July 2019 will mark 50 years since the Apollo 11 mission, certainly one of the greatest achievements of humanity. While many fans of space history may be planning their own little anniversary events and the like, YouTube user lunarmodule5 has something a little better in store: a video series covering the entire mission, from pre-launch […]
We have a quick one for you here today – a 1968 film in preparation for the mission of Apollo 6 covering the details on the planned mission. As mentioned before, Apollo 6 was intended to be basically a repeat of Apollo 4, the first test of the Saturn V rocket. That plan didn’t pan […]
Early in the morning of April 4th, 1968, on launch pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center, the second Saturn V rocket to fly was launched. This mission was Apollo 6 – another unmanned test of the Saturn V and the Apollo Command-Service module, much the same as the Apollo 4 mission in November of […]
On March 17th, 1958 the United States Navy successfully launched a satellite in its Vanguard program, Vanguard 1. This was the same type of rocket and payload as in the failed Vanguard TV-3 incident that embarrassed the United States back in December of 1957, and another test in February 1958 which also ended in failure. […]
The Columbia Disaster February 1st, 2003 7:59 AM Central Standard Time OV-102, Columbia, Disintegrates over Central Texas Total loss of vehicle and crew 15 Years Ago Rick D. Husband William C. McCool David M. Brown Kalpana Chawla Michael P. Anderson Laurel B. Clark Ilan Ramon
15 years ago today the Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off on what was to become its last mission, STS-107. This flight carried a crew of 7 not to the International Space Station – Columbia was far too heavy for the orbital inclination the Space Station orbits at – but a simple Earth Orbit mission for […]
Early in the morning of December 7th, 1972, the final Apollo mission to the Moon, Apollo 17, launched from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center carrying Gene Cernan, Ron Evans, Harrison Schmitt to the Taurus–Littrow lunar valley. Apollo 17’s landing location and planned launch time dictated the first night launch of any manned American […]
I wrote earlier that today marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 4 – the first flight of the Saturn V rocket. This mission was designed to both test the entire Saturn V, but also the Apollo Command Module. Previous Article – 50 Years Ago, The Launch Of Apollo 4 – The First […]
At 7:00 AM Eastern Time on November 9th, 1967, 5 F-1 rocket engines, each one alone producing 1 and a half million lbs of thrust, roared to life, beginning the first flight of the most powerful machine ever built by humanity – the Saturn V rocket. The Saturn V was the machine that, if everything […]
Today, November 3rd 2017 marks 60 years since the launch of Sputnik 2, the second satellite to orbit the Earth. Sputnik 2 was quite different from Sputnik 1, though, and not just in that it was much heavier – while Sputnik 1 just flew around and beeped, day in, day out, for about 3 week, […]
On October 15th, 1997, a Titan IV/B lifted off from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft into space for its eventual amazing mission to study the planet Saturn. This was one of the first launches of the Titan IV/B and the first flight of that particular Titan variation […]
Earlier today I wrote my article on the 60th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1. I wasn’t quite happy with how it turned out, and thought more about it – what I really wanted to say with it. That’s when I realized it wasn’t the fact that it launched that I wanted to convey, […]
60 years ago today, on October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the worlds first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, using a slightly converted intercontinental Ballistic Missile. This action shocked the United States – an enemy nation, the “backwards and primitive” Soviet Union, they had launched something into orbit before us? This, of course, couldn’t stand. […]
On August 20th, 1977, Voyager 2 was launched on the most powerful launch vehicle available at the time, the Titan IIIE, on a mission to explore all 4 of the gas giant outer planets, and onward to deep space. Voyager 2 was, oddly, the first of the 2 Voyager probes launched – Voyager 1 was […]