Oct 31

Space Rocket History #36 – Mariner 2 and Relay 1

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…

Diagram_of_Mariner_1_or_2_with_Atlas-Angena_launch_vehicle

Diagram of Mariner

Mainer 2 Launch

Mainer 2 Launch

Mariner 2

Mariner 2

Rose Parade Float

Rose Parade Float

space rocket history pic34

By Dave

Relay 1

Relay 1

Oct 17

Space Rocket History #34 – Group Flight – Vostok 3 and 4

In February of 1962, the United States put John Glenn into orbit. This prompted Soviet leadership to suddenly asked Chief Designer Korolev to launch the next space spectacular promptly. To make this mission truly spectacular the Soviets decided to launch a group flight of two Vostoks lasting up to four days in orbit.  

Nikolaev

Nikolaev

Popovich

Popovich

Rolling Out

Rolling Out

Vostok 4 on Pad

Vostok 4 on Pad

Popovich in Orbit

Popovich in Orbit

Nikolaev & Popovich

Nikolaev & Popovich

Mission Patch

Mission Patch

By Dave

By Dave

The Troops and I Thank-you For the Likes

The Troops and I Thank-you For 100 Likes on Facebook!

Oct 10

Space Rocket History #33 – Science Overload – Mercury-Atlas 7, Aurora 7 with Scott Carpenter

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, except the focus of  this mission was on science. The full flight plan included the first study of liquids in weightlessness, Earth photography, star observations, Venus sightings and a multitude of other experiments…

Scott Carpenter

Scott Carpenter

Scott Carpenter

Scott Carpenter

Capsule Inspection

Capsule Inspection

aurora7nasa

Boarding

458px-Aurora_7_launch

Liftoff Aurora 7

Carpenter-Aboard-Raft-0512a

Splashdown

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