With nearly 2000 launches to its name, the Soyuz rocket turns 50 years old today – it’s first launch was on November 28th, 1966, carrying a payload known as Kosmos 133, Kosmos being a universal codename for “unknown” Soviet Satellites. This craft was, in reality, the first test flight of the boosters namesake, the Soyuz […]
As mentioned in the previous article, the Gemini Project, NASA’s 2nd manned space program, ended on November 15th, 1966. The 10 manned missions over 2 years proved that humans could do everything needed in space to make a successful flight to the Moon. All that would be left would be to prove out the Apollo […]
15 years ago, on November 15th, 2001, Microsoft released its entry into the home gaming console scene, the Xbox. Based on computer hardware of the era, and using the DirectX game libraries of Microsoft Windows (hence the project name, DirectX-box) this powerful console filled a hole that was left following Sega ending production of the […]
On November 15th, 1966, Gemini XII, the final mission of the United States Gemini program returned to Earth, marking the end of space program to prove humans could do work outside of their spacecraft, could survive in space for the possible 2 week long duration moon missions would take, and lastly to prove two spacecraft […]
One month shy of the launch of Sputnik 1, another R-7 missile was readied on the pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying another special payload destined for Earth orbit. This time the payload wasn’t just a simple metal sphere with a radio transmitter – instead, the payload was a dog named Laika. Laika was a stray […]
50 years ago today, on November 3rd 1966, the United States Air Force launched the 6th Titan III-C booster on a very unique test flight. Sitting atop the powerful launch vehicle was an extension made from a spare Titan I rocket oxidizer tank classified as OPS 0855, built to simulate an orbital laboratory payload, and […]
On October 27th, 1961, the first Saturn booster, SA-1 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 on a 15 minute sub-orbital flight to test the booster. This first flight beget a series of 10 Saturn 1 test flights, 9 Saturn 1B flights, and 13 Saturn V flights. Saturn 1 was a […]
No, I still can’t get past the insanity a few weeks ago on YouTube when I brought up the fact that the SpaceX booster has a large number of engines, and that increases the chance for something to go catastrophically wrong. To recap, not only did people get mad at me over even daring to […]
48 Years ago today, Apollo 7 launched on the first manned flight of the Apollo Program, and the first manned flight on a Saturn 1B rocket. This mission, a planned 2 week stay in orbit testing the Apollo Command / Service Module system with a crew, was the mission originally planned for Apollo 1. 18 […]
On October 11th, 1971, the worlds first Space Station, Salyut 1, burned up on reentry over the Pacific ocean after just 175 days in orbit, and 2 crewed missions to the station. It was the first in a long series of Salyut Stations, a design heritage that would span all the way to the Mir […]
The story of Sputnik 1 is far more than just a simple satellite going into orbit. When Sputnik 1 launched in October of 1957, the United States was caught by absolute surprise. How could the Soviets beat the Americans into putting up an artificial Satellite? What did this mean they could do next? What would […]
It was 59 years ago today that the world entered the Space Age. On the desert steppes of Soviet Kazakhstan, early in the morning of October 5th (local time October 4th here in the United States) 1957, deep within a missile test range, an R-7 missile took flight. This wouldn’t be a normal flight for […]
In 1966, as Project Gemini was wrapping up, Project Apollo was starting to, quite literally, get off the ground – Complete Apollo CSM’s began unmanned flights, and the Lunar Module, while delayed quite a bit, was still starting to become a real machine. Everything was looking to be progressing smoothly before the Apollo 1 fire […]
Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager 1 and 2 probes were sent out on missions to observe Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, as well as their moons, rings, and anything else they could discover on their journeys out of the solar system. Voyager 1 was sent on a more specialized mission for only Jupiter and […]
When the United States Air Force began its space reconnaissance programs in the 1960’s, it needed a way to stabilize its camera and signal interception payloads on orbit. Under normal circumstances of the day, satellites were either spin stabilized, or left to drift along on their orbit, maybe, if things were working right, the satellite […]