Space Rocket History Archive
271 episodes - English - Latest episode: 13 days ago - ★★★★★ - 123 ratingsThe history of early space exploration.
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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.
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 #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.
Space Rocket History #158 – Soyuz 2 and 3
January 04, 2020 20:17 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MBThe soviets showed some confidence in their spacecraft by launching the unmanned Soyuz 2 first, but showed some caution by not sending a cosmonaut in Soyuz 2.
Space Rocket History #157 – Apollo 7-The Flight Part 2
January 04, 2020 20:05 - 32 minutes - 29.8 MBCAPCOM Number 1 (Deke Slayton): Okay. I think you ought to clearly understand there is absolutely no experience at all with landing without the helmet on. SCHIRRA: And there no experience with the helmet either on that one. CAPCOM: That one we’ve got a lot of experience with, yes. SCHIRRA: If we had an open visor, I might go along with that. CAPCOM: Okay. I guess you better be prepared to discuss in some detail when we land why we haven’t got them on. I think you’re too late now to do much a...
Space Rocket History #156 – Apollo 7-The Flight Part 1
December 06, 2019 17:26 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBSCHIRRA: You’ve added two burns to this flight schedule, and you’ve added a urine water dump; and we have a new vehicle up here, and I can tell you at this point TV will be delayed without any further discussion until after the rendezvous. CAPCOM (Jack Swigert): Roger. Copy. SCHIRRA: Roger. CAPCOM 1 (Deke Slayton): Apollo 7, this is CAPCOM number 1. SCHIRRA: Roger. CAPCOM 1 (Slayton): All we’ve agreed to do on this is flip it. SCHIRRA: the first part garbbled then Schirra said… with two comm...
Space Rocket History #155 – Apollo 7 – Assembly, Testing, Training, and Launch
December 06, 2019 17:11 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBCommand Service Module-101 started through the manufacturing cycle early in 1966. By July, it had been formed, wired, fitted with subsystems, and made ready for testing. After the Apollo 1 fire in January 1967, changes had to be made, mainly in the wiring, hatch areas, and the forward egress tunnel. It was December before the spacecraft came back into testing. CSM-101 passed through a three-phase customer acceptance review; during the third session, held in Downey on May 7th 1968, no items s...
Space Rocket History #154 – Apollo 7 – The Crew
December 06, 2019 17:03 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MBHad it not been for the fact that Eisele damaged his shoulder during a zero-G training flight aboard a KC-135 aircraft just before Christmas 1965, he might have been in the senior pilot’s seat aboard Apollo 1, instead of Ed White.
Space Rocket History #153 – Zond 5 – Tortoises in Space
November 07, 2019 17:58 - 21 minutes - 19.5 MBThe first attempt for a Zond 4 follow-up launched on April 22. It failed when the Launch Escape System sent an erroneous abort command at T+260 seconds and shut down the Proton booster’s second stage. The escape rocket fired and pulled the descent module to safety.
Space Rocket History #152 – The Death of Yuri Gagarin
November 07, 2019 17:42 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBHundreds of millions of people all over the planet had seen Gagarin smiling joyfully in person or on television. He was theirs, familiar to everyone, and at the same time a “Citizen of the Universe.”
Space Rocket History #151 – Zond 4
November 07, 2019 17:29 - 32 minutes - 29.5 MBWhen we left the Soviet Union they had somewhat successfully landed a probe on Venus and they had completed the automatic docking of two Soyuz 7K-OK spacecrafts. However they did not reach their goal of a circumlunar flight in time for the 50th anniversary of the glorious revolution.
Space Rocket History #150 – Apollo 6: Pogo
October 09, 2019 19:26 - 38 minutes - 34.9 MBThe success of Apollo 4 gave good reason to believe that the Saturn V could be trusted to propel men into space. But NASA pushed on with its plans for a second unmanned booster flight, primarily to give the Pad 39 launch team another rehearsal before sending men into deep space on the Saturn V. The mission was called Apollo 6…
Space Rocket History #149 – Apollo 5: Lunar Module’s First Flight
October 09, 2019 19:04 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MB“The fire-in-the-hole abort was the most critical test of the mission and one we had to accomplish successfully prior to a manned mission.” Gene Kranz – Flight Director Apollo 5
Space Rocket History #148 – Apollo 4: Operation Big Shot
October 09, 2019 18:45 - 46 minutes - 21.5 MB“…our building’s shaking here. Our building’s shaking! Oh it’s terrific, the building’s shaking! This big blast window is shaking! We’re holding it with our hands! Look at that rocket go into the clouds at 3000 feet!…you can see it…you can see it…oh the roar is terrific!…” Walter Cronkite – Apollo 4 launch.
Space Rocket History #147 – Saturn: S-II Stage Part 2: Trials and Tribulations
September 06, 2019 17:15 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MB“The S-II stage was a nightmare the minute it was conceived, and it only got worse from there. During the course of its creation, it would grind up people and careers the way the transcontinental railway devoured laborers. Though the methods and materials used to build the S-II were reasonably well known, nobody had ever tried to apply them on such a titanic scale. Originally, it was to be somewhere around 8 stores tall with a diameter of 22 feet, but the width ballooned from there to 27 f...
Space Rocket History #146 – Saturn: S-II Stage Part 1: Common Bulkheads, Gores, & Honeycomb Sandwiches
September 06, 2019 17:06 - 31 minutes - 28.4 MBThe structural efficiency of the S-II stage, in terms of the weight and pressures taken by its extra-thin walls, was comparable only to the capacity of one of nature’s most refined examples of structural efficiency, the egg.
Space Rocket History #145 – Surveyors 2 – 7 with a Little Apollo 12
September 06, 2019 16:47 - 40 minutes - 36.6 MBThe primary objectives of the Surveyor program, were to support the Apollo landings by: (1) developing and validating the technology for landing softly on the Moon; (2) providing data on the compatibility of the Apollo design with conditions encountered on the lunar surface; and (3) adding to the scientific knowledge of the Moon.
Space Rocket History #144 – Lunar Orbiter 2 – 5 and Wresat
August 01, 2019 15:37 - 37 minutes - 17.2 MBA total of five Lunar Orbiter missions were launched by the US in 1966 through 1967. The purpose of the lunar orbiter series was to photograph the moon’s surface for selection and verification of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions.
Space Rocket History #143 – The First Soyuz Automatic Docking and the Secret Plan
August 01, 2019 15:23 - 30 minutes - 13.8 MBAfter 1957, the Soviets became accustomed to achieving “world firsts” in space accomplishments. Nevertheless, 10 years later they were not confident that they could pull off the world’s first fully automatic rendezvous and docking of two un-piloted Soyuz spacecraft. At the time the chance for success was estimated at only 50/50.
Space Rocket History #142 – Venera 4
August 01, 2019 15:05 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MB“It seemed that the nearby and mysterious planet was resorting to tricks to hide the secrets kept beneath its cover of clouds. As the probe drew nearer, Venus’ gravitational field increased its speed. The Doppler effect altered the wavelength of the signals received on Earth. The radio operators needed to be particularly vigilant so that the information sent from the station consistently landed in the narrow “throat” of the ground-based receivers.” Boris Chertok
Space Rocket History #141 – Soyuz 1: The Crash
August 01, 2019 14:26 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MB“It’s a terrible scene. Komarov burned up. All the instruments burned. We must quickly find out what prevented the main parachute from unlatching.” Chief Designer Mishin after he arrived at the Soyuz 1 crash site.
Space Rocket History #140 – Soyuz 1: The Flight
July 06, 2019 14:49 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MB“I was the last one to see him alive and I told him ‘See you soon!’” Yuri Gagarin, recalls bidding farewell to his friend Kamarov in Soyuz 1.
Space Rocket History #139 – Soyuz 1: Preparation
July 06, 2019 14:12 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBWith the success of Kosmos 146 and in spite of the failures of the first three 7K-Ok’s it was now time to plan for a Soyuz manned mission. The planned involved the launch and docking of two piloted Soyuzes. Soyuz 7K-OK production model number 4 was assigned the role of the active vehicle. The active vehicle was supposed to carry one cosmonaut into earth orbit. Twenty-four hours later, vehicle No. 5 (the passive vehicle) carrying three cosmonauts would be inserted in orbit. After rendezvouing...
Space Rocket History #138 – Soyuz Test Flight No. 3 – Kosmos 140
July 04, 2019 15:22 - 26 minutes - 12.3 MBChief Designer Mishin proposed a two-launch “stopover” scenario for the piloted flight to the moon. This was similar to one of NASA’s earth orbit rendezvous modes to reach the moon. The gist of the plan was, the UR-500K would insert the 7K-L1 into orbit with no crew. Then the R7 derivative Semyorka would launch the 7K-OK carrying two cosmonauts. If everything went well on the two vehicles, they would dock, and the cosmonauts would transfer from the 7K-OK to the 7K-L1 via spacewalk. Then they...
Space Rocket History #137 – Apollo 1: Changes and Recovery
July 04, 2019 15:06 - 28 minutes - 13.2 MBAfter the uncertain days of February 1967, NASA officials began to realize that a recovery from the tragedy was under way. Through hard work and problem solving, morale of Nasa personnel started to improve…
Space Rocket History #136 – Apollo 1: What Went Wrong
July 04, 2019 14:47 - 28 minutes - 13 MBWhat went wrong? Even years after the investigators began to sift through the wreckage of Apollo 1 piece by piece, no one could say exactly. But within weeks the general picture became clear: The fire was a disaster waiting to happen.
Space Rocket History #135 – Apollo 1: The Investigation
June 04, 2019 17:50 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBThe tragedy of Apollo 1 was widely reported in the Soviet Union. The Soviets sent condolences and letters to the families of the men who had died. But, the Soviet Press criticized the US for an overzealous attempt to send men to the moon.
Space Rocket History #134 – Apollo 1: Plugs Out – Part 2 – The Price of Progress
June 04, 2019 17:35 - 34 minutes - 15.9 MBWhen Deke Slayton and Stu Roosa arrived at pad 34 they saw ambulances waiting in vain at the base of the launch tower. They boarded the small elevator and rode to level A-8, 218 feet up, and headed across the swing arm to the clean room…
Space Rocket History #133 – Apollo 1: Plugs Out – Part 1 – The Fire
June 02, 2019 16:00 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MBThe “Plugs Out” test scheduled for Jan 27, 1967 was not the first time that spacecraft 12 had been put through a simulated run with people on board…
Space Rocket History #132 – Apollo 1: Astronauts – Part 2 – Chaffee
June 02, 2019 15:46 - 39 minutes - 18 MB“On my honor I will do my best, To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” The Boy Scout Oath.
Space Rocket History #131 – Apollo 1: Astronauts – Part 1- Grissom & White
May 08, 2019 19:34 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MB“So the reason I took those symbols was that I think this was the most important thing I had going for me, and I felt that while I couldn’t take one for every religion in the country, I could take the three I was most familiar with.” Ed. White
Space Rocket History #130 – Apollo 1: Preparation
May 08, 2019 19:20 - 28 minutes - 12.9 MBWhile flight-preparation crews were having problems, Grissom, White, and Chaffee were finding bottlenecks in training activities. The chief problem was keeping the Apollo mission simulator current with changes being made in spacecraft 012.
Space Rocket History #129 – Apollo Mission Control: An Introduction to Eugene Frances Kranz
May 08, 2019 19:09 - 33 minutes - 15.3 MBAs Procedures Officer, Kranz was put in charge of integrating Mercury Control with the Launch Control Team at Cape Canaveral, Florida, writing the “Go/NoGo” procedures that allowed missions to continue as planned or be aborted, along with serving as a sort of switchboard operator using teletype between the control center at Cape Canaveral and the agency’s fourteen tracking stations and two tracking ships located across the globe.
Space Rocket History #128 – Apollo Mission Control: Christopher Columbus Kraft – Part 2
May 08, 2019 18:50 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBAt the beginning of the Apollo program, Kraft retired as a flight director to concentrate on management and mission planning. In 1972, he became director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, following the path of his mentor Robert Gilruth.
Space Rocket History #127 – Apollo Mission Control: Christopher Columbus Kraft – Part 1
May 06, 2019 18:42 - 29 minutes - 13.3 MBChristopher Columbus Kraft Jr. was Born on February 28, 1924 in a town that no longer exist, Phoebus, Virginia. The town has now been engulfed by Hampton, Virginia. Kraft was named after his father, Christopher Columbus Kraft, who was born in New York City in 1892 near Columbus Circle at 8th ave. and 59th street.
Space Rocket History #126 – Apollo-Saturn IB: AS-201, AS-202, and AS-203
April 05, 2019 02:30 - 31 minutes - 14.6 MBApollo Saturn 201 employed the Saturn IB launch vehicle, which was the up-rated version of the Saturn I rocket flown in ten earlier Saturn-Apollo missions. It featured an upgrade of the first stage engines to increase thrust from 1,500,000 lb-ft of thrust to 1,600,000 lb-ft. The second stage was the S-IVB. This stage used a new liquid hydrogen-burning J-2 engine which would also be used on the S-II second stage of the Saturn V lunar launch vehicle…
Space Rocket History #125 – Apollo: Astronaut Selection and Training – Part 3
April 05, 2019 02:09 - 31 minutes - 28.8 MB“Some of those guys came in figuring, “I’ll write my textbooks and my thesis and teach [university courses] and I’ll come by twice a week and be an astronaut.” Well, that didn’t work …. We were devoting our lives to this whole thing, and you couldn’t devote anything less, I don’t care what your discipline was.”
Space Rocket History #124 – Apollo: Astronaut Selection and Training – Part 2
April 05, 2019 01:47 - 26 minutes - 24 MBWith Group 4, for the first time, the selection criteria did not include a requirement for test pilot proficiency. Selectees who were not qualified pilots would be assigned to the Air Force for a year of flight training. The primary scientific requirement was a doctorate in medicine, engineering, or one of the natural sciences.
Space Rocket History #123 – Apollo: Astronaut Selection and Training – Part 1
April 03, 2019 20:45 - 28 minutes - 13 MBSelection of Group Two virtually depleted the pool of qualified candidates from the small corps of test pilots in the country, and it was the last group for which test-pilot certification would be a requirement. The new trainees reported to Houston in October 1962 to begin a two-year training course. A four-day work week was normally scheduled, the fifth day being reserved for public relations duties or for travel.
Space Rocket History #122 – Apollo: Serious Problems with the Lunar Module and Grumman
April 03, 2019 20:25 - 35 minutes - 16.2 MBToward the end of January 1967, it was revealed that Lunar Module 1 would not reach the Cape in February, as expected. This meant, the moon landing might be delayed because the lander was not ready. But the mission planners could not wait for the Apollo engineers to iron out all the problems. They had to plan for a landing in 1969 and hope that the hardware would catch up with them.
Space Rocket History #121 – Pegasus Wings inside SA-8 (AS-104), SA-9 (AS-103), & SA-10 (AS-105) and a Command Module update for 1965
March 04, 2019 18:25 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MBThe Pegasus satellite was named for the winged horse of Greek mythology. Like its namesake, the Pegasus was notable for its “wings”, a pair of 29 meter long, 4.3 meter wide arrays of 104 panels fitted with sensors to detect punctures by micrometeoroids at high altitudes. In its stored position with panels folded inside the Apollo service module, the Pegasus was 5.3-meters high, 2.1 meters wide, and 28-cm deep.
Space Rocket History #121 – Pegasus Wings inside SA-8 (AS-104), SA-9 (AS-103), & SA-10 (AS-105) and a Command Module update for 1965
March 04, 2019 18:25 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MBThe Pegasus satellite was named for the winged horse of Greek mythology. Like its namesake, the Pegasus was notable for its “wings”, a pair of 29 meter long, 4.3 meter wide arrays of 104 panels fitted with sensors to detect punctures by micrometeoroids at high altitudes. In its stored position with panels folded inside the Apollo service module, the Pegasus was 5.3-meters high, 2.1 meters wide, and 28-cm deep.
Space Rocket History #120 – Apollo: Stages S-IV and S-IVB
March 04, 2019 18:10The key to high-energy stages was to use liquid hydrogen as the fuel. Liquid hydrogen fuel appealed to rocket designers because of its high specific impulse, which is a basic measure of rocket performance. Specific Impulse is the impulse delivered per unit of propellant consumed. You might think of it as the efficiency of the rocket. Compared to an RP-1 (kerosene) fueled engine of similar size, liquid hydrogen fuel could increase the specific impulse or efficiency of an engine by 40 perce...
Space Rocket History #119 – Apollo: Lunar Module Design – Part 3
March 04, 2019 17:54 - 34 minutes - 16 MBAt various stages of lunar module design, mockup reviews were conducted to demonstrate progress and identify weaknesses. These inspections were formal occasions, with a board composed of NASA and contractor officials and presided over by a chairman from the Apollo office in Houston.
Space Rocket History #118 – Apollo: Lunar Module Design – Part 2
March 04, 2019 17:37 - 36 minutes - 16.5 MBThe Lunar Lander originally had two docking hatches, one at the top center of the cabin and another in the forward position, or nose, of the vehicle, with a tunnel in each location to permit astronauts to crawl from one pressurized vehicle to the other…
Space Rocket History #117 – Apollo: Lunar Module Design
March 04, 2019 17:20 - 40 minutes - 18.5 MBSince the lunar module would fly only in space (earth orbit and lunar vicinity), the designers could ignore the aerodynamic streamlining demanded by earth’s atmosphere and build the first true manned spacecraft, designed solely for operating in the spatial vacuum.
Space Rocket History #116 – Apollo: Little Joe II
February 05, 2019 02:27 - 35 minutes - 16.4 MBA few seconds after liftoff, a fin-vane at the base of the booster stuck and started the 13-meter-tall spacecraft-booster combination spinning like a bullet. Twenty-six seconds into the flight the vehicle started coming apart. The abort-sensing system signaled the launch escape tower rocket to fire and pull the spacecraft away…
Space Rocket History #115 – Saturn I: SA-4, SA-5, SA-6, and SA-7
February 05, 2019 02:12 - 34 minutes - 15.7 MBSaturn 1, SA-6 was the first orbital launch of an Apollo Spacecraft by a Saturn Launch Vehicle and also the first flight utilizing an active ST-124 Stabilized Platform.
Space Rocket History #114 – Apollo: Command Module Design and Development 1963-1964 Part 2
February 05, 2019 01:52 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBMax Faget’s position was that considering the difficulty of the job, if each mission was successful half the time, it would be well worth the effort. But Gilruth thought that was too low. He want a 90% mission success ratio and a 99% ratio for Astronaut safety. Walt Williams who was currently running the Mercury program believed that astronaut safety needed to be limited to only 1 failure in a million which was 99.9999%.