Jul 26

Space Rocket History #22 – The Vanguard Six

When the 20 Cosmonaut candidates were asked to anonymously vote for which candidate they would like to see fly first, all but three chose Gagarin.  The consensus was, Gagarin was very focused, and demanding of himself and others when necessary.

Gagarin_in_Sweden

Gagarin

436px-German_Titov

Titov

Andrian_Nikolaev

Nikolaev

160px-Ppopovic-2

Popovic

Bykovsky

Bykovsky

Treshkova

Tereshkova

Tereshkova & Nikolaev

Tereshkova & Nikolaev

Jul 18

Space Rocket History #21 – Cry Havoc and Launch the Dogs of Vostok!

For the Soviet Union, 1960 was a mixed bag of success and failure as it struggled for new achievements in space exploration.  The main driving force was to be the first nation to launch a man into space.  An achievement their adversary, the United States, also desperately wanted.

vostok on test stand at factory

Vostok on Test Stand

vostok_flight_plan

Vostok Flight Plan

From Space

Belka and Strelka

Belka and Strelka

Vostok With Third Stage

Vostok With Third Stage

Vostok Dog Capsule

Vostok Dog Capsule

Card From Dog Capsule

Card From Dog Capsule

Korable-Sputnik 1

Strelka With Pups

Strelka With Pups

Jul 11

Space Rocket History #20 – Tiros 1 and Echo 1 – The First Weather and Communications Satellites

“Who can say what contraption the future will bring?
There can be not a doubt, some more wonderful thing.

And if anyone ventures the future to scan,
Why indeed should it not be your old Weather Man?

Have you noticed how often in times that are past
We have used new inventions to improve the forecast?

Television is coming, it is not far away;
We’ll be using that too in a not distant day.

Photographs will be made by the infra red light
That will show us the clouds both by day and by night.

From an altitude high in the clear stratosphere
Will come pictures of storms raging far if not near

Revealing in detail across many States
The conditions of weather affecting our fates….” By George Mindling (Weather Bureau), 1939

Thor-Able

Thor-Able

TIROS -1

TIROS -1

photo1

First Picture From TIROS-1

TIROS-1

Echo-1

Echo-1

442px-Echo_1_Communications_Satellite_(flight_spare)_-_Udvar-Hazy_Center

Echo-1 Mockup

Jul 04

Space Rocket History #19 – Little Joe: Mercury’s Test Vehicle

“The designers made the Little Joe booster assembly to approximate the same performance that the Army’s Redstone booster would have with the capsule payload. But in addition to being flexible enough to perform a variety of missions, Little Joe could be made for about one-fifth the basic cost of the Redstone, would have much lower operating costs, and could be developed and delivered with much less time and effort. And, unlike the larger launch vehicles, Little Joe could be shot from the existing facilities at Wallops Island.”

Little_Joe_6_launch_10-4-1959_from_Wallops_Is._Virginia

Little Joe 6 Launch

480px-Little_Joe_on_launcher_at_Wallops_Island_-_GPN-2000-001883

Little Joe on the Mobile Launcher

Monkey_Sam_Before_The_Flight_On_Little_Joe_2

Sam the Monkey

S61-01673

Mounting the Capsule

Little Joe: Mercury’s First Steps from James Duffy on Vimeo.