This Day in Spaceflight History

[DDE]

On ‎09‎.‎09‎.‎2016 at 2:47 PM, The Raging Sandwich said:

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

Potatoroid!

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 11, 1935, cosmonaut Gherman Titov, the second and youngest person in orbit, was born.

On September 11, 1937, astronaut Robert Crippen was born. He flew on three* space shuttle missions including STS-1 with John Young.

On September 11, 1995, Soyuz TM-21 and its crew of cosmonauts Budarin and Solovyov landed back at Earth after a trip to the Russian Mir space station.

 

[KerikBalm]

On 9/9/2016 at 2:52 PM, The Raging Sandwich said:

My bad! I'll fix it.

You still need to fix your post calling 3 Juno the 3rd largest asteroid

[DDE]

21 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

On September 11, 1937, astronaut Robert Crippen was born. He flew on three* space shuttle missions including STS-1 with John Young.

Guys, sorry to hijack the thread, but since I see the guy's at the docking controls, does anyone know if the shuttle used its standard orientation for docking, or did they also do a "control from here" trick.

I've got a friend who's wondering.

[The Raging Sandwich]

1 hour ago, DDE said:

Guys, sorry to hijack the thread, but since I see the guy's at the docking controls, does anyone know if the shuttle used its standard orientation for docking, or did they also do a "control from here" trick.

I've got a friend who's wondering.

My best guess is that they used the standard orientation, but don't quote me on that! It's probably not true.

1 hour ago, KerikBalm said:

You still need to fix your post calling 3 Juno the 3rd largest asteroid

I'll fix that too.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 12, 1959, the Luna 2 spacecraft was launched. The Soviet probe became the first ever artificial object to impact the Moon on September 13. Onboard scientific instruments showed that no real magnetic field or radiation belts are found on the Moon.

On September 12, 1962, President Kennedy spoke at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He challenged the US to get man to the Moon and to return them safely to Earth.

On September 12, 1966, the Agena target vehicle was launched for Gemini 11.

On September 12, 1966, Gemini 11 and its crew of Conrad and Gordon was launched into orbit. It docked with the Agena on its first orbit. After docking, the Gemini was boosted up to a record 497 mile orbit. Many more flight objectives were accomplished.

On September 12, 1970, Luna 16 was launched to the Moon. It was to fulfill Luna 15's objectives (except for beating America to the Moon and back) of taking a surface sample and returning it to Earth. It landed on September 20. It spent just over a day collecting its 100 gram sample of the lunar surface and blasted off. It landed in Soviet land on September 24.

On September 12, 1991, STS-48 and its crew of Brown, Mark, Buchli, Creighton, Gemar, and Reightler launched into orbit on a 5 day mission. It deployed the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) on September 15 to study the depleting ozone layer confirming the "ozone hole." UARS reentered the Earth's atmosphere unsupervised on September 24, 2011 in Eastern Hawaii.

On September 12, 1992, STS-47 and its crew of Apt, Brown, Davis, Gibson, Jemison, Lee, and Mohri launched into orbit on a nearly 8 day mission. It carried Spacelab-J and many other experiments with them.

On September 12, 1993, STS-51 and its crew of Bursch, Culbertson, Newman, Readdy, and Walz launched into orbit on a  nearly 10 day mission. It completed the first night landing at the KSC.

 

Edited September 12, 2016 by The Raging Sandwich
STS-51

[cubinator]

2 hours ago, DDE said:

Guys, sorry to hijack the thread, but since I see the guy's at the docking controls, does anyone know if the shuttle used its standard orientation for docking, or did they also do a "control from here" trick.

I've got a friend who's wondering.

I'll check in the Space Shuttle Operator's Manual to see if I find anything on it.

[cubinator]

7 hours ago, cubinator said:

I'll check in the Space Shuttle Operator's Manual to see if I find anything on it.

@DDE I didn't see anything specifically regarding that in the manual, but the remote manipulator arm is controlled from that orientation so I would assume the maneuvering controls would have some sort of visual indication of target-relative orientation and velocity, probably very similar to "Control From Here" in KSP.

[The Raging Sandwich]

2 hours ago, cubinator said:

@DDE I didn't see anything specifically regarding that in the manual, but the remote manipulator arm is controlled from that orientation so I would assume the maneuvering controls would have some sort of visual indication of target-relative orientation and velocity, probably very similar to "Control From Here" in KSP.

Wait, that's an actual thing? I thought you were joking about that! 

[cubinator]

2 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

Wait, that's an actual thing? I thought you were joking about that! 

Not my pics, but these are just a few of the diagrams found in the book:

Spoiler

It's practically the next best thing to actually getting trained at NASA to fly the thing. Everything about living and working on the shuttle is documented in that book, no understatement. I stumbled upon it because my grandma volunteers at a local library bookstore and she can pick out any book the library doesn't want and take it home, and she knew that one would be interesting to me when it came through.

[The Raging Sandwich]

37 minutes ago, cubinator said:

Not my pics, but these are just a few of the diagrams found in the book:

  Hide contents

It's practically the next best thing to actually getting trained at NASA to fly the thing. Everything about living and working on the shuttle is documented in that book, no understatement. I stumbled upon it because my grandma volunteers at a local library bookstore and she can pick out any book the library doesn't want and take it home, and she knew that one would be interesting to me when it came through.

WHERE CAN I FIND ONE.

[Bill Phil]

31 minutes ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

WHERE CAN I FIND ONE.

https://www.amazon.com/Space-Shuttle-Operators-Manual-Revised/dp/0345341813

It is the revised edition, though, whatever that means.

[The Raging Sandwich]

8 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

https://www.amazon.com/Space-Shuttle-Operators-Manual-Revised/dp/0345341813

It is the revised edition, though, whatever that means.

To alter something based on new evidence.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 13, 1961, the Mercury MA-4 launched into orbit. It carried a large instrument that simulated a real crewmember. It was the first Mercury Spacecraft to reach orbit. After a full orbit, the retro rockets fired and brought the spacecraft down by Bermuda. Overall, the Atlas proved it was ready for manned spaceflight.

On September 13, 1977, the test-shuttle Enterprise made its fifth flight with its crew of Engle and Truly. It landed at lake bed Runway 17 at Edward's Air Force Base.

 

[Bill Phil]

39 minutes ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

To alter something based on new evidence.

I know what the word means, but not how a revised edition of the manual would be different than what @cubinator has. Maybe the glass cockpits and other upgrades.

[cubinator]

11 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

I know what the word means, but not how a revised edition of the manual would be different than what @cubinator has. Maybe the glass cockpits and other upgrades.

The edition I have doesn't mention anything about the ISS, although it does say the shuttle will be used to construct future space stations. I think the newer one probably talks about Hubble and the ISS specifically.

[The Raging Sandwich]

43 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

I know what the word means, but not how a revised edition of the manual would be different than what @cubinator has. Maybe the glass cockpits and other upgrades.

Okay. The way you put it made it sound like you didn't know what it means. Thanks for clarifying. 

[DDE]

8 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

On September 13, 1961, the Mercury MA-4 launched into orbit. It carried a large instrument that simulated a real crewmember.

Oh, Ivan Ivanovich, I've found your long-lost American cousin!

The only person to ever fly on a Progress freighter!

[The Raging Sandwich]

49 minutes ago, DDE said:

Oh, Ivan Ivanovich, I've found your long-lost American cousin!

Must be a distatant cousin, because the crewman simulator just looked like a big box!

 

[DDE]

9 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

Must be a distatant cousin, because the crewman simulator just looked like a big box!

 

But it could breathe!

And some of Ivan Ivanoviches had eyelashes and could talk, therefore repeatedly leading to increased laundry expenses for NASA and CIA.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 14, 1968, the Soviet Zond 5 was launched. After achieving orbit, it was sent into a circumlunar trajectory around the Moon. It flew around the Moon at a high altitude on September 18. Biological payloads were inside as well. The spacecraft survived a 20g reentry and slpashed down on September 21.

On September 14, 1974, astronomer Charles Kowal discovered Jupiter's moon Leda.

On September 14, 1978, Venera 12 was launched. It was a two part Soviet mission with Venera 11 to Venus. Both included a spacecraft bus and a lander. However, they both failed to send back color television video after landing.

<-- Venera 11 and 12

 

[DDE]

6 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

Venera 11 and 12

Actually each Venera or Mars pair were of identical design; Venera 11 and 12 were both 4V-1-pattern probes.

The lander on the left goes into the spherical fairing atop the bus. Here's a human for scale:

Edited September 14, 2016 by DDE

[The Raging Sandwich]

On September 15, 1966, Gemini 11 and its crew of Conrad and Gordon splashed down back at Earth after nearly 3 days in space.

On September 15, 1976, Soyuz 22 and its crew of cosmonauts Aksyonov and Bykovsky launched into orbit on a nearly 8 day mission. On this flight, the docking apparatus was replaced by a M46 multi-spectral camera which was used to photograph the Earth.

 

 

[Green Baron]

 

Gemini is oozing the MysteryGoo(TM), no science points this time ...

That guy seems to be rather eager to get out, did it smell inside ? :-)

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

1 hour ago, Green Baron said:

That guy seems to be rather eager to get out, did it smell inside ? :-)

Probably because there was no place to get rid of their waste so they just sat on it the entire time. It more than definitely smelled like a sewage pipe.