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What is the coolest Space Mission of all time?


C1maCat

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Just wondering what do you guys think the most awesome space mission of all time is? Not the most famous or scientifically beneficial, but the coolest.

Apollo? Voyager? Sputnik? Curiosity?

Something less well known like Venera or Cassini?

Or something else entirely?

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Mercury-Atlas 9.

Gordo Cooper spends more time in space than all other American astronauts up to that time combined. Flies a manual re-entry in a failing spacecraft, using wristwatch and marks on the window for guidance, and makes the most accurate landing of any Mercury flight.

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I'm partial to Apollo 12 myself, though mostly because I just fell in love with the mission's portrayal in From the Earth to the Moon. That documentary/movie makes all three of those astronauts look like the most wicked bunch of guys you ever knew.

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Mercury-Atlas 9.

Gordo Cooper spends more time in space than all other American astronauts up to that time combined. Flies a manual re-entry in a failing spacecraft, using wristwatch and marks on the window for guidance, and makes the most accurate landing of any Mercury flight.

It reminded me this:

I think that STS-75 was a mission worth mentioning, shuttle had deployed satellite attached to the shuttle on 20 km tether (but cable have broken from stress 19km from shuttle), mission was designed to learn more about gravity gradients and feasibility of using tethers in space.

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Edited by karolus10
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Vostok 1. It is because Yuri Gagarin had the courage to step into that capsule when no one else had.

Erm, he was chosen from at least 6 (from an extended group of 20) very eager people to go on that flight. Titov was ready to take his seat at any moment.

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Vostok 1. It is because Yuri Gagarin had the courage to step into that capsule when no one else had.

This. Hands down. It is incredible considering how they must consider each gram of weight they picked a guy with 10 ton maraccas.

Edited by LN400
Typo
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Coolest? Pick any Gemini mission and that'll work for me, with a preference to 6A/7. Gemini was the hot-rod of the space race, a regular American Graffiti, complete with city kids and cowboys racing each other around the planet.

Same here. Gemini has always been a favorite of mine, because that's when we really learned how to fly in space. The astronauts didn't like being treated as essentially payload in Mercury, so the Gemini capsule was built to be to be flown by a pilot and the interior is arranged like an aircraft cockpit. In some ways it was more advanced than Apollo, which had begun development earlier. If I had to pick one mission as the coolest it would be Gemini 6/7.

For unmanned missions, for me the coolest is Curiosity. Using a rocket-propelled skycrane to land an SUV-sized rover on Mars was an amazing technical achievement.

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Apollo 11(don't forget the"1" or that would be embarrassing) for all the reasons that you already know ,and Gemini 6A/Gemini 7 because docking is awesome, Titan looks amazing for a launcher, and no proper escape system ! So many amazing things

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