This Day in Spaceflight History

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 7

1968: Luna 14 was launched. It entered Lunar orbit on April 10 to study the Moon's gravitational field, and as revealed later, tracking and communications for a Soviet manned Lunar program. 

1990: China launched Asiasat 1, their first commercial probe. It was originally Westar 6, retrieved in orbit by STS-51-A. It was refurbished and given to China for launch.

1991: An unscheduled EVA was conducted for STS-37 by Jerome Apt and Jerry Ross. They manually deployed the Compton Observatory's high-gain antenna which had failed to deploy.

2001: The 2001 Mars Odyssey was launched. It was to orbit Mars for studying surface mineralogy and radiation. After entering a parking orbit, it was boosted out of Earth's SOI and towards Mars. It left Earth's SOI on April 10. It entered Mars orbit on October 24.

2007: Soyuz TMA-10 and its crew of 3 launched into orbit on a mission to the ISS. It docked to the station on April 9. During reentry on October 21, the service module failed to separate from the capsule causing the spacecraft to tumble. The connecting ports eventually burned through and the capsule righted itself. The crew landed safely nearly 200 miles away from its planned landing point. The reentry was revealed until the same happened on TMA-11.

  

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 8

1952: The Redstone missiles were given their official name.

1964: The unmanned Gemini-Titan 1 was launched. It was the first launch of a Gemini vehicle into orbit. It was to test the structural integrity of the spacecraft and to test of the new Titan II missile could launch the spacecraft into orbit. While in orbit, the spacecraft and the second stage did not detach. No recovery was planned and the mission was successful after 3 hours. The spacecraft was still tracked until its orbit decayed and it reentered on April 12 over the Atlantic.

1980: Voyager 1 discovered Saturn's moon Telesto.

1993: STS-56 and its crew of 5 launched into orbit on a 9-day mission. It carried the Atlas-2 and deployed Spartan 201, an X-ray astronomy satellite, on April 11 and retrieved it on April 13.

1997: STS-83 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth.

2002: STS-110 and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on an 11-day mission to the ISS. It was delayed 2 times before launching on April 8. It carried the S0 truss segment, which was to grow into the solar wings and radiator trusses.

2006: Soyuz TMA-7 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth.

2008: Soyuz TMA-12 and its crew of 3 launched into orbit on a mission to the ISS. It docked to the station on April 10 and undocked on October 24, landing safely back at Earth.

 

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

6 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

 

I love pictures of Soyuz landings. The spaceship in the middle of a field is so incongruous.

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 9

1963: The Soviets proposed using the Vostok spacecraft as a training craft for cosmonauts going into Soyuz missions. The Vostok would be used for training flights like MiG-15UTI training flights. This was when they proposed mass production of Vostok and Soyuz as military craft.

1965: It was announced that the manned flight control would be transferred to Houston from Cape Canaveral.

1980: Soyuz 35 and its crew of 2 launched into orbit on a mission to the Salyut 6.

1983: STS-6 and its crew of 4 landed back at Earth.

1994: STS-59 and its crew of 6 launched into orbit on an 11 day mission. It carried SIR-C SAR Radar.

 

April 10

1979: Soyuz 33 and its crew of 2 launched into orbit on a mission to the Salyut 6. It failed to dock to the station after the main engines didn't fire the planned 6-second burn closing in on rendezvous. The docking was called off and they used the backup engine to deorbit. The backup engine fired too long and the crew underwent a steep reentry. 

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 11

1943: The California Rocket Society tested the first hybrid rocket using oxygen and carbon.

1970: Apollo 13 and its crew of James Lovell, Fred Haise, and John Swigert were launched to the Moon. The fourth S-IVB stage entered into a parking orbit. After burning a second time, the CSM undocked from the S-IVB stage and docked with the lunar module, then detaching that from the S-IVB. The S-IVB stage then burned itself in an impact trajectory towards the Moon, impacting on April 14, triggering the Apollo 12 seismometer. The ion detector equipment also recorded a jolt of over 2,500 watts during the impact. On April 13, the SM oxygen tank 2 started rapidly losing pressure and the current in fuel cells 1 and 3 started to drop. This resulted in loss of oxygen and primary power in the SM and an abort of the mission. The crew powered down the CM and used the LM for propulsion and life support. The LM first made a course correction to have a free-return trajectory around the Moon. After swinging around the Moon, the LM was used again to shorten the travel time back to Earth. They splashed down successfully in the South Pacific ocean.

1984: Soyuz T-10 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth after a mission to the Salyut 7.

1991: STS-37 and its crew of 5 landed back at Earth.

1995: T Keith Glennan, the first NASA administrator (1958-1961) died.

2006: The ESA's Venus Express conducted its orbital insertion of Venus.

    

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 12

1960: The first Mercury capsule produced by McDonnell was presented to NASA.

1961: Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first ever man in space and the first in orbit when he was launched on Vostok 1. His flight was designated for 1 orbit around the Earth. The controls were completely automated to keep Gagarin from manually piloting the spacecraft. After orbiting once, the retrofire command was given. After successful retrofire, the service module remained on the main capsule. It remained on the capsule even after entering the atmosphere, causing the spacecraft to rotate until the straps holding the two burned through. After a successful reentry, Gagarin ejected from the capsule, then landing with his own parachute after jumping out of the seat. He was recovered safely the same day.

1979: Soyuz 33 and its crew of 2 landed back at Earth. 

1981: The first Space Transportation System (STS-1), or the space shuttle, was launched with veteran Gemini and Apollo astronaut John Young and rookie Robert Crippen. They orbited the Earth 37 times in the Columbia after landing back at Earth on April 14.

1985: STS-51-D and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on a 7-day mission. It released Anik C1, a Canadian communications satellite, and Syncom IV-3, another communcations satellite (which failed to reached geosynchronous orbit and was repaired on STS-51-I on August 31), on April 13.

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 13

1959: Discoverer 2 was launched. It was the first ever satellite to be completely stabilized, maneuvered in orbit, and to send a reentry vehicle back to Earth. The capsule ejection malfunctioned, causing the capsule to crash-land near Norway in Spitsbergen (though this was just speculation) instead of landing near Hawaii on April 14. After it was never found, it was suspected to be stolen by Soviets.

1960: Transit 1B, the first orbital navigation satellite, was launched. It was the first launch of a Thor/Ablestar rocket. The Ablestar stage had the first engine-restart in space.

1984: STS-41-C and its crew of 5 landed back at Earth.

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 14

1955: Wernher Von Braun became a U.S. citizen at Huntsville Highschool in Alabama.

1981: STS-1 and its crew of John Young and Robert Crippen landed back at Earth after the first spaceflight of the shuttle.

2002: The wake-up song for STS-110 was "All Star" by Smash Mouth, played for astronaut Walheim. (Included for Satire)

2015: SpaceX launched the Dragon CRS-6 ISS supply spacecraft into orbit on a 37-day mission. The recovery of the first stage of the Falcon 9 was attempted on a barge in the Atlantic but failed. The spacecraft arrived at the station on April 17. It was grappled by the robotic arm and docked to the Harmony module. It delivered supplies needed for the crew along with 16 cubesats that would later be deployed in orbit, mice, and a microgravity espresso machine.

I'll have to do April 15 and 16 later tomorrow, as I have no more time tonight. 

[Capt. Hunt]

On 4/12/2017 at 6:32 PM, The Raging Sandwich said:

April 12

1981: The first Space Transportation System (STS-1), or the space shuttle, was launched with veteran Gemini and Apollo astronaut John Young and rookie Robert Crippen. They orbited the Earth 37 times in the Columbia after landing back at Earth on April 14.

 

I used to have a poster of that picture when I was growing up.

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 15

1970: Apollo 13 swung around the Moon on its way back to Earth, setting an altitude record of 401,056 km away from the center of the Earth. Radio contact was lost until they came back around. Later that day, they made a course correction with the LM descent stage to reduce the coast time to Earth. 

2004: STS-122 was cancelled after the Columbia disaster.

2005: Soyuz TMA-6 and its crew of 3 launched into orbit on a mission to the ISS. It docked to the station on April 17.

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 16

1956: David Brown was born. He flew on STS-107, the failed Columbia mission in 2003.

1962: The N1 Soviet Moon rocket among other ICBMs was authorized.

1972: Apollo 16 and its crew of Charles Duke, Thomas Mittingly, and John Young were launched on an 11-day mission to the Moon. The S-IVB stage and the spacecraft were first put in a parking orbit. Translunar Injection came a little less than 3 hours after launch. The tracking of the S-IVB stage was lost on April 17. It impacted the Moon on April 19 triggering the Apollo 12, 14, and 15 seismometers. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on April 19. Crewmembers Charles Duke and John Young landed on the Moon on April 20. The first EVA was conducted the next day. The crew traveled a total distance of 2.6 miles on the first EVA with the lunar rover. The second EVA was on April 22. The total distance traveled on the lunar rover then was 6.9 miles. The third and final EVA was the next day, where the crew traveled 7.1 miles. Thomas Mittingly stayed in lunar orbit during the surface exploration of the two other crewmembers. The ascent stage of the LEM lifted off the surface on April 23 and docked with the CSM. The LEM was jettisoned on April 24. A subsatellite was ejected from the spacecraft but crashed into the Moon on May 29. 

2005: The Cassini spacecraft conducted a successful flyby of the moon Titan.

 

April 17

1967: The Surveyor 3 lunar lander was launched. It landed on the Moon on April 20. It would later be visited by Apollo 12 in November, 1969.

1970: Apollo 13 and its crew landed safely in the Pacific ocean. 4 hours before reentry the SM was jettisoned and the LM was jettisoned 1 hour before reentry.

1976: Germany's Helios 2 spacecraft made the closest ever flyby of the Sun.

1990: Ronald Evans, Jr. died. He flew on Apollo 17.  

1993: STS-56 and its crew of 5 landed back at Earth.

1998: STS-90 and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on a 16-day mission. It carried Spacelab, a science lab stowed inside the shuttle payload bay.

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 18

1951: Aeromed 1 Biological mission was launched. It was the first Aerobee sounding rocket to carry a monkey onboard, though its name is unknown.

1968: Two workers were killed while working on the Soviet N1 rocket.

2002: the Stardust spacecraft reached the Aphelion of its orbit (2.72 AU).

2003: Stardust exited solar conjunction, where the Sun was blocking its view of Earth, making it temporarily invisible.

2014: SpaceX's Dragon CRS-3 was launched to the ISS. It was also the first launch of the Falcon 9 with a recoverable first stage. During launch after the first stage was jettisoned, it landed vertically in the ocean to be recovered. After achieving orbit, the second stage separated the spacecraft along with 5 cubesats. The spacecraft delivered supplies to the station and undocked on May 18. It landed safely in the Pacific the same day.

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 19

1932: Robert Goddard first tested a liquid fuel-rocket with gyro stabilization. It used 8 gyro-fins to stabilize it. It reached 135 feet and flew for a total of 5 seconds.

1971: The first manned space station, Salyut 1, was launched. After achieving a stable orbit, the cover for the scientific equipment bay did not open, leaving many experiments unusable. Otherwise, it was functioning well. It included a number of military experiments along with many scientific experiments.

1982: The Salyut 7 space station was launched. It was less advanced and involved as Salyut 6 even though it had the same design. Two resupply modules originally intended for the then cancelled Almaz station docked to Salyut 7 to make a larger station. It reentered after losing fuel on February 7, 1991 over Argentina. It was attempted to control the reentry but all attempts failed, leaving some parts of the station to land in a small town called Capitan Bermudez, but no one was hurt.

1985: STS-51-D and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth.

More coming later today

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 19 cont...

2001: STS-100 and its crew of 7 was launched into orbit on a 12-day mission to the ISS. It delivered a Canadian robotic arm called Canadarm 2 to the station and an Italian cargo ship called Rafaello to deliver supplies. It docked to the station on April 21. The robotic arm and Rafaello were both docked to the station on April 23. After delivering its supplies and taking in unneeded supplies, Rafaello was undocked from the station on April 27 and placed back in the shuttle payload bay. After a series of computer problems onboard the station, STS-100 undocked from the station on April 29. The weather was bad in Florida, so the crew landed in California instead on May 1. 

2004: Soyuz TMA-4 launched into orbit on a mission to the ISS. It docked to the station on April 21. 

2006: Albert Crossfield, the first man to reach mach 2 and the first Hispanic test pilot, died in a crash of a private plane near Ellijay, Georgia due to bad weather.

2008: Soyuz TMA-11 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth.

Edited April 22, 2017 by The Raging Sandwich
Added images

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 20

1972: Charles Duke and John Young of Apollo 16 landed on the Moon.

1983: Soyuz T-8 and its crew of 3 launched into orbit on a mission to the Salyut 7. It failed to dock with the station resulting in the crew landing back at Earth on April 22.

1994: STS-59 and its crew of 5 landed back at Earth.

 

April 21

1972: Apollo 16's Charles Duke and John Young made their first EVA after landing on the Moon the previous day. 

2007: Soyuz TMA-9 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth.

2013: The Cygnus Mass Simulator was launched. It was the first launch of the Antares rocket. It carried instruments to measure the launch environments of the Cygnus vehicle which would be used for future ISS resupply missions. It also carried 4 cubesats, Dove-1, Alexander, Graham, and Bell.

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 22

1959: It was decided in a meeting at Langley that a tower would be the best configuration for Mercury's abort system.

1968: Soyuz 7K-L1 s/n 7L was launched. The spacecraft was supposed to separate from the L1 rocket 589 seconds into the flight. At 260 seconds, the malfunction detection system short-circuited and indicated a false launch failure, causing the SAS abort system to separate the spacecraft from the booster. This was the third abort of this kind with the SAS proving its reliability, even if it was unintentional.

1971: Soyuz 10 and its crew of 3 launched into orbit on a mission to Salyut 1. It was the first manned flight to a space station. Because of the weather, it was nearly scrubbed. It approached to the station automatically, but hand-docking was attempted after the failure of the automated systems. The attempt at a hard-dock was failed after the bad angle of approach caused by having no instrument to calculate the approach angle. Soft docking was successful. The faulty hatch on the spacecraft disabled the crew from entering the station. Undocking was unsuccessful as the faulty hatch was impeding with the docking mechanisms.

1972: The Apollo 16 landing crew made their second EVA on the lunar surface.

1983: Soyuz T-8 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth.

 

April 23

1956: The Army proposed that a Redstone Jupiter missile could launch a small satellite into orbit by January, 1957.

1957: Vandenberg Airforce Base was established.

1962: Ranger 4 was launched. It was the first US spacecraft to impact the Mun. Failure of a timer in the spacecraft led to the loss of control of the spacecraft after being put in its set trajectory. It was tracked until it passed behind the Moon on April 26 and impacted.

 

1967: Soyuz 1 and its crew of Vladimir Komarov was launched into orbit. It was planned for Soyuz 2 and its 3-manned crew to launch the next day with 2 of the cosmonauts spacewalking to Soyuz 1 after rendezvousing. After orbital insertion, one of the solar panels failed to deploy. The reaction control system also failed to function properly. It was decided to let Komarov return to Earth. Reentry and drogue-chute deployment were both successful. However, the main chute failed to deploy. Komarov attempted to deploy the reserve chute. It tangled up with the drogue chute causing Komarov and the spacecraft to crash. 

More coming tomorrow...

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 23, cont.

1968: A Soyuz 7K-L1 was launched. All was normal until the capsule was reported to have separated from the inert second stage booster after a false abort signal. It landed safely and was recovered the next morning.

1972: The Apollo 16 crew made their 3rd EVA on the Moon, driving the lunar rover to the North Ray crater. Upon return, they threw all the unneeded supplies out of the LM. They then lifted off the surface the same day, docking with the CSM in orbit.

  

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 24

1967: Vladimir Komarov died when the Soyuz 1 spacecraft crashed. Upon failure to deploy the main chutes, Komarov deployed the back-up chutes which tangled up with the drogue chute, causing the spacecraft to crash. He was the first person to die during a spaceflight.

1970: China's first successful orbital satellite DFH-Mao 1 was launched. Everything during launch was reported nominal and the satellite entered orbit 13 minutes after launch.

1971: Soyuz 10 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth after its failed mission to Salyut 1. Only a night landing was possible if it was to land in Soviet territory. The air inside the spacecraft became toxic during reentry and crewmember Rukavishnikov fell unconscious. Other than that, the crew and spacecraft landed safely.

1990: STS-31 and its crew of 5 launched into orbit on a 5-day mission. It deployed the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), which after repairs by later missions, would look out into space at different galaxies, stars, nebulae, and other phenomena. 

2005: Soyuz TMA-5 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth after a mission to the ISS.

 

April 25

1961: Mercury Atlas (MA)-3 was launched in an attempt to reach an unmanned Mercury spacecraft into orbit. The rocket failed to reach a proper launch trajectory and the mission was aborted. The spacecraft landed safely by parachute 2,000 yards from the launchpad. 

1962: The second suborbital test of the Saturn 1 first stage (SA-2) was launched. The dummy second and third stages contained water to act as the weight of fuel during launch. Upon intended self-destruct, the water was released into the upper atmosphere creating a giant ice cloud as part of Project Highwater.

1968: A memorial service was held for Vladimir Komarov, the cosmonaut killed in the crash of Soyuz 1, with over 10,000 people attending.

1972: Charles Duke and Thomas Mattingly conducted an EVA in deep space to retrieve film cartridges from the Service Module.

2002: Soyuz TM-34 and its crew of 3 (one being a South African citizen) was launched on a mission the the ISS. It docked to the station on April 27. 

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 26

1967: The state funeral was held for Vladimir Komarov in which his ashes were interred in the Kremlin wall.

(Warning: a bit graphic)

Spoiler

1971: NASA discontinued the quarantine for future Apollo flights returning from the Moon starting on Apollo 15.

1993: STS-55 and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on a 10-day mission. It carried the German Spacelab-D2, a science lab attached inside the shuttle payload bay.

1998: The Cassini spacecraft conducted its first flyby of Venus on its way to its target Saturn.

2003: Soyuz TMA-2 and its crew of 2 launched into orbit on a mission to the ISS. 

2004: The Opportunity Mars rover ended its primary mission.

[LoSBoL]

Wow, awesome thread!! great work Raging Sandwich!

[The Raging Sandwich]

13 hours ago, LoSBoL said:

Wow, awesome thread!! great work Raging Sandwich!

Thanks, its been a nice thing to put time into.

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 27

1942: Dr. Valeri Polyakov was born. He flew on Mir LD-2 and LD-4. Spaceflight achievements were having the longest single spaceflight of 437 days and spending a total of 678 days in space.

1958: Sputnik 3 was launched. It failed to reach orbit when the booster exploded on launch. Another Sputnik 3 was launched later next month.

1972: Apollo 16 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth after a mission to the Moon.

1989: Soyuz TM-7 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth.

[The Raging Sandwich]

April 28

1908: Eberhard Friedrich Michael Rees was born. He was in charge of manufacturing V2s, Redstones, Jupiters, and stages for Saturn rockets from 1940-1969.

1961: Mercury Little Joe 5B was launched. It was a mission to test the LES in maximum dynamic pressure. A stall of one of the booster engines caused the vehicle to pitch lower than planned, so the planned pressure at abort was actually exceeded. Other than that, everything else went to plan.

1963: It was planned for the Soviet N1 booster to be first launched in 1965. It would be able to launch 75 tons into a 250 kilometer orbit, 50 tons to 3,000 kilometers, and 16 tons into a geostationary orbit. It would also be able to launch manned missions to the Moon's surface and back and even manned flybys of Mars and Venus. It could also be used for launching space stations.

1991: STS-39 and its crew of 7 was launched into orbit on an 8-day mission. It deployed the USA 70 military satellite and CRO-A, B, and C satellites that released gasses for observation by the IBSS experiment, which was also deployed and recovered.

1998: Egypt's first satellite, Nilesat 1, was launched. It was a civilian communications satellite placed in geostationary orbit. It and Japan's BSAT 1B were both launched together.

2001: Soyuz TM-32 and its crew of 3 was launched into orbit on a mission to the ISS. It was to replace Soyuz TM-31 as the lifeboat spacecraft on the station. After docking to the ISS on April 30, the crew returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-31 six days later.

 

April 29

1985: STS-51-B and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on a 7-day mission. It carried with it Spacelab 3 and deployed NUSAT-1.

1990: STS-31 and its crew of 5 landed back at Earth.

 

April 30

1945: Michael Smith was born. He flew on STS-51-L where he died in the Challenger accident.

2004: Soyuz TMA-3 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth.

2006: The Cassini spacecraft did a flyby of Titan. 

[Skylon]

Today: SpaceX launch and land their F9 booster yet again, with no use needed of the F5 or F9 key

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 1

1925: Malcolm Scott Carpenter was born. He flew on Mercury MA-7, becoming the second American in orbit.

1936: Wernher Von Braun entered the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force.

1937: Von Braun joined the pedant Party.

1949: Astronomer Gerard Kuiper discovered Neptune's moon Nereid.

1958: Sergei Korolev decided that Soviet manned suborbital spaceflights would be skipped and that they would go straight to orbit. A three-staged R-7 ICBM would be used for these orbital missions.

1998: The Dar al Gani 476 Mars meteorite was discovered in Libya.

2001: STS-100 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth.

2004: The Genesis solar probe did a flyby of Earth.

2017: SpaceX launches satellite NROL-76 and lands their booster back on the pad.

Edited May 3, 2017 by The Raging Sandwich