This Day in Spaceflight History

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 8, 1978, Pioneer-Venus probes 1, 2, 3, and 4 were launched. It was a multiprobe that consisted of 4 probes, one larger than the others. Once near Venus, the four probes were released from the spacecraft bus. They all entered Venus' atmosphere at different spots, including up North, in the daytime side, and the nighttime side. The daytime probe was the only probe that continued to send radio signals after impacting the surface.

On August 8, 1989, STS-28 launched from Cape Canaveral with Brewster Shaw, Richard Richards, James Adamson, David Leestma, and Mark Brown. It was launched into a 190 by 179 mile orbit. It deployed to classified satellites, one a communications satellite and the other a surveillance satellite. It landed back at Edward's Airforce Base on August 13.

On August 8, 1992, STS-46 landed back at Cape Canaveral after its 9 day flight into orbit.

On August 8, 2007, STS-118 launched into orbit with Scott Kelly, Charles Hobaugh, Tracy Dyson, Richard Mastracchio, Dafyyd Williams, Barbara Morgan, and Alvin Drew. It was placed into a 216 by 209 mile orbit. During launch, a chunk of somekind fell off and hit the underside of the orbiter, leaving a small patch of missing tile. An extra spacewalk was put into consideration to fix it. The shuttle docked to the ISS on August 10. It left several components at the ISS and they were assembled, including a new truss platform.They undocked from the ISS on August 19 and landed a day after schedule because of a threat of hurricane-force winds. It deorbited and landed at Cape Canaveral on August 21 after a 13 day mission.

Edited August 8, 2016 by The Raging Sandwich
picture problems

[TheDestroyer111]

16 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

On August 8, 2007, STS-118 launched into orbit with Scott Kelly, Charles Hobaugh, Tracy Dyson, Richard Mastracchio, Dafyyd Williams, Barbara Morgan, and Alvin Drew. It was placed into a 216 by 209 mile orbit. During launch, a chunk of somekind fell off and hit the underside of the orbiter, leaving a small patch of missing tile. An extra spacewalk was put into consideration to fix it. The shuttle docked to the ISS on August 10. It left several components at the ISS and they were assembled, including a new truss platform.They undocked from the ISS on August 19 and landed a day after schedule because of a threat of hurricane-force winds. It deorbited and landed at Cape Canaveral on August 21 after a 13 day mission.

the picture is broken

And who knows if the probes really didn't send signals? The signals could just not be received

Otherwise, this is cool!

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 9, 1973, the Soviet Mars 7 lander was launched. It arrived at Mars on March 9, 1974. It was to make a landing on Mars but a premature separation from the spacecraft bus caused it to miss Mars entirely.

On August 9, 1976, the Soviet Luna 24 Moon lander was launched. It was to land on the Moon and bring back a sample of the lunar surface. It landed on August 18 and returned with the samples on August 22.

On August 9, 1990, the Soyuz TM-9 spacecraft landed back at Earth from Mir with Anatoly Solovyov and Aleksandr Balandin.

On August 9, 2005, STS-114 and its crew landed at Edward's Airforce Base after a 14 day journey into orbit.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 10, 1945, rocket pioneer Robert Goddard died. Goddard built and flew the first-ever  liquid fuel rocket which was launched on March 16, 1926. He went on to build many more liquid fuel rockets in his lifetime. His contributions to rocket science is what got us off the ground in the late 50s.

On August 10, 1966, the Lunar Orbiter 1 probe was launched. It was the first U.S. spacecraft to ever orbit the Moon, leading away to the success of the Apollo Moon landings. It was to take pictures of potential landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo landings.

On August 10, 1992, the Soyuz TM-14 spacecraft returned to Earth. It was the first Russian space mission after the collapse of the USSR.

On August 10, 2001, STS-105 launched with Frank Culbertson, Jr., Mikhail Turin, and Vladimir Dezhurov. It flew into orbit and docked with the ISS. It left the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) and the Leonardo module. The crew rotated throughout the mission and landed with a different crew onboard.

 

 

[Green Baron]

Thanks. An interesting man, Robert Goddard, from what i read thanks to you .... convictions towards journalists .... :-)

 

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 11, 1962, the Vostok 3 spacecraft launched with Andriyan Nikolayev. It was a joint flight with Vostok four that launched on August 12. Vostok 4 launched just as Vostok 3 was passing overhead so the spacecraft got within 3 miles of each other. The moment quickly ended, however, because the Vostok spacecraft had no maneuverability.

On August 11, 2005, STS-43 landed at Cape Canaveral.

[DDE]

On ‎09‎.‎08‎.‎2016 at 4:30 PM, The Raging Sandwich said:

On August 9, 1976, the Soviet Luna 24 Moon lander was launched. It was to land on the Moon and bring back a sample of the lunar surface. It landed on August 18 and returned with the samples on August 22.

I have no idea what you have on that photograph. That isn't a four-stage Proton variant, and it seems to be burning kerolox, not UDMH-N2O4.

It's also interesting to note that Luna-24 was the last Cold War-era lunar landing, and that the Soviets claimed to have found water in the returned samples.

Here's your generic Ye-8-5 probe:

Spoiler

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Luna_16.jpg

 

Edited August 11, 2016 by DDE

[Kryten]

21 hours ago, DDE said:

I have no idea what you have on that photograph. That isn't a four-stage Proton variant, and it seems to be burning kerolox, not UDMH-N2O4.

The image source claims this is a 'press release photo' from the launch; the Proton design was a secret until the televised launch of the Mir base block in '86, so it's plausible this is something the soviets mocked up at the time. It doesn't match any real rocket I've seen.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 12, 1962, the Vostok 4 spacecraft launched into orbit with Pavel Popovich. The launch was timed just right for Vostok 4 to be within 3 miles of Vostok 3; the first orbital rendezvous.

On August 12, 2005, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched. It was to study if water existed on Mars for a long period of time and to search for current water.

[Bill Phil]

12 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

On August 12, 1962, the Vostok 4 spacecraft launched into orbit with Pavel Popovich. The launch was timed just right for Vostok 4 to be within 3 miles of Vostok 3; the first orbital rendezvous.

 

As far as I can tell they didn't attempt rendezvous.

Here's something from Astronautix:

Quote

Since the Vostok had no maneuvering capability, they could not rendezvous or dock

http://www.astronautix.com/v/vostok3.html

Wikpedia corroborates that.

It depends on who you ask, I guess.

[The Raging Sandwich]

1 minute ago, Bill Phil said:

As far as I can tell they didn't attempt rendezvous.

Here's something from Astronautix:

http://www.astronautix.com/v/vostok3.html

Wikpedia corroborates that.

It depends on who you ask, I guess.

On the first post from August 11, it explains how the Vostoks had no maneuverability. The two launch times were planned so that they can rendezvous (sort of) or get as close as they could with each other. One of the cosmonauts actually reported how they could see the other Vostok spacecraft. It was a risky attempt to get farther ahead of the US in the space race.

[Bill Phil]

Just now, The Raging Sandwich said:

On the first post from August 11, it explains how the Vostoks had no maneuverability. The two launch times were planned so that they can rendezvous (sort of) or get as close as they could with each other. One of the cosmonauts actually reported how they could see the other Vostok spacecraft. It was a risky attempt to get farther ahead of the US in the space race.

But is that an actual rendezvous? Neither were active in the rendezvous.

[The Raging Sandwich]

It wasn't quite an actual rendezvous, just good planning and execution. It was as good as they were going to get for a couple years.

[cubinator]

1 hour ago, Bill Phil said:

But is that an actual rendezvous? Neither were active in the rendezvous.

They got close to each other, didn't they? That sounds like a rendezvous to me. And they planned it as well as they could, with the launch times.

[DDE]

10 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

But is that an actual rendezvous? Neither were active in the rendezvous.

You don't consider an entire Vostok launcher, going from Baikonur to orbit, to be active?

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 13, 1989, STS-28 landed at Edward's Airforce Base after a 5 day mission deploying classified military satellites in orbit.

On August 13, 1998, Soyuz TM-28 was launched into orbit. It rendezvoused and docked with the Russian Mir space station.

[Bill Phil]

15 hours ago, cubinator said:

They got close to each other, didn't they? That sounds like a rendezvous to me. And they planned it as well as they could, with the launch times.

Rendevzous tends to imply that one spacecraft maneuvered to get to the other. They were pretty much on ballistic trajectories.

6 hours ago, DDE said:

You don't consider an entire Vostok launcher, going from Baikonur to orbit, to be active?

The spacecraft wasn't active in maneuvering to the other once it was in orbit. They flew past each other, didn't stationkeep, and weren't even that close.

When two pieces of debris come within a few kilometers, is that a rendezvous?

[DDE]

3 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

Rendevzous tends to imply that one spacecraft maneuvered to get to the other. They were pretty much on ballistic trajectories.

The spacecraft wasn't active in maneuvering to the other once it was in orbit. They flew past each other, didn't stationkeep, and weren't even that close.

When two pieces of debris come within a few kilometers, is that a rendezvous?

Closest approach within several kilometers, matched inclination, and slight difference in apogee-perigee (166x218 compared to 159x211, leading to period difference of 18 seconds). Sure, no stationkeeping, but in KSP terms it was within RCS range.

[Bill Phil]

45 minutes ago, DDE said:

Closest approach within several kilometers, matched inclination, and slight difference in apogee-perigee (166x218 compared to 159x211, leading to period difference of 18 seconds). Sure, no stationkeeping, but in KSP terms it was within RCS range.

"RCS range" can be anything, depending on who you ask. Other spacecraft are launched into similar orbits and encounter each other quite often, and aren't referred to as having "rendezvoused". Here are the words of Wally Schirra:

Quote

Somebody said ... when you come to within three miles (5 km), you've rendezvoused. If anybody thinks they've pulled a rendezvous off at three miles (5 km), have fun! This is when we started doing our work. I don't think rendezvous is over until you are stopped – completely stopped – with no relative motion between the two vehicles, at a range of approximately 120 feet (37 m). That's rendezvous! From there on, it's stationkeeping. That's when you can go back and play the game of driving a car or driving an airplane or pushing a skateboard – it's about that simple.

Here's the KSP Wiki:

Quote

An Orbital Rendezvous is a series of maneuvers which result in a craft achieving a stable condition of close proximity to a target object orbiting the same parent body.

 

I'm trying to point out that it's not necessarily a rendezvous, depending on what definition you use.

[DDE]

11 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

I'm trying to point out that it's not necessarily a rendezvous, depending on what definition you use.

These words usually lead to a pretty pointless conversation. I'm outta here... for now.

[The Raging Sandwich]

Meanwhile I'm just here observing.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 14, 1997, Soyuz TM-25 landed back at Earth after a mission to the Mir space station.

On August 14, 1999, the Galileo Jupiter probe did a flyby of the moon Callisto.

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 15, 1954, Wernher Von Braun proposed a US satellite- the Explorer A. It would be launched from parts on hand from the Army Ordnance Corp with a Redstone missile. Von Braun's proposal was rejected, however, because of his pedant ties in the past.

On August 15, 1962, the Vostok 3 and 4 spacecraft landed back at Earth after 5-4 days in space. Vostok 4 was scheduled to land a day after Vostok 3, but Popovich said the coldness of space was starting to get to him. The Russian space agency made Vostok 4 land just 6 minutes after Vostok 3.

 

[DDE]

3 hours ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

On August 15, 1962, the Vostok 3 and 4 spacecraft landed back at Earth after 5-4 days in space. Vostok 4 was scheduled to land a day after Vostok 3, but Popovich said the coldness of space was starting to get to him. The Russian space agency made Vostok 4 land just 6 minutes after Vostok 3. 

Not the story Wikipedia gives. Popovich wanted to fight through the cold caused by a heating malfunction, but he also reported seeing thunderstorms from orbit. Thing is, "I see thunderstorms" was the code-phrase in case the space sickness that plagued Titov had come back, so mission control began the return procedure... even though he meant it literally.

Edited August 15, 2016 by DDE

[The Raging Sandwich]

On August 16, 1938, Apollo 14 Command Module pilot Stuart Roosa was born. Because of his role in Apollo 14, he stayed inside the command module has his two crewmates descended to the Moon.