Jun 30

Space Rocket History an Encore Presentation of Episode #42 – Satellite Killer – Polyot-1

The Space Age had barely begun when Soviet engineers started planning ways to destroy enemy satellites. Some Western analysts have speculated that a design for an anti-satellite weapon system was started at Korolev’s OKB-1 bureau as early as 1956…

polyot1

Polyot-1

Credit: © Dietrich Haeseler

Credit: © Dietrich Haeseler

poletdh2

Credit: © Dietrich Haeseler

space rocket history pic45

By Dave

Dec 31

Space Rocket History an Encore Presentation of Episode #23 – Vostok 1 with Yuri Gagarin

“Dear friends, you who are close to me, and you whom I do not know, fellow Russians, and people of all countries and all continents: in a few minutes a powerful space vehicle will carry me into the distant realm of space. What can I tell you in these last minutes before the launch? My whole life appears to me as one beautiful moment. All that I previously lived through and did, was lived through and done for the sake of this moment.” Yuri Gagarin prior to launch of Vostok 1.

space rocket

ImageGen vostok 1 being prepared_500x409Yuri800px-Vostok_1_orbit Hint2

Mar 27

Space Rocket History #56 – First Space Walk – Voskhod 2 with Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev – Part 2

Leonov opened the airlocks outer hatch He was positioned on his “back” and this orientation revealed the beauty of earth in its entirety.  His heart began to race as he pushed his upper body outside and saw the deep blue vista of the Mediterranean Sea, fringed by the easily recognizable shapes of Greece and Italy and, farther east, the Crimea, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Volga River…

EVA

EVA

EVA

EVA

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EVA

Celebration

Celebration

Descent Module

Descent Module

Stamp

Stamp

Mar 20

Space Rocket History #55 – First Space Walk – Voskhod 2 with Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev – Part 1

Voskhod 2 was a high risk mission.  It was the final space race victory for the Soviet Union before NASA claimed the lead and ultimately won with the lunar landing of 1969. Voskhod 2 was the peak of the Soviet Space Program.  It nearly killed its two cosmonauts but it was ultimately a success…

Voskhod_spacecraft_diagram

Voskhod with Airlock

Airlock and Spacesuit

Airlock and Spacesuit

Alexei Leonov

Alexei Leonov

Pavel Belyayev

Pavel Belyayev

Spacesuit

Spacesuit

Mission Patch

Mission Patch