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 #113 – Apollo: Command Module Design and Development 1963-1964
February 04, 2019 20:08 - 32 minutes - 29.6 MB…From the information they gathered on the existing technical problems, Disher and Tischler concluded that prospects were only one in ten that Apollo would land on the moon before the end of the decade….
Space Rocket History #112 – Apollo: Headquarters
January 04, 2019 18:02 - 32 minutes - 15 MB“The contractor role in Houston was not very firm. Frankly, they didn’t want us. There were two things against us down there. Number one, it was a Headquarters contract, and it was decreed that the Space Centers shall use GE for certain things; and number two they considered us (meaning GE) to be Headquarters spies.” Edward S. Miller of General Electric.
Space Rocket History #111 – Apollo: Early Lunar Module Design and Saturn SA-3”
January 04, 2019 17:50 - 41 minutes - 19 MBDuring 1962, NASA faced three major tasks: first the mode selection and its defense (covered in episodes 106-109), second keeping North American moving on the command and service modules (covered in episode 110) and third finding a contractor to develop the separate landing vehicle required by that approach. Which we will cover today in episode 111.
Space Rocket History #110 – Early Apollo Command Module Design
January 04, 2019 17:25 - 33 minutes - 30.5 MBThe Apollo contract specified a shirt-sleeve environment. For this reason, North American was told not to include in its design a hatch that opened by explosives, like Mercury’s. An accidentally blown hatch in space would cause an instant vacuum and certain death for an astronaut not wearing his pressure suit.
Space Rocket History #109 – Apollo: The PSAC Strikes Back and Saturn SA-2
January 04, 2019 17:06 - 45 minutes - 20.9 MBAfter viewing the Apollo spaceport being built in Florida, President Kennedy flew on to Huntsville, Alabama. There, during a tour of Marshall and a briefing on the Saturn V and the lunar-rendezvous mission by von Braun, Jerome Wiesner interrupted Von Braun in front of reporters, saying, “No, that’s no good.” Webb immediately defended von Braun and lunar-orbit rendezvous. The adversaries engaged in a heated exchange until the President stopped them, stating that the matter was still subject ...
Space Rocket History #108 – Apollo: The Mode Decision – Part 3
December 03, 2018 16:07 - 25 minutes - 23.7 MB“I would like to reiterate once more that it is absolutely mandatory that we arrive at a definite mode decision within the next few weeks. . . . If we do not make a clear-cut decision on the mode very soon, our chances of accomplishing the first lunar expedition in this decade will fade away rapidly.” Wernher Von Braun June 7, 1962.
Space Rocket History #107 – Apollo: The Mode Decision – Part 2
December 03, 2018 15:54 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MBLangley’s brochure for the Golovin Committee described Lunar landers of varied sizes and payload capabilities. There were illustrations and data on a very small lander that was able to carry one man for 2 to 4 hours on the moon. There was an “economy” model that could two men for a 24-hour stay. The third model was called the “plush” module, it would carry two men for a 7-day stay on the moon. Weight estimates for the three craft, without fuel, were 580, 1,010, and 1,790 kilograms, respect...
Space Rocket History #106 – Apollo: The Mode Decision – Part 1
December 03, 2018 15:41 - 36 minutes - 16.6 MBThe mode that Apollo would use to land on the moon was the most studied, analyzed, and debated decision made for the lunar landing program. There were four main choices Direct-ascent, Earth-Orbit Rendezvous, Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous, and Lunar Surface Rendezvous.
Space Rocket History #105 – Saturn’s First Flight – SA-1 – Part 2
December 03, 2018 15:22 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBNo previous maiden launch had gone flawlessly, and the Saturn C-1 was considerably more complicated than any rocket launched thus far. Launch Operations Directorate officials gave the rocket a 75% chance of getting off the ground, and a 30% chance of completing the eight-minute flight…
Space Rocket History #104 – Saturn’s First Flight – SA-1 – Part 1
November 09, 2018 19:31 - 27 minutes - 12.8 MBJust as launch complex 34 dwarfed its predecessors, Saturn’s checkout represented a new magnitude in launch operations. The Saturn C-1 stood three times higher, required six times more fuel, and produced ten times more thrust than the Jupiter. Its size, was only a part of the challenge to the Launch Operations Directorate at Cape Canaveral…
Space Rocket History #101 – Apollo: Preliminary Design Part 2 – Mode, Command Module, and Astronavigation
November 09, 2018 19:27 - 28 minutes - 13 MBIn May 1961, NASA was not really prepared to direct an enormous Apollo program designed to fly its spacecraft to the moon. New and special facilities would be needed and the aerospace industry would have to be marshaled to develop vehicles not easily adapted to production lines, but at this point no one had even decided just what Apollo’s component parts should be or how they should look.
Space Rocket History #102 – Apollo: Preliminary Design Part 3 – Command Module Contract, Mode, and Launch Vehicles
November 09, 2018 19:16 - 29 minutes - 13.4 MBMax Faget thought the first stage of the moon rocket should use four solid-fueled engines, 6.6 meters in diameter. He reasoned these could certainly accomplish whatever mission was required of either the Saturn or Nova, and it would be more cost effective. Faget said it made good sense to use cheap solid fuels for expendable rockets and more expensive liquid fuels for reusable engines. Faget called the individual solid rocket ‘the Tiger.’
Space Rocket History #103 – Saturn Development 1957 – 1960
November 09, 2018 18:08 - 31 minutes - 14.2 MBMany historians agree, the U.S. took its first step toward the moon in the spring of 1957, four years before President Kennedy declared the national goal of landing a man on the Moon, and returning him safely to the Earth. While still preparing for the launch of its first Jupiter (May 31 1957), the Army rocket team at Huntsville, Alabama, began studies of a booster ten times more powerful than the 150,000-pound thrust Jupiter…
Space Rocket History #100 – Apollo: Preliminary Design
November 09, 2018 16:34 - 38 minutes - 17.4 MBIn January 1960, President Eisenhower directed NASA Administrator Glennan to accelerate the Super Booster Program that had recently been assigned to NASA. This order ensured the transfer of the von Braun group from the Army Ballistic Missile Agency to NASA, and it gave Glennan the launch vehicle development and management capability that he needed.
Space Rocket History #99 – Apollo: The Opposition
November 09, 2018 16:03 - 30 minutes - 14.1 MBThe goal of the nation’s space program should be the scientific exploration of the moon and the planets but also to recognize that nontechnical factors are vital to public acceptance of a space program. Human exploration of the moon and planets would be potentially the greatest inspirational venture of the 20th century and one in which the world could share; inherent here are great and fundamental philosophical and spiritual values which find a response in man’s questing spirit to explore. ...
Space Rocket History #98 – Apollo Beginnings
October 04, 2018 02:29 - 29 minutes - 13.4 MBPresident Kennedy proposed the manned lunar landing as the focus of the US space program but, at the time of his address, only one American, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. had been into space, on a suborbital lob shot lasting 15 minutes. No rocket launch vehicle was available for a lunar voyage and there was no agreed upon method for placing any kind of spacecraft safely on the lunar surface and getting it back to the earth. Nor was there agreement within NASA itself on how it should be done.
Space Rocket History #97 – Soyuz Test Flight No. 2
October 04, 2018 01:59 - 25 minutes - 11.8 MBThe first Soyuz test flight was a catastrophic failure. Due to negligence, the attitude control system malfunctioned and used all of its fuel before a rendezvous could be attempted or even the second Soyuz rocket could be launched. When the Soviets attempted to return the first Soyuz to earth, the vehicle’s self-destruct system activated because it was unable to make a landing in the Soviet Union. OKB-1 was disgraced.
Space Rocket History #96 – Soyuz Test Flight No. 1 – Kosmos-133
October 04, 2018 01:28 - 23 minutes - 10.9 MBAfter many delays in launching the first Soyuz due to design complications, equipment deliveries, the learning curve for testing new designs, unreasonable launch dates, persecution from the communist party, and the death of Chief Designer Korolev. The first unmanned test flight is nearing launch. Two Soyuz 7k-OK’s have made it through testing. Both Soyuz have been attached to their carrier rocket and are nearly ready to launch. The plan is to launch both vehicles 24 hours apart in order ...
Space Rocket History #95 – Soyuz Development – Part 4 – Politics and Testing
October 04, 2018 01:07 - 30 minutes - 14 MB“In those days, the Party organizations in industry were not only involved with policy, ideology, and the “struggle against nonconformist thought,” but tried to get involved in technology and production engineering. Wielding real authority over people who were Party members, they had the opportunity to affect the production process. With few exceptions, every chief designer was a Party member. It was far more dangerous to receive a Party reprimand than a reprimand ordered by the head of an e...
Space Rocket History #94 – Soyuz Development – Part 3
October 04, 2018 00:40 - 26 minutes - 12.2 MBAfter Voskhod-2, an ideological vacuum, disorder, and vacillation cropped up in the Soviet maned space program. There was no clear-cut answer to which project should be the priority, a new series of Voskhods, artificial gravity experiments, or the construction of the Soyuzes. However, during August 1965 the wavering ended. First priority was given to the Soyuzes. A real all-hands rush job to develop and manufacture Soyuzes got underway. A new un-realistic schedule was created that requir...
Space Rocket History #93 – Soyuz Development – Part 2 – Rivals
October 04, 2018 00:22 - 25 minutes - 11.5 MBThe circumlunar plan involved 3 new spacecrafts. First the Soyuz A 7K spacecraft, capable of carrying three men, (2 men for a circumlunar flight) into space and returning them to earth. The 5.5 ton spacecraft has three modules, the orbital module, the re-entry module, and the service module. The second new spacecraft is the Soyuz B 9K booster stage, with a fueled mass of 18 tons. After docking with the 7K, the 9K is capable of boosting the combined spacecraft out of earth orbit on a course ...
Space Rocket History #92 – Soyuz Development – Part 1
October 04, 2018 00:03 - 18 minutes - 16.9 MBHey everyone. I have been sick for a week and unable to talk, without coughing up a lung. But, I didn’t want you to miss your weekly dose of Space Rocket History. My wife agreed to help me out with the vocal part of this episode. This is her first podcast so please be nice to her. Hopefully, I will be able to speak a complete sentence without coughing my head off next week. I want to thank my wife, Caroline Annis from the bottom of my heart for her help with this episode.
Space Rocket History #91 – The Death of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – Part 3
September 06, 2018 16:36 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBAround noon on January 14th, Boris Chertok was alone in his office studying a folder of classified mail that had accumulated during the past few days. He had asked not to be disturbed. Suddenly his subordinate ran in and shouted, “Sergey Pavlovich died!” Chertok responded “Are you out of your mind? Which Sergey Pavlovich?” “Ours, our Sergey Pavlovich Korolev! His wife telephoned from the hospital!” Chertok stood absolutely dumbfounded, having no idea what to do next. This can’t be! This real...
Space Rocket History #90 – The Death of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – Part 2
September 06, 2018 16:25 - 24 minutes - 11.4 MBSergei Korolev’s life paralleled in many ways the life of Wernher Von Braun. Like Von Braun, as a young man, Sergei Korolev was inspired to dedicate his life to the technology for space exploration after becoming acquainted with the work of a great space pioneer: Hermann Oberth in the case of von Braun, and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the case of Korolev. Both began their careers in space development through serious study, participation in amateur rocket societies, and then support from the mi...
Space Rocket History #89 – The Death of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – Part 1
September 06, 2018 16:08 - 25 minutes - 11.5 MBHis power, influence, and responsibilities during the 1950s and 60s were all encompassing. Not only was he in charge of all space-related issues, he was also in charge of some of the design of rockets for military purposes as well. He oversaw the design and testing of communications and surveillance satellites, too. Although he delegated responsibility for each program to trusted designers in separate engineering bureaus, his workload was enormous. He was the responsible for all the programs...
Space Rocket History #88 – Gemini XII With Jim Lovell and and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin – Part 3
September 06, 2018 15:53 - 32 minutes - 14.7 MBWe left off last week after Buzz Aldrin’s third and final EVA. The hard work for the Gemini 12 mission was now complete. Even with the problems with the radar, the Agena main engines, and the fuel cells, Gemini XII as a whole had gone very well…
Space Rocket History #87 – Gemini XII With Jim Lovell and and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin – Part 2
September 06, 2018 15:36 - 24 minutes - 11.2 MBIn space, Jim and Buzz began to wonder if everything had been shut down too soon. For 25 minutes, with one brief exception, they heard nothing from the ground. The Ascension Island tracking station had the wrong acquisition time, so its communicators had not talked with the astronauts…
Space Rocket History #86 – Gemini XII With Jim Lovell and and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin – Part 1
September 06, 2018 15:21 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MBWhen the Gemini IX-A Agena fell into the Atlantic Ocean, Gemini XII was threatened with a major hardware shortage of an Agena and an Atlas to launch it. Replacing the Agena was no real problem. Lockheed’s first production model, 5001, used for development testing at the Cape, had already been sent back to the Sunnyvale plant for refurbishment. Now it was simply a matter of tailoring it to the Gemini XII mission…
Space Rocket History #85 – Gemini XI With Charles (Pete) Conrad and Richard Gordon – Part 3
September 06, 2018 15:08 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MBThe rotation rate checked out at 55 degrees per minute, and the crew could now test for a minute amount of artificial gravity. When they put a camera against the instrument panel and then let it go, it moved in a straight line to the rear of the cockpit and parallel to the direction of the tether. The crew, themselves, did not sense any physiological effect of gravity.
Space Rocket History #84 – Gemini XI With Charles (Pete) Conrad and Richard Gordon – Part 2
September 06, 2018 14:57 - 24 minutes - 11.4 MBConrad shouted to Gordon “Ride ’em, cowboy!” Gordon was Riding bareback, with his feet and legs wedged between the docked vehicles. In practice sessions in zero-g aircraft flights, Gordon had been able to push himself forward, straddle the reentry and recovery section, and wedge his feet and legs between the docking adapter and the spacecraft to hold himself in place, leaving his hands free to attach the tether and clamp it down…
Space Rocket History #83 – Gemini XI With Charles (Pete) Conrad and Richard Gordon – Part 1
August 11, 2018 16:48 - 25 minutes - 11.5 MBSome significant goals had been set for the last two Gemini flights. For example, the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office wanted a rendezvous in the first spacecraft orbit, which would simulate lunar orbit rendezvous. There was also interest in linking an Agena to a the Gemini spacecraft by a tether and then spinning the combination to produce some artificial gravity.
Space Rocket History #82 – Gemini X with John Young and Mike Collins – Part 3
August 11, 2018 16:26 - 25 minutes - 11.8 MBCollins emerged from the spacecraft at dawn. Like Gene Cernan on Gemini IX-A, he found that all tasks took longer than he expected. But he was able to retrieve the package from the exterior of his spacecraft…
Space Rocket History #81 – Gemini X with John Young and Mike Collins – Part 2 – Riding the Agena
August 10, 2018 17:12 - 27 minutes - 12.8 MB“At first, the sensation I got was that there was a pop, then there was a big explosion and a clang. We were thrown forward in the seats. We had our shoulder harnesses fastened. Fire and sparks started coming out of the back end of that rascal. The light was something fierce, and the acceleration was pretty good. The vehicle yawed off – I don’t remember whether it was to the right or to the left – but it was the kind of response that the Lockheed people had predicted we would get. . . . The ...
Space Rocket History #80 – Gemini X with John Young and Mike Collins – Part 1
August 10, 2018 17:00 - 33 minutes - 15.5 MBDeputy Administrator Seamans wanted a mission review board created to study: (1) Corrective measures for the Atlas-Agena failure (2) The guidance update problem that delayed the launch two days (3) The shroud incident (4) The suit environmental control difficulties
Space Rocket History #79 – Gemini IX-A with Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan – Part 3 – EVA
August 10, 2018 16:48 - 42 minutes - 19.6 MBWe left off last week with Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan completing three rendezvous with the ATDA but, no docking because the shroud was still in place on the Docking Adapter. On June 5, 1966 at 5:30 a.m., nearly 45 hours and 30 minutes into the mission, the crew began preparations for Cernan’s walk in space…
Space Rocket History #78 – Gemini IX-A with Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan – Part 2 – Rendevouz
August 10, 2018 16:33 - 38 minutes - 17.7 MBAs contractors worried about technical problems with the Atlas, Once again NASA, faced the necessity for a quick recovery plan when a target vehicle failed to reach orbit. You may recall the first time was with Gemini 6. But this time Nasa had something in the hangar, an alternate vehicle – the Augment Target Docking Adapter also known as the ATDA…
Space Rocket History #77 – Gemini IX-A with Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan – Part 1
July 06, 2018 23:22 - 29 minutes - 13.3 MBAfter the untimely deaths of Elliot See and Charles Basset, NASA assigned the Gemini IX prime crew positions to Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan. This was the first time in NASA’s manned space flight history that a backup crew had taken over a mission. The capsule was renamed Gemini IX-A…
Space Rocket History #76 – Tragic Prelude to Gemini IX with Elliot See, Charles Bassett, Tom Stafford, and Gene Cernan
July 06, 2018 21:24 - 24 minutes - 11.1 MBIn October 1965, Elliot M. See and Charles A. Bassett II were selected to fly Gemini IX. Chief Astronaut Deke Slayton also told them that their backups would be Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan. At that time Stafford was copilot for Gemini VI…
Space Rocket History #75 – Luna 10, Surveyor 1, and Lunar Orbiter 1 – Scouting the Moon
July 06, 2018 21:12 - 33 minutes - 15.3 MBIn the 1960s, during the cold war, the US and Soviet Union turned their attention to the moon. The question was, who could place a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth first? Obtaining the necessary data on the moon to risk sending a person there was crucial. The US and Soviet Union chose unmanned spacecraft to scout for this information…
Space Rocket History #74 – Gemini VIII with Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott – Part 3
July 06, 2018 20:47 - 31 minutes - 14.6 MBArmstrong eased Gemini VIII toward the target at a barely perceptible speed of 8 centimeters per second. Then Armstrong gleefully reported, “Flight, we are docked!” For a brief moment, the flight controllers in Houston did not realize they had really accomplished docking. Then pandemonium broke loose…
Space Rocket History #73 – Gemini VIII with Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott – Part 2
July 06, 2018 20:30 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBThis was the most complex mission attempted to date. The primary mission objectives were to perform rendezvous and four docking tests with the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle (GATV) and to execute an ExtraVehicular Activity (EVA)…
Space Rocket History #72 – Gemini VIII with Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott – Part 1
July 06, 2018 16:26 - 41 minutes - 18.8 MBOn September 20th 1965, NASA named the crew for Gemini VIII. The command pilot selected was Neil Armstrong, a civilian test pilot with much experience in the X-15 rocket research aircraft program. David Scott was selected as pilot. Scott was the first of the Group 3 astronauts selected for a mission. The backup crew for Gemini VIII, was Navy Lieutenant Commanders Pete Conrad and Richard F. Gordon, Jr.
Space Rocket History #71 – Agena vs. the Augmented Target Docking Adapter, with Some EVA Equipment on the Side
June 01, 2018 16:29 - 26 minutes - 12.3 MBMany doubted that Agena could be ready in time to meet Gemini’s tight launch schedules. The end of 1965 saw Agena’s usefulness in manned space flight once again called into question, but this time time a substitute target had already been approved for development…
Space Rocket History #70 – Luna 5-9 – Never Give Up
June 01, 2018 16:17 - 23 minutes - 11 MBDuring 1965 through January 1966, several significant Soviet unmanned scientific missions were launched. Five of the missions will be covered in this episode. We will begin with the Soviet Luna program.
Space Rocket History #69 – Zond 3, Venera 3, and Asterix
June 01, 2018 16:05 - 16 minutes - 7.52 MBThe Zond program was one of two lunar exploration programs conducted by the Soviet Union to investigate the Moon and its vicinity. The program began in 1964 and ended in 1979. The early Zond’s 1-3 were originally designed for planetary exploration, while the latter Zonds (4-8) were sent on circum lunar flights. Additionally, the latter Zond vehicles were of a totally different in design. They were in fact automated versions of the manned Soyuz spacecraft…
Space Rocket History #68 – Gemini VI & VII with Wally Schirra, Tom Stafford, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell – Rendezvous – Part 4
June 01, 2018 15:53 - 32 minutes - 14.8 MBThe Gemini Program was conceived after it became evident to NASA officials that an intermediate step was required between Project Mercury and the Apollo Program. The major objectives assigned to Gemini were: 1-To subject two men and supporting equipment to long duration flights — a requirement for projected later trips to the moon or deeper space. 2-To effect rendezvous and docking with other orbiting vehicles, and to maneuver the docked vehicles in space, using the propulsion system of the ...
Space Rocket History #68 – Gemini VI & VII with Wally Schirra, Tom Stafford, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell – Rendezvous – Part 4
June 01, 2018 15:53 - 32 minutes - 14.8 MBThe Gemini Program was conceived after it became evident to NASA officials that an intermediate step was required between Project Mercury and the Apollo Program. The major objectives assigned to Gemini were: 1-To subject two men and supporting equipment to long duration flights — a requirement for projected later trips to the moon or deeper space. 2-To effect rendezvous and docking with other orbiting vehicles, and to maneuver the docked vehicles in space, using the propulsion system of the ...
Space Rocket History #67 – Gemini VI & VII with Wally Schirra, Tom Stafford, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell – Rendezvous – Part 3
June 01, 2018 15:40 - 32 minutes - 15 MBFrom the previous episode, we have Gemini VII waiting in orbit for Gemini VI-A to launch and rendezvous. Remember, Gemini VII could only remain in orbit for 14 days, the maximum duration of its flight. The goal was to launch Gemini VI-A on or before day 9 of Gemini VII’s mission.
Space Rocket History #67 – Gemini VI & VII with Wally Schirra, Tom Stafford, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell – Rendezvous – Part 3
June 01, 2018 15:40 - 32 minutes - 15 MBFrom the previous episode, we have Gemini VII waiting in orbit for Gemini VI-A to launch and rendezvous. Remember, Gemini VII could only remain in orbit for 14 days, the maximum duration of its flight. The goal was to launch Gemini VI-A on or before day 9 of Gemini VII’s mission.
Space Rocket History #66 – Gemini VI & VII with Wally Schirra, Tom Stafford, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell – Rendezvous – Part 2
June 01, 2018 15:27 - 34 minutes - 15.7 MBFrom the previous episode, it was decided that the name of Gemini VI would be changed to Gemini VI-a to distinguish it from the originally planned mission whose objective was to rendezvous with the Agena target vehicle. Gemini VII would be launched first before Gemini VI-a and it would be considered the target vehicle effectively replacing the Agena. After Gemini VII lifted off, Gemini VI-a would be transferred to the launch pad and prepared to launch as soon as possible. After Gemini VI-a r...