Space Rocket History Archive
267 episodes - English - Latest episode: 19 days ago - ★★★★★ - 122 ratingsThe history of early space exploration.
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Space Rocket History #63 – Gemini V with Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad – 8 Days or Bust -Part 1
May 09, 2018 20:33 - 38 minutes - 43.7 MBBy this time the Astronauts were thinking about a nickname for their spacecraft, but NASA Headquarters now officially refused to allow nicknames for Gemini spacecraft. However, Gordo Cooper was not so easily put off. Pete Conrad’s father-in-law had whittled a model covered wagon, which inspired Cooper with the idea for a crew patch, that would depict a covered wagon, emblazoned with the legend “Eight Days or Bust.” A personal appeal to NASA Administrator Webb led, after much discussion, to a...
Space Rocket History #62 – Gemini IV with James McDivitt and Edward White – The Duration – Part 3
May 09, 2018 20:19 - 32 minutes - 14.7 MBOn orbit 48, after 75 hours of flight a problem arose. During a pass over the continental US the flight computer was updated. McDivitt was told to switch off the computer. He flipped the switch but the computer did not turn off. On the ground at mission control, efforts to solve the problem began immediately. For the next few orbits, the crew received instructions for trying different switch positions, after all the switching the computer finally failed entirely and could not be turned back ...
Space Rocket History #61 – Gemini IV with James McDivitt and Edward White – America’s First Spacewalk – Part 2
May 09, 2018 19:38 - 36 minutes - 16.8 MBFor the first time Television coverage of the launch had an international audience, as the scene was broadcast to 12 European nations via Intelsat 1 aka the Early Bird satellite of episode 59. Heightened by the prospect of an EVA and the first use of the new Mission Control Center in Houston, interest in Gemini IV reached levels never again matched in the Gemini program…
Space Rocket History #60 – Gemini IV with James McDivitt and Edward White – Part 1
April 04, 2018 19:26 - 41 minutes - 18.8 MBThe success of Gus Grissom and John Young’s Gemini 3 flight paved the way for long duration space missions. The longest U.S. manned space flight to date was Gordon Cooper’s 34 hour Mercury flight. The Soviets, however, had four long duration flights to their credit, ranging from 70 to 119 hours. It was time for the US to attempt a long duration flight.
Space Rocket History #59 – Ranger 8-9, and Intelsat I
April 04, 2018 19:11 - 43 minutes - 19.8 MBIn total Ranger 9 transmitted 5,814 good contrast photographs during the final 19 minutes of flight. The last image taken before impact had a resolution of 0.3 meters per pixel. The spacecraft encountered the lunar surface after 64.5 hours of flight. Impact occurred at 14:08:19 UT right on target in the Alphonsus crater. Impact velocity was 2.67 km/s. The spacecraft performance was excellent.
Space Rocket History #58 – Corned Beef Controversy – Gemini 3 with Gus Grissom and John Young – Part 2
April 04, 2018 18:58 - 31 minutes - 14.6 MBGrissom – What is it? Young: Corned beef sandwich. Grissom: Where did it come from? Young: I brought it with me. Let’s see how it tastes. Smells, doesn’t it. Grissom: Yes, its breaking up. I’m going to stick it in my pocket. Young: Is it? It was a thought, anyway. Grissom: Yep. Young: Not a very good one. Grissom: Pretty good, thought, if it would just hold together. Young: Want some chicken leg? Grissom: No you can handle that.
Space Rocket History #57 – First Gemini Manned Mission – Gemini 3 with Gus Grissom and John Young
April 04, 2018 18:41 - 36 minutes - 16.6 MBThe precise scope of the Gemini 3 mission remained uncertain until very nearly the eve of flight. In April of 1963, the GT-3 mission directive was “to demonstrate and evaluate the capabilities of the spacecraft and launch vehicle system, and the procedures necessary for the support of future long-duration and rendezvous missions.” But, that was a broad scope and did not clearly specified how GT-3 would accomplish it objective…
Space Rocket History #56 – First Space Walk – Voskhod 2 with Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev – Part 2
April 04, 2018 18:23 - 28 minutes - 13 MBLeonov opened the airlocks outer hatch He was positioned on his “back” and this orientation revealed the beauty of earth in its entirety. His heart began to race as he pushed his upper body outside and saw the deep blue vista of the Mediterranean Sea, fringed by the easily recognizable shapes of Greece and Italy and, farther east, the Crimea, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Volga River…
Space Rocket History #55 – First Space Walk – Voskhod 2 with Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev – Part 1
April 04, 2018 18:10 - 29 minutes - 13.5 MBVoskhod 2 was a high risk mission. It was the final space race victory for the Soviet Union before NASA claimed the lead and ultimately won with the lunar landing of 1969. Voskhod 2 was the peak of the Soviet Space Program. It nearly killed its two cosmonauts but it was ultimately a success…
Space Rocket History #54 – Gemini 2 – Part 2
March 16, 2018 14:26 - 37 minutes - 17.1 MBGemini Launch Vehicle Two’s misfortunes during August and September 1964 forced NASA to forego its goal of a manned Gemini 3 flight before the end of the year, Gemini-Titan 2 was now scheduled for mid-November 1964, and Gemini 3 for the end of January 1965…
Space Rocket History #53 – Gemini 2 – Part 1
March 16, 2018 14:10 - 28 minutes - 13.2 MBThe bright outlook that was prevalent in April turned dark in the late summer of 1964 when a series of natural disasters struck the Cape. First lightning, then hurricanes, damaged the Gemini 2 launch vehicle to delay its flight long past the scheduled time. Even if the weather had been perfect, McDonnell’s difficulties in getting Spacecraft 2 ready to fly might have compromised the schedule on its own…
Space Rocket History #52 – Gemini 1 – Test Flight – Part 2
March 16, 2018 13:59 - 25 minutes - 11.9 MBOne second after 11 o’clock Wednesday morning, April 8th 1964, the Titan II booster’s first-stage engine ignited. Four seconds later, the 156 ton vehicle lifted from the pad on that curiously lambent flame so distinctive of Titan II’s hypergolic propellants. Within moments, Gemini-Titan 1 vanished into the hot Florida sky, beyond reach of human senses but not electronic sensors. Telemetry data flowed back to mission controllers at the Cape, telling them that the launch was as nearly perfect ...
Space Rocket History #51 – Gemini 1 – Test Flight – Part 1
March 16, 2018 13:33 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MB“The primary objective of the first Gemini mission, was to prove that the Titan II was capable of launching the Gemini spacecraft into orbit within the tolerances imposed by manned space flight. The secondary objective was for the spacecraft to gather and report data.”
Space Rocket History #50 – Blue Gemini – 1963
March 16, 2018 13:17 - 25 minutes - 11.6 MB“Blue Gemini” was the tag name for an Air Force manned space flight program to develop rendezvous, docking, and transfer for military purposes, using Gemini-type spacecraft. The concept became firmer in June, when the Air Force Space Systems Division (SSD) began working on plans to use Gemini hardware as the first step in a new Air Force man-in-space program called Mods (Manned Orbital Development System), a kind of military space station with Gemini spacecraft as ferry vehicles…
Space Rocket History #49 – Gemini Systems Design – 1962
March 06, 2018 00:26 - 23 minutes - 21.3 MBOn January 3 1962, “Gemini” became the official designation of the Mercury Mark II program. The name had been suggested by Alex Nagy of NASA Headquarters because the twin stars Castor and Pollux in constellation Gemini (the Twins) seemed to him to symbolize the program’s two-man crew, its rendezvous mission, and its relation to Mercury. Coincidentally, the astronomical symbol (II) for Gemini, the third constellation of the zodiac, corresponded neatly to the Mark II designation…
Space Rocket History #48 – Gemini Design – 1961
February 06, 2018 19:43 - 22 minutes - 20.3 MB“The main trouble with the Mercury capsule was that most system components were in the pilot’s cabin; and often, to pack them in this very confined space, they had to be stacked like a layer cake and components of one system had to be scattered about the craft to use all available space. This arrangement generated a maze of interconnecting wires, tubing, and mechanical linkages. To replace one malfunctioning system, other systems had to be disturbed; and then, after the trouble had been corr...
Space Rocket History #47 – Gemini Concepts
February 06, 2018 19:03 - 19 minutes - 17.8 MBThis brings us to Project Gemini. Gemini started after Apollo had begun, in part to answer a crucial question for Apollo. Was rendezvous and docking in orbit a feasible basis for a manned lunar landing mission?
Space Rocket History #46 – Mariner 4
February 06, 2018 18:47 - 22 minutes - 20.4 MBMariner 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 flights of long duration…
Space Rocket History #45 – Voskhod-1with Kamarov, Yegorov, and Feoktistov – Part 2
February 06, 2018 18:06 - 22 minutes - 20.4 MBFrom the Control center Yuri Gagarin’s kept the crew informed on everything taking place on the now deserted launching site. Finally the command was given: “Stand by!” Now, It would be a matter or minutes before the launch. Commands followed in quick succession. The flight recorder was switched on, the engines started up. There was not much noise at first. But, after the command “Main Engine” the noise and the vibration grew stronger. The final command came at 07:30 UT “Start!”
Space Rocket History #44 – Voskhod-1with Kamarov, Yegorov, and Feoktistov – Part 1
February 06, 2018 17:50 - 22 minutes - 20.4 MBPremiere Khrushchev was not willing to wait until Soyuz for another space first. Khrushchev believed, There could be no final victories in the race for space propaganda. He knew the US was working on project Gemini which would carry two astronauts in 1965. So, as a means to upstage the US, Khrushchev ordered Chief Designer Korolev to fit three cosmonauts into the Voskhod spacecraft that was designed for two…
Space Rocket History #43 – Ranger-7, Nimbus-1, European Space Organizations, and Christmas From the Moon
January 13, 2018 15:52 - 17 minutes - 15.9 MBYou may recall from episode 32 Ranger- 4 was the first U.S. spacecraft to reach another celestial body. However, Ranger-4 failed it primary mission of returning pictures from the moon…
Space Rocket History #42 – Satellite Killer – Polyot-1
January 13, 2018 15:42 - 17 minutes - 15.6 MBThe Space Age had barely begun when Soviet engineers started planning ways to destroy enemy satellites. Some Western analysts have speculated that a design for an anti-satellite weapon system was started at Korolev’s OKB-1 bureau as early as 1956…
Space Rocket History #41 – The First Woman in Space, Vostok 5 & 6 with Bykovsky and Tereshkova – Part 3
January 13, 2018 03:21 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MBDuring re-entry plasma enveloped Vostok-6. Tereshkova saw pieces of burning material fly past her window and she also smelled smoke entering the cabin…
Space Rocket History #41 – The First Woman in Space, Vostok 5 & 6 with Bykovsky and Tereshkova – Part 3
January 13, 2018 03:21 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MBDuring re-entry plasma enveloped Vostok-6. Tereshkova saw pieces of burning material fly past her window and she also smelled smoke entering the cabin…
Space Rocket History #40 – The First Woman in Space, Vostok 5 & 6 with Bykovsky and Tereshkova – Part 2
January 13, 2018 03:11 - 17 minutes - 15.7 MBVostok 5’s orbit turned out to be lower than the expected 181 by 235 km. The actual orbit was 175 by 222 km. Initial calculations indicated the orbit of Vostok 5 would not decay for 10 or 11 days, however more conservative estimates, taking into account the increased solar activity and the resulting expanding of the upper atmosphere showed that the orbit could decay after only 8 days. With no way of predicting where Vostok 5 might land, the planned eight-day mission was now in question…
Space Rocket History #40 – The First Woman in Space, Vostok 5 & 6 with Bykovsky and Tereshkova – Part 2
January 13, 2018 03:11 - 17 minutes - 15.7 MBVostok 5’s orbit turned out to be lower than the expected 181 by 235 km. The actual orbit was 175 by 222 km. Initial calculations indicated the orbit of Vostok 5 would not decay for 10 or 11 days, however more conservative estimates, taking into account the increased solar activity and the resulting expanding of the upper atmosphere showed that the orbit could decay after only 8 days. With no way of predicting where Vostok 5 might land, the planned eight-day mission was now in question…
Space Rocket History #39 – The First Woman in Space, Vostok 5 & 6 with Bykovsky and Tereshkova – Part 1
January 13, 2018 03:02 - 24 minutes - 22.3 MBIn June of 1963, the Soviet Union performed an encore of the Vostok 3 and 4 missions with two manned spaceships orbiting the Earth simultaneously. However, Vostok 5 and 6 was more than a simple repetition. Vostok 5’s objective was to beat the flight-duration record. But Vostok-6 would carrying the first woman into space. The 26 year old Valentina Tereshkova….
Space Rocket History #39 – The First Woman in Space, Vostok 5 & 6 with Bykovsky and Tereshkova – Part 1
January 13, 2018 03:02 - 24 minutes - 22.3 MBIn June of 1963, the Soviet Union performed an encore of the Vostok 3 and 4 missions with two manned spaceships orbiting the Earth simultaneously. However, Vostok 5 and 6 was more than a simple repetition. Vostok 5’s objective was to beat the flight-duration record. But Vostok-6 would carrying the first woman into space. The 26 year old Valentina Tereshkova….
Space Rocket History #38 – Syncom 1,2,3, and TIROS 8
January 05, 2018 20:51 - 18 minutes - 17.1 MBGeosynchronous satellites have the advantage of remaining permanently in the same area of the sky, as viewed from a particular location on Earth. Geostationary satellites have the special property of remaining permanently fixed in the exact same position in the sky at all times, meaning that ground-based antennas do not need to track them but can remain fixed in one direction…
Space Rocket History #37 – Flight of Faith 7, Mercury-Atlas 9 with Gordon Cooper
January 05, 2018 20:22 - 30 minutes - 14 MBMercury-Atlas 9 was the fourth and final manned orbital flight of the Mercury program. The flight objectives were to: (1) evaluate the effects on the astronaut of approximately one day in orbital flight; (2) verify that man can function for an extended period in space as a primary operating system of the spacecraft; and, (3) evaluate in a manned one-day mission the combined performance of the astronaut and a Mercury spacecraft specifically modified for the mission…
Space Rocket History #36 – Mariner 2 and Relay 1
January 05, 2018 20:09 - 23 minutes - 10.9 MBDuring the summer of 1962 final preparations were underway for the first U.S. attempt to reach another planet. The planet was Venus, Earth’s closest planetary neighbor. This first flight would be accomplished by the JPL built Mariner 2 spacecraft…
Space Rocket History #35 – Textbook Spaceflight – Mercury-Atlas 8, Sigmac 7 with Wally Schirra
December 14, 2017 23:03 - 32 minutes - 14.8 MBAfter Scott Carpenter’s science heavy Mercury-Atlas 7 flight, Nasa’s next mission would concentrate on the technical and engineering aspects of space travel. Mercury Atlas 8 became the third manned orbital flight of the Mercury program. The pilot selected was Walter M. Schirra, Jr., but most people called him Wally…
Space Rocket History #34 – Group Flight – Vostok 3 and 4
December 14, 2017 22:46 - 25 minutes - 11.8 MBIn February of 1962, the United States put John Glenn into orbit. This prompted Soviet leadership to suddenly asked Chief Designer Korolev to launch the next space spectacular promptly. To make this mission truly spectacular the Soviets decided to launch a group flight of two Vostoks lasting up to four days in orbit.
Space Rocket History #33 – Science Overload – Mercury-Atlas 7, Aurora 7 with Scott Carpenter
December 14, 2017 22:31 - 22 minutes - 10.3 MBAfter the successful completion of the Mercury-Atlas 6 flight that carried John Glenn into orbit, it was Scott Carpenter’s turn to pilot Mercury-Atlas 7, which he named Aurora 7. The mission was essentially a repeat of John Glenn’s 3 orbit mission, except the focus of this mission was on science. The full flight plan included the first study of liquids in weightlessness, Earth photography, star observations, Venus sightings and a multitude of other experiments…
Space Rocket History #32 – Ranger-4, Ariel-1, and Telstar-1
December 14, 2017 22:16 - 28 minutes - 13 MBAs part of the pre-Apollo preparations, NASA created the Ranger series of missions to take high-quality pictures of the Moon and transmit them back to Earth in real time…
Space Rocket History #31 – Godspeed John Glenn – Mercury-Atlas 6 – Friendship 7 – Part 2
December 11, 2017 00:47 - 24 minutes - 11.4 MBMercury Control was still undecided on the course of action to take with the heat shield problem. Some controllers thought the retrorocket pack should be jettisoned after retrofire, while other controllers thought the retro pack should be retained, as added assurance that the heat shield would stay in place…
Space Rocket History #30 – Godspeed John Glenn – Mercury-Atlas 6 – Friendship 7 – Part 1
December 11, 2017 00:23 - 24 minutes - 11.1 MB“I am in a big mass of some very small particles, they’re brilliantly lit up like they’re luminescent. I never saw anything like it! They round a little: they’re coming by the capsule and they look like little stars. A whole shower of them coming by. They swirl around the capsule and go in front of the window and they’re all brilliantly lighted.” John Glenn – Friendship 7
Space Rocket History #29 – Mercury-Atlas 5 With Enos
December 06, 2017 22:02 - 25 minutes - 11.7 MBFollowing the successful suborbital missions of Allan Shepard and Gus Grissom, NASA believed the Mercury capsule was ready for an orbital mission. But, there was a problem, the Redstone booster did not have the power to place the Mercury capsule into orbit. The Atlas booster had the power to put the capsule in orbit but not the confidence of NASA. By September of 1961 Four launches of the mercury-atlas had been made with only a 50 percent success rate…
Space Rocket History #28 – Vostok 2 With Gherman Titov
December 04, 2017 22:48 - 26 minutes - 11.9 MBAfter Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom’s suborbital flights and less than four months after Gagarin’s became the first man in space, the soviet union stunned the world with yet another manned mission.
Space Rocket History #27 – Mercury-Redstone 4 – Liberty Bell 7 with Gus Grissom
November 26, 2017 00:49 - 43 minutes - 20 MBMercury-Redstone 4 was the fourth mission in the Mercury-Redstone series and the second U.S. manned suborbital spaceflight. The mission was essentially a repeat of Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 flight. So why was it necessary to launch another sub-orbital mission? Why not proceed with an orbital flight to match the Soviet Vostok 1? Among other things the U.S. needed more space experience to corroborate the “Man-in-Space” concept. Also the Redstone was the only booster NASA had that was appro...
Space Rocket History #26 – Why the Moon?
November 25, 2017 21:42 - 38 minutes - 17.4 MB“We have been plunged into a race for the conquest of outer space. As a reason for this undertaking some look to the new and exciting scientific discoveries which are certain to be made. Others feel the challenge to transport man beyond frontiers he scarcely dared dream about until now. But at present the most impelling reason for our effort has been the international political situation which demands that we demonstrate our technological capabilities if we are to maintain our position of le...
Space Rocket History #25 – Mercury Redstone 3 – Freedom 7 with Alan Shepard
November 22, 2017 21:58 - 28 minutes - 13.2 MBOver 52 years ago, in the early hours of May 5th, 1961 the US prepared to launch its first man into space. Three weeks earlier, the Soviet Union had sent Yuri Gagarin on an orbital mission. This was a suborbital mission planed to last only 15 minutes. For the moment that did not matter, the entire nation held its breath while Alan Shepard became America’s first man in space.
Space Rocket History #24 – Mercury Redstone Test Flights – Ham in a Can
November 22, 2017 21:32 - 33 minutes - 15.3 MBThe objectives of the Mercury Project, were as follows: 1. Place a manned spacecraft in orbital flight around the earth. 2. Investigate man’s performance capabilities and his ability to function in the environment of space. 3. Recover the man and the spacecraft safely. After the objectives were established for the project, a number of guidelines were created to insure that the most expedient and safest approach for attainment of the objectives was followed. The basic guidelines that were est...
Space Rocket History #23 – Vostok 1 with Yuri Gagarin
November 08, 2017 23:06 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB“Dear friends, you who are close to me, and you whom I do not know, fellow Russians, and people of all countries and all continents: in a few minutes a powerful space vehicle will carry me into the distant realm of space. What can I tell you in these last minutes before the launch? My whole life appears to me as one beautiful moment. All that I previously lived through and did, was lived through and done for the sake of this moment.” Yuri Gagarin prior to launch of Vostok 1.
Space Rocket History #22 – The Vanguard Six
November 08, 2017 22:38 - 18 minutes - 8.32 MBWhen the 20 Cosmonaut candidates were asked to anonymously vote for which candidate they would like to see fly first, all but three chose Gagarin. The consensus was, Gagarin was very focused, and demanding of himself and others when necessary.
Space Rocket History #21 – Cry Havoc and Launch the Dogs of Vostok!
November 08, 2017 20:53 - 21 minutes - 9.99 MBFor the Soviet Union, 1960 was a mixed bag of success and failure as it struggled for new achievements in space exploration. The main driving force was to be the first nation to launch a man into space. An achievement their adversary, the United States, also desperately wanted.
Space Rocket History #20 – Tiros 1 and Echo 1 – The First Weather and Communications Satellites
October 17, 2017 00:45 - 20 minutes - 9.27 MB“Who can say what contraption the future will bring? There can be not a doubt, some more wonderful thing. And if anyone ventures the future to scan, Why indeed should it not be your old Weather Man? Have you noticed how often in times that are past We have used new inventions to improve the forecast? Television is coming, it is not far away; We’ll be using that too in a not distant day. Photographs will be made by the infra red light That will show us the clouds both by day and by night....
Space Rocket History #19 – Little Joe: Mercury’s Test Vehicle
October 15, 2017 20:49 - 25 minutes - 11.6 MB“The designers made the Little Joe booster assembly to approximate the same performance that the Army’s Redstone booster would have with the capsule payload. But in addition to being flexible enough to perform a variety of missions, Little Joe could be made for about one-fifth the basic cost of the Redstone, would have much lower operating costs, and could be developed and delivered with much less time and effort. And, unlike the larger launch vehicles, Little Joe could be shot from the exis...
Space Rocket History #18 – Luna 2 and 3
October 15, 2017 20:36 - 17 minutes - 16.4 MBWhile the Mercury 7 were fulfilling their roles as symbols of space exploration, Korolev once again was offering the real thing. He now prepared to undertake the most demanding mission yet. The mission that would accomplish the next step in Korolev’s program of lunar exploration. He would attempt to photograph the far side of the moon.
Space Rocket History #17 – The Mercury 7
October 15, 2017 20:20 - 33 minutes - 15.5 MBOn April 1, 1959, Robert Gilruth, the head of the Space Task Group, Charles Donlan, Warren North, and Stanley White selected the first American astronauts. The “Mercury Seven” were Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., John H. Glenn, Jr., Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Donald K. “Deke” Slayton.