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Episodes Tagged with "Atlas"

Posted on December 15, 2016

“I am in a big mass of some very small particles, they’re brilliantly lit up like they’re luminescent. I never saw anything like it! They round a little: they’re coming by the capsule and they look like little stars. A whole shower of them coming by....

Posted on December 16, 2016

Mercury Control was still undecided on the course of action to take with the heat shield problem. Some controllers thought the retrorocket pack should be jettisoned after retrofire, while other controllers thought the retro pack should be retained, a...

Posted on December 5, 2018

Mariner 4’s primary objective was to conduct closeup scientific observations of Mars and to transmit these observations to Earth. Additional goals included performing field and particle measurements in interplanetary space, and providing experience a...

Posted on August 27, 2015

Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. was Born on February 28, 1924 in a town that no longer exist, Phoebus, Virginia. The town has now been engulfed by Hampton, Virginia. Kraft was named after his father, Christopher Columbus Kraft, who was born in New Yor...

3-Christopher_Kraft,_flight_director_during_Project_Mercury,_works_at_his_console_inside_the_Flight_Control_area_at_Mercury_Mission_Control

2-Wally Schirra (right) consults the flight plan for his Mercury-Atlas-8 (MA-8) mission with Flight Director Chris Kraft

1-Chris Kraft and Rober Gilruth

Posted on September 3, 2015

At the beginning of the Apollo program, Kraft retired as a flight director to concentrate on management and mission planning. In 1972, he became director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, following the path of his mentor Robert Gilruth.

3-Robert F. Thompson (center) and Christopher C. Kraft Jr. (right) brief Rear Admiral W.C. Abhau

2-Kraft with his new flight directors before the Gemini 4 mission Clockwise from lower right Kraft, Gene Kranz, Glynn Lunney and John Hodge

1-Kraft Kranz Gemini Fuel Cell problem

Posted on September 10, 2015

As Procedures Officer, Kranz was put in charge of integrating Mercury Control with the Launch Control Team at Cape Canaveral, Florida, writing the “Go/NoGo” procedures that allowed missions to continue as planned or be aborted, along with serving as ...

3-Kranz and his teacher Kraft

2-Kranz at his console on May 30, 1965, in the Mission Operations Control Room, Mission Control Center, Houston

1-Kranz-F86 Sabre Cat

Posted on January 14, 2016

A total of five Lunar Orbiter missions were launched by the US in 1966 through 1967.  The purpose of the lunar orbiter series was to photograph the moon’s surface for selection and verification of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missio...

8-wresat

7-Wresat

6-Wresat

5-Lunar Orbiter 5 photo of the entire Tycho impact crater in the southern highlands

4-LO 4 Davy crater chain chain stretches from Davy Y at left to the large bright Davy G diameter 15 km Note the even spacing of the craters

3Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3121_M – Tsiolkovskiy Crater center

2-Lunar Orbiter 2 on November 20, 1966, 29 miles (47 km) above the lunar surface, over the Sea of Tranquility

1-Lunar Orbiter 3 spacecraft

Posted on January 21, 2016

The primary objectives of the Surveyor program, were to support the Apollo landings by: (1) developing and validating the technology for landing softly on the Moon; (2) providing data on the compatibility of the Apollo design with conditions encounte...

6-Astronauts Pay a Visit to Surveyor 3

5-Photomosaic of a panorama taken by Surveyor 7 of its landing site

4-Surveyor 6 on the Plains of Sinus Medii

3-Wide-angle picture of the northwest wall of the Surveyor 5 crater

2-Surveyor_4_launch

1-Photograph of the Surveyor 3 spacecraft resting on the surface of the Moon, taken by Apollo 12 astronauts

Posted on July 4, 2013

“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 ...

480px-Little_Joe_on_launcher_at_Wallops_Island_-_GPN-2000-001883

Little_Joe_6_launch_10-4-1959_from_Wallops_Is._Virginia

143px-Little_Joe_Launch_Vehicle_-_GPN-2000-001270

Monkey_Sam_Before_The_Flight_On_Little_Joe_2

S61-01673

Monkey_Sam_Before_The_Flight_On_Little_Joe_2

Posted on August 15, 2013

Over 52 years ago, in the early hours of May 5th, 1961 the US prepared to launch its first man into space. Three weeks earlier, the Soviet Union had sent Yuri Gagarin on an orbital mission. This was a suborbital mission planed to last only 15 minutes...

WhiteRoom

tumblr_ma6ui4M49C1r6kbseo1_500

The_Celebration_for_Freedom_7_at_Huntsville,_Alabama_

SurvivalEquipment

shepard_freedom7_big

mercurycontrolPanel

mercury8

mercury7

mercury5

mercury3

kennedy-awarding-medal-to-astronaut-shepard

Kennedy,_Johnson,_and_others_watching_flight_of_Astronaut_Shepard_on_television,_05_May_1961

freedom7redstone

Freedom_7_Diagram

Freedom_7_Diagram – Copy

Untitled

Astronaut_Alan_Shepard_1961 – Copy

Alan_Shepard_pouso – Copy

Alan_Shepard_in_Mercury_flight_suit – Copy

800px-Mr3-flight-timeline – Copy

448px-Shepard_in_Space_Suit_MSFC-6417073 – Copy

Posted on September 12, 2013

Following the successful suborbital missions of Allan Shepard and Gus Grissom, NASA believed the Mercury capsule was ready for an orbital mission.  But, there was a problem, the Redstone booster did not have the power to place the Mercury capsule int...

Enos-MA-5a

t189

space rocket history pic18

Mercury-Atlas_5_display

Atlas_D_with_Mercury-Atlas_5_(Nov._29_1961)

163088main_unmanned-collage

Posted on September 19, 2013

“I am in a big mass of some very small particles, they’re brilliantly lit up like they’re luminescent. I never saw anything like it! They round a little: they’re coming by the capsule and they look like little stars. A whole shower of them coming by....

space rocket history pic21

Mercury-Atlas_6_Earth_photo

Launch_of_Friendship_7_-_GPN-2000-000686

Houston_control_center_during_Mercury_Atlas_6_mission_1962

Glenn62

800px-Glenn_Enters_his_Mercury_Capsule_-_GPN-2000-001029

415px-Mercury_6,_John_H_Glenn_Jr

Posted on September 26, 2013

Mercury Control was still undecided on the course of action to take with the heat shield problem. Some controllers thought the retrorocket pack should be jettisoned after retrofire, while other controllers thought the retro pack should be retained, a...

mercury-flight-27[3]

mercury-flight-26[3]

mercury-flight-25[3]

mercury-flight-24[3]

mercury-flight-24[3] (1)

Ma6Smith

MA6-dye released

MA6 on tv

Posted on October 3, 2013

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…

640_goonhilly

640_telstar-engineers

Telstar1

space rocket history pic22

Ariel-1

Thor_Delta_with_Ariel_1_(Apr._26,_1962)

Ranger4

Ranger4JPL

Ranger-4-Atlas-Agena-B

Posted on October 10, 2013

After the successful completion of the Mercury-Atlas 6 flight that carried John Glenn into orbit, it was Scott Carpenter’s turn to pilot Mercury-Atlas 7, which he named Aurora 7.  The mission was essentially a repeat of John Glenn’s 3 orbit mission, ...

Carpenter-Inspectes-Spacecraft-0512a

NASA-Scott-Carpenter-0512a

Carpenter-Aboard-Raft-0512a

aurora7nasa

458px-Aurora_7_launch

Scott_Carpennter_thumbnail

Posted on October 24, 2013

After Scott Carpenter’s science heavy Mercury-Atlas 7 flight, Nasa’s next mission would concentrate on the technical and engineering aspects of space travel.  Mercury Atlas 8 became the third manned orbital flight of the Mercury program. The pilot se...

Recovery_of_Sigma_7_spcae_capsule_by_USS_Kearsarge_October_1962

MA-8_landing_under_parachute

MA-8_liftoff

163085main_sigma7-sm

760px-Mercury_Astronaut_Wally_Schirra_-_GPN-2000-001351

479px-Mercury_8_in_Hanger_-_GPN-2000-001441

018

163085main_sigma7-sm

Posted on October 31, 2013

During the summer of 1962 final preparations were underway for the first U.S. attempt to reach another planet.  The planet was Venus, Earth’s closest planetary neighbor.  This first flight would be accomplished by the JPL built Mariner 2 spacecraft…

space rocket history pic34

nasa_mariner2_float

Mariner_2_launch

Mariner_2_in_space

Diagram_of_Mariner_1_or_2_with_Atlas-Angena_launch_vehicle

413718main_g-64-1573

Posted on November 7, 2013

Mercury-Atlas 9 was the fourth and final manned orbital flight of the Mercury program. The flight objectives were to: (1) evaluate the effects on the astronaut of approximately one day in orbital flight; (2) verify that man can function for an exte...

space rocket history pic36

S63-07856

Mercury9_tibet

Gordon_Cooper_Jr._-_cropped

773px-Mercury_On_Deck_-_GPN-2000-001403

479px-Cooper_-_GPN-2000-000997

Posted on April 6, 2022

A scant five months after Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean in December of 1972, NASA launched Skylab to begin a new phase of American manned spaceflight – space station operations.

P3-apollo A

P2-wetstage a home in space

P1-Outpost

Posted on December 19, 2013

You may recall from episode 32 Ranger- 4 was the first  U.S. spacecraft to reach another celestial body. However, Ranger-4 failed it primary mission of returning pictures from the moon…

space rocket history pic46

Esro-logo

nimbus_meteorological_satellite

64-041A

220px-NASA_FACTS_Volume_2_number_6_PROJECT_RANGER_image_04

610px-Ranger7_PIA02975

Posted on January 16, 2014

Mariner 4’s primary objective was to conduct closeup scientific observations of Mars and to transmit these observations to Earth. Additional goals included performing field and particle measurements in interplanetary space, and providing experience a...

Cratered Hilands Mars

mariner04

Pickering-Johnson

Mariner_4_launch_2

Mariner Crater

20121209_Mars_Mariner_4_f840 Nasa

Posted on April 17, 2014

In total Ranger 9 transmitted 5,814 good contrast photographs during the final 19 minutes of flight. The last image taken before impact had a resolution of 0.3 meters per pixel. The spacecraft encountered the lunar surface after 64.5 hours of flight....

Sea of Tranquillity on the Moon from 11 km, 5 seconds before impact

Rilles on the Floor of Alphonus Crater

ranger8launch

ranger

Ranger 9

INTELSAT_I_(Early_Bird)

First picture of the Moon taken by Ranger 8

Delta_D_Intelsat1

Posted on April 24, 2014

Posted on May 1, 2014

For the first time Television coverage of the launch had an international audience, as the scene was broadcast to 12 European nations via Intelsat 1 aka the Early Bird satellite of episode 59. Heightened by the prospect of an EVA and the first use of...

Spacewalk

Manned Maneuvering Unit

Gt4Patch

gemini-4

gemini-4_landing

Gemini_4_Outside_National_Air_and_Space_Museum

Gemini 4 recovery

Gemini 4 launch

Gemini 4 inside national air and space

Gemini -24 scale model

Ed white

G4 button

Posted on May 8, 2014

On orbit 48, after 75 hours of flight a problem arose. During a pass over the continental US the flight computer was updated. McDivitt was told to switch off the computer. He flipped the switch but the computer did not turn off. On the ground at miss...

Food packages of beef and gravy fully reconstituted and ready to eat. The water gun is used to reconstitute dehydrated food and the scissors are used to open the packages to eat

This package of spacefood, like the ones carried aboard Gemini missions, contains a complete meal combination, which consists of entree, vegetables and dessert. Additionally, it has a package of drink crystals

This meal includes a beef sandwich, strawberry cereal cubes, peaches, and beef and gravy. Astronauts used a water gun to reconstitute the food and scissors to open the package

Posted on May 15, 2014

By this time the Astronauts were thinking about a nickname for their spacecraft, but NASA Headquarters now officially refused to allow nicknames for Gemini spacecraft. However, Gordo Cooper was not so easily put off. Pete Conrad’s father-in-law had w...

gordo recovery

Gemini5insignia

gemini5-surrounded-by-mcdonnell-works-during-checkout-240×310

Gemini5-splashdown

Gemini5-cockpit-pre-launch

gemini-v-crew

gemini-5-cape-kennedy-240×242

gemini-5-baja-california

Gemini-5_Gordon_Cooper_recovery

Gemini_5_Radar_Evaluation_Pod

Gemini_5_on_the_pad_19

Gemini_5_Fuel Cell

Dave Hint

Posted on May 22, 2014

Posted on May 29, 2014

Posted on August 14, 2014

In the 1960s, during the cold war, the US and Soviet Union turned their attention to the moon. The question was, who could place a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth first? Obtaining the necessary data on the moon to risk sending a pe...

First_View_of_Earth_from_Moon

lunar_orbiter1

Surveyor_1_shadow_lunarsurface

Surveyor_1_Foot_Pad on the moon

Surveyor_1_launch with Atlas Centar

surveyor 1 mockup_beach

luna10

Posted on August 28, 2014

After the untimely deaths of Elliot See and Charles Basset, NASA assigned the Gemini IX prime crew positions to Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan.  This was the first time in NASA’s manned space flight history that a backup crew had taken over a mission. ...

Gemini_9Acrew

g9patch

AtlasAgenaG9a

Posted on September 4, 2014

As contractors worried about technical problems with the Atlas, Once again NASA, faced the necessity for a quick recovery plan when a target vehicle failed to reach orbit. You may recall the first time was with Gemini 6.  But this time Nasa had somet...

AugmentTargetDockingAdapter

tom Stafford in orbit

hint for facebook

Posted on June 24, 2015

Over 52 years ago, in the early hours of May 5th, 1961 the US prepared to launch its first man into space. Three weeks earlier, the Soviet Union had sent Yuri Gagarin on an orbital mission. This was a suborbital mission planed to last only 15 minutes...

Posted on September 24, 2015

Mercury-Redstone 4 was the fourth mission in the Mercury-Redstone series and the second U.S. manned suborbital spaceflight. The mission was essentially a repeat of Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 flight.   So why was it necessary to launch another sub-orbit...

Posted on April 20, 2016

After Scott Carpenter’s science heavy Mercury-Atlas 7 flight, Nasa’s next mission would concentrate on the technical and engineering aspects of space travel.  Mercury Atlas 8 became the third manned orbital flight of the Mercury program. The pilot se...