Test1Review.docx

Lecture 2 Space History – Sputnik to Apollo to Zond - „Space Age‟  October 4, 1957 o Started with the launch of Sputnik, the first satellite, by the Soviet Union - China invented rockets - Line in the U.S. National Anthem about „the rockets‟ red glare‟ o Rockets used against U.S. forces by British army during War of 1812 o British learned to use them when they were attacked with rockets in India o India learned about rockets from China Pioneers of Spaceflight - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky developed the basic theories of rocket flight into space, multi-staged rockets, etc. about 100 years ago (Russia) - Hermann Oberth developed technical aspects of rocketry before WW2 (Germany) - Robert Goddard experimented with liquid-fueled rockets (Massachussetts) o Experiments became too dangerous for densely populated area so moved research to New Mexico - Most famous rocket and space clubs/societies o British Interplanetary Society o German Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (VfR, Society for Space Travel) o Russian GIRD (Russian initials for the Group for Study of Rocket Propulsion) Wernher von Braun - Developed military rockets (V2 missiles) for Germany during WW2 o Launched from Peenemunde against targets in England - As the war ended, he surrendered to U.S. forces and was taken to America to develop modern missiles - Ultimately designed the Saturn rockets which took Apollo astronauts to the Moon Sergei Korolev - “Chief Designer” - Developed missiles and spacecraft for the Soviet Union, including the first satellites, lunar probes and human space vehicles - Most rockets launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan - New spaceport (Vostochny Cosmodrome) being built in eastern Russia - Korolev‟s design bureau now called Energia o Builds Russia‟s crew-carrying spacecraft First Satellites - Made possible by the large missiles developed for intercontinental nuclear warfare - Sputnik („fellow traveller‟)  launched October 4, 1957 - Sputnik 2  carried a dog, Laika  November 3, 1957 - First U.S. satellite  Explorer 1  launched January 31, 1958 Early Moon Probes - 1958 onwards - Soviet Luna 1 probe  January 1959 o First close flyby - Luna 2  September 1959 o Struck the Moon  first human artifact to reach another world - Luna 3  October 1959 o Photographed the far side of the moon - Ranger 7  1964 o First successful US lunar probe o Took the first close-up pictures of the Moon before impacting on the surface First Robotic Landings - Luna 9  January 1966 (Korolev‟s team, Soviet Union) o One more successful Luna of this type - Surveyor 1  first US landing  4 months later (May 1966) o Four more successful Surveyors of this type - Landings revealed that the lunar landscape consisted of loose material of all sizes, dust to boulders, broken up and redistributed by meteorite impacts over billions of years Orbital Mapping - Necessary to obtain global images to plan for human landings and to understand the moon better - US flew five Lunar Orbiter missions in 1966 and 1967 to obtain global images - Soviet Union flew experimental orbital cameras to the Moon, sometimes just to test equipment for other planets, but never undertook a systematic program of global photography o Used American images to plan for human landings Vostok – First Person in Space - Korolev‟s second triumph, after Sputnik - Successful flight of Yuri Gagarin into orbit around Earth  April 12, 1961 o Spacecraft was called Vostok (“east”) - Several Vostok spacecraft followed o First woman in Space  Valentina Tereshkova - Modified Vostok called Voskhod o First multi-person spacecraft (carried a crew of three) o Second Voskhod few two people including Alexei Leonov who understood the first „spacewalk‟ Mercury and Gemini - Alan Shepard  First US astronaut  May 5, 1961 o Flew a sub-orbital flight (up and down, not into orbit) in the „Freedom 7‟ spacecraft - Six more Mercury flights extended these flights into orbit - Gemini spacecraft o Carrying a crew of two o Extended the Mercury results by practicing all the tasks that would be needed by Apollo o Astronauts conducted spacewalks, flew alongside and eventually docked with other orbiting spacecraft, and stayed in space for up to two weeks Apollo – The Human Landings - US project to land people on the moon - Apollo demonstrated its spacecraft in Earth orbit, then in lunar orbit, and finally in landings - Six of the seven landing flights were successful o Apollo 13 (the seventh) succeeded in returning its crew safely to Earth after an explosion on the spacecraft during a trip around the Moon - Revolutionized our understanding of the Moon by returning large collections of lunar materials and leaving scientific instruments on the surface Zond – A Challenge to Apollo - Soviet Union planned human Moon landings but abandoned them after serious problems arose with their large rockets - Orbital and return module built for lunar landings flew several times without a crew, including four flights looping around the Moon and back to Earth - These spacecraft were called Zond, and then later evolved into the Soyuz spacecraft - Soyuz spacecraft still used today to take crews and cargo to the International Space Station - Zonds 6, 7, and 8 returned photographs of the far side of the moon Automated Sample Collection – Soviet Response to Apollo - Collect Moon samples with robots instead of people o Cheaper and had no risk to human life - Several early attempts failed, including one at exactly the same time as Apollo 11 o In 1970 they were successful with Luna 16 - Luna 16, Luna 20 and Luna 24 missions brought back three samples from different places (less than Apollo) - Soviets also drove two rovers on the Moon by remote control  Lunokhods 1 and 2 Lecture 3 Apollo on the Moon - Attempt by the US to gain the upper hand in a technological confrontation with the Soviet Union - Goal was set in 1961 - First Moon landing  1969 o Program terminated after five more landings Landing Sites - Sites had to be safe – gentle slopes, few small craters, not many rocks - The Ranger spacecraft gave a first close-up look, and the Lunar Orbiters examined potential sites - The Surveyor landers showed what some sites looked like from the surface - Apollo Site Selection Board chose sites - Early sites were safe, smooth and flat; the later sites more visually appealing and scientifically interesting o Taken together they allowed samples to be collected from different types of rock, and of different ages, so the Moon‟s geology and history could be understood better Sequence of Apollo Flights - First equipment was tested on the ground. Then several Apollo spacecraft flew in Earth orbit without a crew. When everything had been tested, the first Apollo crew to fly took Apollo 7 into Earth orbit - The crew of Apollo 1 died during a ground test at the Kennedy Space Center - The second Apollo crew to fly took Apollo 8 to the Moon and back - Apollo 9 stayed in Earth orbit for a test flight of the Moon landing vehicle (Lunar Module) - Apollo 10 flew the Lunar Module in orbit around the Moon, testing every part of the system except the landing itself - Apollo 11 landed o Six more Apollo flights were made; All except Apollo 13 landed safely - Each Apollo went one step beyond the one before o More time on the surface o More samples collected o More distance covered in more interesting landing places Apollo 8 - Apollo 8 crew were the first humans to leave Earth and travel to another world, but they did not land on the Moon - Mission designed to test the spacecraft, the navigation and communication systems, and the ground control systems - Orbited the Moon in December 1968 and returned safely to Earth o Did not carry a Lunar Module, but its crew photographed the Moon close up, including images of Earth rising over the lunar horizon Apollo 10 - Full system test in lunar orbit, including a Lunar Module (LM) which was flown separately from the main Apollo spacecraft (the Command/Service Module, CSM) - The Lunar Module was flown down to only about 15km above the surface, but did not land Apollo 11 – The First Human Landing on Another World - President Kennedy‟s challenge  July 1969 - Landing site was a smooth part of the „Sea of Tranquility‟ (Mare Tranquilitatis) - Neil Armstrong and Edwin „Buzz‟ Aldrin landed on the Moon and walked on its surface for about 3 hours o Set out instruments including a seismometer and collected rock samples o Third crew member, Michael Collins, stayed in lunar orbit and photographed the lunar surface - Most of the rocks collected were pieces of basalt lava flows, 3.6 billion years old Apollo 12 - Tested the ability to make a pinpoint landing o Target  Surveyor 3 spacecraft (landed nearly three years earlier) - Pieces of Surveyor 3 would be collected and returned to Earth to find out how engineering materials like plastic, aluminum, paint and glass stood up to the extremes of the lunar environment - Landing site was in the „Ocean of Storms‟ (Oceanus Procellarum), in an area now called „Sea of Islands‟ (Mare Insularum) - A science station called ALSEP (Apollo Lunar Surfac