By Michael Annis
Welcome to the Space Rocket History podcast
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The Apollo 14 crew were constantly aware that if their mission failed—if they had to turn back—it was probably the end of the Apollo program.
With the successful launch of Dongfanghong I, China became the fifth country after the Soviet Union, United States, France, and Japan to independently launch a satellite.
On July 16th 1969, nearly a million people crowded the Florida highways, byways, and beaches to watch man’s departure from the earth to walk on the moon. Twenty thousand guests looked on from special vantage points.
Osumi was the name of the first Japanese satellite placed into orbit. It was named after the Osumi Province in the southern islands of Japan.
At midnight June 1, 1970 Soyuz 9 lifted off from Area 31 at Baikonur and successfully entered low earth orbit with an apogee of 227 km and a perigee of 176 km.
The original Soyuz 9 mission was planned to fly two Soyuz spacecraft in the August to September 1970 time frame for a rendezvous and docking; however, at the end of December 1969 the communist party bosses ordered that the mission...
The VENERA 7 lander was the hardiest of the Soviet Venus probes yet built. Its creators wanted the vessel to land on the planet’s surface in working order.
Luna 16 was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a sample of lunar soil to Earth after five unsuccessful similar attempts.
“Three brave astronauts are alive and on Earth because of the mission operations teams’ dedication, and because at the critical moments the people of that team were wise enough and self-possessed enough to make the right decisions. Their extraordinary feat...
“During blackout every team member does his own soul searching, reviewing the decisions and the data, knowing they had to be nearly perfect and knowing how tough perfection is.” Gene Kranz
To Kranz and his team, this crew was special. They just could not lose them. Failure was not an option.
Three hours before dawn, Gene Kranz’ White Team took its place next to Windler’s Maroon Team controllers. The eighty hours of uncertainty were now past and mission control was down to Apollo 13’s final shift.
While the Mercury 7 were fulfilling their roles as symbols of space exploration, Korolev was once again offering the real thing. He now prepared to undertake the most demanding mission yet. The mission that would accomplish the next step in...
As If there were not enough problems, Houston still had not completed the command module power up checklist.
From beneath the Lunar Modules floor there was a thud, then a hiss, then another thump that vibrated through the cabin.
Swigert counted down five, four, three, two, one.” Lovell pressed the big red engine button set in the bulkhead and once again felt the vibration below his feet. “Ignition,” Lovell said to his crew-mates.
In the White House, President Nixon was very concerned for the Apollo 13 crew. Since Apollo 8’s successful lunar orbit, just one month before his inauguration, Nixon had developed a fascination with moon flight and a special admiration for the...
At the manned spacecraft center in Houston, Don Arabian was in Building 45 when battery number two in Aquarius’ descent stage exploded.
There was now cause for optimism in Mission Control. At the TELMU station, where the Lunar Module’s environmental signs were being continually monitored, the readings of the carbon dioxide concentrations aboard Aquarius were steadily dropping all day long.
Mariner 4’s primary objective was to conduct closeup scientific observations of Mars and to transmit these observations to Earth. Additional goals included performing field and particle measurements in interplanetary space, and providing experience and knowledge of engineering capabilities for interplanetary...
In a healthy spacecraft, the CO2 meter should climb no higher than 2 or 3 millimeters of mercury. When it rose above 7, the crew was instructed to change their lithium hydroxide canisters. If it was allowed to rise above...
In the satellite room of the carrier Iwo Jima, the communications man sat back and removed his headset. He knew, that Apollo 13 was in fact coming their way.
Lovell’s disappointment with Kranz’s decision to not run another star check was quickly becoming academic since the time to conduct it was running out anyway.
“They’re all coming out,” Swigert said, straining for a glimpse through Lovell’s window. “You said it,” Lovell said. “There’s Nunki, there’s Antares. We may have enough here for that confidence check.”
According to the profiles Bill Peters and his electrical specialists calculated, it was possible to power the LEM with just 12 amps. Under normal conditions it needed about 55 amps of current to run.
“The first burn, Griffin explained, would be a long one. Pushing the descent throttle all the way to the full position, Lovell would leave it there for more than six minutes before shutting the engine down. This maneuver, which for...
Electricity was in short supply. A fully functioning, up-and running LEM required about 55 amps of current to operate.
Lovell toggled the “master arm” switch to On and glanced around to see if everything else was in order. Guidance control was set to “Primary Guidance”; thrust control was on “Auto”; engine gimbals were enabled; the propellant quantity, temperature, and...
Aquarius, can you see any stars yet?
Kraft wanted to fire the descent engine now, get the ship back on its free-return slingshot course, and when it emerged from behind the moon and reached the PC+2 point, execute any maneuvers that might be required to refine the...
When Scott tried to release the lunar module, he did not hold the button long enough so the lander got hung on the capture latches.
Cronkite did not look good. He called Schirra over and thrust a sheet of wire-service copy at him. Schirra scanned the text hurriedly, and with each sentence his heart sank. This was bad. This was worse than bad. This was...
EECOM, Sy Liebergot looked away from his monitor; the end, he knew, was at last here. Liebergot, through no fault of his own, was about to become the first flight controller in the history of the manned space program to...
As near as Lovell could tell, it would be a while before the ship’s endgame would play out. He had no way of calculating the leak rate in the tank, but if the moving needle was any indication, he had...
By the time Flight Director Kranz heard Lovell’s report, of “Houston, we’ve had a problem. ” three controllers had reported related problems. Kranz was wondering which problem Lovell was reporting, as he started relaying the long list of warning indications...
Swigert: I believe we’ve had a problem here! CapComm: This is Houston. Say again, please. Lovell: Houston, we’ve had a problem.
As Lovell prepared for the thruster adjustments, Haise finished closing down the LEM and drifted through the tunnel back toward the command module and Swigert threw the switch to stir all 4 cryogenic tanks.
Milt Windier’s team at mission control quickly reviewed the status of the remaining four engines, ran the computations for the new engine cutoff times, and passed them to the crew.
During the Apollo era, North American-Downey built the Apollo Command & Service Module. After each completed spacecraft, Nasa conducted formal reviews of the build paper work before each vehicle was accepted for flight.
Bill Anders: “We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.” “‘In the beginning God created the heaven and...
Lovell completed four space flights and is one of only three men to travel to the Moon twice. Lovell accrued over 715 hours spent in space, and he saw a total of 269 sunrises from space on his Gemini and...
At thirty-six, Haise was the youngest member of the crew of Apollo 13, and his black hair and angular features made him seem younger still.
John Leonard Swigert Jr. aka Jack Swigert was born on August 30, 1931 in Denver, Colorado to parents John Leonard Sr. and Virginia Swigert.
Just before the mission began things started to go wrong. The weekend before launch Charlie Duke, the backup lunar module pilot, came down with a case of German measles.