Launch Attempt Research Articles

SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE WORLD’S FIRST UKRAINIAN SPACE COMPLEX «VESELKA»

On October 27, 1961, the first world’s space launch vehicle (not completed and tested well ballistic missile) 11K63 (63S1) with a satellite was launched. The main goal of the new space complex “Veselka” (“Rainbow”) (K11K63) was to define potential branches for the effective usage of space technologies. The weight of the first Ukrainian satellite DS-1 (Dnipropetrovsk satellite) was 310 lbs. The practical usage of new space complex was the launch of artificial satellites weighing up to 990 lbs into low Earth orbit. For comparison, the weight of the first American satellite was 30 lbs. with the 4th stage of the rocket, without the possibility to detach the last stage. The satellite DS-1 passed all tests necessary for that time. It was completely ready for work in the conditions of outer space. But … the first Ukrainian satellite to go into space was DS-2, launched on March 16, 1962, in the 3rd launch attempt. For the first time, an attempt was made to analyze the phenomenon of creating the world’s first space complex and launching serial satellites of the Earth (hereinafter – the well-known series “Cosmos”) against the historical background. The scientific, technical, and military-applied aspects of the development of the space complex were analyzed. The role of the powerful industrial cooperation from the very beginning planned by Academies of Sciences, branch institutes, and scientists of Eastern Europe, France, Sweden, and India (the “Intercosmos” program) for the development of the complex was described. The issues of staff training for the rocket and space industry are particularly underlined as a key factor of success in space. Some inaccuracies regarding the history of Ukrainian satellites were noted and fixed, which are often found in some publications on this topic.

Zoom! Children’s Book Rockets to International Space Station

Just like people on Earth, astronauts in orbit love to read. Now Astronauts Zoom! is part of that reading. The book was launched to the International Space Station (ISS), with four astronauts on the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, for Story Time From Space.After the spacecraft’s first launch attempt was scrubbed (with countdown nail-bitingly stopped at two minutes before liftoff), the book rocketed into space on March 2, 2023, on Read Across America Day. In about 120 days in space, the book has orbited more than 57 million miles on the ISS.

The photon pair source that survived a rocket explosion.

We report on the performance of a compact photon pair source that was recovered intact from a failed space launch. The source had been embedded in a nanosatellite and was designed to perform pathfinder experiments leading to global quantum communication networks using spacecraft. Despite the launch vehicle explosion soon after takeoff, the nanosatellite was successfully retrieved from the accident site and the source within it was found to be fully operational. We describe the assembly technique for the rugged source. Post-recovery data is compared to baseline measurements collected before the launch attempt and no degradation in brightness or polarization correlation was observed. The survival of the source through an extreme environment provides strong evidence that it is possible to engineer rugged quantum optical systems.

OCO/GOSAT Preflight Cross-Calibration Experiment

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) by JAXA were built to provide independent measures of the global distributions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from space. GOSAT achieved a successful orbit on January 23, 2009, and OCO failed its launch attempt on February 24, 2009. Both sensors detect absorptions at the 0.76-?m oxygen band and at the weak and strong CO2 bands at 1.6 and 2.0 ?m, respectively. In order to establish the uncertainties and biases between the respective data products, the OCO and GOSAT teams have planned a number of cross-comparison studies. The first of these, discussed here, is the validation of the prelaunch absolute radiometric calibrations, specified at ±5%. The cross-comparison campaign to validate this OCO approach was performed at NASA's JPL in April 2008. In this paper, the OCO reference detectors and three GOSAT radiometers viewed the OCO sphere and radiometric standard. The overall agreements between the OCO calibration and GOSAT measurement of the OCO integrating sphere were 1.5% at 0.76 ?m, 2.7% ± 1.1% at 1.6 ?m, and 0.2% ± 4.1% at 2.0 ?m. To validate the GOSAT preflight calibration, the cross-calibration experiment continued at JAXA's Tsukuba Space Center in December 2008, where the same radiometers measured the two GOSAT spheres. Agreements are better than 1.8% at 0.76 ?m, 1.6% at 1.6 ?m, and 1.4% at 2 ?m. These studies give confirmation that the flight instruments have been calibrated to within their uncertainty requirements.

NASA set to launch shuttle 4 July

Launch attempt still on despite clouds and falling foam.

Gemini 8 Launched

> THE MOST complicated maneuvers in man's first flight to the moon will be the various couplings, uncouplings, dockings and rendezvous performed at the two ends of the journey. Now, after several malfunctions, an aborted launch attempt and some compromises, practice has started. At 11:41 a.m. on March 16. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott shot spaceward, pursuing their target. an Agena spacecraft launched an hour and 41 minutes earlier. Their attempt to nose Gemini 8 into a mechanical attached to the Agena was successful-another milestone in space flight. However, less than half an hour after docking, while Gemini 8 was still coupled to the Agena, Armstrong reported engine trouble. The two vehicles were rolling and yawing out of control. The astronauts backed their spacecraft away from the Agena target and then stabilized by switching from their maneuvering power system to the one used for reentry into the atmosphere. But it was considered risky to continue the operation on fuel intended for the return trip. Because of this, and because no one was entirely sure what caused the trouble, Gemini Control in Houston cancelled the remainder of the flight. Late in the evening of their launch day the two astronauts landed safely in a recovery area in the Pacific. Had the three-day mission been completed other experiments would have been carried out. Co-pilot Scott was equipped with a long, cable-and-air-hose-filled cord, so that he could leave his cramped position in the spacecraft and spend one-and-a-half orbits of the earth walking in space. Spacewalking. although vitally important to orbiting space stations and any other missions that require outside repairs, will not be a part of the lunar flight. The shirtsleeves environment in the Apollo will prevent any of the threeman crew from stepping out into space, although two of them will step out on reaching the surface of the moon. However, Gemini flights between now and then may do away with the need for umbilical cords. Docking was the most important. While adjusting their orbit to match that of the Agena, the astronauts traveled some 107,000 miles, while keeping track of the roundness of their orbit, and the relative angle between the Gemini and the target, among other things. Rendezvous and docking are not the same thing. The former consists of getting from. say, 100 miles away to within about 100 feet at the proper angle. speed and orbit. Computers do all the heavy mathematics, and the pilot follows their instructions. Docking on the other hand, is done largely by eye. On the nose of the Gemini is a small sighting post, just like a sight on a rifle. At the rear of the Agena. inside the collar, is another sight, in the form of a notch. Neil Armstrong's job as pilot was to center the post in the notch. When two spacecraft are close enough for this. the operation becomes a matter of repeated slow nudges with the thrusters until the two vehicles touch. The collar then automatically locks them together. Similar maneuvers, with somewhat different equipment. will occur several times during the moon journey. At one point, the spacecraft will detach from its booster, turn around 180 degrees, and dock nose-on. . Science News, 89:195 March 26, 1966