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Space Exploration
Wernher von Braun
In his 20s and early 30s, von Braun was the central figure in Germany's rocket development program, responsible for the design and realization of the deadly V-2 combat rocket during World War II.
Von Braun holding a model of a V2 rocket
After the war, he and some of his rocket team were taken to the U.S. as part of the then-secret Operation Paperclip. Von Braun worked on the US Army intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) program before his group was assimilated by NASA, under which he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. According to one NASA source, he is "without doubt, the greatest rocket scientist in history." His crowning achievement was to lead the development of the Saturn V booster rocket that helped land the first men on the Moon in July 1969." In 1975 he received the National Medal of Science.
V 2 Rocket
The V-2 rocket (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, i.e. retaliation weapon 2), technical name Aggregat-4 (A4), was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known human artifact to enter outer space. It was the progenitor of all modern rockets, including those used by the United States and Soviet Union's space programs. During the aftermath of World War II the American, Soviet and British governments all gained access to the V-2's technical designs and the actual German scientists responsible for creating the rockets, via Operation Paperclip, Operation Osoaviakhim and Operation Backfire.
The weapon was presented by Nazi propaganda as a retaliation for the bombers that attacked ever more German cities from 1942 until Germany surrendered.
Over 3,000 V-2s were launched as military rockets by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets during the war, mostly London and later Antwerp. The attacks resulted in the death of an estimated 7,250 military personnel and civilians, while 12,000 forced labourers were killed producing the weapons.
A V2 rocket
The V2 rocket was the first man made machine to reach 100 kms the surface of the earth -the demarcating line between earth's atmosphere and outer space.
V-2 Rocket On Meillerwagen
V 2 Rocket heading towards Britain, launched by the Germans
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Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now at the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at 29,000 kilometers (18,000 mi) per hour, taking 96.2 minutes to complete an orbit, and emitted radio signals at 20.005 and 40.002 MHz which were monitored by amateur radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957. Sputnik 1 burned up on 4 January 1958, as it fell from orbit upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, after travelling about 60 million km (37 million miles) and spending 3 months in orbit.
Sputnik II
In 1947 Russians began launch tests of their V-2 rockets, at Kapustin Yar.
Telemetry was successfully used for the first time in a V-2, launched from White Sands. On 20th February, 1947, the first of a series of rockets was launched for the purpose of testing ejection canister effectivity. On 29th May, 1947, a modified V-2 landed 1.5 miles south of Juarez, Mexico, narrowly missing a large ammunition dump. The first V-2 to be launched from a ship was launched from the deck of the U.S.S. Midway, on 6th September, 1947.
On 13th May, 1948, the first two-stage rocket launched in the Western Hemisphere was launched from the White Sands, New Mexico facility. It was a V-2 which that had been converted to include a WAC-Corporal upper stage. It reached a total altitude of 79 miles.
First view of Earth from space
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The first view of the Earth as seen from space, from a camera mounted on a captured German V-2 rocket dubbed V-2 no. 13, launched October 24, 1946(Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution) at White Sands, New Mexico.
On Aug. 23, 1966, the world received its first view of Earth taken by a spacecraft from the vicinity of the Moon. The photo was transmitted to Earth by the Lunar Orbiter I and received at the NASA tracking station at Robledo De Chavela near Madrid, Spain. The image was taken during the spacecraft’s 16th orbit.
Albert I, first animal astronaut
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Albert I in suit
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Albert I before launch
Albert I before launch
Launch of the V2 carrying Albert I
On 11th June, 1948, a V-2 Blossom launched into space from White Sands, New Mexico carrying the first monkey astronaut, Albert I, a rhesus monkey. He flew to over 63 km (39 miles), but died of suffocation during the flight. Lack of fanfare and documentation made Albert an unsung hero of animal astronauts.
White Sands launched the first in a series of rockets that contained live animals, on June 11. The launches were named "Albert," after the monkey that rode in the first rocket. Albert died of suffocation in the rocket.
Albert II
Albert II - The First Monkey in Space
On 14th June, 1948, a second V-2 flight carrying a live Air Force Aeromedical Laboratory monkey, Albert II, attained an altitude of 83 miles. . Albert II became the first monkey in space as his flight reached 134 km (83 miles) - past the karman line of 100 km taken to designate the beginning of space. Albert II died on impact when the rocket returned to Earth. They were the first 2. The were 4 Alberts. Albert III Died at 35,000 ft during an exposion. Albert IV suffered the same fate as Albert II.
R-1
Rocket R-1D on launch pad
The R-1 rocket (NATO reporting name SS-1 Scunner, Soviet code name SA11) based on the German V-2 rocket manufactured by the Soviet Union.
In 1945 the Soviets captured several key V-2 rocket production facilities, and also gained the services of some German scientists and engineers connected to the project. In particular the Soviets gained control of the main V-2 manufacturing facility at Nordhausen, and had 30 V-2 missiles assembled there by September 1946.
In October 1946 the Soviets transferred the German missile engineers working for them to a special research facility near Moscow, where they were forced to remain until the mid-1950s. The Soviets established a missile design bureau of their own (OKB-1), under the direction of Sergey Korolev. This team was directed to create a Soviet capability to build missiles, starting with a Soviet copy of the German V-2 and moving to more advanced, Soviet-designed missiles in the near future.
In April 1947 Stalin authorised the production of the R-1 missile, the designation for the Soviet copy of V-2. The GRAU index 8A11 was also used. The first tests of the missile began in September 1948. The system was accepted by the Soviet army in November 1950. The R-1 missile could carry a 785 kg warhead of conventional explosive to a maximum range of 270 km, with an accuracy of about 5 km.
In 1947, the R-1A was tested, a variant with a separable warhead. High-altitude scientific experiments were flown with two of the R-1As, and later a series of specialized scientific rockets were built on the basis of the R-1: The R-1B, R-1V, R-1D and R-1E. These carried dogs, and experiments to analyze the upper atmosphere, measure cosmic rays and take far-UV spectra of the Sun.
Bumper
Bumper 5, launched 24th February, 1949
After a July 1946 suggestion by Colonel Holger N. Toftoy to combine the V-2 rocket and WAC Corporal, the US Bumper missile program was inaugurated on June 20, 1947:
- to investigate launching techniques for a two-stage missile and separation of the two stages at high velocity,
- to conduct limited investigation of high-speed high-altitude phenomena, and
- to attain velocities and altitudes higher than ever reached.
Over-all responsibility for the Bumper program was given to the General Electric Company and were included in the Hermes project, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was assigned responsibility for the theoretical investigations required, the design of the second stage and basic design of the separation system. The Douglas Aircraft Company was assigned responsibility for fabrication of the second stage and detail design and fabrication of the special V-2 rocket parts required. The program was officially concluded in July 1950 after 8 launches.
Bumper 5 rocket was the first fully successful launch of its series. This was a first large two-stage rocket composed of an American WAC Corporal research missile and a German V-2. The latter being the second stage. The name originates from a literal bump that is generated by the second stage of the rocket, further increasing velocity. Bumper 5 was launched from White Sands, New Mexico. The program involved Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the United States Army, and General Electric.
The purpose of the Bumper program was to investigate launching techniques for a two-stage missile and separation of the two stages at high velocity, to conduct limited investigation of high-speed high-altitude phenomena, and to attain velocities and altitudes higher than ever reached.
Bumper 5 achieved highest velocity of 5,150 miles per hour (8,288 kilometers), becoming the fastest human-made object ever made and launched up to this point. It also reached highest altitude of 393 kilometers (244 miles), far exceeding any previous achievements and setting a new maximum altitude world record.
According to some accounts, the reached altitude was 6 kilometers higher. Second stage (WAC) contained telemetry equipment that relayed via radio transmissions data back to Earth from space. This was also a first at such extreme altitude and velocity conditions. Considering that there is no scientific evidence that NAZI V-2 rocket launches breached the boundary of space, Bumper-5 is also the first scientifically proven man-made object to reach the outer space.
Dezik and Tsygan
Dezik (Дезик) and Tsygan (Цыган, "Gypsy") were the first dogs to make a sub-orbital flight on July 22, 1951. Both dogs were recovered unharmed after travelling to a maximum altitude of 110 km. They were on-board the Russian rocket R- III A-1.
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1
A Soviet technician makes adjustments to the Sputnik I satellite.
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4th October, 1957.
Sputnik 2
Sputnik II
Sputnik II on the launch pad, 1957
A model of Sputnik 2 on display at the Poly-technical Museum in Russia
Sputnik 2 (Russian pronunciation: [ˈsputʲnʲək], Russian: Спутник-2, Satellite 2), or 'Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 (PS-2, Russian: Простейший Спутник 2 Elementary Satellite 2)), was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on November 3, 1957, and the first to carry a living animal, a dog named Laika. Sputnik 2 was a 4-meter (13 foot) high cone-shaped capsule with a base diameter of 2 meters (6.6 feet). It contained several compartments for radio transmitters, a telemetry system, a programming unit, a regeneration and temperature control system for the cabin, and scientific instruments. A separate sealed cabin contained the dog Laika.
Engineering and biological data were transmitted using the Tral D telemetry system, which would transmit data to Earth for a 15 minute period during each orbit. Two photometers were on board for measuring solar radiation (ultraviolet and x-ray emissions) and cosmic rays. Sputnik 2 did not contain a television camera; TV images of dogs on Korabl-Sputnik 2 are commonly misidentified as Laika.
Laika
Laika was a Soviet space dog that became the first animal to orbit the Earth – as well as the first animal to die in orbit.
Laika before the launch
Laika, a Russian stray dog, originally named Kudryavka (Russian: Кудрявка Little Curly), underwent training with two other dogs, and was eventually chosen as the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2, the world's second artificial space satellite that was launched into outer space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 3rd November, 1957.
Laika likely died within hours after launch from overheating, possibly caused by a failure of the central R-7 sustainer to separate from the payload.
Vostok 1
Launch of Vostok 1 in which Yuri Gagarin took-off and the Vostok 1 capsule shown to the right
Launch of Vostok 1
Vostok 1 landing capsule
[The capsule weighed 2400 kilograms and measured just 2.3 metres in diameter. Evidence of the extreme heat of re-entry can be seen at the base of the capsule.]
Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1
Vostok 1 (Russian: Восток-1, East 1 or Orient 1) was the first spaceflight in the Vostok program and the first human spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961. The flight took Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union, into space. The flight marked the first time that a human entered outer space, as well as the first orbital flight of a manned vehicle. Vostok 1 was launched by the Soviet space program, and was designed by Soviet engineers guided by Sergey Korolyov under the supervision of Kerim Kerimov and others.
The spaceflight consisted of a single orbit of the Earth. According to official records, the spaceflight took 108 minutes from launch to landing. As planned, Gagarin landed separately from his spacecraft, having ejected with a parachute 7 km (23,000 ft) above ground. Historian Asif Siddiqi has written that Gagarin was in the spacecraft for 108 minutes after launch, and that he didn't touch ground for another 10 minutes. (The exact duration is useful to prove that Gagarin completed a full 360-degree orbit in inertial space. The longitude of launch to landing spanned a little more than 340 degrees, but the Earth also was rotating underneath him at about 15 degrees per hour while Gagarin was aloft.)
Yuri Gagarin-The first man in space
First American in space
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Just three weeks after Yuri Gagarin's flight, Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5th, 1961. Launched in his Mercury Redstone spacecraft nicknamed "Freedom 7," Shepard was heard uttering a unique prayer while on the launchpad, and although it's a minor misquote, it will forever be immortalized as Shepard's Prayer.
Valentina Tereshkova, The first woman in space
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The first woman in space is Soviet Union's Valentina Tereshkova, who first made it up there on June 16th, 1963. Unlike Gagarin and Shepard, Tereshkova's flight put her in orbit around the Earth forty-eight times over the span of three days, or for a longer amount of time than all the Americans to that point combined!
Her flight was the final Vostok flight, Vostok 6, and at one point it was only 5 kilometers away from Vostok 5, where she and Valery Bykovsky became the first astronauts aboard different vessels to communicate with one another.
First picture of the entire Earth from space
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The first picture of the entire Earth from space? Well, you need to get pretty far away to be able to photograph the entire Earth, and it wasn't until we started shooting for the Moon that we were able to capture it with a single snapshot. The very first human voyage to the Moon took place aboard the Apollo 8 mission. While technically Frank Borman took the first photo, his camera was black and white, and the image was not so impressive. But Bill Anders took the photo above, simply known today as Earthrise, taken on December 24th, 1968. His inspiring quote were:
We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.
Original 7 astronauts of Mercury mission
Original 7 astronauts in Mercury space suits
Historical speech of J. F. Kennedy
On the 25th May 1961 President John F Kennedy told Congress: "I believe that this nation should commit itself, before this decade is out, to the goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth."
Many people have expressed their amazement that not only was the goal of landing a man on the Moon achieved, but that it was achieved in only 8 years, as Kennedy said it should. This is however, ignoring the fact that at the time Kennedy made his statement NASA already had in the pipeline over nine different Moon landing flight plans in a project they had named 'Apollo'. They were already designing a huge Moon booster called 'Nova', that was to generate 40 million pounds of thrust, and were already considering various methods for landing a man on the Moon. At the the time of Kennedy's speech however, NASA were concentrating not so much on landing a man on the moon but on just putting a manned craft around it. Kennedy's speech changed all that.
Had NASA not been put under pressure to meet Kennedy's deadline, they would have chosen a far different approach to land a man on the Moon than the one used. It was originally hoped to do it stage by stage using a permanent Earth orbiting station that would make future flights a lot easier, but instead had to settle for a 'one time' system to meet the deadline. With the new system going from launch pad, to orbit, to the Moon and back, using disposable components, it was possible to achieve within the time frame, but it meant each mission was a 'one off' and contributed nothing towards the overall mission plan that could be used by following Moon flights.
The mission to land a man on the Moon was not an 8 year period of starting spaceflight from scratch and ending with a Moon landing. Spaceflight began in 1957 with the first satellite placed in orbit and developed from there.
Boot Print
This photograph shows a human boot print on moon. It was the bootprint of Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, one of the crew members of Apollo 11.
First view of Earth from space
Buzz Aldrin on the Moon
Apollo 16 Astronauts Train for Lunar Landing Mission
Buzz Aldrin and the U.S. flag on the Moon
Eagle-In Lunar Orbit
First view of Earth from space
The Apollo 11 Prime Crew
From L - R : Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin before the launch of Apollo 11
First American woman in space
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Believe it or not, it took twenty years for the Americans to catch up to the Soviets in this regard. It wasn't until Sally Ride, above, flew aboard the seventh space shuttle mission, on the Space Shuttle Challenger (June 18th, 1983) that we put the first American woman in space. What has she been working on since? From this interview in 2008:
I kind of came out of my flight experience with a much greater appreciation for Earth's environment and our impact on it. And that evolved rather quickly actually into an interest and concern about climate change and global warming. Understanding our effect on Earth's climate and then mitigating our effect on Earth's climate is really the greatest challenge in front of us today, and in front of the next generation.
For those of you wondering, the Soviets didn't do much better in that regard; Ride was only the third woman in space overall. Who was second? Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, who made it in 1982.
The first astronaut to hit on a celebrity from space
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The second American woman in space, Judy Resnik, who's also the first Jewish person in space, holds that distinction.
Who was the lucky celebrity? Look closely on the image above, and you can see a bumper sticker taped to her locker aboard the shuttle. "I ♥ Tom Selleck." Judy, sadly, was one of the seven astronauts killed in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
The longest time in space
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(Image credit: European Space Agy, with Polyakov, right, performing medical tests on Ulf Merbold aboard Mir.)
Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov. From January 8th, 1994, to March 22nd, 1995, Polyakov spent a remarkable 437 consecutive days in space, on board the Mir space station.
Believe it or not, Polyakov also had an earlier mission to Mir, from August 1988 to April of 1989, where he logged 240 consecutive days in space. To date, he is the only human being two have experienced two separate stretches of over 200 days in space. (And for two separate countries, at that!)
Humans who've been the farthest from the Earth
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That would be the crew of Apollo 13, whose damaged Service Module -- photographed by the astronauts during the flight -- is shown above. Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise were forced to take a different trajectory around the Moon than all the other Apollo flights, and wound up at a higher altitude, swinging around the Moon, than all the other missions, by about 100 kilometers.
On April 15th, 1970, the crew achieved a distance of 400,171 km from Earth, the current record. At this distance, round-trip radio communication from Earth to the astronauts -- were the Moon not in the way -- would have had a 2.67 second delay. Why's that? Because the speed of light, 300,000 kilometers per second, would have taken that long to travel from the Earth to Apollo 13 and back.
The first private astronaut
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(Image credit: Bill Hunt.)
Mike Melvill, the 434th person in space, became the first person to do so without any government funding, as the pilot of SpaceShipOne's flight 15P. (He did it again as the pilot of flight 16P.) When did this flight take place? June 21st, 2004. And thus, the commercial astronaut was born.
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