Space Rocket History Archive
267 episodes - English - Latest episode: 19 days ago - ★★★★★ - 122 ratingsThe history of early space exploration.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Space Rocket History #207 – Apollo 11 – Commander Neil Armstrong – Part 2
March 24, 2022 14:56 - 45 minutes - 41.9 MBArmstrong became more and more excited about the prospects of both the Apollo program and of investigating a new aeronautical environment. Homepage
Space Rocket History #206 – Apollo 11 – Commander Neil Armstrong – Part 1
March 24, 2022 14:21 - 47 minutes - 43.6 MBWhen Neil was 2 years old his father took him to a flying event called the Cleveland Air Races. This could have been the beginning of Neil’s love for flying. Homepage
Space Rocket History #205 – Apollo 11 – Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin – Part 2
February 26, 2022 17:38 - 40 minutes - 37.3 MBUnfortunately Aldrin’s life became difficult shortly after he emerged from quarantine and began months of public appearances. Homepage
Space Rocket History #204 – Apollo 11 – Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin – Part 1
December 27, 2021 18:10 - 44 minutes - 40.6 MBAfter Buzz graduated from Montclair High School in 1946, he turned down a full scholarship offer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and went to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Episode with pics.
Space Rocket History #203 – Apollo 11 – Command Module Pilot Michael Collins
December 27, 2021 17:37 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBThe turning point for Michael Collins in his decision to become an astronaut was the Mercury Atlas 6 flight of John Glenn on February 20, 1962, and the thought of being able to circle the Earth in 90 minutes. Episode with pics
Space Rocket History #202 – Apollo 11 – Media Coverage & Public Relations
November 30, 2021 00:56 - 41 minutes - 37.8 MBJulian Scheer wanted each crew member to spend at least a full day with each of the networks, and wire services, in locations selected by the media. Homepage
Space Rocket History #201 – Apollo 11 – Mission Planning
November 30, 2021 00:45 - 41 minutes - 38 MBNASA officials used only 12 words to list the primary objectives of Apollo 11: 1-Perform a manned lunar landing and return. 2-Perform selenological inspection and sampling. Homepage
Space Rocket History #200 – Luna 15
October 28, 2021 19:25 - 36 minutes - 33 MBIn February of 1969, the first launch of the Soviet Moon Rocket, the N-1, exploded. By April, the Soviets still did not have a clear program of subsequent piloted Soyuz fights. In May, the Soviets watched the successful US lunar orbital flight and practice landing of Apollo 10. In June, a Lunar Sample return mission failed when the Block D stage refused to ignite. On July 3rd the second N1 launch failed with a spectacular explosion…
Space Rocket History #199 – The Second Test Flight of the Soviet N1 Moon Rocket
October 28, 2021 19:15 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBOn July 3, 1969, the same month as the the Apollo 11 Moon landing, The Soviet Union made another secret attempt to fly their giant Moon rocket.
Space Rocket History #198 – Apollo 10 – Snoopy Returns and a Successful Dress Rehearsal
September 29, 2021 20:39 - 35 minutes - 32.1 MB“Hey, Apollo – Houston, this is Apollo 10. Look, I know you ran some studies, but by golly, we can see Snoopy, and he isn’t too far away! He’s catching up with us. Can you talk to the FIDOS? He’s right down below us. We can occasionally see him tumbling end-over-end down below there, and he’s coming in closer each pass. That’s Snoopy’s descent stage. We can see him right down below us now, and he’s right – I thought he was a little out-of-plane, but now he’s looking more in-plane with us.” T...
Space Rocket History #197 – Apollo 10 – Ascent Stage Rendezvous, Docking & Jettisoning
September 29, 2021 20:20 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBAs the lunar module approached, Young saw it through his sextant at a distance of 259 kilometers. Stafford and Cernan got a radar lock on the command module shortly after the insertion burn and watched with interest as the instrument measured the dwindling gap between the vehicles and demonstrated the theories of orbital mechanics in actual practice. Cernan especially liked the steady communications that kept both crews aware of what was happening. Pics on SRH
Space Rocket History #196 – Apollo 10 – Lunar Module Out of Control
August 30, 2021 19:47 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBThe abort system had two basic control modes, “attitude hold” and “automatic.” In automatic, the computer would take over the guidance and start looking for the command module, which was certainly not what the crew intended to do at that moment. While correcting for a minor yaw-rate-gyro disturbance, the astronauts accidentally switched the spacecraft to the automatic mode, resulting in frantic gyrations.
Space Rocket History #195 – Apollo 10 – Lunar Module Testing
August 30, 2021 19:24 - 37 minutes - 33.9 MBWhen Stafford and Cernan were ready for undocking they discovered the Lunar Module had slipped three and a half degrees out of line with the command module at the latching point, possibly due to loose mylar collecting on the docking ring…
Space Rocket History #194 – Apollo 10 – Acquisition of Signal & Lunar Orbit
July 26, 2021 20:17 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MBSpace Rocket History #193 – Apollo 10 – Coasting to the Moon & Loss of Signal
June 29, 2021 20:34 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MBStafford, Cernan, and Young were the first Apollo astronauts to be free from illness during the mission, although Cernan experienced a slight vestibular disturbance. Like all their colleagues who had flown before, once they unbuckled from the couches they had a stuffy feeling in their heads. This lasted for 8 to 10 hours for Stafford and Young; Cernan gradually lost the sensation over the next two days. Episode 193 on SRH
Space Rocket History #192 – Apollo 10 – Translunar Injection & First Docking
June 29, 2021 19:06 - 41 minutes - 37.7 MBAfter a shaky but successful S-IVB burn Apollo 10 was on the way to the Moon. Now the first order of business was for John Young to move to the command module pilot seat.
Space Rocket History #191 – Apollo 10 – The Climb to Orbit
May 26, 2021 16:58 - 36 minutes - 33.4 MBAt first stage cutoff the astronauts expected to encounter a single pulse of negative G and the crew would be thrown forward in their straps before the Second stage ignited and recommenced the acceleration. However, they actually encountered a form of pogo which continued for 4 cycles, during which they were “slammed forward, back, forward, back, forward, back, and forward, back. At this point the instrument panel was so blurred the astronauts could not read it. https://spacerockethistory.c...
Space Rocket History #190 – Apollo 10 – The Launch
May 26, 2021 16:43 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MBOn May 18th 1969, a king, some congressmen, other distinguished guests, and a hundred thousand other watchers waited at scattered vantage points around the Cape area. At 49 minutes past noon, Rocco Petrone’s launch team sent Apollo 10 on its way to the United States’s second manned rendezvous with the moon. https://spacerockethistory.com/?p=3275
Space Rocket History #189 – John Glenn Remembered
April 20, 2021 15:59 - 28 minutes - 26.4 MBWith the passing of John Glenn last week, I thought it would be appropriate to pause my coverage of Apollo 10 for a week and create an episode that celebrates the life of the American Icon, John Glenn. I covered John Glenn’s Mercury flight in episodes 30-31. I am going to re-release those episodes over the next 2 days. So I won’t spend a lot of time on his Mercury flight in this episode, that will be covered tomorrow.
Space Rocket History #188 – Apollo 10 – Command Module Pilot John Young
April 20, 2021 15:17 - 27 minutes - 24.8 MBJohn Young enjoyed the longest career of any astronaut thus far. Over the course of 42 years of active NASA service he made six space flights and is the only person to have piloted, and been commander of, four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo Command/Service Module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle.
Space Rocket History #187 – Apollo 10 – Lunar Module Pilot Eugene Cernan
March 11, 2021 21:38 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MBOn Cernan’s second space flight, he was lunar module pilot of Apollo 10, May 18-26, 1969. Apollo 10 was the first comprehensive lunar-orbital qualification and verification flight test of an Apollo lunar module. Cernan was accompanied on the 248,000 nautical sojourn to the moon by Thomas P. Stafford (spacecraft commander) and John W. Young (command module pilot).
Space Rocket History #186 – Apollo 10 – Commander Thomas P. Stafford
March 11, 2021 21:22 - 24 minutes - 22.8 MBThomas P. Stafford was the first member of his Naval Academy Class of 1952 to pin on the first, second, and third stars of a General Officer. He flew six rendezvous in space; logged 507 hours and 43 minutes in space flight and wore the Air Force command Pilot Astronaut Wings. He has flown over 127 different types of aircraft and helicopters and four different types of spacecraft.
Space Rocket History #185 – Apollo 10 – Preparations
March 11, 2021 21:01 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBAlthough the contractors had shipped excellent spacecrafts, preparations at Kennedy did not go quickly from the assembly building to the launch pad. Testing was delayed several days in order to stay out of the way of Apollo 9 pre-flight activities. Also during maintenance to the Launch Control Center, the electrical power was switched off to replace a valve. The Apollo 10 launch vehicle’s pneumatic controls sensed the power outage, opened some valves and dumped 20,000 liters of fuel on the l...
Space Rocket History #184 – Apollo 9 – The Return
March 11, 2021 20:44 - 28 minutes - 26 MBEven before crawling back into the command module, McDivitt said he was tired and ready for a three-day holiday. Another 140 hours would pass before touchdown in the Atlantic, but the crew had achieved more than 90 percent of the mission objectives.
Space Rocket History #183 – Apollo 9 – Lunar Module Maneuvers Part 4
January 28, 2021 16:40 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBWhen Scott tried to release the lunar module, he did not hold the button long enough so the lander got hung on the capture latches.
Space Rocket History #182 – Apollo 9 – Lunar Module Maneuvers Part 3
January 28, 2021 16:24 - 32 minutes - 29.3 MBOn the fourth day of the flight of Apollo 9, Schweickart felt better than expected as he worked his way into the lander to get it ready for the EVA. By the time he had put on the backpack, McDivitt was ready to let him do more – to stand on the lunar lander porch at least.
Space Rocket History #181 – Apollo 9 – Lunar Module Maneuvers Part 2
December 18, 2020 00:59 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBMcDivitt later said that the engine had come on abruptly, but with the tremendous mass, acceleration was very slow – it took the whole 5 seconds to add 11 meters per second to the speed.
Space Rocket History #180 – Apollo 9 – Lunar Module Maneuvers
December 16, 2020 21:06 - 23 minutes - 21.3 MBAs Dave Scott pulled in closer to the Lunar Module he noticed that the command module’s nose was out of line with the lander’s nose. Scott tried to use a service module thruster to turn left, but that jet was not operating. It turns out that someone had accidentally bumped a switch that turned off one set of Thrusters. The crew then flipped the correct switches, and the thruster started working, and at T+3 hours 2 minutes the command module probe nestled into the lunar Module drogue, where i...
Space Rocket History #179 – Apollo 9 – The Launch
November 10, 2020 21:46 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBFor the 19th flight of American astronauts into space, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, representing the new administration of Richard Nixon, sat in the firing control room viewing area on March 3rd, 1969. He and other guests listened to the countdown of the Saturn-Apollo structure several kilometers away at the edge of the Florida beach.
Space Rocket History #178 – Apollo 9 – The Crew – McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart
November 10, 2020 21:27 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBJames Alton “Jim” McDivitt was born on June 10, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois. He is of Irish descent. Like many other astronauts, he was a Boy Scout and earned the rank of Tenderfoot Scout. He graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School, Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1947.
Space Rocket History #177 – Apollo 9 – Preparations
September 13, 2020 14:59 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBThe biggest concern before Apollo 9 was the docking maneuver. In early 1969, at NASA there was little confidence in the docking system. At a January program review, Phillips said that problems encountered during probe and drogue testing worried him…
Space Rocket History #176 – The First Test Flight of the Soviet N1
September 12, 2020 15:49 - 28 minutes - 26.4 MBFinally, on the morning of February 21, all the population of the N1 assembly area and a residential area, situated just south of the launch pad, was ordered to evacuate. The giant service structure then rolled away leaving the dark-gray rocket with a white payload fairing towering under sunny skies. The weather was extremely cold, with temperatures falling to minus 44 C degrees, and stormy winds. In the fortified firing control room, the Commander of the 6th Directorate, took the firing co...
Space Rocket History #175 – Early History of the Soviet N1 – Part 2
August 14, 2020 15:47 - 27 minutes - 25.1 MBOn August the third 1964 Decree number 655-268 was issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party. For the first time a command was given for OKB-1 to put one man on the moon and return him safely to earth before the United States (Keep in mind the US already had already begun their Lunar program more than three years earlier, in April 1961).
Space Rocket History #174 – Early History of the Soviet N1 – Part 1
August 14, 2020 15:33 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBThe L-3 manned spacecraft was designed to make a direct lunar landing using the earth orbit rendezvous method. It was a 200 metric ton spacecraft requiring three N1 launches and a single Soyuz 11A5ll launch to assemble in low earth orbit. The first N1 launch would place the 75 metric ton partially-fueled Trans Lunar Injection stage and L3 spacecraft into low earth orbit. Two further N1 launches would orbit 75 metric ton tankers which would rendezvous and dock with the first payload and top o...
Space Rocket History #173 – Soyuz 4 & 5 – World’s First Space Station? – Part 2
July 09, 2020 16:25 - 37 minutes - 34 MBVladimir Shatalov would become the Soviet Union’s 13th space traveler, his home telephone number ended in “13” and the launch itself was set for 13:00 hours Moscow Time, on January 13th, 1969.
Space Rocket History #172 – Soyuz 4 & 5 – World’s First Space Station? – Part 1
July 09, 2020 16:11 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBThe objectives of the Soyuz 4 & 5 mission were to dock two manned Soyuz 7K-0Ks, transfer two Cosmonauts from Soyuz 5 to Soyuz 4 by means of a space walk, and then safely return both crews to earth.
Space Rocket History #171 – Apollo 8 – The Reaction
July 09, 2020 15:34 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBNew York City welcomed the Apollo 8 crew with a ticker-tape parade on the 10th of January, Newark hailed them on the 11th, and Miami greeted them on the 12th during the Super Bowl game. The Astronauts returned to Houston on the 13th for a hometown parade. Incoming President Richard M. Nixon sent Borman and his family on an eight-nation goodwill tour of western Europe. Everywhere they went, the astronauts depicted the earth as a spaceship and stressed international cooperation in space.
Space Rocket History #170 – Apollo 8 – The Voyage Home
June 08, 2020 16:19 - 44 minutes - 40.8 MBEven a perfect reentry would subject the Apollo 8 command module to extreme stress. With Gemini, the capsule re-entered from Earth orbit, but Apollo 8 would re-enter at approximated 25,000 miles per hour. The forces of heat and deceleration would be much greater.
Space Rocket History #169 – Apollo 8 – Christmas 1968
June 08, 2020 16:01 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBBill 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 the earth. ‘And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. ‘And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. ‘And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the d...
Space Rocket History #168 – Apollo 8 – Lunar Orbit and Earthrise
May 09, 2020 15:51 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MBAs Apollo 8 drifted above the far side of the moon Borman, Lovell, and Anders observed a scene of total desolation. It appeared absent of color, except for various shades of gray. There was no atmosphere to soften the view, it was a scene of extreme clarity.
Space Rocket History #167 – Apollo 8 – Coasting Up Hill and Waste Management
May 09, 2020 15:29 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MBJust a few minutes after Apollo 8’s second TV broadcast, Borman, Lovell, and Anders passed Earth’s gravitational hill top and crossed into the Moon’s gravitational sphere of influence.
Space Rocket History #166 – Apollo 8 – Translunar Injection
April 08, 2020 19:39 - 32 minutes - 44.7 MBAt T plus 40 seconds Apollo 8 went supersonic and the ride smoothed out. Now it was quite again, but Borman kept a watchful eye on the trajectory readouts. If there was a Saturn malfunction he could whisk the capsule away just by twisting the abort handle. This would trigger the escape rocket.
Space Rocket History #165 – Apollo 8 – The Launch
April 08, 2020 19:20 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBUntil now the astronauts knew, in the back of their minds, there was a possibility that a malfunction would turn this countdown into just another practice run and they would have to get out and try again another day. But, as the count reached T minus 15 minutes, there was no doubt, they were really going.
Space Rocket History #164 – Apollo 8 – Pre-launch
March 07, 2020 16:41 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBFor now the mighty Saturn V stood empty. But overnight, even while Borman’s crew slept, technicians would ready it for departure. By morning its enormous fuel thanks would be filled with cryogenic propellants, until the rocket would contain the explosive energy of an atomic bomb.
Space Rocket History #163 – Apollo 8 – Lovell, Logistics & Training
March 07, 2020 16:27 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MBThe successful Apollo 7 flight cleared the way for a US moon landing in 1969. Still a lot of flight and ground testing remained and there would probably be surprises. The greatest concern was Nasa had to complete three virtually flawless missions and achieve every major test objective before a lunar landing could be attempted. The odds seemed to be stack against NASA.
Space Rocket History #162 – Apollo 8 – The Crew – Frank Borman & William Anders
February 07, 2020 15:55 - 29 minutes - 27.3 MBFrank Frederick Borman, II was born on March 14, 1928, in Gary, Indiana. He is of German descent, born as the first and only child to parents Edwin and Marjorie Borman. Because he suffered from numerous sinus problems in the cold and damp weather, his father packed up the family and moved to the better climate of Tucson, Arizona, which Borman considers his home town. He started to fly at the age of 15.
Space Rocket History #161 – Apollo 8 – The Decision Part 2
February 07, 2020 15:30 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MBPerhaps the most significant point about the lunar-orbit flight proposed for Apollo 8 was that the command and service modules would fly the same route to the moon as would be used for the actual lunar landing.
Space Rocket History #160 – Apollo 8 – The Decision Part 1
January 04, 2020 20:36 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MBAn ‘A’ type mission would be flown with a Saturn V and be used to test the Launch vehicle, spacecraft, and a high velocity lunar return. Nasa cover the ‘A’ mission with Apollo 4 & 6. A ‘B’ type mission would be flow with a Saturn IB and test the lunar module development, and propulsion, and launch vehicle staging. This was accomplished with Apollo 5. A ‘C’ type mission would be flown with a Saturn IB and test the command and service module and evaluate the crew performance in low earth orbit...
Post navigation← PreviousNext → Space Rocket History #160 – Apollo 8 – The Decision Part 1
January 04, 2020 20:36 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MBAn ‘A’ type mission would be flown with a Saturn V and be used to test the Launch vehicle, spacecraft, and a high velocity lunar return. Nasa cover the ‘A’ mission with Apollo 4 & 6. A ‘B’ type mission would be flow with a Saturn IB and test the lunar module development, and propulsion, and launch vehicle staging. This was accomplished with Apollo 5. A ‘C’ type mission would be flown with a Saturn IB and test the command and service module and evaluate the crew performance in low earth orbit...
Space Rocket History #159 – Zond 6
January 04, 2020 20:27 - 19 minutes - 18.2 MBTrouble began on the sixth day of the flight, November 17. The capsule developed an atmospheric leak, the pressure first dropping from 760 to 380 mm of Mercury. With the drop in cabin pressure all the animal test subjects died. It would have killed any Cosmonaut not wearing a spacesuit.