Nov 21

Space Rocket History #39 – The First Woman in Space, Vostok 5 & 6 with Bykovsky and Tereshkova – Part 1

In June of 1963, the Soviet Union performed an encore of the Vostok 3 and 4 missions with two manned spaceships orbiting the Earth simultaneously. However, Vostok 5 and 6 was more than a simple repetition.  Vostok 5’s objective was to beat the flight-duration record. But Vostok-6 would carrying the first woman into space.  The 26 year old Valentina Tereshkova….

Mission Patch

Mission Patch

Valeri Vkovsky

Valery Bykovsky

Valentina Tereshkova

Valentina Tereshkova

Oct 03

Space Rocket History #32 – Ranger-4, Ariel-1, and Telstar-1

As part of the pre-Apollo preparations, NASA created the Ranger series of missions to take high-quality pictures of the Moon and transmit them back to Earth in real time…

Ranger 4

Ranger 4

Ranger 4

Ranger 4

Ranger 4 Launch

Ranger 4 Launch

Ariel 1

Ariel 1

Ariel 1 Launch

Ariel 1 Launch

Telstar 1

Telstar 1

Telstar Engineers

Telstar Engineers

Goonhilly

Goonhilly

By Dave

By Dave

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

Jun 27

Space Rocket History #18 – Luna 2 and 3

While the Mercury 7 were fulfilling their roles as symbols of space exploration, Korolev once again was offering the real thing. He now prepared to undertake the most demanding mission yet. The mission that would accomplish the next step in Korolev’s program of lunar exploration. He would attempt to photograph the far side of the moon.

Luna_2_Soviet_moon_probe

Luna 2

Luna2Attached to Rocket

Luna 2 Attached to Rocket

Luna_3_moon

Far Side of the Moon Photographed by Luna 3

Lunik_3

Luna 3

434px-Soviet_Union-1959-stamp-photo_of_moon

Luna 3 Stamp