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Quintessential PoetryQuintessential Listening: Poetry Online Radio Presents Derek AnnisDerek Annis (they/he) is a neurodivergent poet from the Inland Northwest. He is the author of Neighborhood of Gray Houses (Lost Horse Press) and River City Fires (Driftwood Press). They are an editor for Lynx House Press, and their poems have appeared in The Account, Colorado Review, Epiphany, The Gettysburg Review, The Missouri Review Online, Poet Lore, Spillway, and Third Coast, among others.
https://derekannis.wordpress.com/
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2023-11-221h 26
Space Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #203 – Apollo 11 – Command Module Pilot Michael CollinsThe turning point for Michael Collins in his decision to become an astronaut was the Mercury Atlas 6 flight of John Glenn on February 20, 1962, and the thought of being able to circle the Earth in 90 minutes.
Episode with pics
2021-12-2737 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #175 – Early History of the Soviet N1 – Part 2On August the third 1964 Decree number 655-268 was issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party. For the first time a command was given for OKB-1 to put one man on the moon and return him safely to earth before the United States (Keep in mind the US already had already begun their Lunar program more than three years earlier, in April 1961).
2020-08-1427 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #174 – Early History of the Soviet N1 – Part 1The L-3 manned spacecraft was designed to make a direct lunar landing using the earth orbit rendezvous method. It was a 200 metric ton spacecraft requiring three N1 launches and a single Soyuz 11A5ll launch to assemble in low earth orbit. The first N1 launch would place the 75 metric ton partially-fueled Trans Lunar Injection stage and L3 spacecraft into low earth orbit. Two further N1 launches would orbit 75 metric ton tankers which would rendezvous and dock with the first payload and top off its propellant tanks. Then the Soyuz would be launched for an automated rear-end docking with the...
2020-08-1429 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #173 – Soyuz 4 & 5 – World’s First Space Station? – Part 2Vladimir Shatalov would become the Soviet Union’s 13th space traveler, his home telephone number ended in “13” and the launch itself was set for 13:00 hours Moscow Time, on January 13th, 1969.
2020-07-0937 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #172 – Soyuz 4 & 5 – World’s First Space Station? – Part 1The objectives of the Soyuz 4 & 5 mission were to dock two manned Soyuz 7K-0Ks, transfer two Cosmonauts from Soyuz 5 to Soyuz 4 by means of a space walk, and then safely return both crews to earth.
2020-07-0930 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #171 – Apollo 8 – The ReactionNew York City welcomed the Apollo 8 crew with a ticker-tape parade on the 10th of January, Newark hailed them on the 11th, and Miami greeted them on the 12th during the Super Bowl game. The Astronauts returned to Houston on the 13th for a hometown parade. Incoming President Richard M. Nixon sent Borman and his family on an eight-nation goodwill tour of western Europe. Everywhere they went, the astronauts depicted the earth as a spaceship and stressed international cooperation in space.
2020-07-0927 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #170 – Apollo 8 – The Voyage HomeEven a perfect reentry would subject the Apollo 8 command module to extreme stress. With Gemini, the capsule re-entered from Earth orbit, but Apollo 8 would re-enter at approximated 25,000 miles per hour. The forces of heat and deceleration would be much greater.
2020-06-0844 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #169 – Apollo 8 – Christmas 1968Bill Anders:
“We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.”
“‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
‘And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
‘And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
‘And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the...
2020-06-0828 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #168 – Apollo 8 – Lunar Orbit and EarthriseAs Apollo 8 drifted above the far side of the moon Borman, Lovell, and Anders observed a scene of total desolation. It appeared absent of color, except for various shades of gray. There was no atmosphere to soften the view, it was a scene of extreme clarity.
2020-05-0936 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #167 – Apollo 8 – Coasting Up Hill and Waste ManagementJust a few minutes after Apollo 8’s second TV broadcast, Borman, Lovell, and Anders passed Earth’s gravitational hill top and crossed into the Moon’s gravitational sphere of influence.
2020-05-0928 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #166 – Apollo 8 – Translunar InjectionAt T plus 40 seconds Apollo 8 went supersonic and the ride smoothed out. Now it was quite again, but Borman kept a watchful eye on the trajectory readouts. If there was a Saturn malfunction he could whisk the capsule away just by twisting the abort handle. This would trigger the escape rocket.
2020-04-0832 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #165 – Apollo 8 – The LaunchUntil now the astronauts knew, in the back of their minds, there was a possibility that a malfunction would turn this countdown into just another practice run and they would have to get out and try again another day. But, as the count reached T minus 15 minutes, there was no doubt, they were really going.
2020-04-0830 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #164 – Apollo 8 – Pre-launchFor now the mighty Saturn V stood empty. But overnight, even while Borman’s crew slept, technicians would ready it for departure. By morning its enormous fuel thanks would be filled with cryogenic propellants, until the rocket would contain the explosive energy of an atomic bomb.
2020-03-0734 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #163 – Apollo 8 – Lovell, Logistics & TrainingThe successful Apollo 7 flight cleared the way for a US moon landing in 1969. Still a lot of flight and ground testing remained and there would probably be surprises. The greatest concern was Nasa had to complete three virtually flawless missions and achieve every major test objective before a lunar landing could be attempted. The odds seemed to be stack against NASA.
2020-03-0728 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #162 – Apollo 8 – The Crew – Frank Borman & William AndersFrank Frederick Borman, II was born on March 14, 1928, in Gary, Indiana. He is of German descent, born as the first and only child to parents Edwin and Marjorie Borman. Because he suffered from numerous sinus problems in the cold and damp weather, his father packed up the family and moved to the better climate of Tucson, Arizona, which Borman considers his home town. He started to fly at the age of 15.
2020-02-0729 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #161 – Apollo 8 – The Decision Part 2Perhaps the most significant point about the lunar-orbit flight proposed for Apollo 8 was that the command and service modules would fly the same route to the moon as would be used for the actual lunar landing.
2020-02-0727 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #160 – Apollo 8 – The Decision Part 1An ‘A’ type mission would be flown with a Saturn V and be used to test the Launch vehicle, spacecraft, and a high velocity lunar return. Nasa cover the ‘A’ mission with Apollo 4 & 6.
A ‘B’ type mission would be flow with a Saturn IB and test the lunar module development, and propulsion, and launch vehicle staging. This was accomplished with Apollo 5.
A ‘C’ type mission would be flown with a Saturn IB and test the command and service module and evaluate the crew performance in low earth orbit. This was accomplished with Apollo 7…
2020-01-0423 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #159 – Zond 6Trouble began on the sixth day of the flight, November 17. The capsule developed an atmospheric leak, the pressure first dropping from 760 to 380 mm of Mercury. With the drop in cabin pressure all the animal test subjects died. It would have killed any Cosmonaut not wearing a spacesuit.
2020-01-0419 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #158 – Soyuz 2 and 3The soviets showed some confidence in their spacecraft by launching the unmanned Soyuz 2 first, but showed some caution by not sending a cosmonaut in Soyuz 2.
2020-01-0423 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #157 – Apollo 7-The Flight Part 2CAPCOM Number 1 (Deke Slayton): Okay. I think you ought to clearly understand there is absolutely no experience at all with landing without the helmet on.
SCHIRRA: And there no experience with the helmet either on that one.
CAPCOM: That one we’ve got a lot of experience with, yes.
SCHIRRA: If we had an open visor, I might go along with that.
CAPCOM: Okay. I guess you better be prepared to discuss in some detail when we land why we haven’t got them on. I think you’re too late now to do much about...
2020-01-0432 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #156 – Apollo 7-The Flight Part 1SCHIRRA: You’ve added two burns to this flight schedule, and you’ve added a urine water dump; and we have a new vehicle up here, and I can tell you at this point TV will be delayed without any further discussion until after the rendezvous.
CAPCOM (Jack Swigert): Roger. Copy.
SCHIRRA: Roger.
CAPCOM 1 (Deke Slayton): Apollo 7, this is CAPCOM number 1.
SCHIRRA: Roger.
CAPCOM 1 (Slayton): All we’ve agreed to do on this is flip it.
SCHIRRA: the first part garbbled then Schirra said… with two commanders, Apollo 7
CAPCOM 1- (Slayton): All we have...
2019-12-0631 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #155 – Apollo 7 – Assembly, Testing, Training, and LaunchCommand Service Module-101 started through the manufacturing cycle early in 1966. By July, it had been formed, wired, fitted with subsystems, and made ready for testing. After the Apollo 1 fire in January 1967, changes had to be made, mainly in the wiring, hatch areas, and the forward egress tunnel. It was December before the spacecraft came back into testing. CSM-101 passed through a three-phase customer acceptance review; during the third session, held in Downey on May 7th 1968, no items showed up that might be a “constraint to launch.” North American cleared up what few deficiencies there were (13) and shipped the craft to K...
2019-12-0626 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #154 – Apollo 7 – The CrewHad it not been for the fact that Eisele damaged his shoulder during a zero-G training flight aboard a KC-135 aircraft just before Christmas 1965, he might have been in the senior pilot’s seat aboard Apollo 1, instead of Ed White.
2019-12-0631 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #153 – Zond 5 – Tortoises in SpaceThe first attempt for a Zond 4 follow-up launched on April 22. It failed when the Launch Escape System sent an erroneous abort command at T+260 seconds and shut down the Proton booster’s second stage. The escape rocket fired and pulled the descent module to safety.
2019-11-0721 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #152 – The Death of Yuri GagarinHundreds of millions of people all over the planet had seen Gagarin smiling joyfully in person or on television. He was theirs, familiar to everyone, and at the same time a “Citizen of the Universe.”
2019-11-0729 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #151 – Zond 4When we left the Soviet Union they had somewhat successfully landed a probe on Venus and they had completed the automatic docking of two Soyuz 7K-OK spacecrafts. However they did not reach their goal of a circumlunar flight in time for the 50th anniversary of the glorious revolution.
2019-11-0732 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #150 – Apollo 6: PogoThe success of Apollo 4 gave good reason to believe that the Saturn V could be trusted to propel men into space. But NASA pushed on with its plans for a second unmanned booster flight, primarily to give the Pad 39 launch team another rehearsal before sending men into deep space on the Saturn V. The mission was called Apollo 6…
2019-10-0938 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #149 – Apollo 5: Lunar Module’s First Flight“The fire-in-the-hole abort was the most critical test of the mission and one we had to accomplish successfully prior to a manned mission.” Gene Kranz – Flight Director Apollo 5
2019-10-0930 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #148 – Apollo 4: Operation Big Shot“…our building’s shaking here. Our building’s shaking! Oh it’s terrific, the building’s shaking! This big blast window is shaking! We’re holding it with our hands! Look at that rocket go into the clouds at 3000 feet!…you can see it…you can see it…oh the roar is terrific!…” Walter Cronkite – Apollo 4 launch.
2019-10-0946 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #147 – Saturn: S-II Stage Part 2: Trials and Tribulations“The S-II stage was a nightmare the minute it was conceived, and it only got worse from there. During the course of its creation, it would grind up people and careers the way the transcontinental railway devoured laborers. Though the methods and materials used to build the S-II were reasonably well known, nobody had ever tried to apply them on such a titanic scale. Originally, it was to be somewhere around 8 stores tall with a diameter of 22 feet, but the width ballooned from there to 27 feet before the contract was even signed, then to 30, and finally to 33 feet. And all th...
2019-09-0632 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #146 – Saturn: S-II Stage Part 1: Common Bulkheads, Gores, & Honeycomb SandwichesThe structural efficiency of the S-II stage, in terms of the weight and pressures taken by its extra-thin walls, was comparable only to the capacity of one of nature’s most refined examples of structural efficiency, the egg.
2019-09-0631 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #145 – Surveyors 2 – 7 with a Little Apollo 12The primary objectives of the Surveyor program, were to support the Apollo landings by: (1) developing and validating the technology for landing softly on the Moon; (2) providing data on the compatibility of the Apollo design with conditions encountered on the lunar surface; and (3) adding to the scientific knowledge of the Moon.
2019-09-0640 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #144 – Lunar Orbiter 2 – 5 and WresatA total of five Lunar Orbiter missions were launched by the US in 1966 through 1967. The purpose of the lunar orbiter series was to photograph the moon’s surface for selection and verification of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions.
2019-08-0137 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #143 – The First Soyuz Automatic Docking and the Secret PlanAfter 1957, the Soviets became accustomed to achieving “world firsts” in space accomplishments. Nevertheless, 10 years later they were not confident that they could pull off the world’s first fully automatic rendezvous and docking of two un-piloted Soyuz spacecraft. At the time the chance for success was estimated at only 50/50.
2019-08-0130 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #142 – Venera 4“It seemed that the nearby and mysterious planet was resorting to tricks to hide the secrets kept beneath its cover of clouds. As the probe drew nearer, Venus’ gravitational field increased its speed. The Doppler effect altered the wavelength of the signals received on Earth. The radio operators needed to be particularly vigilant so that the information sent from the station consistently landed in the narrow “throat” of the ground-based receivers.” Boris Chertok
2019-08-0125 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #141 – Soyuz 1: The Crash“It’s a terrible scene. Komarov burned up. All the instruments burned. We must quickly find out what prevented the main parachute from unlatching.” Chief Designer Mishin after he arrived at the Soyuz 1 crash site.
2019-08-0132 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #140 – Soyuz 1: The Flight“I was the last one to see him alive and I told him ‘See you soon!’” Yuri Gagarin, recalls bidding farewell to his friend Kamarov in Soyuz 1.
2019-07-0629 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #139 – Soyuz 1: PreparationWith the success of Kosmos 146 and in spite of the failures of the first three 7K-Ok’s it was now time to plan for a Soyuz manned mission. The planned involved the launch and docking of two piloted Soyuzes. Soyuz 7K-OK production model number 4 was assigned the role of the active vehicle. The active vehicle was supposed to carry one cosmonaut into earth orbit. Twenty-four hours later, vehicle No. 5 (the passive vehicle) carrying three cosmonauts would be inserted in orbit. After rendezvouing, two cosmonauts from vehicle No. 5 would transfer through open space to vehicle No. 4.
2019-07-0631 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #138 – Soyuz Test Flight No. 3 – Kosmos 140Chief Designer Mishin proposed a two-launch “stopover” scenario for the piloted flight to the moon. This was similar to one of NASA’s earth orbit rendezvous modes to reach the moon. The gist of the plan was, the UR-500K would insert the 7K-L1 into orbit with no crew. Then the R7 derivative Semyorka would launch the 7K-OK carrying two cosmonauts. If everything went well on the two vehicles, they would dock, and the cosmonauts would transfer from the 7K-OK to the 7K-L1 via spacewalk. Then they would set out for the Moon, and, after flying around it, they would...
2019-07-0426 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #137 – Apollo 1: Changes and RecoveryAfter the uncertain days of February 1967, NASA officials began to realize that a recovery from the tragedy was under way. Through hard work and problem solving, morale of Nasa personnel started to improve…
2019-07-0428 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #136 – Apollo 1: What Went WrongWhat went wrong? Even years after the investigators began to sift through the wreckage of Apollo 1 piece by piece, no one could say exactly. But within weeks the general picture became clear: The fire was a disaster waiting to happen.
2019-07-0428 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #135 – Apollo 1: The InvestigationThe tragedy of Apollo 1 was widely reported in the Soviet Union. The Soviets sent condolences and letters to the families of the men who had died. But, the Soviet Press criticized the US for an overzealous attempt to send men to the moon.
2019-06-0439 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #134 – Apollo 1: Plugs Out – Part 2 – The Price of ProgressWhen Deke Slayton and Stu Roosa arrived at pad 34 they saw ambulances waiting in vain at the base of the launch tower. They boarded the small elevator and rode to level A-8, 218 feet up, and headed across the swing arm to the clean room…
2019-06-0434 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #133 – Apollo 1: Plugs Out – Part 1 – The FireThe “Plugs Out” test scheduled for Jan 27, 1967 was not the first time that spacecraft 12 had been put through a simulated run with people on board…
2019-06-0229 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #132 – Apollo 1: Astronauts – Part 2 – Chaffee“On my honor I will do my best, To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” The Boy Scout Oath.
2019-06-0239 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #131 – Apollo 1: Astronauts – Part 1- Grissom & White“So the reason I took those symbols was that I think this was the most important thing I had going for me, and I felt that while I couldn’t take one for every religion in the country, I could take the three I was most familiar with.” Ed. White
2019-05-0834 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #130 – Apollo 1: PreparationWhile flight-preparation crews were having problems, Grissom, White, and Chaffee were finding bottlenecks in training activities. The chief problem was keeping the Apollo mission simulator current with changes being made in spacecraft 012.
2019-05-0828 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #129 – Apollo Mission Control: An Introduction to Eugene Frances KranzAs Procedures Officer, Kranz was put in charge of integrating Mercury Control with the Launch Control Team at Cape Canaveral, Florida, writing the “Go/NoGo” procedures that allowed missions to continue as planned or be aborted, along with serving as a sort of switchboard operator using teletype between the control center at Cape Canaveral and the agency’s fourteen tracking stations and two tracking ships located across the globe.
2019-05-0833 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #128 – Apollo Mission Control: Christopher Columbus Kraft – Part 2At the beginning of the Apollo program, Kraft retired as a flight director to concentrate on management and mission planning. In 1972, he became director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, following the path of his mentor Robert Gilruth.
2019-05-0827 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #127 – Apollo Mission Control: Christopher Columbus Kraft – Part 1Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. was Born on February 28, 1924 in a town that no longer exist, Phoebus, Virginia. The town has now been engulfed by Hampton, Virginia. Kraft was named after his father, Christopher Columbus Kraft, who was born in New York City in 1892 near Columbus Circle at 8th ave. and 59th street.
2019-05-0629 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #126 – Apollo-Saturn IB: AS-201, AS-202, and AS-203Apollo Saturn 201 employed the Saturn IB launch vehicle, which was the up-rated version of the Saturn I rocket flown in ten earlier Saturn-Apollo missions. It featured an upgrade of the first stage engines to increase thrust from 1,500,000 lb-ft of thrust to 1,600,000 lb-ft. The second stage was the S-IVB. This stage used a new liquid hydrogen-burning J-2 engine which would also be used on the S-II second stage of the Saturn V lunar launch vehicle…
2019-04-0531 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #125 – Apollo: Astronaut Selection and Training – Part 3“Some of those guys came in figuring, “I’ll write my textbooks and my thesis and teach [university courses] and I’ll come by twice a week and be an astronaut.” Well, that didn’t work …. We were devoting our lives to this whole thing, and you couldn’t devote anything less, I don’t care what your discipline was.”
2019-04-0531 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #124 – Apollo: Astronaut Selection and Training – Part 2With Group 4, for the first time, the selection criteria did not include a requirement for test pilot proficiency. Selectees who were not qualified pilots would be assigned to the Air Force for a year of flight training. The primary scientific requirement was a doctorate in medicine, engineering, or one of the natural sciences.
2019-04-0526 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #123 – Apollo: Astronaut Selection and Training – Part 1Selection of Group Two virtually depleted the pool of qualified candidates from the small corps of test pilots in the country, and it was the last group for which test-pilot certification would be a requirement. The new trainees reported to Houston in October 1962 to begin a two-year training course. A four-day work week was normally scheduled, the fifth day being reserved for public relations duties or for travel.
2019-04-0328 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #122 – Apollo: Serious Problems with the Lunar Module and GrummanToward the end of January 1967, it was revealed that Lunar Module 1 would not reach the Cape in February, as expected. This meant, the moon landing might be delayed because the lander was not ready. But the mission planners could not wait for the Apollo engineers to iron out all the problems. They had to plan for a landing in 1969 and hope that the hardware would catch up with them.
2019-04-0335 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #121 – Pegasus Wings inside SA-8 (AS-104), SA-9 (AS-103), & SA-10 (AS-105) and a Command Module update for 1965The Pegasus satellite was named for the winged horse of Greek mythology. Like its namesake, the Pegasus was notable for its “wings”, a pair of 29 meter long, 4.3 meter wide arrays of 104 panels fitted with sensors to detect punctures by micrometeoroids at high altitudes. In its stored position with panels folded inside the Apollo service module, the Pegasus was 5.3-meters high, 2.1 meters wide, and 28-cm deep.
2019-03-0432 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #120 – Apollo: Stages S-IV and S-IVBThe key to high-energy stages was to use liquid hydrogen as the fuel. Liquid hydrogen fuel appealed to rocket designers because of its high specific impulse, which is a basic measure of rocket performance. Specific Impulse is the impulse delivered per unit of propellant consumed. You might think of it as the efficiency of the rocket. Compared to an RP-1 (kerosene) fueled engine of similar size, liquid hydrogen fuel could increase the specific impulse or efficiency of an engine by 40 percent. The combination of hydrogen and oxygen for propellants made the moon shot feasible.
2019-03-0437 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #119 – Apollo: Lunar Module Design – Part 3At various stages of lunar module design, mockup reviews were conducted to demonstrate progress and identify weaknesses. These inspections were formal occasions, with a board composed of NASA and contractor officials and presided over by a chairman from the Apollo office in Houston.
2019-03-0434 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #118 – Apollo: Lunar Module Design – Part 2The Lunar Lander originally had two docking hatches, one at the top center of the cabin and another in the forward position, or nose, of the vehicle, with a tunnel in each location to permit astronauts to crawl from one pressurized vehicle to the other…
2019-03-0436 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #117 – Apollo: Lunar Module DesignSince the lunar module would fly only in space (earth orbit and lunar vicinity), the designers could ignore the aerodynamic streamlining demanded by earth’s atmosphere and build the first true manned spacecraft, designed solely for operating in the spatial vacuum.
2019-03-0440 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #116 – Apollo: Little Joe IIA few seconds after liftoff, a fin-vane at the base of the booster stuck and started the 13-meter-tall spacecraft-booster combination spinning like a bullet. Twenty-six seconds into the flight the vehicle started coming apart. The abort-sensing system signaled the launch escape tower rocket to fire and pull the spacecraft away…
2019-02-0535 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #115 – Saturn I: SA-4, SA-5, SA-6, and SA-7Saturn 1, SA-6 was the first orbital launch of an Apollo Spacecraft by a Saturn Launch Vehicle and also the first flight utilizing an active ST-124 Stabilized Platform.
2019-02-0534 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #114 – Apollo: Command Module Design and Development 1963-1964 Part 2Max Faget’s position was that considering the difficulty of the job, if each mission was successful half the time, it would be well worth the effort. But Gilruth thought that was too low. He want a 90% mission success ratio and a 99% ratio for Astronaut safety. Walt Williams who was currently running the Mercury program believed that astronaut safety needed to be limited to only 1 failure in a million which was 99.9999%.
2019-02-0529 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #113 – Apollo: Command Module Design and Development 1963-1964…From the information they gathered on the existing technical problems, Disher and Tischler concluded that prospects were only one in ten that Apollo would land on the moon before the end of the decade….
2019-02-0432 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #112 – Apollo: Headquarters“The contractor role in Houston was not very firm. Frankly, they didn’t want us. There were two things against us down there. Number one, it was a Headquarters contract, and it was decreed that the Space Centers shall use GE for certain things; and number two they considered us (meaning GE) to be Headquarters spies.” Edward S. Miller of General Electric.
2019-01-0432 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #111 – Apollo: Early Lunar Module Design and Saturn SA-3”During 1962, NASA faced three major tasks: first the mode selection and its defense (covered in episodes 106-109), second keeping North American moving on the command and service modules (covered in episode 110) and third finding a contractor to develop the separate landing vehicle required by that approach. Which we will cover today in episode 111.
2019-01-0441 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #110 – Early Apollo Command Module DesignThe Apollo contract specified a shirt-sleeve environment. For this reason, North American was told not to include in its design a hatch that opened by explosives, like Mercury’s. An accidentally blown hatch in space would cause an instant vacuum and certain death for an astronaut not wearing his pressure suit.
2019-01-0433 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #109 – Apollo: The PSAC Strikes Back and Saturn SA-2After viewing the Apollo spaceport being built in Florida, President Kennedy flew on to Huntsville, Alabama. There, during a tour of Marshall and a briefing on the Saturn V and the lunar-rendezvous mission by von Braun, Jerome Wiesner interrupted Von Braun in front of reporters, saying, “No, that’s no good.” Webb immediately defended von Braun and lunar-orbit rendezvous. The adversaries engaged in a heated exchange until the President stopped them, stating that the matter was still subject to final review.
2019-01-0445 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #108 – Apollo: The Mode Decision – Part 3“I would like to reiterate once more that it is absolutely mandatory that we arrive at a definite mode decision within the next few weeks. . . . If we do not make a clear-cut decision on the mode very soon, our chances of accomplishing the first lunar expedition in this decade will fade away rapidly.” Wernher Von Braun June 7, 1962.
2018-12-0325 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #107 – Apollo: The Mode Decision – Part 2Langley’s brochure for the Golovin Committee described Lunar landers of varied sizes and payload capabilities. There were illustrations and data on a very small lander that was able to carry one man for 2 to 4 hours on the moon. There was an “economy” model that could two men for a 24-hour stay. The third model was called the “plush” module, it would carry two men for a 7-day stay on the moon. Weight estimates for the three craft, without fuel, were 580, 1,010, and 1,790 kilograms, respectively…
2018-12-0327 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #106 – Apollo: The Mode Decision – Part 1The mode that Apollo would use to land on the moon was the most studied, analyzed, and debated decision made for the lunar landing program. There were four main choices Direct-ascent, Earth-Orbit Rendezvous, Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous, and Lunar Surface Rendezvous.
2018-12-0336 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #105 – Saturn’s First Flight – SA-1 – Part 2No previous maiden launch had gone flawlessly, and the Saturn C-1 was considerably more complicated than any rocket launched thus far. Launch Operations Directorate officials gave the rocket a 75% chance of getting off the ground, and a 30% chance of completing the eight-minute flight…
2018-12-0326 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #104 – Saturn’s First Flight – SA-1 – Part 1Just as launch complex 34 dwarfed its predecessors, Saturn’s checkout represented a new magnitude in launch operations. The Saturn C-1 stood three times higher, required six times more fuel, and produced ten times more thrust than the Jupiter. Its size, was only a part of the challenge to the Launch Operations Directorate at Cape Canaveral…
2018-11-0927 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #101 – Apollo: Preliminary Design Part 2 – Mode, Command Module, and AstronavigationIn May 1961, NASA was not really prepared to direct an enormous Apollo program designed to fly its spacecraft to the moon. New and special facilities would be needed and the aerospace industry would have to be marshaled to develop vehicles not easily adapted to production lines, but at this point no one had even decided just what Apollo’s component parts should be or how they should look.
2018-11-0928 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #102 – Apollo: Preliminary Design Part 3 – Command Module Contract, Mode, and Launch VehiclesMax Faget thought the first stage of the moon rocket should use four solid-fueled engines, 6.6 meters in diameter. He reasoned these could certainly accomplish whatever mission was required of either the Saturn or Nova, and it would be more cost effective. Faget said it made good sense to use cheap solid fuels for expendable rockets and more expensive liquid fuels for reusable engines. Faget called the individual solid rocket ‘the Tiger.’
2018-11-0929 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #103 – Saturn Development 1957 – 1960Many historians agree, the U.S. took its first step toward the moon in the spring of 1957, four years before President Kennedy declared the national goal of landing a man on the Moon, and returning him safely to the Earth. While still preparing for the launch of its first Jupiter (May 31 1957), the Army rocket team at Huntsville, Alabama, began studies of a booster ten times more powerful than the 150,000-pound thrust Jupiter…
2018-11-0931 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #100 – Apollo: Preliminary DesignIn January 1960, President Eisenhower directed NASA Administrator Glennan to accelerate the Super Booster Program that had recently been assigned to NASA. This order ensured the transfer of the von Braun group from the Army Ballistic Missile Agency to NASA, and it gave Glennan the launch vehicle development and management capability that he needed.
2018-11-0938 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #99 – Apollo: The OppositionThe goal of the nation’s space program should be the scientific exploration of the moon and the planets but also to recognize that nontechnical factors are vital to public acceptance of a space program. Human exploration of the moon and planets would be potentially the greatest inspirational venture of the 20th century and one in which the world could share; inherent here are great and fundamental philosophical and spiritual values which find a response in man’s questing spirit to explore. Thus the space exploration program must be developed on the premise that man will be included. Failure to ad...
2018-11-0930 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #98 – Apollo BeginningsPresident Kennedy proposed the manned lunar landing as the focus of the US space program but, at the time of his address, only one American, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. had been into space, on a suborbital lob shot lasting 15 minutes. No rocket launch vehicle was available for a lunar voyage and there was no agreed upon method for placing any kind of spacecraft safely on the lunar surface and getting it back to the earth. Nor was there agreement within NASA itself on how it should be done.
2018-10-0429 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #97 – Soyuz Test Flight No. 2The first Soyuz test flight was a catastrophic failure. Due to negligence, the attitude control system malfunctioned and used all of its fuel before a rendezvous could be attempted or even the second Soyuz rocket could be launched. When the Soviets attempted to return the first Soyuz to earth, the vehicle’s self-destruct system activated because it was unable to make a landing in the Soviet Union. OKB-1 was disgraced.
2018-10-0425 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #96 – Soyuz Test Flight No. 1 – Kosmos-133After many delays in launching the first Soyuz due to design complications, equipment deliveries, the learning curve for testing new designs, unreasonable launch dates, persecution from the communist party, and the death of Chief Designer Korolev. The first unmanned test flight is nearing launch. Two Soyuz 7k-OK’s have made it through testing. Both Soyuz have been attached to their carrier rocket and are nearly ready to launch. The plan is to launch both vehicles 24 hours apart in order to perform a rendezvous.
2018-10-0423 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #95 – Soyuz Development – Part 4 – Politics and Testing“In those days, the Party organizations in industry were not only involved with policy, ideology, and the “struggle against nonconformist thought,” but tried to get involved in technology and production engineering. Wielding real authority over people who were Party members, they had the opportunity to affect the production process. With few exceptions, every chief designer was a Party member. It was far more dangerous to receive a Party reprimand than a reprimand ordered by the head of an enterprise or even a minister.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a party of power. This was a part...
2018-10-0430 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #94 – Soyuz Development – Part 3After Voskhod-2, an ideological vacuum, disorder, and vacillation cropped up in the Soviet maned space program. There was no clear-cut answer to which project should be the priority, a new series of Voskhods, artificial gravity experiments, or the construction of the Soyuzes. However, during August 1965 the wavering ended. First priority was given to the Soyuzes. A real all-hands rush job to develop and manufacture Soyuzes got underway. A new un-realistic schedule was created that required OKB-1 to supply, three Soyuz flight vehicles ready for testing, two in December of 1965 and one in January of 1966.
2018-10-0426 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #93 – Soyuz Development – Part 2 – RivalsThe circumlunar plan involved 3 new spacecrafts. First the Soyuz A 7K spacecraft, capable of carrying three men, (2 men for a circumlunar flight) into space and returning them to earth. The 5.5 ton spacecraft has three modules, the orbital module, the re-entry module, and the service module.
The second new spacecraft is the Soyuz B 9K booster stage, with a fueled mass of 18 tons. After docking with the 7K, the 9K is capable of boosting the combined spacecraft out of earth orbit on a course to the moon.
The third new space craft is called Soyuz V 11...
2018-10-0425 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #92 – Soyuz Development – Part 1Hey everyone. I have been sick for a week and unable to talk, without coughing up a lung. But, I didn’t want you to miss your weekly dose of Space Rocket History. My wife agreed to help me out with the vocal part of this episode. This is her first podcast so please be nice to her. Hopefully, I will be able to speak a complete sentence without coughing my head off next week.
I want to thank my wife, Caroline Annis from the bottom of my heart for her help with this episode.
2018-10-0418 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #91 – The Death of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – Part 3Around noon on January 14th, Boris Chertok was alone in his office studying a folder of classified mail that had accumulated during the past few days. He had asked not to be disturbed. Suddenly his subordinate ran in and shouted, “Sergey Pavlovich died!”
Chertok responded “Are you out of your mind? Which Sergey Pavlovich?”
“Ours, our Sergey Pavlovich Korolev! His wife telephoned from the hospital!”
Chertok stood absolutely dumbfounded, having no idea what to do next. This can’t be! This really shouldn’t be happening! A few seconds later he called the Kremlin for verification.
2018-09-0626 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #90 – The Death of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – Part 2Sergei Korolev’s life paralleled in many ways the life of Wernher Von Braun. Like Von Braun, as a young man, Sergei Korolev was inspired to dedicate his life to the technology for space exploration after becoming acquainted with the work of a great space pioneer: Hermann Oberth in the case of von Braun, and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the case of Korolev. Both began their careers in space development through serious study, participation in amateur rocket societies, and then support from the military…
2018-09-0624 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #89 – The Death of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – Part 1His power, influence, and responsibilities during the 1950s and 60s were all encompassing. Not only was he in charge of all space-related issues, he was also in charge of some of the design of rockets for military purposes as well. He oversaw the design and testing of communications and surveillance satellites, too. Although he delegated responsibility for each program to trusted designers in separate engineering bureaus, his workload was enormous. He was the responsible for all the programs including the Soviet equivalent of NASA, which was called the Ministry for Medium Machine Building.
2018-09-0625 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #88 – Gemini XII With Jim Lovell and and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin – Part 3We left off last week after Buzz Aldrin’s third and final EVA. The hard work for the Gemini 12 mission was now complete. Even with the problems with the radar, the Agena main engines, and the fuel cells, Gemini XII as a whole had gone very well…
2018-09-0632 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #87 – Gemini XII With Jim Lovell and and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin – Part 2In space, Jim and Buzz began to wonder if everything had been shut down too soon. For 25 minutes, with one brief exception, they heard nothing from the ground. The Ascension Island tracking station had the wrong acquisition time, so its communicators had not talked with the astronauts…
2018-09-0624 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #86 – Gemini XII With Jim Lovell and and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin – Part 1When the Gemini IX-A Agena fell into the Atlantic Ocean, Gemini XII was threatened with a major hardware shortage of an Agena and an Atlas to launch it. Replacing the Agena was no real problem. Lockheed’s first production model, 5001, used for development testing at the Cape, had already been sent back to the Sunnyvale plant for refurbishment. Now it was simply a matter of tailoring it to the Gemini XII mission…
2018-09-0629 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #85 – Gemini XI With Charles (Pete) Conrad and Richard Gordon – Part 3The rotation rate checked out at 55 degrees per minute, and the crew could now test for a minute amount of artificial gravity. When they put a camera against the instrument panel and then let it go, it moved in a straight line to the rear of the cockpit and parallel to the direction of the tether. The crew, themselves, did not sense any physiological effect of gravity.
2018-09-0629 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #84 – Gemini XI With Charles (Pete) Conrad and Richard Gordon – Part 2Conrad shouted to Gordon “Ride ’em, cowboy!” Gordon was Riding bareback, with his feet and legs wedged between the docked vehicles. In practice sessions in zero-g aircraft flights, Gordon had been able to push himself forward, straddle the reentry and recovery section, and wedge his feet and legs between the docking adapter and the spacecraft to hold himself in place, leaving his hands free to attach the tether and clamp it down…
2018-09-0624 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #83 – Gemini XI With Charles (Pete) Conrad and Richard Gordon – Part 1Some significant goals had been set for the last two Gemini flights. For example, the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office wanted a rendezvous in the first spacecraft orbit, which would simulate lunar orbit rendezvous. There was also interest in linking an Agena to a the Gemini spacecraft by a tether and then spinning the combination to produce some artificial gravity.
2018-08-1125 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #82 – Gemini X with John Young and Mike Collins – Part 3Collins emerged from the spacecraft at dawn. Like Gene Cernan on Gemini IX-A, he found that all tasks took longer than he expected. But he was able to retrieve the package from the exterior of his spacecraft…
2018-08-1125 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #81 – Gemini X with John Young and Mike Collins – Part 2 – Riding the Agena“At first, the sensation I got was that there was a pop, then there was a big explosion and a clang. We were thrown forward in the seats. We had our shoulder harnesses fastened. Fire and sparks started coming out of the back end of that rascal. The light was something fierce, and the acceleration was pretty good. The vehicle yawed off – I don’t remember whether it was to the right or to the left – but it was the kind of response that the Lockheed people had predicted we would get. . . . The shutdown on the was just unbelievable. It was a...
2018-08-1027 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #80 – Gemini X with John Young and Mike Collins – Part 1Deputy Administrator Seamans wanted a mission review board created to study:
(1) Corrective measures for the Atlas-Agena failure
(2) The guidance update problem that delayed the launch two days
(3) The shroud incident
(4) The suit environmental control difficulties
2018-08-1033 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #79 – Gemini IX-A with Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan – Part 3 – EVAWe left off last week with Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan completing three rendezvous with the ATDA but, no docking because the shroud was still in place on the Docking Adapter. On June 5, 1966 at 5:30 a.m., nearly 45 hours and 30 minutes into the mission, the crew began preparations for Cernan’s walk in space…
2018-08-1042 minSpace Rocket History ArchiveSpace Rocket History #78 – Gemini IX-A with Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan – Part 2 – RendevouzAs contractors worried about technical problems with the Atlas, Once again NASA, faced the necessity for a quick recovery plan when a target vehicle failed to reach orbit. You may recall the first time was with Gemini 6. But this time Nasa had something in the hangar, an alternate vehicle – the Augment Target Docking Adapter also known as the ATDA…
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