Tag Archives: space history

Monitoring Ozone from Orbit

By | |
Comments Off on Monitoring Ozone from Orbit

Fifteen years ago today — July 2, 1996 — a Pegasus-XL rocket lofted a small meteorological satellite into orbit.


(Ozone map based on TOMS data. NASA image.)

The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer-Earth Probe, or TOMS-EP (or sometimes EP/TOMS), spacecraft operated until late 2005, and measured the distribution of ozone throughout the Earth’s atmosphere. The data set is quite extensive; if you’re curious, from this page you can find an historical record of ozone measurements for a location near you.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Mapping the Early Universe

By | |
Comments Off on Mapping the Early Universe

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Galileo and Ganymede

By | |
Comments Off on Galileo and Ganymede

Fifteen years ago today — June 27, 1996 — the Galileo space probe made its first flyby of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon.


(Single-filter image of Ganymede, taken 06/26/96. NASA image.)

The Galileo mission began in October of 1989 with its launch from the Space Shuttle Atlantis, as recalled in our space history item. On its June 1996 flyby, the orbiter cruised past Ganymede at an altitude of only about 835 km (519 mi).

The Ganymede flyby timeline includes details about observations the spacecraft made before, during, and after its flyby. You can also visit the Galileo legacy site for more information on the mission.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

PAGEOS: Triangulation Target in Space

By | |
Comments Off on PAGEOS: Triangulation Target in Space

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Microgravity Science Aboard Shuttle Columbia

By | |
Comments Off on Microgravity Science Aboard Shuttle Columbia

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

In Martian Orbit

By | |
Comments Off on In Martian Orbit

Thirty-five years ago today — June 19, 1976 — Viking-1 arrived at Mars.


(Viking-1 orbiter. NASA image.)

The Viking-1 orbiter spent a month imaging the red planet while mission controllers picked the best spot for its lander. The orbiter released the lander on July 20th.

The orbiter shut down its mission operations during the solar conjunction (when the Earth was on the opposite side of the Sun from Mars) from November 5 until December 14, 1976. The orbiter continued to function until August 17, 1980.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Verifying Gravitational Redshift, 35 Years Ago

By | |
Comments Off on Verifying Gravitational Redshift, 35 Years Ago

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”

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Launch of a Doomed Space Station Crew

By | |
Comments Off on Launch of a Doomed Space Station Crew

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Rodents and Jellyfish in Space … It's Science, Folks

By | |
Comments Off on Rodents and Jellyfish in Space … It's Science, Folks

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.)

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Another Step Toward Apollo: Gemini-9

By | |
Comments Off on Another Step Toward Apollo: Gemini-9

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather