Space Rocket History #193 – Apollo 10 – Coasting to the Moon & Loss of Signal

Posted on January 18, 2017 by spac9750

Stafford, Cernan, and Young were the first Apollo astronauts to be free from illness during the mission, although Cernan experienced a slight vestibular disturbance. Like all their colleagues who had flown before, once they unbuckled from the couches they had a stuffy feeling in their heads. This lasted for 8 to 10 hours for Stafford and Young; Cernan gradually lost the sensation over the next two days.

Apollo 10’s View of Earth seen in MCC

Color TV from Apollo 10

The Patch for Apollo 10

Dec 28

An Encore Presentation of Space Rocket History #17 – The Mercury 7

Posted on December 28, 2016 by spac9750

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On April 1, 1959, Robert Gilruth, the head of the Space Task Group, Charles Donlan, Warren North, and Stanley White selected the first American astronauts. The “Mercury Seven” were Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., John H. Glenn, Jr., Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Donald K. “Deke” Slayton.

The Mercury 7

Mercury Capsule and Astronauts

Dec 21

Space Rocket History #190 – Apollo 10 – The Launch

Posted on December 21, 2016 by spac9750

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On May 18th 1969, a king, some congressmen, other distinguished guests, and a hundred thousand other watchers waited at scattered vantage points around the Cape area. At 49 minutes past noon, Rocco Petrone’s launch team sent Apollo 10 on its way to the United States’s second manned rendezvous with the moon.

Apollo 10 crew on the way to Pad 39B

Launch of Apollo 10

Apollo 10

Dec 14

Space Rocket History #189 – John Glenn Remembered

Posted on December 14, 2016 by spac9750

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With the passing of John Glenn last week, I thought it would be appropriate to pause my coverage of Apollo 10 for a week and create an episode that celebrates the life of the American Icon, John Glenn. I covered John Glenn’s Mercury flight in episodes 30-31. I am going to re-release those episodes over the next 2 days. So I won’t spend a lot of time on his Mercury flight in this episode, that will be covered tomorrow.