Category Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006

EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 5 (ELC 5); EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 6 (ELC 6); two Shuttle-equivalent flights for contingency

ISS Assembly complete – Shuttle fleet retired Sep Soyuz TMA16 ? ISS-22 Russia No crew assigned

2011

Mar Soyuz TMA17 ? ISS-23 Russia No crew assigned

Apr

The following information was compiled with the help of Collect Space 7 Oct 2006, Robert Pearlman

Soyuz TMA-crewing 2007-2008

1961

Apr Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person fly into space and completes one orbit May Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space on a sub-orbital flight Aug Gherman Titov is launched on the first 24-hour mission, of 17 orbits

1962

Feb John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, with 3 orbits Jul First X-15 flight to exceed 50 miles (Robert White)

Aug Andrian Nikolayev sets new endurance record (3 days 22 hours)

1963

Jun Valeri Bykovsky sets new endurance record (4 days 23 hours)

Valentina Tereshkova becomes first woman in space (2 days 22 hours)

Aug Highest X-15 flight (66.75 miles) – Pilot Joseph Walker

1964

Oct First multi-person space crew (3) – Voskhod 1; First civilians in space

1965

Mar Alexei Leonov becomes first person to walk in space

Mar First US multi-person crew (2) on Gemini 3

Jun Ed White becomes first American to walk in space

Aug Gemini 5 sets new endurance record (7 days 22 hours)

Cooper becomes first person to orbit Earth a second time Dec Gemini 7 set new endurance record (13 days 18 hours)

First space rendezvous – Gemini 6 with Gemini 7

1966

Mar First space docking – Gemini 8 with Agena target

Sep Gemini 11 attains highest altitude of Earth orbital manned flight (850 miles)

1967

Jan 27 Three Apollo 1 astronauts killed in pad fire

Apr Soyuz 1 pilot Vladimir Komarov killed during landing phase

Oct X-15 fastest flight (4520 mph – Mach 6.7) (Pete Knight)

Nov X-15 pilot Michael Adams is killed in crash of #3 aircraft after attaining

50.4 miles

1968

Aug Thirteenth and final X-15 “astro-flight”

Oct First three-man Apollo flight (Apollo 7)

Schirra becomes first person to make three orbital spaceflights Dec Apollo 8 becomes first lunar orbital mission

1969

Jan Soyuz 5/4 first manned docking and crew transfer (by EVA)

Mar Manned test of LM in Earth orbit (Apollo 9)

May Manned test of LM in lunar orbit (Apollo 10)

Jul First manned lunar landing – Apollo 11

Oct First triple manned spacecraft mission (Soyuz 6, 7, 8)

Nov Second manned lunar landing Apollo 12

1970

Apr Apollo 13 aborted lunar landing mission

Lovell becomes first to fly in space four times Jun Soyuz 9 cosmonauts set new endurance record (17 days 16 hrs)

1971

Feb Third manned lunar landing (Apollo 14)

Apr Launch of world’s first Space Station – Salyut (de-orbits Oct 1971)

Jun First space station (Salyut) crew. Killed during entry phase (Soyuz 11) Jul Fourth manned lunar landing (Apollo 15)

1972

Apr Fifth manned lunar landing (Apollo 16)

Dec Sixth and final (Apollo) manned lunar landing (Apollo 17)

1973

Apr Salyut 2 (Almaz) fails in orbit (de-orbits in 26 days)

May Launch of unmanned Skylab (re-enters Jul 1979)

First Skylab crew sets new endurance record of 28 days Jul Second Skylab crew increases endurance record to 59 day 11 hrs

Nov 3rd and final Skylab crew increases endurance record to 84 days 1 hr

1974

Jun Launch of Salyut (Almaz) 3 (de-orbits Jan 1975)

Jul First successful Soviet space station mission (Soyuz 14)

Dec Launch of Salyut 4 (de-orbits Feb 1977)

1975

Apr Soyuz 18 crew survive launch abort

Jul Soyuz 19 and Apollo dock in space – first international mission

1977

Sep Salyut 6 launched (de-orbits Jul 1982)

Dec First Salyut 6 resident crew set new endurance record of 96 days 10 hrs

1978

Jan First Soyuz exchange mission (Soyuz 27 for Soyuz 26)

Mar First Soviet Interkosmos mission (Czechoslovakian)

First non-Soviet, non-American person in space (Remek)

Jun Second Salyut 6 crew sets new endurance record of 139 days 14 hrs

1979

Feb Third Salyut 6 resident crew increases endurance record to 175 days

1980

Apr Fourth Salyut 6 resident crew increases endurance record to 184 days 20 hrs Jun First manned flight of Soyuz T variant

1981

Apr First Shuttle launch (Columbia STS-1) on 20th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight

John Young becomes first to make five space flights
Nov First return to space by manned spacecraft (Columbia STS-2)

1982

Apr Salyut 7 launched (de-orbits Feb 1991)

May First Salyut 7 resident crew sets new endurance record of 211 days 9 hrs

Nov First “operational” Shuttle mission, STS-5, is also the first four-person

launch

1983

Apr First flight of Challenger

Jun Sally Ride becomes first US woman in space during STS-7, the first five – person launch

Sep Soyuz T10-1 launch pad abort

Nov First Spacelab mission – STS-9; first six-person launch John Young flies record sixth mission

1984

Feb First use of MMU (STS 41-B) on untethered spacewalks Feb Third Salyut 7 resident crew sets new endurance record of 236 days 22 hrs

Jul Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space (Soyuz T12/

Salyut 7)

Aug First flight of Discovery on STS 41-D Oct First seven-person launch (STS 41-G)

Kathy Sullivan becomes first American woman to walk in space

1985

Jan First classified DoD Shuttle mission (STS 51-C)

Jul First Shuttle Abort-to-Orbit profile (STS 51-F)

Oct First flight of Atlantis (STS 51-J)

Oct First eight-person launch (STS 61-A)

1986

Jan Challenger and its crew of seven lost 73 seconds after launch (STS 51-L) Feb Mir core module launched unmanned

Mar First resident crew to Mir (Soyuz T15)

1987

Feb Second Mir resident crew sets new endurance record of 326 days 11 hrs First manned Soyuz TM variant

Dec First flight of over a year as third Mir resident crew sets endurance record of 365 days 22 hrs

1988

Sep Shuttle Return-to-Flight mission (STS-26)

1990

Apr Hubble Space Telescope deployment (STS-31)

1992

May First flight of Endeavour (STS-49)

1993

Dec First Hubble Service Mission (STS-61)

1994

Jan Valery Polyakov sets new endurance record (437 days 17 hrs) for one mission (lands Mar 1995)

Feb First Russian cosmonaut to fly on Shuttle (Krikalev STS-60)

1995

Feb First Shuttle-Mir rendezvous STS-63/Mir

Eileen Collins becomes first female Shuttle pilot Mar First American launched on Soyuz (Thagard – TM21)

Jul First Shuttle docking with Mir (STS-71 – Thagard down)

Nov Second Shuttle-Mir docking (STS-74)

1996

Mar Third Shuttle-Mir docking (STS-76 – Lucid up)

Sep Fourth Shuttle-Mir docking (STS-79 – Lucid down, Blaha up)

Nov Longest Shuttle mission (17 days 15 hrs – STS-80)

Musgrave becomes only astronaut to fly all five orbiters

1997

Jan Fifth Shuttle-Mir docking (STS-81 – Blaha down, Linenger up)

Feb Second Hubble service mission (STS-82)

May Sixth Shuttle-Mir docking (STS-84 – Linenger down, Foale up)

Jun Collision between unmanned Progress vessel and Mir space station damages Spektr module

Sep Seventh Shuttle-Mir docking (STS-86 – Foale down, Wolf up)

1998

Jan Eighth Shuttle-Mir docking (STS-89 – Wolf down, Thomas up)

Jun Ninth and final Shuttle-Mir docking (STS-91 – Thomas down)

Oct John Glenn returns to space aged 77, 36 years after his first space flight Nov First ISS element launched – Zarya FGB Dec First ISS Shuttle mission (STS-88)

1999

Jul Eileen Collins becomes first female US mission commander (STS-93)

Aug Mir vacated for first time in ten years Dec Third Hubble service mission (STS-103)

2000

Apr Last (28th) Mir resident crew (72 days)

Oct First ISS resident crew launched

2001

Mar Mir space station de-orbits after 15 years service

Apr Dennis Tito becomes first space flight participant, or “tourist”

2002

Mar Fourth Hubble service mission (STS-109)

Apr Jerry Ross becomes first person to fly seven missions in space Oct First manned flight of Soyuz TMA

2003

Feb Columbia and crew of seven lost during entry phase of mission STS-107

Apr ISS assumes two-person caretaker crews

Oct First Chinese manned spaceflight (Shenzhou 5)

Yang Liwei becomes first Chinese national in space

2004

Sep Spaceship One flies to 337,500 ft (102.87 km)

Oct Spaceship One flies to 367,442 ft (111.99 km) claiming $10 million X-Prize

2005

Jul Shuttle Return-to-Flight mission 1 – STS-114 Oct First Chinese two-man space flight – Shenzhou 6

2006

Jul Second Shuttle Return-to-Flight mission – STS-121 Aug ISS returns to three-person capability

Resumption of ISS construction – STS-115

The authors have referred to their own extensive archives in the compilation of this book. In addition, the following publications and resources were of great help in assembling the data:

The Press Kits, News releases and mission information from NASA, ESA, CSA, RKK-Energiya, JAXA (NASDA), CNES, and Novosti have been invaluable resources for many years

Magazines:

Flight International 1961-2006

Aviation Week and Space Technology 1961-2006

BIS Spaceflight 1961-2006

Soviet Weekly/Soviet News 1961-1990

Orbiter, Astro Info Service 1984-1992

Zenit, Astro Info Service, 1985-1991

ESA Bulletin 1975-2006

British Interplanetary Society Books:

History of Mir 1986-2000; Mir: The Final Year Supplement, Editor Rex Hall 2000/ 2001

The ISS Imagination to Reality Volume 1 Ed Rex Hall 2002 The ISS Imagination to Reality Volume 2, Ed Rex Hall 2005

NASA Reports:

NASA Astronautics and Aeronautics, various volumes, 1961-1995

Mir Hardware Heritage, David S. F. Portree NASA RP-1357, March 1995. Walking to Olympus: An EVA Chronology, David S. F. Portree and Robert C. Trevino, NASA Monograph in Aerospace history, #7 October 1997

NASA Histories:

1966 This New Ocean, a History of Project Mercury, SP-4201

1977 On the Shoulders of Titans: A history of Project Gemini, NASA SP-4203

1978 The Partnership: A history of Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, NASA SP-4209

1979 Chariots for Apollo: A history of manned lunar spacecraft, NASA SP-4205 1983 Living and working in space: A history of Skylab NASA SP 4208

1977 Where No Man Has Gone Before: a history of Apollo lunar exploration missions, NASA SP-4214

2000 Challenge to Apollo: the Soviet Union and the Space Race 1945-1974, Asif Siddiqi, NASA SP-2000-4408

Other Books:

1980 Handbook of Soviet Manned Space Flight, Nicholas L. Johnson, AAS Vol 48, Science and Technology Series

1981 The History of Manned Spaceflight, David Baker

1987 Heroes in Space: From Gagarin to Challenger, Peter Bond

1988 Space Shuttle Log: The First 25 Flights, Gene Gurney and Jeff Forte

1988 The Soviet Manned Space Programme, Phillip Clark

1989 The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Space Technology, Chief Author Ken Gatland

1990 Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight, Dennis Newkirk

1992 At the Edge of Space: The X-15 Flight Program, Milton O. Thompson 1999 Who’s Who in space: The ISS Edition, Michael Cassutt 2001 Space Shuttle, History and Development of the National STS Program, Dennis Jenkins

Springer-Praxis Space Science Series (which include extensive references and bibliographies for further reading)

1999 Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions, David M. Harland

2000 Disasters and Accidents in Manned Spaceflight, David J. Shayler

2000 The Challenges of Human Space Exploration, Marsha Freeman

2001 Russia in Space: The Failed Frontier, Brian Harvey

2001 The Rocket Men, Vostok & Voskhod, the First Soviet Manned Spaceflights, Rex Hall and David J. Shayler 2001 Skylab:; America’s Space Station, David J. Shayler 2001 Gemini: Steps to the Moon, David J. Shayler

2001 Project Mercury: NASA’s First Manned Space Programme, John Catchpole

2002 The Continuing Story of the International Space Station, Peter Bond

Creating the International Space Station, David M. Harland and John E. Catchpole

Apollo: Lost and Forgotten Missions, David J. Shayler

Soyuz, a Universal Spacecraft, Rex Hall and David J. Shayler

China’s Space Programme: From Concept to Manned Spaceflight, Brian

Harvey

Walking in Space, David J. Shayler

The Story of the Space Shuttle, David M Harland

The Story of Space Station Mir, David M. Harland

Women in Space: Following Valentina, David J Shayler and Ian Moule

Space Shuttle Columbia: Her Missions and Crews, Ben Evans.

Russia’s Cosmonauts: Inside the Yuri Gagarin Training Center, Rex Hall, David J. Shayler and Bert Vis

Apollo: The Definitive Source Book, Richard W. Orloff and David M. Harland

NASA Scientist Astronauts, Colin Burgess and David J. Shayler

The abandoned Soyuz manned lunar programme would have featured circumlunar missions under the L1 programme on the Proton launch vehicle (later flown unmanned by Zond spacecraft), and manned lunar landing (L3) missions launched on the massive N1. Though the N1 was launched unmanned four times between 1969 and 1972, each failed just seconds into flight, effectively putting the final nail in the coffin of the Soviet manned lunar programme that had been beaten by the success of Apollo.

Chinese orbital launch vehicle

The Long March 2F booster will be the workhorse of the Chinese manned spacecraft programme, carrying further Shenzhou craft into orbit. Unmanned launches com­menced in November 1999, with the first manned flight made in 2003 and the second in 2005.

This vehicle is an adaptation of the Long March 2E, which was upgraded for manned flight. In 2002, it received the official name of Shenjian (Magic Arrow). The height of the vehicle (with shroud and launch tower) is 58.34 m and it features a central core first stage of four YF-20B engines (300-ton thrust) and four strap-on boosters each with the YF-20 engine (300-ton thrust). The second stage features a single YF-22 engine with 93.5-ton thrust.

With the loss of the race to the Moon, the Soviets reported that they had actually never intended to go there anyway. Their plan was to develop a long-duration orbital station. It was years before the truth came out and the details of their abandoned lunar programme became known. However, their statement was partially correct, as a military-based space platform called Almaz had been in development for years, supported by other Soyuz-type military variants. Almaz would not be the first station launched, however. To hasten the launch of the first Soviet space station, elements of Soyuz were added to a civilian variant called DOS and amalgamated into the world’s first space station – Salyut. This was launched two years before the Americans launched Skylab, which was itself fabricated from left over Apollo lunar hardware.

Soyuz

Critical to sustaining long-duration space flight is the supply of sufficient logistics and the rotation of the crews. For this, the Soviets called upon their orbital lunar space­craft Soyuz, adapting it to fly as a space station ferry craft (in manned and unmanned versions) and to serve as a crew rescue craft while docked to the station. The Soyuz vehicle was one of the most successful programmes in space history. Although the first manned mission in 1967 was a failure and resulted in the first casualty of space flight, a series of variants – Soyuz, Soyuz T, TM and TMA – have carried many crews to the Salyut and Mir national space stations and continue to do so to the current Inter­national Space Station. The programme will soon be entering its 40th year. After recovering from the loss of Soyuz 1 and the death of its cosmonaut, the Soviets evolved a series of missions to develop the rendezvous and docking technique they had intended to use on the way to the Moon, now amended for the space station programme. In addition, a short series of solo Soyuz flights flew space station equipment, conducting a series of test and supplementary flights to the often troubled Salyut series of stations.

The “original” Soyuz spacecraft was designed as a Vostok successor in about 1962. It weighed 6,450 kg (14,222 lb) and was 8.85m (29 ft) long from the base of its instrument section to the tip of its docking probe. The 2.3 m (7.5 ft) long, 2.3 m (7.5 ft) diameter instrument section, called the Equipment Module (EM), included a UDMH-nitric oxide prime and back-up propulsion system, for orbital manoeuvres and retro-fire. The prime engine had a burn time of 500 seconds and a thrust of 417 kg (919lb). The instrument section included two 3.6m (12ft) by 1.9m (6ft) solar panels.

The flight and Descent Module (DM) was shaped like an inverted cup and measured 2.2 m (7 ft) long and 2.3 m (7.5 ft) in diameter. It included up to three seats and systems such as hydrogen peroxide ACS thrusters, a beacon, sun and infra-red sensors, and rendezvous radar beacons. It was equipped with one drogue and one main parachute (plus a reserve), which opened at about 8,500m (28,000 ft) altitude, and, beneath a jettisonable heat shield, a soft-landing retro-rocket to reduce speed to 0.3m/sec (1 ft/ sec) at 1 m (3 ft) altitude. Attached to the flight module was an Orbital Module (OM), a spherical capsule containing extra housekeeping and science equipment and which acted as an airlock for EVAs. This was 2.65 m (8.69 ft) long and 2.25m (7.3 ft) in diameter. The OM was discarded after retro-fire. It also included a 1.2 m (4 ft) long docking probe at its tip. The Soyuz 12 spacecraft was basically the same as the earlier Soyuz craft, except the crew wore spacesuits (following the loss of the Soyuz 11 crew who hadn’t). The craft was equipped with only batteries for power, and no solar panels, as it was intended as a space station ferry with only a two-day independent flight capability.

Soyuz T – for Transport – was introduced in 1979 and weighed about 6,850 kg (15,104 lb). It was a redesigned Soyuz ferry vehicle, reconfigured to take a crew of three and with two solar panels which allowed independent flight for four rather than two days. Also included were new computers, controls and telemetry systems. The major change to the Soyuz was its fully integrated fuel system, with attitude control thrusters using the same fuel source as the main propulsion unit. The thrust of the main engine was reduced to 315 kg (695 lb) but there were now 26 ACS thrusters aboard. The main reason for this was that some previous docking failures could have been overcome had the cosmonauts been able to transfer fuel from the ACS system to the main spacecraft engine. Soyuz T2 was preceded by three unmanned tests under the Cosmos label (869, 1001 and 1074) and one Soyuz (Tl) in 1979.

Soyuz TM – Transport Modification – was introduced in 1986 and weighed about 7,100 kg (15,653 lb). This was an uprated and heavier Soyuz T spacecraft, incorporat­ing new primary and back-up parachutes, improved power systems and retro-rockets, and the capability to carry 200 kg (441 lb) more payload and return to Earth with 50 kg (110 lb). Soyuz TM was also equipped with a rendezvous and docking system com­patible with the Mir Kurs system. Soyuz TM1 was an unmanned test flight to Mir in 1986.

Soyuz TMA – Transport Modification Anthropometric – was introduced in 2002 and was more of a systems and internal upgrade than a structural one, measuring and weighing about the same as the TM. The requirement for a new version of Soyuz was in part due to larger (American) crew members being assigned to Soyuz missions. New seating support structures and modifications to the descent landing engines meant a slightly greater landing mass was possible, allowing regular three-person crews to be flown. In addition, the controls and displays now featured more computer displays and smaller electronics systems. There were no unmanned TMA precursor flights.

An unmanned variant called Progress was introduced in 1978 and has also been upgraded (Progress M, M1). This has been used to re-supply Soviet space stations with fuel, logistics and orbital re-boost capability and is still an integral element in the ISS programme.

Flight Crew

BORMAN, Frank, 37, USAF, command pilot Gemini 7

LOVELL, James Arthur Jr., 37, USN, pilot Gemini 7

SCHIRRA, Walter Marty Jr., 42, USN, command pilot Gemini 6A, 2nd

mission

Previous mission: Mercury-Atlas 8 (1962)

STAFFORD, Thomas Patten Jr., 35, USAF, pilot Gemini 6A

Flight Log

NASA continued its pre-Apollo rehearsals with plans for Gemini 6 to perform the first docking in space and then for Gemini 7 to keep two men “in the can” for 14 days. The first objective was to be met on 25 October 1965 when an Atlas Agena was to place the Agena second stage (housing a docking port and a rendezvous radar antenna) in orbit as a target for Gemini 6, which would be launched 90 minutes later. With astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford already in Gemini 6 at Pad 19, the Atlas thundered away from Pad 14, but the Agena exploded and the frustrated astronauts were grounded. NASA hatched a plan to overcome the setback. They would launch Gemini 7 first, on Gemini 6’s original Titan, then launch Gemini 6 to rendezvous with Gemini 7. The plan was announced by President Johnson himself, the space supporter who had persuaded President Kennedy to shoot for the Moon.

So first Gemini 7 – with crewmen Frank Borman and James Lovell looking like aliens in their lightweight, 8 kg (18 lb) spacesuits, with strange hoods rather than helmets – took off at 14: 30 hrs on Saturday 4 December, sharing US television screens with a football match. The astronauts entered a 28.9° inclination orbit with a maximum altitude of 327 km (203 miles) and sat it out in the tight confines, waiting

for Gemini 6 to be launched on 12 December. Lovell was allowed to take off his spacesuit, while Borman had to endure the flight with electrodes fixed to his head and suffer the indignity of bursting his urine bag after filling it, rather than before. Contrary to the media coverage, pioneering space flight was an endurance, not a picnic.

The Gemini 6 astronauts had a new experience to endure on 12 December, when at 09:54 hrs local time their Titan II ignited, only to shut down 1.2 seconds later when a dust cap left in a gas generator caused imperfect combustion. This was spotted by the malfunction detection system. Although the spacecraft clock had started, Schirra knew instinctively that he had not lifted off. He elected not to pull the ejection lever, which would have subjected him and Stafford to a 20-G ride, killing the rendezvous mission and probably crippling them. Stafford had been to the launch pad twice and had not lifted off. However, at 08:37 hrs on 15 December, he finally did so, and the space chase was on. Gemini 6 entered an 8.9° orbit which would reach a maximum apogee of 311 km (193 miles).

Seven very carefully planned and controlled manoeuvres brought Gemini 6 to within 15 cm (6 in) of Gemini 7. Officially, the rendezvous had been achieved at 14:33hrs Cape time. It was the greatest feat in manned space flight so far, and the media coverage epitomised the excitement of the 1960s space race. Five hours 18 minutes and a lot of good natured bantering (and a seasonal “Jingle Bells” from Schirra and Stafford) later, Gemini 6 backed away and made a landing at T + 1 day 1 hour 51 minutes 54 seconds, just 11.2km (7 miles) from USS Wasp. Borman and Lovell continued their endurance flight and the operation of 18 science experiments, finally landing 10.4 km (6 miles) from the USS Wasp at T + 13 days 18 hours 35 minutes 1 second. This is the longest US two-crew space flight. They were light-headed and stooping as they walked across the carrier deck, but had proved beyond a doubt that man had a place in space.

Milestones

18th and 19th manned space flights 10th and 11th US manned space flights 4th and 5th Gemini manned flights 1st space rendezvous 1st flight cancellation (Gemini 6)

1st launch pad abort (Gemini 6A)

1st four-man joint mission

Flight Crew

ARMSTRONG, Neil Alden, 35, civilian, command pilot SCOTT, David Randolph, 34, USAF, pilot

Flight Log

The first space docking was on the agenda for Gemini 8, and Scott was to make a two-hour spacewalk “around the world” at the end of a 28 m (92 ft) tether and attached to a 42 kg (93 lb) Extravehicular Support Package. The crew had been inside Gemini 8 for 14 minutes when the Agena target thundered away from Pad 14. Their own launch came at 10: 41 hrs local time, although the Titan II seemed a bit sluggish to start with. Perfect orbit was achieved, with a 28.9° inclination and an apogee-perigee of 292-160 km (181-99 miles). The Agena was 1,963 km (1,220 miles) away and the space chase began. It ended with a “real smoothie” of a docking, as Armstrong described it, at T + 6 hours 32 minutes and at a speed of about 8 cm (3 in) per second.

The matter-of-fact docking complete, the first US space emergency then began in a rather insidious manner. First, the two spacecraft rolled 30° out of position and the crew thought that the Agena, which was causing some concern on the ground anyway, was at fault. They disengaged its control system and brought the two craft under control using Gemini’s thrusters. Suddenly, a faster roll developed and the crew decided to separate from the Agena barely 27 minutes after docking, backing away as they did with a short burst of the thrusters. Then things got pretty violent. Gemini went into a 70 rpm roll and yaw combined, and the crew came close to their physio­logical limits. Thruster 8 had short-circuited and was firing intermittently, the crew discovered later. There was only one thing to do, which was to cut off the OAMS thrusters and fire the re-entry control system.

Mission rules dictated an emergency return to Earth and Gemini 8 splashed down about 800 km (497 miles) east of Okinawa at T + 10 hours 41 minutes 26 seconds, glad to have made water and not a remote jungle. After an uncomfortable three-hour wait, the crew was met by the USS Leonard F. Mason and they climbed aboard from the

rolling sea up a Jacob’s ladder. Both astronauts would have another ladder later in their careers, this time to step down, as Gemini 8 was the only flight whose crew members both subsequently walked on the Moon.

Milestones

20th manned space flight 12th US manned space flight 6th Gemini manned flight 1st space docking 1st emergency return to Earth

Flight Crew

BRAND, Vance DeVoe, 51, civilian, commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: Apollo 18 ASTP (1975)

OVERMYER, Robert Franklyn, 46, USMC, pilot ALLEN, Joseph Percival, 45, civilian, mission specialist 1 LENOIR, William Benjamin, 43, civilian, mission specialist 2

Flight Log

The news of the death of Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev, events in Poland, and a British spy scandal served to overshadow this unique space flight, which began at 07: 19hrs local time at the Kennedy Space Center. Commander Vance Brand, pilot Bob Overmyer and mission specialist Bill Lenoir (evaluating the MS2/Flight Engineer role for ascent), were seated in the flight deck, while the other mission specialist, Joe Allen, was seated below in the mid-deck, which also served as the kitchen and toilet. Columbia was still fitted with ejection seats for the commander and pilot but they were not armed. The crew was the first from America not to have any means of escape in the event of a launch accident and were also the first to fly in flight overalls, and oxygen – fed helmets, in case of cabin depressurisation.

After MECO and two OMS burns, Columbia was in its 256 km (159 miles) maximum altitude 28.4° inclination orbit. At T + 7 hours 58 minutes 35 seconds into the mission, the crew dispatched the communications satellite SBS from its spin table in the payload bay, on the first commercial manned trucking mission, earning for NASA a cool $12 million. The satellite’s own Pam D upper stage fired later, to place it into a geostationary transfer orbit where it would normally have been placed by a conventional expendable launch vehicle. Another satellite, Canada’s Anik 3, was launched later and the crew proudly displayed an “Ace Trucking Company – We Deliver’’ sign to TV cameras.

There were disappointments, however. First Overmyer was space sick, vomiting at T + 6 hours and continuing to feel queasy. Lenoir felt less sick, describing his symptoms as a “wet belch”. The astronauts were prescribed drugs and were also angry that their illness was publicised, possibly to the detriment of their careers. In future, NASA decided, if an astronaut was sick it would remain a confidential matter. The first Shuttle spacewalk by Allen and Lenoir was delayed by a day, and then never took place at all because both astronauts experienced spacesuit problems on the brink of opening the airlock door. Lenoir’s primary oxygen pressure regulator failed and Allen’s fan assembly sounded like a motorboat. Allen, now seated in the flight deck (evaluating the FE role for entry), took pictures during re-entry, which was like being inside a blast furnace, he said.

Columbia was aiming for a lake bed landing at Edwards Air Force Base but was diverted to the concrete runway 22 because the “dry” lake was rather wet. Main gear touchdown came at T + 5 days 2 hours 14 minutes 26 seconds, the longest four-crew space flight.

Milestones

88th manned space flight

36th US manned space flight

5th Shuttle flight

5th flight of Columbia

1st flight with four crew members

1st flight of mission specialists

1st manned space flight to deploy commercial satellites

1st flight with cancelled EVA operations

1st launch and landing by crew member not seated in cockpit

1st US flight with no emergency crew escape

1st US flight by crew without spacesuits

1st US flight to carry engineers

Flight Crew

RICHARDS, Richard Noel, 44, USN, commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-28 (1989)

CABANA, Robert Donald, 41, USMC, pilot MELNICK, Bruce Edward, 40, USCG, mission specialist 1 SHEPHERD, William McMichael, 41, USN, mission specialist 2, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-27 (1988)

AKERS, Thomas Dale, 39, USAF, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

Originally intended to be deployed from Challenger by the liquid-fuelled Centaur upper stage during the STS 61-F mission in May 1986, the joint NASA/ESA Ulysses solar polar probe mission was delayed by the loss of Challenger in the STS 51-L accident of January 1986. The decision not to fly Centaur stages on the Shuttle over safety concerns and to use the IUS/PAM upper stages instead meant that Ulysses would miss the 1986 launch window. It soon became clear that the Shuttle would not be ready for the June 1987 window and, to ease the 1989 launch schedule, NASA rescheduled the mission to October 1990. Difficulties with the leaking propulsion systems on Atlantis and Columbia during the summer of 1990 placed added pressure to launch STS-41 on time but, despite three short delays due to ground equipment and the weather problems, STS-41 finally left the ground just 12 minutes into the 2.5 hour window.

The crew successfully deployed the IUS combination carrying Ulysses just 6 hours 1 minute 42 seconds after leaving the launch pad. Following the deployment of their primary payload, the crew of STS-41 concentrated on the variety of mid-deck and

payload bay experiments for the remainder of their short mission. Though the flight of STS-41 lasted only just over 4 days and is one of the shortest missions in the programme, the primary payload mission has lasted much longer. After more than 16 years in space, the Ulysses probe continues to function, transmitting important solar and interplanetary data back to Earth. To a degree, therefore, the “mission” of STS-41 continues.

Just over an hour after the deployment, the first stage of the IUS burned for 110 seconds, boosting the spacecraft from 29,237 kph to 36,283 kph. The second stage burned for 106 seconds, further increasing the speed to 41,158 kph, before the PAM-S fired for 88 seconds, resulting in a speed of 54,915 kph. Ten minutes later, the space­craft was separated from the upper stage to begin its long flight towards the Sun via Jupiter. The probe made its 375 km closest approach to Jupiter on 8 February 1992. Its first southern polar zone pass between 26 June and 6 November reached 80°S (13 September). Its first northern polar pass occurred between 19 June and 30 Sep­tember 1995 and saw the official completion of its primary mission. Its closest approach at 1.34AU occurred on 12 March 1995. It took almost five years from launch to the second polar pass, though it took only 8 hours to journey the 382,942 km from Earth to the orbit of the Moon, a trip that took Apollo astronauts three days to complete. Ulysses completed its second pass of both poles in 2001. Its third southern polar pass is planned for 2006/2007 and its third northern polar pass for 2007/2008.

Milestones

135th manned space flight 66th US manned space flight 36th Shuttle flight 11th Discovery flight

3rd Shuttle solar system deployment mission 1st three stage IUS deployment mission 1st solar polar probe

1st US Coast Guard officer (Melnick) to fly in space

Flight Crew

SHRIVER, Loren James, 48, USAF, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS 51-C (1985); STS-31 (1990)

ALLEN, Andrew Michael, 36, USMC, pilot NICOLLIER, Claude, 47, civilian, ESA mission specialist 1 IVINS, Marsha Sue, 41, civilian, mission specialist 2, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-32 (1990)

HOFFMAN, Jeffrey Alan, 47, civilian, mission specialist 3, payload commander, 3rd mission

Previous missions: STS 51-D (1985); STS-35 (1990)

CHANG-DIAZ, Franklin Raymond de Los Angeles, 42, civilian, mission specialist 4, 3rd mission

Previous missions: STS 61-C (1986); STS-34 (1989)

MALERBA, Franco, 46, civilian, Italian Space Agency payload specialist

Flight Log

The launch of STS-46 was delayed just 45 seconds at T — 5 minutes, to verify that the APUs were ready to start. The deployment of the European Space Agency’s European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) was delayed by one day due to a problem with its data-handling system. Following deployment from Atlantis using the RMS, EUR – ECA’s thrusters were fired to boost the platform to its planned operating altitude of about 500 km. The firing was planned to last 24 minutes, but lasted only six minutes due to unexpected altitude data from EURECA. The problem was resolved and the engines were restarted to place the payload in its operational orbit during the sixth day of the mission. EURECA was subsequently retrieved and returned to Earth during the STS-57 mission in 1993.

The EURECA satellite is hoisted above Atlantis’s payload bay by the RMS prior to deploy­ment. The 16-mm lens gives this 35-mm frame a “fish eye’’ effect. The Tethered Satellite System in centre frame is stowed in the payload bay prior to its planned operations later in the mission

The delay to the EURECA deployment also delayed the Tethered Satellite System experiment for a day. The objective of TSS was to demonstrate the technology of long – tethered systems in space and to demonstrate that such systems were useful for research. The investigations planned for the system on this mission included a variety of space plasma physics and electrodynamics investigations. TSS could operate in the upper reaches of the atmosphere at an altitude higher than the operating range of balloons but below that of orbiting satellites, providing prolonged data gathering far beyond that of sounding rockets. The experiment, if successful, would probably lead to follow-on research into the use of tether systems for generating electrical power, spacecraft propulsion, broadcasting from space, studying the atmosphere, using the atmosphere as a wind tunnel and controlled microgravity experiments.

The 518 kg satellite featured a 1.6-meter sphere mounted on both a pallet in the cargo bay and on the Spacelab Mission Peculiar Equipment Support Structure (MPESS) that supports TSS orbiter-based science instruments. The sphere had an electrically conductive surface and carried its science instruments mounted on extend­able booms. The extended boom satellite support structure measured twelve metres when fully extended above the payload bay and the motorised reel used to deploy the satellite could hold up to 108 km of tether (on STS-46, this was limited to 20 km). A data acquisition system would acquire data from the satellite and control it when

deployed. The programme envisaged 30 hours of deployed activity, with twelve experiments gathering data on the satellite, the support structure and the environment in which it was flying.

During this mission, the system suffered several failures. The No. 2 umbilical failed to retract from the tethered satellite and the satellite itself failed to deploy on the first “flyaway” attempt. The deployment was also punctuated by an unplanned stop at 179 metres, a second at 256 metres, and the inability to either deploy or retrieve the satellite at 224 metres. During STS-46, the satellite reached a maximum distance of 256 metres, instead of the planned 20 kilometres on the initial deployment, due to a jammed tether line. Despite numerous attempts over several days to free the tether, TSS operations were curtailed and the satellite successfully stowed for return to Earth. Post-flight investigations revealed that a protruding 4-inch bolt had hampered deploy­ment operations. Slack tether during the deployment operations was also likely to have resulted in the cable snagging in the Upper Tether Control Mechanism.

Frustrated by their setbacks with TSS, the crew nevertheless completed a range of secondary experiments and payloads, working on a two-shift system. Allen, Nicollier and Malerba formed the Blue Team, while Ivins, Hoffman and Chang-Diaz were the Red Team. Mission commander Shriver worked with either team. There were six NASA experiments located in the payload bay. These were designed to study the effects of the space environment on materials and equipment that were planned for future use on Space Station Freedom. The 70 mm IMAX Cargo Bay Camera was also in the payload bay and was remotely controlled by the crew from the aft flight deck to film scenes from the mission for use in future IMAX films. There were also three secondary payloads located in the mid-deck area, which the crew worked on during their flight.

The mission was extended by one day in order to complete science activities. This would be the last flight of Atlantis prior to a scheduled inspection and modification period. This was later extended to include additional modifications that would allow Atlantis to dock with the Mir space station. Atlantis was shipped to Rockwell in October 1992. Its next mission would be STS-66 in 1994.

Milestones

153rd manned space flight

79th US manned space flight

49th Shuttle mission

12th flight of Atlantis

6th flight of Shuttle pallet mission

1st European mission specialist (Nicollier)

1st European RMS operator (Nicollier)

1st Italian in space (Malerba)

TSS-1 was the longest structure ever flown in space (256 metres) Allen celebrates his 37th birthday in space (4 Aug)