Group items tagged

Spacecraft docking

In 1966, the first US manned docking of two spacecraft was accomplished by the Gemini VIII. The Gemini space vehicle with command pilot was Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong and pilot Astronaut David R. Scott, was launched at 10:41 a.m. The primary objective of the scheduled three-day mission was to rendezvous and dock with the Gemini Agena target vehicle and to conduct extravehicular activities. Though this was accomplished, some problems developed that required the mission and its other planed objectives and experiments to be terminated early

Rocket

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) space probe thundered to space

Nov. 18

from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 1:28 p.m. EST atop a powerful Atlas V rocket

New Horizons mission — launched toward Pluto in 2006

flies into interstellar space in about 30 years, according to SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)

the diverse group of space fans have created a petition

China successfully launched its first ever lunar rover bound for the Moon’s surface aboard a Long March rocket

at 1:30 a.m. Beijing local time, Dec. 2, 2013 (12:30 p.m. EST, Dec. 1) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.

The name for the ‘Yutu’ rover – which translates as ‘Jack Rabbit’ – was chosen after a special naming contest involving a worldwide poll and voting to select the best name

Apollo 13 launch

1970, Apollo 13, the third manned lunar landing mission, began with the successful launch of the spacecraft Odyssey from Cape Canaveral with crew James Lovell, Fred Haise, and John Swigert. Two days later, on 13 Apr disaster struck 200,000 miles from earth. A liquid oxygen tank exploded, disabling the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water. Swigert reported: “Houston, we've had a problem.” The lunar landing was aborted. After circling the moon, the crippled spacecraft began a long, cold journey back to earth with enormous logistical problems in providing enough energy to the damaged fuel cells to allow a safe return. On 17 Apr, with the world anxiously watching, tragedy turned to triumph as the Apollo 13 astronauts touched down safely in the Pacific Ocean

 Indian satellite

In 1975, the first satellite built in India was launched from Volgograd Launch Station, Russia, on a Soviet Intercosmos C-1 rocket. It was named Aryabhata, after a noted 5th-century Indian mathematician. The 360-kg satellite had been built during 20 months by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in Peenya, Bangalore, by a team led by Prof. U. R. Rao. Its shape was a 26-sided polygon, 1.4-m diam., with all faces covered in solar cells, except the top and bottom. It was designed to carry out experiments in X-ray astronomy, aeronomics, and solar physics, communicating with a 46-watt VHF transmitter. However, after only 4 days in orbit, a power failure ended any further experiments. It remained in orbit nearly 17 years, until it reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 11 Feb 1992

In 2000, a conjunction of the five bright planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - formed a rough line across the sky with the Sun and Moon. Unfortunately, nothing was visible from the earth, because the the line of planets was behind the Sun and hidden in its brilliance. Such a conjunction last happened in Feb 1962 and will not happen again until Apr 2438. Throughout former history, a conjuction event was regarded with foreboding. However, now science can be dismissive. Donald Olson, an expert on tides at Southwest Texas State University, working with the assistance of a graduate student, Thomas Lytle, calculated the stress on the Earth caused by the Moon and eight planets has often been routinely greater, most recently on 6 Jan 1990

Conjunction of the planets

First U.S. space flight

India's 4.5 billion rupee ($73.5 million) mission to Mars, the nation’s first true interplanetary probe, is now slated to lift off Nov.

, Mangalyan will leave Earth orbit in November and cruise in deep space for 10 months using an onboard propulsion system

elliptical orbit around Mars

In an usual situation, when the new crew arrives, there will be nine crew members and three Soyuz vehicles at the ISS

The new crew is bringing the unlit torch along, then

the space station’s current crew, will take the torch out on a spacewalk,

Ultrasound article

In 1958, a seminal article that launched the widespread use of ultrasound in medical diagnosis was published in The Lancet by Ian Donald, an English physician. After a few years developing the experimental use of ultrasound, Donald had applied it to treat patients in his hospital. In the Lancet article, Investigation of Abdominal Masses by Pulsed Ultrasound, he described how he was able to make the life-saving diagnosis of a huge, easily removable, ovarian cyst in a woman who had been diagnosed by others as having inoperable stomach cancer. Donald knew about sonar from his service in WW II, and industrial use of reflected ultrasound waves for flaw detection in materials, and with help from others, he launched its use in medicine

Challenger

Mrs Potts sad iron

In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger roared into orbit on its maiden voyage. It was named after the British Naval research vessel HMS Challenger that sailed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the 1870's. Challenger joined the NASA fleet of reusable winged spaceships and flew nine successful Space Shuttle missions. But on 28 Jan 1986, its tenth launch, the Challenger and its crew of seven were lost 73 seconds after launch when a booster failure resulted in the breakup of the vehicle

problem with the Soyuz’ parachute – it deployed about 5 seconds later than planned – caused the crew to land several miles away from the planned landing site, but a Russian recovery team and NASA personnel reached the landing site by helicopter shortly afterward to assist the crew in getting out of the spacecraft, which landed on its side

127 days in space

125 days spent aboard the International Space Station

The U.S. military is launching a far-out neighborhood watch. But instead of warding off burglars, these  amateur watchdogs are tracking orbital debris and possible satellite collisions in Earth orbit.

The sky-monitoring project, called SpaceView, is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program that enrolls the talents of amateur astronomers

SpaceView should provide more diverse data from different geographic locations

Curiosity's mission was originally planned to last two years. It has now been extended indefinitely.

Curiosity

radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG),

The nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation announced

(Feb. 27) that it aims to launch two people on a 501-day Mars flyby mission in January 2018

main goals are to generate excitement about space travel and test out technologies that will be needed to put boots on Mars in the future

The problem may have been caused by a stuck valve or a line blockage

An hour later, the Dragon was raised with the thrusters to a safe altitude.

It was the first serious trouble to strike a Dragon in orbit.