50 Years Ago: Luna 9 on the Moon

Soviet Luna IX Lunar Probe.

This February marks the 50th anniversary of a great achievement for Soviet Russia's moon program. Back on February 3, 1966, the Russians successfully directed the Luna IX Moon Probe towards the lunar surface. The Molniya-M rocket carrying the probe left Earth on January 31. Using nitrogen-powered thrusters, the spacecraft commenced spinning for thermal control, and the fourth stage propelled the craft into a lunar interception orbit.

Lander segment process art.

At 16 miles from the surface, the craft began retro-rocket firings to slow its descent. When the probe reached 16 feet above the surface the lander capsule was ejected, and when on the surface it deployed its landing petals for orientation and began taking pictures.

One of the first images from the surface of the Moon.

The lander began sending the images back to Earth about 7 hours later. Interestingly, the Soviets delayed releasing the images, but meanwhile in England, scientists at the Jodrell Observatory where able to print the images and get them to the papers. There is some speculation that the inclusion of standard press-type Radiofax imagers on the probe may have been intended to help the Observatory prepare the images for release anyway.

2016: A Good Year for Rocketeers

Launch of Atlas V carrying the 12th GPS satellite for the US Air Force's Network of navigation satellites. Credit: United Launch Alliance.

This morning the weather looked clear as ULA launched another Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral, Florida. The GPS-IIF-12 satellite was successfully placed into orbit,  completing the constellation of navigation satellites planned by the USAF.  This was the first ULA Atlas V launch of the year, with a plan of 15 ULA launches throughout 2016. When you add these flights to the other commercial launches, and all the international launches scheduled this year, it looks to be an exciting time for fans of rocketry and satellite launches!

On my SpaceRubble blog, I don't usually cover every rocket launch, instead focusing on missions that support manned space projects or important exploration probes to the planets. But a rocket fan can easily keep up with all the blasting off, thanks to websites such as: 

NASASpaceflight: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/

SpaceFlight Now: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/

Space.com: http://www.space.com/

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/

ISS EVA-42 Completed

Cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko (L) and Sergey Volkov (R) suited up and ready to begin the spacewalk. Picture taken by Commander Scott Kelly on the ISS.

 

Early on Wednesday morning, two Russian cosmonauts of Expedition 46 exited the airlock and moved outside the International Space Station. Yuri Malenchenko was making his sixth EVA, and Sergey Volkov making his fourth. There have now been 193 EVA missions since the beginning of the ISS program, mostly dealing with the construction of the station module by module. In this EVA, the two spacewalkers placed some more grab holds on the modules for future spacewalks, and retrieved experiments and materials to be brought back inside the station. 

One of the tasks of the EVA was to release a canister containing a flash drive into space orbit. It contained messages and videos from Russians commemorating the 70th anniversary of Russia's Victory Day (the end of WW2).

 

 The canister is released.

 

I'll admit, this act might not have been thought out very well. I understand the benefit of involving the public in leaving their messages and words (albeit in electronic format - who will ever be able to read them?) in space, as it focuses the people on space exploration. After all, no bucks, no Buck Rogers. It's been a popular thing for NASA and other space projects to do. But normally the items are attached to a spacecraft or lander. This one was thrown into orbit behind the station. Now it was jettisoned in a way that it poses no risk to hitting the station in subsequent orbits. However, considering the vast problem that exists in Earth orbit with tens of thousands of pieces of space debris, was it wise to add yet another? Certainly no mission of the future will be trying to retrieve this canister - only people on Earth will have access to a backup of the project. And very few people will probably do that. And, if it eventually is pushed by solar radiation down to the Earth's upper atmosphere, it will burn up - so why put it up there to begin with? 

Another Falcon Sea Landing Crash

A little bit of SpaceX humor written onto the landing barge off the Pacific coast. All pictures credit: SpaceX.

 

On Sunday Jan. 17, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from its launch site at Vandenberg, California to place the Jason 3 satellite into orbit. This version of the Falcon was the last of the designated version 1.1 modifications, a stretched and re-engined Falcon 9. These versions have been flying since 2013. The next flights will be the Falcon 9FT, or "Full Thrust," which was most recently used in December 2015.

SpaceX launch site at Vandenberg AFB, California.

 

Last view of the Falcon 9 as it flies through low clouds.

 

 

Jason satellite program.

 

The Jason-3 satellite is a multi-program partnership between NOAA, NASA, EUMETSAT, and CNES. The multinational experiments will study sea surface topography, mainly sea surface levels. An additional experiment will study the radiation environment around the satellite.

Falcon slowing to touch down on the barge landing pad.

 

The Jason-3 spacecraft was successfully launched into orbit. Following separation, the Falcon 9 first stage descended slowly towards the recovery zone. Although SpaceX had made a totally awesome landing on a land recovery pad in December, Engineers were attempting to make the first successful sea landing on this attempt. Everything looked great right up to touchdown, when after landing one of the legs failed to lock in position, and the rocket toppled over onto the pad. Engineers suspect the heavy fog contributed to condensation which may have iced over and interfered with the lockdown.

Not successful at sea, yet.

 

 

FIrst EVA for the UK

British astronaut Tim Peake prepares to exit the ISS airlock. NASA pic.

 

On Friday, Jan. 15, astronauts Tim Kopra (USA) and Tim Peake (UK) took a spacewalk (EVA-35) to replace a Sequential Shunt Unit (SSU) which regulates electrical voltage from the Solar Arrays. It was the third EVA for Kopra, and the first for Peake. It was also a record as the first spacewalk for a British astronaut. There had been previous spacewalks by British astronauts when they worked for NASA, but this flight was the first time an astronaut representing the UK was performing an EVA.

Tim Peake enjoying the first British Spacewalk.

 

The replacement was scheduled to take place during one of the night portions of the station's orbit. Engineers did not want to risk removing the SSU during a sunlit period when the solar panels would be charged up and transmitting electricity. The astronauts moved out along the Truss and during a dark period changed out the failed unit with the spare SSU. They then moved back to the airlock area to prepare for using the rest of the EVA for some other minor tasks. 

Tim Peake moving along the side of the US Lab module.

 

Tim Kopra had completed the re-installation of a waste valve on Node 3 when he reported to NASA that he was experiencing a tiny amount of water leak in his helmet. Due to the experience astronaut Luca Parmitano had with a leaky water line that could have drowned him on EVA-23, ground Mission Control Director Royce Renfrew immediately cancelled the rest of the EVA and the two astronauts safely returned to the airlock. The leak in Kopra's helmet was not nearly as dangerous as the earlier incident, but no one was about to take any chances. No doubt the astronauts will be closely examining the problem and working with engineers to make repairs. The remaining tasks of this EVA will be left to another time.

Russian Cargo Ship Reaches ISS

The Progress cargo ship looks very much like a manned Soyuz spacecraft. This one is Progress M-27M.

 

Taking off from Baikonur on Monday, the Progress 62 robotic cargo ship entered Earth orbit and began a two-day flight to the International Space Station. Rather than follow the now-typical 6 hour short cut rendezvous flight to the ISS, ground controllers guided the ship into the longer flight to make room for Monday's unplanned EVA by NASA astronauts to move the Mobile Transport cart to a safe location on the truss.

Progress 62 indicated two new mission equipment upgrades. The Progress ship is the first of a new MS series of supply ships, that include en external compartment for launching micro satellites, and an improved system for protection from micro-meteoroids and debris strikes. The Russian (Roscosmos) designation for this mission is Progress MS431.

Soyuz 2-1A rocket booster. Credit Roscosmos.

 

The second upgrade is in the rocket itself. It can get confusing when the manned spacecraft is named Soyuz, but so too is the rocket. In this case the mission launched atop  a Soyuz 2-1A rocket. First flown in 2004, it was designed to eventually replace all rockets used for manned and unmanned missions flown by previous Soyuz and Molniya variants. It has been used for manned Soyuz missions so far, but is now being used by Progress missions.

Success for SpaceX and Falcon 9!

Falcon 9 after touching down on the Cape Canaveral landing site. Credit: SpaceX.

Happy congratulations to SpaceX and the Falcon 9 team! On Monday night, SpaceX launched the newest version of the Falcon, the Falcon 9 Full Thrust, with a payload of eleven Orbcomm communications satellites aboard the payload stage. An earlier attempt Sunday was cancelled due to weather concerns, but this time the rocket took off perfectly and sent the payload stage into orbit, successfully releasing the constellation of satellites.

View of landing Falcon 9 from hovering helicopter. Credit: SpaceX.

SpaceX also broke a new record by returning the first stage Falcon 9 back to the Cape Canaveral launch location and the newly- refurbished pad LC-13. That launch site was previously used in the 60's and 70's to launch Atlas missiles and Atlas-Agena rockets carrying satellites, and was last used in 1978. The launch tower and blockhouse were later demolished and the site declared a historic landmark. SpaceX recently leased the site from the Air Force and prepared it as a landing site for re-useable Falcon first stages. Previous attempts to land the Falcon were carried out at sea on landing barges, and all resulted in crashed rocket stages. This was the first attempt to return to land, and was successful as the pictures show. Prior to this, Blue Origin successfully landed a sub-orbital launched New Shephard rocket. The SpaceX success was more complicated, as this effort was a launch into orbital space.