Jinnantonix's Historical Space Race

[jinnantonix]

Gemini 3

was the first crewed mission in NASA's Project Gemini and was the first time two American astronauts flew together into space. On March 23, 1965, astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young flew three low Earth orbits in their spacecraft, which they nicknamed Molly Brown. It was the first U.S. mission in which the crew fired thrusters to change the size and shape of their orbit, a key test of spacecraft maneuverability vital for planned flights to the Moon. It was also the final crewed flight controlled from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Florida, before mission control functions were moved to a new control center at the newly opened Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas.

 

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1965 March 23	American	First piloted spacecraft orbital exchange	Gemini III

 

 

 

 

                       

 

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_3
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_II_GLV
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerojet_LR87
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LR91
• http://www.astronautix.com/g/gemini.html
• http://www.astronautix.com/g/gemini3.html
• http://www.mikejennebooks.com/tech_drawings.htm

 

Design Notes:

• LR87                             LV-TX87 Bobcat
• LR91                             RE-I5 Skipper

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by jinnantonix

[jinnantonix]

Gemini 6A / 7

Gemini 6A (officially Gemini VI-A)^[2] was a 1965 crewed United States spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. The mission, flown by Wally Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford, achieved the first crewed rendezvous with another spacecraft, its sister Gemini 7. Although the Soviet Union had twice previously launched simultaneous pairs of Vostok spacecraft, these established radio contact with each other, but they had no ability to adjust their orbits in order to rendezvous and came no closer than several kilometers of each other, while the Gemini 6 and 7 spacecraft came as close as one foot (30 cm) and could have docked had they been so equipped.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1965 December 15	American	First orbital rendezvous (station-keeping, no docking)	Gemini VI-A / Gemini VII

 

 

 

 

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_6A
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_7

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by jinnantonix

[jinnantonix]

Luna 9

 internal designation Ye-6 No.13, was an uncrewed space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. On 3 February 1966, the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a survivable landing on a celestial body.

 

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1966 February 3	Soviet	First soft landing on another celestial body (Moon); first photos from the surface of another celestial body	Luna IX

 

 

 

                   

 

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_9
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya-M
• https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-006A
• http://www.astronautix.com/k/ktdu-5a.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20160315130827/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/lunae6.htm
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CRmqm4JjCo

 

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by jinnantonix

[jinnantonix]

Venera 3

was a Venera program space probe that was built and launched by the Soviet Union to explore the surface of Venus. It was launched on 16 November 1965 at 04:19 UTC from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, USSR. The probe comprised an entry probe, designed to enter the Venus atmosphere and parachute to the surface, and a carrier/flyby spacecraft,^[1][2] which carried the entry probe to Venus and also served as a communications relay for the entry probe.
 

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1966 March 1	Soviet	First hard landing on another planet (Venus)	Venera III

 

                 

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_3
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera#Venera_3_to_6
• https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/venera-3mv-3.htm
• https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_det/molniya.htm
• http://www.astronautix.com/m/molniya8k78.htm
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3MV
• http://www.astronautix.com/k/kdu-414.html
• http://www.astronautix.com/v/venera3mv-3.htm
•  

This mission is near identical to Venera 1, except the probe hit Venus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by jinnantonix

[jinnantonix]

Gemini 8 / Agena Target Vehicle

 (officially Gemini VIII) was the sixth crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was launched on March 16, 1966, and was the 14th crewed American flight and the 22nd crewed spaceflight overall.^[a] The mission conducted the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit, but also suffered the first critical in-space system failure of a US spacecraft which threatened the lives of the astronauts and required an immediate abort of the mission. The crew returned to Earth safely.

Flown by pilot David Scott and command pilot Neil Armstrong, the flight marked the second time a US civilian flew into space and the first time a US civilian flew into orbit.
 

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1966 March 16	American	First spacecraft docking	Gemini VIII / ATV

 

 

 

Gemini Agena Target Vehicle

                          

     

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_8
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gemini
• http://www.spaceaholic.com/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/15
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agena_target_vehicle
• https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=GEM6T
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas-Agena#/media/File:Atlas-Agena_B.stl
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas-Agena
• http://www.astronautix.com/x/xlr105-5.html
• http://www.b14643.de/Spacerockets/Specials/Atlas_MA-drive-system/index.htm

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by jinnantonix

[Death Engineering]

This is a very impressive thread! I really like the way you are bringing in real-world historical documentation. I could easily see this thread becoming an information source for space history. Might take time but, for example, Googling 'AAP Venus Flyby' brings up a pic of my mission from 8 years ago!

Keep up the great work!   

[jinnantonix]

Luna 10

was a 1966 Soviet lunar robotic spacecraft mission in the Luna program. It was the first artificial satellite of the Moon.^[1]

Luna 10 conducted extensive research in lunar orbit, gathering important data on the strength of the Moon's magnetic field,^[2] its radiation belts, and the nature of lunar rocks (which were found to be comparable to terrestrial basalt rocks),^[3] cosmic radiation, and micrometeoroid density. Perhaps its most important finding was the first evidence of mass concentrations (called "mascons") — areas of high density below the mare basins that distort lunar orbital trajectories.^[4][5] Their discovery has usually been credited to the American Lunar Orbiter series.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1966 April 3	Soviet	First artificial satellite to orbit another celestial body (Moon)	Luna X

 

 

 

 

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_10
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya-M
• https://www.inverse.com/article/13658-luna-10-the-first-spacecraft-to-orbit-the-moon-celebrates-50-years

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by jinnantonix

[jinnantonix]

Venera 4
also designated 4V-1 No.310, was a probe in the Soviet Venera program for the exploration of Venus. The probe comprised a lander, designed to enter the Venusian atmosphere and parachute to the surface, and a carrier/flyby spacecraft, which carried the lander to Venus and served as a communications relay for it.

In 1967, it was the first successful probe to perform in-place analysis of the environment of another planet. Venera 4 provided the first chemical analysis of the Venusian atmosphere, showing it to be primarily carbon dioxide with a few percents of nitrogen and below one percent of oxygen and water vapors. While entering the atmosphere it became the first spacecraft to survive entry into another planet's atmosphere.^[4] The station detected a weak magnetic field and no radiation field. The outer atmospheric layer contained very little hydrogen and no atomic oxygen.^{[citation needed]} The probe sent the first direct measurements proving that Venus was extremely hot, that its atmosphere was far denser than expected, and that it had lost most of its water long ago.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1967 October 18	Soviet	First in-situ analysis of the atmosphere of another planet (Venus)	Venera IV

 

 

 

          

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_4

 

Spoiler

 

Venera 4, was launched on 12 June by a Molniya-M carrier rocket flying from the Baikonur Cosmodrome

Booster separation

 

Stage 1 and fairing separation

 

Orbital insertion with stage 2

 

Stage 2 separation and probe deployment

 

Trans Venus Injection and stage 3 separation

Atmospheric probe separation and carrier disintegration in Venus upper atmosphere

 

After parachute deployment, atmospheric sampling is transmitted.

Probe hard lands and disintegrates in Venus's unexpectedly high pressure and temperatures.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by jinnantonix

[jinnantonix]

Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188

were two uncrewed Soviet Union spacecraft that incorporated a Soyuz programme descent module for landing scientific instruments and test objects.  The two Soviet spacecraft made the first fully automated space docking in the history of space exploration on 30 October 1967. Mutual search, approach, mooring, and docking were automatically performed by the IGLA-system onboard Kosmos 186. After 3.5 hours of joint flight, the satellites parted on a command sent from the Earth and continued to orbit separately. Officially, both made a soft landing in a predetermined region of the Soviet Union — Kosmos 186 on 31 October 1967 and Kosmos 188 on 2 November 1967. But according to Boris Chertok, "one of the vehicles was destroyed by the emergency destruction system"

 

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1967 Oct 30	Soviet	First docking of two remote-controlled spacecraft	Cosmos 186 / Cosmos 188

 

 

 

 

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_186_and_Kosmos_188
• http://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz-7k-ok.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTDU-35
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_programme
• http://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz-7k-ok-kosmos-186-188.html

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by jinnantonix

[jinnantonix]

Zond 5

was a spacecraft of the Soviet Zond program. In September 1968 it became the second spaceship to travel to and circle the Moon, the first Moon mission to include animals, and the first to return safely to Earth. Zond 5 carried the first terrestrial organisms to the vicinity of the Moon, including two tortoises, fruit fly eggs, and plants.^[4] The tortoises underwent biological changes during the flight, but it was concluded that the changes were primarily due to starvation and that they were little affected by space travel.   The Zond spacecraft was a version of the Soyuz 7K-L1 crewed lunar-flyby spacecraft. It was launched by a Proton-K carrier rocket with a Block D upper-stage to conduct scientific studies during its lunar flyby.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1968 September 14-21	Soviet	First return after circling the Moon; first lifeforms to orbit the Moon returned safely	Zond V

 

 

Proton K Launch Vehicle

                              ------

 

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zond_5
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_7K-L1
• https://web.archive.org/web/20160820161327/
• http://www.astronautix.com/s/soyuz7k-l1.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blok_D+
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton-K
• https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/1953
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RD-253
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RD-0210
• https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/zond-5/in-depth/

 

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by jinnantonix

[jinnantonix]

Apollo 8

was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth.^[1][2][3] These three astronauts—Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders—were the first humans to personally witness and photograph the far side of the Moon and an Earthrise.

 

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1968 December 21	American	First return after orbiting the Moon	Apollo VIII

 

 

 

 

Apollo 8 launched on December 21, 1968, and was the second crewed spaceflight mission flown in the United States Apollo space program after Apollo 7, which stayed in Earth orbit. Apollo 8 was the third flight and the first crewed launch of the Saturn V rocket, and was the first human spaceflight from the Kennedy Space Center, located adjacent to Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Florida.

Originally planned as the second crewed Apollo Lunar Module and command module test, to be flown in an elliptical medium Earth orbit in early 1969, the mission profile was changed in August 1968 to a more ambitious command-module-only lunar orbital flight to be flown in December, as the lunar module was not yet ready to make its first flight. Astronaut Jim McDivitt's crew, who were training to fly the first lunar module flight in low Earth orbit, became the crew for the Apollo 9 mission, and Borman's crew were moved to the Apollo 8 mission. This left Borman's crew with two to three months' less training and preparation time than originally planned, and replaced the planned lunar module training with translunar navigation training.

Apollo 8 took 68 hours (almost three days) to travel the distance to the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times over the course of twenty hours, during which they made a Christmas Eve television broadcast in which they read the first ten verses from the Book of Genesis. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever. Apollo 8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S. president John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. The Apollo 8 astronauts returned to Earth on December 27, 1968, when their spacecraft splashed down in the northern Pacific Ocean. The crew members were named Time magazine's "Men of the Year" for 1968 upon their return.

            

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_command_and_service_module#Command_module_(CM)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module
• https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/lta-b.htm
• https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/37577/importance-of-moon-phases-for-apollo-missions
   

 

Saturn V Launch Vehicle

          

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-IC
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-II
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-IVB
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dpkmUjJ8xU

 

Design Notes:

• Saturn V S-1C              F1                   Mastadon (x 5)
• Saturn V S-II                 J2                    Skiff (x5)
• Saturn V S-IVB            J2                    Skiff (x1)
• Service Module         AJ10-137    Wolfhound
• Lunar Module DPS  LMDS             Terrier +
• Lunar Module APS  LMAS              Spark  +

+   Apollo 8 did not include a lunar module, as it was not ready for the flight.  A boilerplate model was launched in its place, which remained attached to the S-IVB stage.

Although research does not confirm it, it is assumed that the petal adapters were ejected immediately on separation of the CM+SM, from the S-IVB + LM assembly.

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by jinnantonix