This Day in Spaceflight History

[Green Baron]

I totally appreciate your work @The Raging Sandwich, but you must pay attention what symbols you post. The swastika is forbidden in some countries. Sure, the context here is harmless ...

Sorry if talking old ;-)

Edited May 2, 2017 by Green Baron

[KAL 9000]

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

Edited May 2, 2017 by KAL 9000

[The Raging Sandwich]

23 hours ago, KAL 9000 said:

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

What day was that?

May 2

1955: The USAF approved of the Titan ICBM. Later iterations of it would be used for future manned and unmanned spaceflights.

1974: The Soviet N1-L3 manned Lunar program was cancelled after numerous failures of the L3 spacecraft and N1 rocket.

 

Edited May 3, 2017 by The Raging Sandwich

[Skylon]

3 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

What day was that?

May 1st 2017

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 3

1998: STS-90 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth.

2007: Walter Schirra, Jr. died. He flew on Mercury MA-8, Gemini 6, and Apollo 7. Spaceflight achievements were being one of the original Mercury 7, being the only astronaut to fly on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, being in the first crew to rendezvous in space, and being the Commander of the first crewed Apollo mission.

 

May 4

1989: STS-30 and its crew of 6 launched into orbit on a 4-day mission. It deployed the Magellan Venus probe. Magellan was released on May 5. It arrived at Venus on August 10, 1990 and inserted itself into a polar orbit. Its primary objective was to map the topography of the planet. 

2003: After the failure of STS-107 Columbia, the shuttle fleet was grounded. Soyuz TMA-1 had to be used as a lifeboat for the ISS crew. It and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth. 

 

May 5

1961: Mercury MR-3 and its crew of Alan Shepard, Jr. was launched on a suborbital mission into space. It was the first ever American manned spaceflight. The flight lasted only 15 minutes. The highest altitude achieved was 115 miles and it was recovered successfully. Shepard could have launched on March 24 and beat Gagarin into space, but Wernher Von Braun suggested that one last test mission had to be launched first.

1993: STS-55 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth.

1999: The Galileo Jupiter spacecraft did a flyby of the moon Callisto.

2002: Soyuz TM-33 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth.

[_Augustus_]

On 5/2/2017 at 10:40 PM, The Raging Sandwich said:

1974: The Soviet N1-L3 manned Lunar program was cancelled after numerous failures of the L3 spacecraft and N1 rocket.

 

There was nothing wrong with L3. All of the problems stemmed from the N1 rocket.

[The Raging Sandwich]

9 hours ago, _Augustus_ said:

There was nothing wrong with L3. All of the problems stemmed from the N1 rocket.

If I remember correctly there were a lot of failures with the L3 on its test missions, there have been a few posts on those missions in this thread I'm pretty sure.

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 6

1959: It was concluded that pigs would not be test subjects in Mercury Little-Joe flights as they could not survive long periods on their back. 

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

1991: STS-39 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth.

2001: Soyuz TM-31 and its crew of 3 landed back at Earth.

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 7

1961: It was proposed that a Titan II rocket could be used as a launch vehicle for the lunar landing program. It was soon suggested to use it to launch a scaled-up Mercury spacecraft.

1992: STS-49 and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on a 9-day mission. It retrieved the Intelsat 6 satellite already in orbit.

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 8

1989: STS-30 and its crew of 5 landed back at Earth.

1994: The Scout orbital booster was last launched from Vandenburg AFB.

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 9

1931: Vance Brand was born. He flew on Apollo ASTP, STS-5, STS-41-B, and STS-35.

1960: Mercury Pad Abort 1 was flown on a successful mission. The Mercury capsule was launched by the LES as propulsion to test the abort system. It also tested the parachutes and recovery.

1965: Luna 5 was launched. It was an attempted soft-landing mission on the Moon. During landing, the retro system failed letting the spacecraft impact the surface.

1971: Mariner 8 was launched on the joint mission with it and Mariner 9. The launch failed leaving Mariner 9 to have to complete all objectives of the spacecraft by itself.

2003: Japan launched the Hayabusa probe towards asteroid 1998 SF36 to attempt and retrieve a sample.

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 10

1919: Freiherr Magnus von Braun was born. He was the brother of Wernher von Braun and was also a German WW2 rocket engineer. He was brought to the US along with von Braun and other ex-pedant rocket scientists to work on America's rocket program.

(Magnus on the right)

1966: Voskhod 3 was suggested to be cancelled. It was to be an 18-day flight that would break an altitude and duration record. The reasoning behind the cancellation was that the Soviet's primary focus was on the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft and that it would show the Americans' lead against them with a mission without docking or maneuvering at all.

 

May 11

1949: Cape Canaveral, Florida was selected for US rocket launches. The site would have better capabilities than the current White Sands launching sites with a 5,000 mile range for missiles.

1966: The plans for the Apollo-Gemini lunar landing rescue vehicle was discontinued. A Gemini spacecraft as a lunar lander would serve as a rescue vehicle for astronauts on the Moon. 

2009: STS-125 and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on a 13-day mission. It retrieved the Hubble Space Telescope on Servicing Mission (SM)-4. It captured the telescope on May 13. Four EVAs were conducted to repair and upgrade the telescope. Hubble was then released on May 19.

 

May 12

1946: Douglas Aircraft Company did a study on a manned Earth-orbiting satellite. It would need to achieve a speed of 27,360 kilometers per hour to reach a stable circular orbit around the Earth above the atmosphere and would revolve once every 90 minutes.

1953: During flight, X-2 experimental plane number 46-675 exploded killing its pilot Jean Ziegler and observer Frank Wolko. The EB-50A mothership that carried the plane to its dropping altitude landed safely despite some damage. After other X-plane failures, it was deduced that the problem was caused by the engine casket made of leather which could decompose and explode once exposed to LOX.

 

May 13

1982: Soyuz T-5 and its crew of 2 launched into orbit on a mission to the Salyut 7.

Also, thanks to @cratercracker for making my new pfp! It's nice!

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 14

1935: The Griffith Observatory was founded in Los Angeles, California.

1963: Mercury MA-9 was to be launched with Gordon Cooper on board. The engine used to pull the gantry away from the rocket failed but was fixed 2 hours later. Then the Bermuda Tracking Station had a failure of a computer converter, causing a delay of the launch to May 15.

1973: Skylab 1, the first US space station, was launched by a modified Saturn V rocket. It was outfitted from a S-IVB stage and fitted with solar panels and docking adapters. The station and the launch vehicle were supplied from surplus Apollo Moon landing hardware after Apollos 18, 19, and 20 were cancelled. At 1 minute and 3 seconds after liftoff, telemetry indicated that a meteoroid shield was deployed and the fairing for the Solar Wing 2 had jettisoned. After it got into a stable circular orbit, the payload fairings were jettisoned and the station separated from the second Saturn V stage. The meteoroid shield and Solar Wing 2 were ripped completely off during descent. The loss of the shield resulted in high temperatures in the station, being fixed by later manned missions.

1981: Soyuz 40 and its crew of 2 launched into orbit on an 8-day mission. It docked to Salyut 6 to deliver its new crew of Popov (USSR) and Prunariu (Romania).

 

2010: STS-132 and its crew of 6 launched into orbit on a 12-day mission. It delivered Node 3 with Cupola to the ISS.

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 15

1942: The Russian BI-1 rocket plane was flown on its first powered flight. It was flown by Grigori Bakhchivangi and reached a maximum speed of 400 kph.

1958: Sputnik 3 was launched. It was the third satellite launched by the Soviets.

1960: Korabl-Sputnik 1, also known as Sputnik 4, was launched on a test flight of the Vostok 1KP prototype manned spacecraft. It had no heatshield and was unrecoverable. It was commanded to retrofire on May 19. The spacecraft oriented itself incorrectly and thus burned itself into a higher orbit. Afterwords, the capsule was separated from the service module. Conditions in the cabin were still normal.

1963: Mercury MA-9 and its crew of Gordon Cooper was launched into orbit on a 1 and a half day mission. Cooper orbited the Earth 22 times, spending over a day in space and becoming the first American to sleep in Space. Nearly all the systems had failed during flight and Cooper had to manually retrofire out of orbit and land, which he did successfully. It was the last flight of the Mercury Program. The capsule was dubbed Faith 7.

1997: STS-84 and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on a 9-day mission. It docked to the Mir space station on May 17. It delivered water, U.S. and Russian experiments, and other materials. U.S. astronaut Jerry Linenger who had been staying on the station since January transferred to the shuttle to return to Earth while STS-84 crewmember Michael Foale would remain on the station. It undocked from the station on May 22 and landed two days later.

2001: German rocket engineer Fritz Mueller died. He worked for Von Braun in Germany and America and worked on the guidance systems for the Redstone, Jupiter, Pershing, and Saturn I rockets.

2012: Soyuz TMA-04M and its crew of 3 launched into orbit on a mission to the ISS. It docked to the station on May 17. 

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 16

1957: The Soviets launched their first operational R-2A rocket. It was based off of the V2. It carried dogs with it as it reached 131 miles altitude.

1959: The German Rocket Society (DRG) launched their first rocket mail. The rockets were 5 kg and 2 m long. They were recovered with 3/4 parachutes and had an accuracy of within 130 m with a range of 3 km. 5000 postcards were placed on the rockets in 10 launches.

1963: Mercury MA-9 and its crew of Gordon Cooper landed back at Earth after 22 orbits over 34 hours. MA-9 was the last Mercury flight.

1969: The Soviet's Venera 5 impacted Venus. 

1992: STS-49 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth.

2011: STS-134 and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on a 16-day mission. It docked to the ISS on May 18. It delivered the ELC-3, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS)-02, and some other spare parts. 

Edited May 22, 2017 by The Raging Sandwich
Venera 5 impacted Venus

[insert_name]

Actually STS-135 was the last ISS assembly mission

[The Raging Sandwich]

On 5/18/2017 at 6:53 PM, insert_name said:

Actually STS-135 was the last ISS assembly mission

Guess you're right. I'll change it.

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 17

1946: A contract was given to Aerojet Engineering Corp. toi begin production of the Aerobee sounding rockets.

1959: The Soviet PKA spaceplane was drafted. The spacecraft would launched into LEO by a Vostok rocket, retrofire after a day-long flight, and reenter. After reentry, the plane would fold out its wings that were stowed in a vertical position and glide back to a runway.

 

1966: The Gemini 9 Agena target vehicle was launched. It was to be docked with in orbit by the Gemini spacecraft. It failed to reach a circular orbit and so the Gemini 9 mission was scrubbed until June 1.

1969: Venera 6 attempted a landing on Venus just days after Venera 5 also attempted to land. Both impacted the surface and were crushed.

2004: The GoFast rocket was first launched. It was the first civilian rocket to reach space.

 

May 18

1930: Astronaut Dr. Don Lind was born. He flew on STS-51-B. Known for waiting the longest time to fly in space after becoming an astronaut, 19 years.

1969: Apollo 10 and its crew of Gene Cernan, Thomas Stafford, and John Young was launched on an 8-day mission to the Moon. It was the final dress-rehearsal mission before Apollo 11. After reaching a circular orbit, the S-IVB stage ignited again for the TLI burn. 30 minutes later, the CSM separated, turned around, docked with the LM, and extracted it from the S-IVB. The crew voted not to do the first mid-course correction burn in favor for a second one that would match that of a July Moon mission. The third and fourth burns were cancelled after the second burn's accuracy. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on May 21. the LM systems were activated the next day. The LM undocked with the CSM and burned into a descent orbit. the LM reached just 10 miles above the surface and burned back into orbit with the upper stage to redock to the CSM. 

1991: Soyuz TM-12 and its crew of 3 launched into orbit. It carried the second paying British passenger to the Mir space station.

Edited May 22, 2017 by The Raging Sandwich
Venera 5 and 6 impacted Venus

[Ten Key]

4 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

1969: Venera 6 landed on Venus just days after Venera 5 also landed.

FWIW: Venera 5 and 6 were both crushed before they reached the surface. Venera 7 was the first probe to land. 

[The Raging Sandwich]

6 hours ago, Ten Key said:

FWIW: Venera 5 and 6 were both crushed before they reached the surface. Venera 7 was the first probe to land. 

Fixed

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 19

1939: Astronaut Francis Scobee was born. He flew on STS-41-C and 51-L, where he died when the Challenger exploded.

1961: Cape Canaveral was first opened to the public.

1965: Apollo A-003 was launched. It was a test of the LES at high altitudes. At 3 miles altitude, the Little Joe II booster disintegrated after an unscheduled roll. The LES boosted the spacecraft away, proving itself in an actual emergency, even though the mission objectives were not met.

(Ooh, a gif!)

1971: the Soviet's Mars 2 was launched. It was to research Mars with an orbiter and a lander. 2 course corrections were made on June 17 and November 20. 4 and a half hours before orbital injection on November 27, the lander separated but crashed into the surface. The spacecraft successfully entered an elliptical 18-hour orbit.

1974: Any further launches of the N1 were suspended.

1996: STS-77 and its crew of 6 launched into orbit on a 10-day mission. It deployed and retrieved Spartan 207, an X-ray satellite, and deployed PAMS STU, an attitude control test.

2000: STS-101 and its crew of 7 launched into orbit on a 10-day mission. It was the first shuttle launch with new electronic cockpit displays. Its main objective was to repair, resupply, and conduct construction on the ISS. It docked to the station on May 21. 

2004: The Japanese Hayabusa probe conducted its gravity assist with Earth.

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 20

1958: The USAF and NACA signed an agreement for cooperation in the Dyna-Soar program.

1978: The Pioneer Venus Orbiter was launched. It was inserted into a 24-hour elliptical orbit on December 4. Data was collected on the surface, atmosphere, and ionosphere. 93% of the surface was mapped. UV observations were also made of several nearby comets. Its mission ended when it burned up in the atmosphere on October 8, 1992.

1995: The Spektr experiment module was launched to the Mir space station. It docked to the station on June 1.

2000: The Galileo spacecraft did a flyby of Ganymede.

 

2006: The Cassini spacecraft did a flyby of Titan.

2010: Ikaros, a Japanese solar sail test vehicle, was launched by Japan. Its sail was deployed on June 11 and the Sun's light was expected to accelerate it. It completed a flyby of Venus on December 8. On the flyby, a picture was returned of the sail with the crescent of Venus. The launch vehicle also launched Akatsuki, a Venus orbiter which failed to insert itself into orbit on December 6, and 4 cubesats.

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 21

1969: Apollo 10 reached lunar orbit.

1986: The unmanned Soyuz TM-1 was launched. It was a test of the new Soyuz spacecraft that would be used to send crew to the Mir and ISS. It docked to the Mir on May 23, undocked on May 29, and was recovered May 30.

2005: The Cassini spacecraft did a successful, untargeted flyby of Enceladus.

 

May 22

1947: Helmut Gröttrup, the head German rocket scientist at the USSR, was tasked with building a modified V2 with a 600 kilometer range, called the G-1.

1959: The Vostok manned spacecraft and the Zenit-2 spy satellite were authorized. The Zenit-2 (and later Zenit-4) would both use the Vostok design.

  

(Vostok left, Zenit right)

1963: President Kennedy left the decision for NASA whether or not to launch Mercury MA-10 a second 1-day Mercury mission after Gordon Cooper's mission on MA-9.

1969: The LM of Apollo 10 passed 10 miles over the lunar surface in a descent orbit. After the separation of the descent and ascent stages, the ascent stage begin to pick up wild gyrations, which would be possibly fatal on a landing mission. It redocked to the CSM after 8 hours of separation.

More coming soon 

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 22, cont.

1973: The Skylab I Board of Investigation was established to investigate the launch anomalies of the Skylab I space station.

1981: Soyuz 40 and its crew of 2 landed back at Earth.

 

May 23

1962: The Avco Manufacturing Corporation presented a space station idea to MSC. It would be 3 tubes launched by separate Titan II rockets and would be joined together in a triangle formation in orbit. A Gemini spacecraft would be used as a ferry vehicle. It would be used to see the effects of weightlessness on reentry and fix the amount of time people can spend in orbit.

1965: the Life Sciences Committee of the National Academy of Sciences' Space Science Board recommended to NASA that Apollo astronauts returning from the surface of the Moon be quarantined for 3 weeks upon return to Earth as not to infect anyone with possible extraterrestrial organisms.

1974: The Soviet Yantar-2K was launched. At just over 7 minutes, a failure of the second and third stage separation resulted in the loss of communications, prompting the spacecraft and booster to self destruct.

[The Raging Sandwich]

May 24

1958: Capt E. L. Breeding withstood 83 Gs for a fraction of a second in a test of deceleration on a rocket sled. 

1962: Mercury MA-7 and its crew of Scott Carpenter was launched into orbit on a 5-hour flight. The spacecraft was named "Aurora 7" by Carpenter. It was the second Mercury orbital flight. Being amazed at the sights in space, Carpenter used up to much RCS fuel, causing the landing point to be 300 km away from the planned site.

1975: Soyuz 18 and its crew of 2 launched into orbit on a mission to the Salyut 4. The crew were in space during the time of the Apollo - Soyuz joint flight.

1986: US-German astronaut Stephen Thorne died in a plane crash where he was a passenger.

1997: STS-84 and its crew of 7 landed back at Earth.

2001: Astronaut Patricia Robertson died in a plane crash as a passenger in Houston, Texas.

Edited May 25, 2017 by The Raging Sandwich