This Day in Spaceflight History

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 29, 1965, Gemini 5 landed back at Earth. Reentry was done by the flight computer due to it being on the dark side of Earth. The computer programming was off though, thinking the rotation rate of Earth was more than 360.98 degrees a day. Astronaut Cooper compensated for the incorrect programming and brought the capsule down to a location closer to the ship. 

 

On August 29, 1988, Soyuz TM-6 and its crew of Lyakhov, Mohmand, and Polyakov launched to the Mir space station.

On August 29, 1989, Voyager 2 finishes its flyby of the planet Neptune.

On August 29, 2009, STS-128 launched with its crew to the ISS carrying the Leonardo module.

Edited August 29, 2016 by The Raging Sandwich

[DDE]

15 hours ago, cubinator said:

Ok good. I knew about them using retrorockets, but I thought they'd be done firing them and have a minute or two before the trucks get there. Looks like the Russians have almost Kerbal-fast recovery!

It could be the external thermal blankets still being on fire.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 30, 1931, Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert was born.

On August 30, 1983, STS-8 and its crew of Bluford, Brandenstein, Gardner, Thornton, Bill, and Truly was launched into orbit. It was the first night launch of the shuttle and the first night landing. It deployed INSAT (India communications satellite) and the Payload Flight Test Article (PFTA).

On August 30, 1984, STS-41-D and its crew of Coats, Hartsfield, Hawley, Mullane, Resnik, and Walker into orbit. It was the first flight of the Discovery. It deployed the OAST-1 (USAF satellite), Telstar 3C, Syncom IV-2, and SBS-4 (Civilian communications satellites).

 

[DMSP]

How did I not notice this! Great thread, and awesome work keeping up with all the dates!

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 31, 1933, the third German Nebel rocket launch occured at Schwielow Lake. The rocket reached an alititude of 1.2 miles. It flies out of sight and was not recovered.

 

Not much really happened today...

Also, last day of being pinned!

[Havan_IronOak]

9 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

On August 31, 1933, the third German Nebel rocket launch occured at Schwielow Lake. The rocket reached an alititude of 1.2 miles. It flies out of sight and was not recovered.

...

Not much really happened today...

Also, last day of being pinned!

Unless you're in Japan...

  August 31, 1998 North Korea fires missile across Japan

[TheDestroyer111]

On 8/28/2016 at 10:57 PM, cubinator said:

Ok good. I knew about them using retrorockets, but I thought they'd be done firing them and have a minute or two before the trucks get there. Looks like the Russians have almost Kerbal-fast recovery!

The trucks are in the approximate landing location at least a few hours before landing, and helicopters patrol the area before the spacecraft even opens its parachute.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 1, 1945, Von Braun and some of his fellow rocket scientists fly to Fort Bliss, Texas.

On September 1, 1979, Pioneer 11 started a flyby of Saturn.

 

[TheDestroyer111]

13 minutes ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

On September 1, 1945, Von Braun and some of his fellow rocket scientists fly to Fort Bliss, Texas.

On September 1, 1979, Pioneer 11 started a flyby of Saturn.

 

Can you please tell us why they flew to Fort Bliss? IIRC this was part of Operation Paperclip, which consisted of capturing german engineers and getting them to the USA

Edited September 1, 2016 by TheDestroyer111

[The Raging Sandwich]

1 hour ago, TheDestroyer111 said:

Can you please tell us why they flew to Fort Bliss? IIRC this was part of Operation Paperclip, which consisted of capturing german engineers and getting them to the USA

I can't find any reason why they flew there except for that it was part of Operation Paperclip. Sorry.

[Havan_IronOak]

As I understand it...

Fort Bliss (Texas) was "close" to the White Sands testing area and already had facilities for holding over 1300 POWs so it was a logical place to concentrate all the German Scientists.

To quote from a wikipedia article " President Harry Truman did not formally order the execution of Operation Paperclip until August 1945. Truman's order expressly excluded anyone found "to have been a member of the pedant Party, and more than a nominal participant in its activities, or an active supporter of pedant militarism." However, those restrictions would have rendered ineligible most of the leading scientists whom the JIOA had identified for recruitment ..."

By keeping them temporarily at Fort Bliss the OSS & Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA)  had a grace period in which to muddy the waters enough to get around some of the difficulties of getting security clearances for men who were so recently Nazis

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 2, 1804, German astronomer Karl Harding discovered the third asteroid (but not the third largest) found in the asteroid belt Juno.

On August 2, 1971, the Luna 18 spacecraft designed to land on the Moon and return with a sample was launched. It failed to land, however, and crashed into the lunar surface.

More coming later today!

Edited September 12, 2016 by The Raging Sandwich
Juno mishaps

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 3, 1976, Viking 2 landed on Mars completing the United States' second soft landing on Mars.

On September 3, 1978, Soyuz 29 and its crew of cosmonauts Bykovsky and  Jaehn landed back at Earth after flying to the Salyut 6 space station.

On September 3, 1985, STS-51-I and its crew of 6 landed back at Edward's Airforce Base after a mission to orbit.

On September 3, 1995, Soyuz TM-22 launched with its crew of cosmonauts Avdeyev, Gidzenko, and ESA astronaut Reiter to the Mir space station.

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

Nothing of importance happened today. 

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 5, 1929, Soviet cosmonaut Andrian Grigoryevich Nikolayev was born. He was the first person to fly more than a day in space when he flew on Vostok 3. He also married Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

On September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 was launched. It was a similar space probe to Voyager 2. It did a flyby of Jupiter and Saturn until a flyby of Saturn's moon Titan through it out at an angle out of the solar system. Voyager 2 continued on to do flybys of Uranus and Neptune as well. As of now, Voyager 1 is now officially in interstellar space.

On September 5, 1983, STS-8 and its crew of 6 landed back at Cape Canaveral after deploying several satellites into orbit.

On September 5, 1984, STS-41-D and its crew of 6 landed back at Edward's Airforce Base after deploying several communications satellites into orbit.

On September 5, 1989, Soyuz TM-8 launched with its crew of cosmonauts Serebov and Viktorenko launched into orbit to be docked to the Russian Mir space station.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 6, 1899, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) was founded.

 

[KerikBalm]

On 9/2/2016 at 1:32 PM, The Raging Sandwich said:

On September 2, 1804, German astronomer Karl Harding discovered the third largest asteroid in the asteroid belt Juno.

You've got a pretty big error here.

That is a picture of 4 Vesta, not 3 Juno.

3 Juno was the third asteroid discovered, but it was not the 3rd largest.

The first asteroid to be discovered is also the largest asteroid: 1 Ceres

They are numbered in order of discovery, not size. While there may be a correlation between size and discovery order as bigger is easier to find generally, its far from a perfect correlation.

The 3rd largest asteroid is Pallas... 2 Pallas, the 2nd asteroid discovered.

The 2nd largest asteroid is Vesta, 4 Vesta, the 4th asteroid discovered, and the one pictured above.

Juno is the 11th largest asteroid (at this point we can be pretty confident all asteroids over a certain size have beeen found), as the 3rd asteroid discovered, it was discovered before 8 asteroids that were larger than it.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 7, 1914, James Van Allen was born. He would go on to theorize that the Earth is covered in sets of radiation belts that protected Earth from the Sun's harmful solar wind. The first successful American satellite Explorer 1 would eventually prove the belts' existence. They wnet on to be called the Van Allen Belts.

On September 7, 1988, Soyuz TM-5 and its crew landed back at Earth after a mission to the Mir space station.

On September 7, 1995, STS-69 launched from Cape Canaveral with its crew of Cockrell, Gernhardt, Newman, Voss, Walker, and Dave into Earth orbit. It deployed several probes during the span of its mission.

On September 7, 2006, the Cassini probe did a flyby of Saturn's moon Titan.

 

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 8, 1960, the Marshall Space Center in was founded. Numerous propulsion tests have taken place there over the years including the upcoming SLS tests.

On September 8, 1966, Star Trek aired on television for the first time. Many people are astronauts today because of this show that they watched as kids.

On September 8, 2000, STS-106 with its crew of Altman, Burbank, Lu, Malenchenko, Mastracchio, Morukov, and Wilcutt was launched into orbit. It docked with the ISS on September 10. It boosted the ISS's orbit several times. Lu and Malenchenko went on a 6 hour spacewalk on September 11 to install a magnetometer to the Zvezda module. They spent nearly 8 days at the ISS. It undocked from the ISS on September 18. It touched down at the Kennedy Space Center after reentry. 

On September 8, 2016, OSIRIS-REx launched on its mission to near-Earth Asteroid Bennu!

 

 

Edited September 8, 2016 by The Raging Sandwich

[Dman979]

@The Raging Sandwich, you need to update your post- OSIRIS-REx just launched!

[The Raging Sandwich]

3 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

@The Raging Sandwich, you need to update your post- OSIRIS-REx just launched!

I was planning on it, was actually about do do it right now!

@Dman979, I did it! 

[Wildcat111]

12 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

On September 8, 2016, OSIRIS-REx launched on its mission to near-Earth Asteroid Bennu!

Yay!

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 9, 1892, astronomer Edward Barnard discovered Jupiter's moon Amalthea.

On September 9, 1975, the Viking 2 spacecrafts (orbiter and lander) were launched. The Mars orbital insertion occured on August 7, 1976. The lander made a soft touch-down on the Martian surface on September 3.

On September 9, 1994, STS-64 launched into orbit with its crew of Hammond, Helms, Lee, Linenger, Meade, and Richards. It deployed its payload of three satellites: GBA-7, an Air Force satellite, LITE, which measured Earth's clouds and atmospheric particles, and SPARTAN-201, an X-ray astonomy satellite.

On September 9, 2006, STS-115 was launched into orbit to the ISS with its crew of Burbank, Ferguson, Jett, MacLean, Stefanyshyn-Piper, and Tanner. It docked with the ISS on September 11. The robotic arm onboard the shuttle delivered the P3/P4 truss and handed it over to the station's arm to be installed on September 12. Three EVAs were conducted by the crew to further work on the trusses. A delay in landing was issued because of poor weather over the KSC. It landed at the KSC on September 21.

 

Edited September 9, 2016 by The Raging Sandwich
Jupiter, not Saturn.

[cubinator]

Amalthea is the third moon of Jupiter, not Saturn.

[The Raging Sandwich]

30 minutes ago, cubinator said:

Amalthea is the third moon of Jupiter, not Saturn.

My bad! I'll fix it.