Space Rocket History

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 reading →

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 ventilation valves were … Continue reading →

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. It seemed to me that Flight Control simply … Continue reading →

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 …