Mar 5

Space Rocket History #103 – Saturn Development 1957 – 1960

Posted on March 5, 2015

Many historians agree, the U.S. took its first step toward the moon in the spring of 1957, four years before President Kennedy declared the national goal of landing a man on the Moon, and returning him safely to the Earth. While still preparing for t...

12-Second stage (S-IV)

11-Booster stage (S-I)

10-Proposed C-2

9-C-1 and earlier vehicles

8-Model of blockhouse at Launch Complex 34

7-Vehicles using Titan and Atlas stages

6-Saturn C

5-Saturn B

4-Preliminary concept of Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral

3-Early H-1 Engine

2-Thor-Jupiter engine

1-Proposed configuration of a clustered booster

Tagged:Abma, Air Force, Alabama, Apollo, Army Ballistic Missile Agency, Army Ordnance Missile Command, Arpa, Atlantic Missile Range, C 2 Saturn, C 4, Cape Kennedy, Centaur, Charles Wilson, Circumlunar, Congress, Dx, Eisenhower, Exploration, Explorer 1, F 1, F 86, Gilruth, Glennan, Golovin, H 1, Herbert York, History, Hugh Dryden, Huntsville, James Webb, Jfk, Jpl, Jupiter, Kennedy, Kerosene, Kieth Glennan, Kurt Debus, Launch Complex 34, Lox, Lr 119, Lunar, Lunar Module, Lyndon Johnson, Marshall Space Flight Center, Medaris, Missile Firing Laboratory, Moon, Nasa, North American Aviation, Nova, Prat Whitney, Project Apollo, Rendezvous, Rocket, Rocketdyne, Roy Johnson, Rp 1, S 3d, S I, S Iv, S V, Saturn, Saturn C 3, Saturn I, Saturn Ib, Saturn V, Soviet, Space, Sputnik, Tennessee River, Thor, Titan C, Von Braun

Apr 23

Space Rocket History #110 – Early Apollo Command Module Design

Posted on April 23, 2015

The Apollo contract specified a shirt-sleeve environment. For this reason, North American was told not to include in its design a hatch that opened by explosives, like Mercury’s. An accidentally blown hatch in space would cause an instant vacuum and ...

The impact facility at North American was used to drop-test the CM

Selection of Little Joe II completed the Apollo family of launch vehicles.

Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, and Walter Schirra in 1963 inspect a full-scale mock up of the Apollo CM

North American Aviation Stormy,

Interior of a partial full-scale mockup of the Apollo command module

major parts of the command module structure

Tagged:Ablator, Ac Spark Plug, Aerojet General, Airesearch Manufacturing, Ames, Apollo, Apollo Spacecraft Project Office, Avco, B 25, B 45, Block I, Brainerd Holmes, California, California Institute Of Technology, Cambridge, Carpenter, Charles Frick, Charles H Feltz, Collins Radio Company, Direct Ascent, Downey, Dryden, Exploration, F 86, F100, Gemini, George Low, Gilruth, Glenn, Harrison Storms, History, Holmes, Honeycomb, Honeywell Regulator Company, Houston, Hugh Dryden, Impact Facility, John Paup, Langley, Lewis Research Center, Little Joe Ii, Lockheed, Lunar, Lunar Module, Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, Man In Space Soonest, Manned Space Flight, Manned Spacecraft Center, Marquardt Corporation, Marshall Space Flight Center, Mcdonnell, Mercury, Mit, Mode, Moon, Msc, Msfc, Nasa, Norman J Ryker, North American Aviation, Northrop, P 51, Phase A, Project Apollo, Radioplane, Robert Seamans, Rocket, Rocketdyne, S Ii, Saturn, Schirra, Seamans, Service Module, Shirt Sleve Environment, Smedal, Space, Stormy, Thiokol, White Sands, X 15, Xb 70

May 7

Space Rocket History #112 – Apollo: Headquarters

Posted on May 7, 2015

“The contractor role in Houston was not very firm. Frankly, they didn’t want us. There were two things against us down there. Number one, it was a Headquarters contract, and it was decreed that the Space Centers shall use GE for certain things; and n...

General Electric employees monitor activities of a spacecraft test in the automatic-checkout-equipment spacecraft control room in 1965

comparison of spacecraft and launch vehicle configuration

Apollo tracking network in 1966. Radar stations with large antennas for continuous tracking and communications were at Goldstone, California; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia

Tagged:Ames, Apollo, Apollo Spacecraft Project Office, Bellcomm, Block I, Block Ii, Brainerd Holmes, Charles Frick, Edward S Miller, Ellington Air Force Base, Exploration, F 1, Frederick R Kappel, Gemini, General Electric, George Low, Gilruth, Grumman, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, H 1, Highwater, History, Holmes, Houston, Hugh Dryden, Huntsville, J 2, James Webb, John P Mayer, Joseph Shea, Kurt Debus, Langley, Lewis Research Center, Lunar, Lunar Module, Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, Manned Space Flight, Manned Spacecraft Center, Marshall, Marshall Space Flight Center, Mcdonnell, Mercury, Mode, Moon, Msc, Msfc, Nasa, North American Aviation, Office Of Manned Space Flight, Project Apollo, Robert Seamans, Rocket, Rocketdyne, Saturn, Seamans, Service Module, Space, William Rector

May 14

Space Rocket History #113 – Apollo: Command Module Design and Development 1963-1964

Posted on May 14, 2015

…From the information they gathered on the existing technical problems, Disher and Tischler concluded that prospects were only one in ten that Apollo would land on the moon before the end of the decade….

Full-scale model of the command module, above- the strake aerodynamic devices may be seen at either side of the spacecraft just above the aft heatshield

Removing LM from S=IVB stage

On 16 November 1963 in Cape Canaveral’s Blockhouse 37, NASA’s new manned space flight chief George Mueller

Communications with the moon as the earth turned. Astronauts on the moon’s surface also could talk to one another

Tagged:Apollo, Apollo Spacecraft Project Office, Apollo Soyuz, Bellcomm, Block I, Block Ii, Boilerplate, Brainerd Holmes, Canards, Charles Frick, Disher, Downey, Exploration, F 1, Gemini, General Electric, George Low, George Mueller, Gilruth, Grumman, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Harrison Storms, History, Holmes, Houston, Hugh Dryden, Huntsville, J 2, James Webb, John P Mayer, John Paup, Joseph Shea, Kurt Debus, Langley, Lewis Research Center, Lunar, Lunar Module, Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, Manned Space Flight, Manned Spacecraft Center, Marshall, Marshall Space Flight Center, Max Faget, Mcdonnell, Mercury, Mockup, Mode, Moon, Msc, Msfc, Nasa, North American Aviation, Office Of Manned Space Flight, Project Apollo, Robert Seamans, Rocket, Rocketdyne, Ruben Mettler, Samuel C Phillips, Saturn, Saturn I, Saturn Ib, Saturn V, Seamans, Service Module, Skylab, Space, Space Technology Laboratories, Strakes, Thomas Markley, Tischler, Tower Flaps, Tulsa, William Rector

May 21

Space Rocket History #114 – Apollo: Command Module Design and Development 1963-1964 Part 2

Posted on May 21, 2015

Max Faget’s position was that considering the difficulty of the job, if each mission was successful half the time, it would be well worth the effort. But Gilruth thought that was too low. He want a 90% mission success ratio and a 99% ratio for Ast...

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The cabin section (or primary structure) of the CM is assembled at North American in 1965

The CM probe would slip into the LM’s dish-shaped drogue, and 12 latches on the docking ring would engage, to lock the spacecraft together, airtight

Full-scale model of the service module, resting on a mockup of a spacecraft-lunar module adapter, with panels off to reveal part of the internal arrangement

Jettison of the launch escape system (right) after successful launch, also pulls away the boost protective cover that protects the windows from flame and soot

On the drawing of the launch escape system at upper right, the canard aerodynamic devices are near the top of the escape tower

Tagged:Apollo, Apollo Spacecraft Project Office, Apollo Soyuz, Bellcomm, Block I, Block Ii, Boilerplate, Brainerd Holmes, Canards, Charles Frick, Disher, Downey, Exploration, F 1, Gemini, General Electric, George Low, George Mueller, Gilruth, Grumman, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Harrison Storms, History, Holmes, Houston, Hugh Dryden, Huntsville, J 2, James Webb, John P Mayer, John Paup, Joseph Shea, Kurt Debus, Langley, Lewis Research Center, Lunar, Lunar Module, Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, Manned Space Flight, Manned Spacecraft Center, Marshall, Marshall Space Flight Center, Max Faget, Mcdonnell, Mercury, Mockup, Mode, Moon, Msc, Msfc, Nasa, North American Aviation, Office Of Manned Space Flight, Project Apollo, Robert Seamans, Rocket, Rocketdyne, Ruben Mettler, Samuel C Phillips, Saturn, Saturn I, Saturn Ib, Saturn V, Seamans, Service Module, Skylab, Space, Space Technology Laboratories, Strakes, Thomas Markley, Tischler, Tower Flaps, Tulsa, William Rector

Aug 20

Space Rocket History #126 – Apollo-Saturn IB: AS-201, AS-202, and AS-203

Posted on August 20, 2015

Apollo Saturn 201 employed the Saturn IB launch vehicle, which was the up-rated version of the Saturn I rocket flown in ten earlier Saturn-Apollo missions. It featured an upgrade of the first stage engines to increase thrust from 1,500,000 lb-ft of ...

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AS-202_launch

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Apollo-Saturn 201 mission – launch, recovery

Tagged:Aerojet General, Apollo, As 201, As 202, As 203, Block I, Block Ii, Cape Canaveral, Chrysler, Csm 009, Csm 011, Dan David, Exploration, H 1, History, Holmes, Houston, Ibm Federal Systems Division, Instrument Unit, J 2, Langley, Launch Complex 34, Little Joe Ii, Manned Space Flight, Manned Spacecraft Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Msc, Msfc, Mueller, Nasa, North American, Pad 34, Pad 37b, Pad 39a, Project Apollo, Promise, Rca 110a, Robert E Field, Rocket, Rocketdyne, S Ivb, Saturn, Saturn I, Saturn Ib, Saturn V, Saturn Apollo 3, Service Module, Space, Trinidad Tracking Station, Uss Boxer, Von Braun

Feb 25

Space Rocket History #150 – Apollo 6: Pogo and the Tang Ceremony

Posted on February 25, 2016

The success of Apollo 4 gave good reason to believe that the Saturn V could be trusted to propel men into space. But NASA pushed on with its plans for a second unmanned booster flight, primarily to give the Pad 39 launch team another rehearsal before...

5-Apollo-6-1968-04-04

4-Apollo 6’s interstage falling away

3-Apollo6fireyExhaustPlume

2-Apollo_6_launch

1-The Lunar Module Test Article (LTA-2R) is being moved for mating with the spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter

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Tagged:Aerospace Corporation, All Up, Apollo 1, Apollo 11, Apollo 4, Apollo 5, Apollo 6, Apollo Stack, Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arthur Rudolph, Baja, Clifford E Charlesworth, Commandservice Module, Csm, Direct Return Abort, Donald Slayton, Downey, Eberhard Rees, Edwards Air Force Base, F 1, Florida, Gemini, George H Hage, Grumman, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Houston, Huntsville, Instrument Unit, J 2, John F Kennedy Space Center, John Hodge, John J Williams, John Mayer, Kleinknecht, Launch Complex 34, Lee B James, Lm 2, Lm 3, Lox, Lta 2r, Lunar Module, Marshall Space Flight Center, Martin Luther King, Memphis, Merritt Island, Michoud, Mississippi Test, Mueller, Naca, North American Rockwell, Phillips, Pogo, President Johnson, Resonance, Rocco Petrone, Rocketdyne, Rp 1, S 1c, S Ii, S Ivb, Saturn 1b, Saturn Ib 204, Saturn V, Schneider, Scimitar, Sheldon Rubin, Spacecraft 012, Supper Guppy, Tennessee, Translunar, Tullahoma, U S S Okinawa, Vab, Wernher Von Braun

Mar 16

Space Rocket History #153 – Zond 5 – Tortoises in Space & Nasa Stennis

Posted on March 16, 2016

The first attempt for a Zond 4 follow-up launched on April 22. It failed when the Launch Escape System sent an erroneous abort command at T+260 seconds and shut down the Proton booster’s second stage. The escape rocket fired and pulled the descent m...

3-Scientist observing lunar tort

2-Zond-5 has delivered two tortoises back to the Earth

1-Zond 5 Makes Lunar Round-Trip

Tagged:100k Star Tracker, 7k L1, 7k Ok, Aldrin, Apollo 8, Armstrong, Bacteria, Baikinor, Block D, Bombay, Borovichy, Bushuyev, Cernan, Chelomey, Circumlunar, Cosomodrome, Crimea, Design Bureau 1, Kazakhstan, Kennedy, Kremlin, Meal Worms, Michoud, Mississippi Test Facilit, N1, N1 L3, Okb 1, Parachute, Pratt Whitney, Proton, Rkk Energiya Museum, Rocketdyne, Russian Academy Of Sciences, Saturn V, Schmitt, Sirius, Soviet Union, Soyuz, Stennis, Tortoise, Tskbem, Tyura Tam, Ur 500k, Uss Mcmorris, Ussr, Vasiliy Golovin, Wind Flies, Yuri Gagarin, Zond, Zond 4, Zond 5, Zond 7, Zond 8

May 4

Space Rocket History #159 – Zond 6

Posted on May 4, 2016

Trouble began on the sixth day of the flight, November 17. The capsule developed an atmospheric leak, the pressure first dropping from 760 to 380 mm of Mercury. With the drop in cabin pressure all the animal test subjects died. It would have kille...

3-Zond 6 Double-dip reentry

2-Zond 6 Mission Profile

1-Proton-K with 7K-L1

Tagged:100k Star Tracker, 7k L1, 7k Ok, Aldrin, Apollo 8, Armstrong, Bacteria, Baikinor, Block D, Bombay, Borovichy, Bushuyev, Cernan, Chelomey, Circumlunar, Cosomodrome, Crimea, Design Bureau 1, Kazakhstan, Kennedy, Kremlin, Meal Worms, Michoud, Mississippi Test Facilit, N1, N1 L3, Okb 1, Parachute, Pratt Whitney, Proton, Rkk Energiya Museum, Rocketdyne, Russian Academy Of Sciences, Saturn V, Schmitt, Sirius, Soviet Union, Soyuz, Stennis, Tortoise, Tskbem, Tyura Tam, Ur 500k, Uss Mcmorris, Ussr, Vasiliy Golovin, Wind Flies, Yuri Gagarin, Zond, Zond 4, Zond 5, Zond 7, Zond 8

Feb 6

Space Rocket History #49 – Gemini Systems Design – 1962

Posted on February 6, 2014

On January 3 1962, “Gemini” became the official designation of the Mercury Mark II program. The name had been suggested by Alex Nagy of NASA Headquarters because the twin stars Castor and Pollux in constellation Gemini (the Twins) seemed to him to s...

The general arrangement of liquid rocket systems (OAMS and RCS) in the Gemini spacecraft

Gemini landing gear part of the land landing system along with the paraglider

fig41The B. F. Goodrich partial-wear full-pressure suit being developed for the Gemini program

fig33Figure 33. The emergency parachute recovery system for the half-scale paraglider flight test vehicle for Phase II-A of the development program – Copy

fig27Gemini spacecraft nomenclature – Copy

Agena B

Tagged:Agena, Airesearch, Ames A Mcdivitt, Apollo, B F Goodrich, Cape Canaveral, Charles Conrad, Dcs, Edward H White Ii, Ejection Seat, Electrocardiogram, Electroenecephalogram, Elliot M See, Exploration, Frank Borman, Gemini, Gemini Procurement Office, Gemini Project Office, Gilruth, Goddard, Gpo, History, Houston, Ibm, Icbm, James A Lovell, James Chamberlin, John W Young, Manned Spacecraft Center, Mcdonnell, Mercury, Mercury 7, Msc, Nasa, Neil A Armstrong, Oams, Paraglider, Phoncardiogram, Rcs, Rocket, Rocketdyne, Space, Thiokol, Thomas P Stafford, Titan, Titan Ii, Us Army Quartermaster, Us Naval Ordance, Webb, Weber Aircraft, Whirlpool

Jan 29

Space Rocket History #98 – Apollo Beginnings

Posted on January 29, 2015

President Kennedy proposed the manned lunar landing as the focus of the US space program but, at the time of his address, only one American, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. had been into space, on a suborbital lob shot lasting 15 minutes. No rocket launch vehic...

c012a

GilruthThompsonGlennan

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c002c

c002b

c002a

Tagged:Abe Silverstein, Abraham Hyatt, Air Force, Ames, Apollo, Army, Caldwell Johnson, Cape Kennedy, Circumlunar, Csq, Docking, Eisenhower, Eldon Hall, Exploration, F 1, Gatv, Gemini, Gemini Project, George Sutton, Glennon, Goddard, Goett, History, Homer Newell, Houston, Jfk, John Hodge, Jpl, Kennedy, Kieth Glennan, Lbj, Lewis, Lunar, Lunar Module, Lyndon Johnson, Manned Spacecraft Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Max Faget, Mercury, Mit, Moon, Naca, Nasa, Nova, Project Apollo, Rendezvous, Robert Piland, Rocket, Rocketdyne, Saturn, Soviet, Space, Space Task Group, Sputnik, Strass, Thomas Muse, Von Braun, William Schneider, X 15

Episodes Tagged with "Rocketdyne"