historical-spaceflight

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February 1st, 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia and her crew of Rick Husband, William McCool, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon, perish as the spacecraft breaks up on re-entry over Texas and Louisiana.

February 1, 2003 - Following a successful 15 day, 22 hour mission consisting of mostly scientific experiments, Space Shuttle Columbia is destroyed during re-entry over the southwestern United States, resulting in the deaths of her seven crew. 

These were Rick Husband, William McCool, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon.

During the launch of STS-107 on January 16, a piece of foam insulation broke from the external tank, striking the port-side wing and breaching the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panels that experience some of the most intense heat during re-entry. This was the fatal blow that would prevent Columbia and her crew from returning home at Kennedy.

The loss of Columbia signaled the beginning of the end of the Space Transportation System, and the United States would be left without a manned space vehicle for years to come. 

However, the change brought by the loss of the Shuttle meant a new gap to be filled by the private sector companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Sierra Nevada Corp, among others, that could focus on the resupply of the ISS with crew and cargo, allowing NASA to shift it’s focus to developing a new crewed vehicle to continue a mission of exploration of our solar system. 

“The cause of which they died will continue. Mankind was led into the darkness beyond our world with the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.”

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October 4th, 1957 - The USSR launches the first man-made object into orbit, and the first of several Sputnik satellites. 

About 20 inches in diameter with four 9.5 foot long antennae, the satellite payload would be launched aboard a carrier rocket, also known as the Sputnik Rocket.  Sputnik would send out beeps through a radio transmitter which could be heard as the satellite passed overhead. The batteries for the transmitter lasted a total of 22 days. Sputnik would continue to live in orbit until January 1958, before reentering the atmosphere. 

Sputnik continues to be remembered as the trigger of the space race between the USSR and United States during the Cold War, but also as a significant piece of technology that paved the way for continued advances in understanding space, and spaceflight.

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OV-101 Enterprise rolls out of Palmdale on September 17th, 1976.

Enterprise was the first of the orbiters to be build by North American Rockwell. While not space-worthy, this shuttle was to be carried on the back of a Boeing 747, launched, and then glide down to a runway in order to determine the flight characteristics of the orbiter in atmosphere.

Enterprise may be most remembered for the write-in campaign by many dedicated fans of the TV show Star Trek, who argued in favor of naming the shuttle after the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) starship. The original name of Constitution was dropped after then-President Ford directed NASA officials to use Enterprise instead, following a back-and-fourth with advisers and NASA Admin Dr. James Fletcher.

The rollout ceremony was attended by Gene Roddenberry and most of the cast of Star Trek in recognition of the fan base and the significance of the name Enterprise to the show.

Following its rollout, clearance tests, and Approach and Landing Tests, Enterprise was returned to Palmdale to be converted into a space-worthy orbiter. Design changes due to weight savings ultimately prevented this, and it was determined that converting Structural Test Article (STA)-099 would be more economical. STA-099, built to test stress points on the orbiter's frame, was to become OV-099 Challenger.

Following retirement, Enterprise went on a world tour, visiting Europe and a number of States in 1983 and 1984. In 1985, she was moved to the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC. Following NASA's announcement that the Smithsonian would be receiving OV-103 Discovery in 2011, Enterprise was moved again to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. Actor Leonard Nimoy attended Enterprise's arrival, stated "This is a reunion for me. Thirty-five years ago, I met the Enterprise for the first time." Nimoy closed with his character Spock's signature line, "Live long and Prosper", ensuring that history never forgets the name Enterprise.

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57 years ago, President Kennedy delivers the Moon Speech.

September 12, 1962 - President John F. Kennedy delivers a speech at Rice Stadium in Houston, declaring the United States goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

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Discovery makes her maiden flight on this day in 1984.

August 30, 1984 - OV-103 Discovery makes her maiden flight on STS-41D, and the 12th flight of the Space Shuttle program. 

Construction on Discovery was completed by Rockwell International in October 1983 from Palmdale, California. Like her sisters, Discovery was named for ocean going research and exploration vessels of the same name - this is reflected in the crew insignia for STS-41D with the depiction of a sailing vessel. Her first mission, STS-41D, included the deployment of various commercial satellites into orbit, as well as several scientific experiments over the 6 day mission, before landing at Edwards AFB in California.

After 39 missions, more than any other orbiter, Discovery was decommissioned in 2011 and currently resides in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

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April 21, 1965 - Launched from Cape Kennedy’s Launch Complex 19, astronauts “Gordo” Cooper and “Pete” Conrad aboard a Titan II GLV begin the third manned Gemini mission, Gemini V - an 8-day trek in Earth orbit. 

Mission objectives included evaluating the feasibility of long(er) duration spaceflight and its effects on the human body, as Gemini V would stay in orbit as long as a trip to the moon and back would take. A rendezvous with a Radar Evaluation Pod was scheduled, but not achieved due to issues with the fuel cells aboard the spacecraft. Gemini V was the first craft to run fuel cells, a necessary change from the chemical batteries of past flights to ensure the craft could stay powered for the duration of a moon mission. Despite the issues with the fuel cells, the flight continued for its planned duration.

Cooper and Conrad took photos of celestial objects while in orbit, photos of Earth were taken for the Department of Defense. 

Splashdown occurred on August 29th, with the spacecraft being controlled by the astronauts during reentry. Due to a calculating error on the ground, Gemini V landed about 80 miles, or 130 kilometers short of its intended landing zone in the Atlantic Ocean. The programmer inputting the data for the reentry calculations had incorrectly set earth’s rotation rate in the computer.

Gemini V would be the first NASA mission to feature an insignia patch. Now a staple of spaceflight operations, the insignia for Gemini V featured a covered wagon to emphasize the pioneering spirit of the mission. Cooper suggested and designed the insignia and included the phrase ‘8 Days or Bust!’, but this was removed by NASA who felt it drew attention to the length of the mission, assuming they were going to be able to stay in orbit for eight days, and not the experiments to be performed.

Gemini V doubled the length of the longest mission to date for NASA (Gemini 4), and beat the Soviet record for duration in orbit, which was set by Vostok 5 in 1963 with 4 days and 23 hours. 

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On this day in 1970, the Soviet Union's Venera 7 spacecraft launched from Baikonur toward Venus, to become the first craft from Earth to transmit data from the surface of another planet.

Following Venera 1 through 6, which were designed as flyby probes, crash probes, and atmospheric probes, Venera 7 was engineered to survive the intense heat and pressure expected on the surface of Venus, including temperatures of 467 degrees Celsius, 864 degrees Fahrenheit.

Upon reaching Venus on December 15, Venera 7, deployed its parachute to begin testing the atmosphere before landing. The parachute then failed, Venera 7 struck the surface of Venus, landing on its side, knocking the communications antenna out of alignment with Earth. While the craft first appeared to be lost, it began recording and, weakly, transmitting data back to Earth, giving us our first glimpse about this pressure cooker planet from the surface, before the batteries on the probe finally drained and it went silent completely.

With Venera 7, humans for the first time knew the atmospheric pressure, composition, and surface temperature of our sunbaked neighbor.

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"I'm at the foot of the ladder. The LM footpads are only depressed in the surface about 1 or 2 inches, although the surface appears to be very, very fine grained, as you get close to it. It's almost like a powder. - ground mass is very fine.

Okay. I'm going to step off the LM now.

That's one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind."

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“... All engines running. Liftoff! We have a liftoff ... 32 minutes past the hour, liftoff on Apollo 11. Tower clear.”

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During the heyday of NASAs Space Transportation System, transport by rail was crucial to the success of the program. The Solid Rocket Boosters, produced by Thiokol in Brigham, Utah, could only be transported on specially designed freight cars. Following a 2,300 mile trip across the country, the NASA Railroad, a class III industrial shortline, took the cars from an interchange with the Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC) for processing at Kennedy Space Center.

In the early days of the nation’s space program, NASA had built trackage to connect the different industries within the complex of Cape Kennedy, as well as the US Air Force Titan launch sites. In 1963, FEC connected the shortline at Kennedy to its own mainline just seven miles away. The FEC also built two yards, Wilson and Jay Jay, just to the northeast of Kennedy. A bridge over the Indian River, known as the Jay Jay bridge, was also constructed to allow rail traffic to move from the mainline to NASA. The bridge stays open until a train approaches, allowing for water traffic to continue unimpeded most of the time. 

NASA was served by three ex-Army Alco S-2 switching locomotives, built in the 1940s, for work around the Vehicle Assembly Building. The FEC provided track maintenance and locomotive crews until the early 1980s. The Alco S-2s were replaced with 3 newer (early 1970s) EMD SW1500 switching engines in the early 1980s. In 1983, NASA purchased the portion of track connecting its own to the FEC. Track was upgraded from wooden ties to concrete to better withstand the humidity and sea air of the Cape, and the original 100 pound steel rail was replaced with 132 pound – this enabled the shortline to handle the hazardous and regular shipments of Solid Rocket Booster segments without worry, and ensuring a work environment where safety was paramount.

Following the space shuttle's retirement, NASA announced in 2015 that railroad operations would cease, ending a fascinating legacy of 'rails to space'.

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Apollo-era Launch Complex 39 captured from orbit on eve of Apollo 11 golden anniversary (July 10, 2019).

Maxar Technologies’ WorldView-3 satellite captured these views of Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39 Monday, July 8. Both Apollo-era launch pads are now home to different launch vehicles. SpaceX launches their Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets from LC-39A as well as their Crew Dragon spacecraft. The company hung a giant American flag from their Crew Access Arm in commemoration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which departed for the moon from that very pad. The transporter/erector strongback that the rockets are assembled and transported to the pad on can be seen in the horizontal position adjacent to the service tower. NASA will utilize LC-39B for their Space Launch System, which WorldView-3 captured with the SLS Mobile Launch atop it. The ML was moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the pad last week for a final series of validation checks before hosting the first SLS flight in early 2021.

WorldView-3 was roughly 380 miles above the earth when it captured these images. P/c: Maxar Technologies.

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This day in 1965, Astronaut Ed White becomes the first American to conduct Extra-Vehicular Activity, or Spacewalk, aboard Gemini 4. White was beaten to the punch to be first by Cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov, who conducted the first ever Spacewalk earlier in March.

White's EVA showcased NASAs own ability to conduct EVAs, critical for the future of the space program. White spent approximately 20 minutes outside the capsule, before reluctantly returning inside.

"I'm coming back in, and it's the saddest moment of my life."

Astronaut James McDivitt was Command Pilot aboard Gemini 4, and had assisted White with returning to the capsule which was proving difficult, due to an issue with the capsule's hatch which needed to be secured before returning to Earth.

Gemini 4 would be Ed White's only spaceflight. He would perish in the Apollo 1 fire only two years later, with Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee.

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May 26, 1973 - One day following launch, Astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr., Paul Weitz, and Joseph Kerwin enter Skylab as its first crew, staying until June 22 for almost 673 hours and 404 orbits of the Earth.

During the unmanned launch of the station on May 14th, the sunshade and a jammed solar panel were damaged, threatening the crew with a lack of power and excessive temperatures that threatened to spoil food and damage electronics. The launch of Skylab 2 would be delayed 10 days until repair procedures could be developed. 

Following rendezvous and docking with the station, the crew deployed a parasol which allowed temperatures to drop enough for the crew to safely enter. Two weeks later, Conrad and Kerwin performed an EVA to free the jammed solar array, which would not deploy due to debris from the torn sunshade. Once the debris was removed, the array began to deploy, but again was stuck in place due to a frozen hinge. Conrad and Kerwin pulled on the array to free it, and were nearly thrown from the station when the array sprung open, saved by their tethers.

While officially designated Skylab 2, the crewed missions to the station are referred to with Roman numerals. As such, Skylab 2 is also referred to as Skylab I.

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7 years ago this day, Space Exploration Technologies launches its Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-40 (Formerly LC-40), carrying the Dragon C2+ capsule on a demo mission to rendezvous and resupply the International Space Station.

This would be the first commercial spacecraft to launch and rendezvous with the ISS, docking on May 25th, with 525 kg of supplies. It returned to Earth on May 31st, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean with 660 kg of experiment samples and hardware. 

This first commercial resupply mission would pave the way to where we are today, where Falcon 9 launches and reusable boosters flying back to the launchpad are almost commonplace.

Photo: NASA

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On this day, the dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing - Apollo 10 launches with Astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Eugene Cernan aboard. moon

May 18th, 1969 - The fourth manned mission of the Apollo Program and the dress rehearsal for the lunar landing, Apollo 10 launches Astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Eugene Cernan for a rendezvous with the moon.

Mission objectives for Apollo 10 included entering a lunar orbit and an 8 hour separation of the Lunar and Command/Service Modules, photography of the lunar landscape, coming within 9 miles of the lunar surface, data gathering of Lunar Module systems and landing radar on final descent, and conducting live, full-color television broadcasts. 

Apollo 10 would complete all mission objectives and return home on May 26th, with splashdown occurring in the Pacific, east of American Samoa. Apollo 10 is also recognized as having obtained the highest speed of a manned vehicle - 39,897 km/24,791 mph was achieved on the return journey from the moon to the Earth.

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The United States first Space Station, Skylab, is launched on this day in 1973.

May 14th, 1973 - At 1:30PM EST, the launch of Skylab enters the United States into a new era of spaceflight, one where Astronauts will live and work in space for extended periods of time.

The unmanned Skylab I was the first in a series of Skylab missions to establish an orbiting space station. The Saturn V, proven in its previous 12 launches for the Apollo missions, was the obvious choice to lift the 77 ton station to Low Earth Orbit. This particular Saturn V, SA-513, was originally designated for the cancelled Apollo 18 lunar mission. 

Skylab was to be crewed by 3-man teams launched from Cape Canaveral aboard the smaller Saturn IB on a rotational basis.

The deployment of Skylab once it reached LEO was not without issue. On launch, the micro-meteoroid shield and a solar array were torn away, and another solar array was jammed. Skylab would be deprived of both protection and power upon the arrival of the first Skylab crew, whose launch was now delayed until they could be trained on repair procedures to save the station. 

This first manned Skylab crew would launch just 11 days following Skylab's’ ascent, on May 25th, 1973.

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The orbiter built to replace OV-099 Challenger launched from LC-39B this day in 1992.

Endeavour is on display at the California Science Center, with plans to have her displayed in launch configuration in the near future.

May 7th, 1992 - OV-105 Endeavour embarks on her maiden flight, STS-49, from Launch Pad 39B. 

Endeavour was named by school children through a national competition to name the new orbiter built to replace Challenger. Ultimately she was named after British Royal research vessel HMS Endeavour, captained by James Cook. This ship is depicted on the STS-49 mission insignia.

STS-49 would be an 8 day, 21 hour mission to capture and redeploy INTELSAT VI, which had failed to reach a usable orbit following a deployment in March 1990 from a Titan launch vehicle. INTELSAT VI would be equipped with a perigee kick motor, allowing it to reach geosynchronous orbit.

The crew of STS-49 included Commander Daniel C. Brandenstein, Pilot Kevin P. Chilton, Mission SpecialistsPierre J. Thuot, Kathryn C. Thornton, Richard J. Hieb, Thomas D. Akers and Bruce E. Melnick. A number of firsts were performed during STS-49, including the first shuttle mission with four EVAs, first attachment of a live motor to a satellite in orbit, and the first use of the drag chute on a shuttle - meant to save wear on the shuttles tires and brakes. The rest of the fleet would eventually be updated with drag chutes.