Space Rocket History

Gene Cernan’s first words were “As I step off at the surface of Taurus-Littrow, I’d like to dedicate the first steps of Apollo Seventeen to all those who made it possible.”  

Gene had a deadlock visual on the landing site. He knew exactly where he was, and the LM had become part of him, responding to his wishes as well as his touch on the controls as they lowered closer to

For the next two days, Jack Schmitt would do a running account of Earth’s weather patterns. One Capcom even called Schmitt the human weather satellite.      

At 12:33 A.M. Dec. 7th 1972, “the hold-down arms released and the mighty Saturn V stirred, balanced on a dazzling fireball that grew to the size of an atomic bomb. As a show-stopping spectacular, noth

By the time they reached the elevator, Cernan felt absolutely charmed, and was grinning from ear to ear. His Saturn V sparkled like a 363-foot-high jewel rampant against the night sky, center stage an

Flight director Gene Kranz wrote that Cernan was his favorite because of his carefree and jovial attitude, unabashed patriotism, and his close personal relationship with the flight controllers. 

Harrison Schmitt played a key role in training Apollo crews to be geologic observers when they were in lunar orbit and competent geologic field workers when they were on the lunar surface. After each

Apollo 17 would break several crewed spaceflight records: 1) longest moon mission duration: 12 days 13 hours 52 minutes (just a day and a third shorter than the 14 days set in 1965 by Gemini 7), 2) lo

On re-entry Casper hit the atmosphere at an altitude of about 400,000 feet above the earth and at a velocity of nearly 25,000 miles per hour. 

The LM eventually crashed due to lunar gravity anomalies. Since Houston didn’t know exactly where it landed, it was not useful to calibrate seismic experiments on the surface. 

It was the only time in their whole lunar stay that Charlie had a real moment of panic and thought he had killed himself.

The crew nicknamed this operation “The Big Sneak.” They figured the only way to do this was to approach from behind a big rock, then reach over and collect the sample.

John and Charlie also collected several rusty-looking rocks with brown stains on their surfaces. These were exciting finds because the rusty appearance suggested the presence of hydrated oxides of iro

As the red smoke cleared, Al saw widening holes in one of their parachutes, collapsing it into a useless strip of cloth. “We’ve got a streamer on one,” Al reported.

On Hadley Plain, at 171:37 GET, right on schedule, Falcon’s engine lit, hurling the ascent stage upward in an impressive flurry of dust and debris, captured for the first time on camera and transmitted live to a world-wide audience.

After being cooped up together so closely with his fellow astronauts inside Endeavor, Worden enjoyed stretching out for his solo flight.  Now he really got to fly.

“We pray for one last landingOn the globe that gave us birth;Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skiesAnd the cool, green hills of Earth.” Robert A. Heinlein

Both men realized what they had discovered. The rock was almost entirely plagioclase. This was surely a chunk of anorthosite, a piece of the primordial crust, the Genesis Rock.

Suddenly, Scott called out that the Rover was beginning to slide down the hill.  As the back wheels came off the ground, Scott quickly got back on to hold the rover down.

The whole stripped-down rover weighed about 455 pounds on Earth but only 76 pounds on the moon and was built to carry 2 1/2 times its weight at a maximum speed of about 10 miles per hour.

After a good nights sleep, Houston woke the astronauts up an hour early the next morning because of a slight oxygen leak.

It was immediately clear that Falcon had landed on uneven ground, right on the rim of a small crater; the LM was tipped backward at a slight angle. It turned out that one of the rear feet had landed in … Continue reading →

Craning to look through the triangular window for a glimpse of the land ahead, Scott saw no sign of Hadley Rille.

The SPS engine was used for all the future burns.   It was the astronauts ticket home.  Any doubt as to whether it could fire raised the question as to whether the mission could continue.

For Scott all feelings were forgotten. All senses except sight were subordinated. All Scott’s concentration was focused on hearing information from Irwin, Worden and Mission Control about the status of the spacecraft and the Saturn V.

The last face they saw was Guenter’s, smiling and waving an enormous crescent wrench. Then the heavy hatch closed with a deep thunk.

As Command Module Pilot for Apollo 9, Scott’s responsibilities were heavy. The Lunar Module was to separate from the Command and Service Module during the mission; if it failed to return, Scott would have to run the entire spacecraft for … Continue rea...

Dave Scott showed incredible presence of mind during the unexpected events of the Gemini 8 mission. Even in the middle of an emergency, out of contact with Mission Control, he had thought to reenable ground control of the Agena before … Continue reading →

The twelve day Apollo 15 mission was scheduled to launch on July 26, 1971.  It would be the fourth United States human exploration of the Moon. As compared with earlier missions, Apollo 15 would double the time and extend by … Continue reading →

It was decided that henceforth, cosmonauts would wear pressure suits for launch and the return to Earth. Also, a system was installed to automatically pump air into the descent module in the event of decompression.  Additionally,

The recovery team quickly opened the hatch and were shocked to find the men motionless, as if asleep or unconscious.

Volkov transmitted to Flight Control: “The hatch is not hermetically sealed! … What can we do? … What can we do?”

Just before the start of another communication session, Volkov noticed a smell of smoke from somewhere at the rear of the station. As soon as communication with the ground was established, he reported:  “Aboard the station is ‘the curtain’!”

Dobrovolsky wrote in his diary, “Some days were a nightmare. There was a general absence of everything: no interesting things, no happiness, the monotonous sound of the ventilators, strong smells, numerous experiments.

Volkov radioed “Zarya, wait! Yantar 3 is in Soyuz. Don’t start until Yantar 3 has returned to the Salyut! There is a strong smell in Salyut! He will put on a mask and go in again!”

“I am proud to have been involved in the Vostok spacecraft which carried Gagarin on the first manned space flight and in its modification for Voskhod.” Volkov

Dobrovolsky was blond, tall, broad-shouldered, and tough. He was kind-hearted and had a contagious belly laugh. At the Air Force school, his friends nicknamed him `Odessa’, and he was proud of it. 

On May 4th, 1971 the prime crew of Soyuz 11 was confirmed to be Leonov, Commander; Kubusov, Flight Engineer; and Kolodin, Research Engineer. Their assignment was to spend between 30 and 45 days on board Salyut 1.

… There was no provision for the possibility of undocking if the entire docking cycle had not been executed …

“They can’t approach at that rate,” fretted Mishin. “Why aren’t you doing anything? Tell the crew what to do!” “We don’t need to do anything; deceleration will begin now,” Rauschenbach reassured Mishin.

The objective of the Soyuz 10 mission was to deliver and return to earth the first crew of Salyut 1.  The Soyuz was to hard dock with Salyut 1 and then the crew was to transfer internally to the station. … Continue reading →

In record time, the OKB-1 rebels led by Yuri Semenov developed the space station designated DOS-7K. The station used the body of a vehicle from the Almaz project, but outfitted it with modified systems from the Soyuz spacecraft.

“For one priceless moment, in the whole history of man, all the people on this earth are truly one. One in their pride in what you have done. And one in our prayers that you will return safely to earth” … Continue reading →

Alan Shepard’s wife Louise was elated after watching on TV as Shepard boarded a Navy ship bound for Houston, where he would be safe behind the glass windows of the post-flight quarantine room.

Gradually, as Mitchell worked and glanced at the bright crescent, he was filled with a quiet euphoria, great tranquillity, and an overpowering sense of understanding. It was as if he had suddenly begun to hear a new language,

Would the docking probe that caused so much difficulty a week ago during the first docking work now or would Shepard and Mitchell be forced into a space walk in Lunar orbit?

141:45:30 Shepard: Okay. The abort stage is set. Ascent Engine is Armed. 6, 5, 4… 141:45:38 Mitchell: Proceed with the ignition program 141:45:38 Shepard: …3, 2, 1, 0… 141:45:42 Mitchell: Ignition. 141:45:43 Shepard: We have ignition… 141:45:44 Mitchel...

“It was terribly, terribly frustrating; coming up over that ridge that we were going up, and thinking, finally, that was it; and it wasn’t – suddenly recognizing that, really, you just don’t know where you are.” Ed Mitchell

Silently and carefully, Armstrong raised his left boot over the lip of the footpad and lowered it to the dust. Immediately he tested his weight, bouncing in the gentle gravity, and when he felt firm ground, he was still, one … Continue reading →

The majority of the second moonwalk was dedicated to reaching the rim of Cone Crater.  The wide, deep geological gold mine, which scientists believed was actually the remains of an ancient volcano.