on larger organisms — like people on long-duration spaceflights.

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