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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
Vostok Flight Plan
Belka and Strelka
Vostok With Third Stage
Vostok Dog Capsule
Card From Dog Capsule
Strelka With Pups
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“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
TIROS -1
First Picture From TIROS-1
Echo-1
Echo-1 Mockup
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“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
Little Joe on the Mobile Launcher
Sam the Monkey
Mounting the Capsule
Little Joe: Mercury’s First Steps from James Duffy on Vimeo.
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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
Luna 2 Attached to Rocket
Far Side of the Moon Photographed by Luna 3
Luna 3
Luna 3 Stamp
