Category Archives: Space Flight

Neil Alden Armstrong (5 August 1930–25 August 2012)

August 25, 2024Aviation, Space FlightAeronautical Engineer, American Hero, Apollo 11, Apollo Program, Astronaut, Fighter Pilot, First Man on the Moon, Gemini 8, Gemini VIII, Lunar Landing, Manned Space Flight, Moon Landing, Moon Shot, NASA X-15 Hypersonic Research Program, Neil A. Armstrong, Neil Alden Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, North American Aviation X-15A, Professor, Project Gemini, Test PilotBryan Swopes

NEIL ALDEN ARMSTRONG (1930–2012)

The following is the official NASA biography:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
John H. Glenn Research Center
Lewis Field
Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Neil A. Armstrong

Neil A. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930. He began his NASA career in Ohio.

After serving as a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1955. His first assignment was with the NACA Lewis Research Center (now NASA Glenn) in Cleveland. Over the next 17 years, he was an engineer, test pilot, astronaut and administrator for NACA and its successor agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

As a research pilot at NASA’s Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., he was a project pilot on many pioneering high speed aircraft, including the well known, 4000-mph X-15. He has flown over 200 different models of aircraft, including jets, rockets, helicopters and gliders.

Armstrong transferred to astronaut status in 1962. He was assigned as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission. Gemini 8 was launched on March 16, 1966, and Armstrong performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space.

As spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, Armstrong gained the distinction of being the first man to land a craft on the moon and first to step on its surface.

Armstrong subsequently held the position of Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. In this position, he was responsible for the coordination and management of overall NASA research and technology work related to aeronautics.

He was Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati between 1971-1979. During the years 1982-1992, Armstrong was chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc., Charlottesville, Va.

He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California. He holds honorary doctorates from a number of universities.

Armstrong is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Royal Aeronautical Society; Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the International Astronautics Federation.

He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco. He served as a member of the National Commission on Space (1985-1986), as Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (1986), and as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Peace Corps (1971-1973).

Armstrong has been decorated by 17 countries. He is the recipient of many special honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the Congressional Space Medal of Honor; the Explorers Club Medal; the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy; the NASA Distinguished Service Medal; the Harmon International Aviation Trophy; the Royal Geographic Society’s Gold Medal; the Federation Aeronautique Internationale’s Gold Space Medal; the American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award; the Robert J. Collier Trophy; the AIAA Astronautics Award; the Octave Chanute Award; and the John J. Montgomery Award.

Armstrong passed away on Aug. 25, 2012 following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. He was 82.

The above official NASA biography is from the website: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/neilabio.html

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Astronaut Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of The Moon, 20 July 1969. (NASA)

25 August 1981

August 25, 2024Space FlightInterplanetary Probe, Saturn, Space Probe, Voyager 2Bryan Swopes

NASA illustration of *Voyager 2*. (NASA)

25 August 1981: 4 years, 5 days after launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Saturn.

Upper atmosphere of Saturn, photographed by *Voyager 2*. (NASA)

The probe continued outward to Saturn, Neptune and Uranus, continuously transmitting images and data. In 1990, the space probe passed beyond the limits of the Solar System.

Voyager 2 is now in interstellar space. It crossed the heliopause, where “solar wind” is slowed by the pressure of interstellar gas, 5 November 2018. It is still operating, 46 years after it was launched.

On 21 July 2023, an erroneous instruction caused Voyager 2 to turn its antenna away from Earth, but on 5 August 2023, contact was reestablished. A power reduction strategy is hoped to allow the space probe to continue operating until 2026.

As of 15 August 2024, Voyager 2 was 136 Astronomical Units from Earth (20,345,310,413 kilometers/12,641,989,788 statute miles/10,985,588,776 nautical miles). Radio signals, traveling at the Speed of Light, take 18 hours, 56 minutes to cross that distance. It continues outbound at a rate of 3.3 AU/year. (With respect to the Sun, Voyager 2 is traveling outbound at 15.35 kilometers per second (33,330.48 miles per hour/29,832.37 knots).

22 August 1963

August 22, 2024Aviation, Space Flight52-003, 56-6672, Altitude Record, Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress, Edwards Air Force Base, Flight Test, Joe Walker, Joseph Albert Walker, Manned Space Flight, NASA, NASA X-15 Hypersonic Research Program, North American Aviation Inc., North American Aviation X-15A, Reaction Motors, Reaction Motors XLR99-RM-1, Smith Ranch Dry Lake, Test Pilot, X-15Bryan Swopes

Joe Walker and the X-15 on Rogers Dry Lake at the end of a flight. Walker is wearing a David Clark Co. MC-2 full-pressure suit. (U.S. Air Force)

22 August 1963: On his twenty-fifth and last flight with the X-15 program, NASA Chief Research Test Pilot Joseph Albert Walker would attempt a flight to Maximum Altitude. Engineers had predicted that the X-15 was capable of reaching 400,000 feet (121,920 meters) but simulations had shown that a safe reentry from that altitude was risky. For this flight, Flight 91, the flight plan called for 360,000 feet (109,728 meters) to give Walker a safety margin. Experience had shown that slight variations in engine thrust and climb angle could cause large overshoots in peak altitude, so this was not considered an excessive safety margin.

For this flight, Joe Walker flew the Number 3 X-15, 56-6672. It was the only one of the three North American Aviation X-15s equipped with the Honeywell MH-96 flight control system, which had been developed to improve control of the rocketplane outside Earth’s atmosphere. This flight was the twenty-second for Number 3.

North American Aviation X-15 56-6672 immediately after being dropped by the Boeing NB-52 Stratofortress. (NASA) — North American Aviation X-15A 56-6672 immediately after being dropped by the Boeing NB-52 Stratofortress. (NASA)

Walker and the X-15 were airdropped from the Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress 52-003, The High and Mighty One, at 45,000 feet (13,716 meters) above Smith Ranch Dry Lake, Nevada, about half-way between the city of Reno and the NASA High Range Tracking Station at Ely. Launch time was 10:05:57.0 a.m., PDT. Walker ignited the Reaction Motors XLR99-RM-1 rocket engine. This engine was rated at 57,000 pounds of thrust. Experience had shown that different engines varied from flight to flight and that atmospheric conditions were a factor. Thrust beyond 60,000 pounds was often seen, but this could not be predicted in advance. The flight plan called for the duration of burn to be 84.5 seconds on this flight. The X-15 climbed at a 45° angle.

As Walker was about to shut down the engine according to plan, it ran out of fuel. The total burn time was 85.8 seconds, just slightly longer than planned.

“At burnout, Joe was passing 176,000 feet [53,645 meters] and traveling at 5,600 feet per second [1,707 meters per second]. He then began the long coast to peak altitude. It would take almost 2 minutes to reach peak altitude after burn out. Two minutes does not seem like a lot of time, but try timing it. Just sit back in your easy chair and count off the seconds. It is almost impossible to believe that you can continue to coast up in altitude for that length of time after the engine burns out. It gives you some feel for how much energy is involved at those speeds. For comparison, when you throw a ball up in the air as hard as you can, it only coasts upward a maximum of 4 or 5 seconds. The X-15 coasted up for 120 seconds.

“The airplane would coast up another 178,000 feet [54,254 meters] during that time to peak out at 354,200 feet. . . .” [107,960 meters]

—At The Edge of Space: The X-15 Flight Program, by Milton O. Thompson, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 1992, Chapter 5 at Page 125.

Joe Walker and the X-15 reached the peak of their ballistic trajectory at 354,200 feet (67.083 miles, 107,960 meters). Walker pitched the nose down to be in the proper attitude for atmospheric reentry. The X-15 decelerated as it hit the atmosphere and Walker experienced as much as 7 Gs. The rocketplane’s aerodynamic control surfaces again became operational as it descended through 95,000 feet (28,956 meters) and Walker leveled at 70,000 feet (21,336 meters). He then glided to a landing on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base, California, after 11 minutes, 8.6 seconds of flight.

Flight 91 was the highest flight achieved by any of the X-15s. It was Joe Walker’s second flight into space. His record would stand for the next 41 years.

21 August 1965, 13:59:59.518 UTC, T minus Zero

August 21, 2024Space FlightAstronauts, Charles Conrad Jr., Gemini 5, Gemini Program, Gordon Cooper, L. Gordon Cooper, Launch Complex 19, Manned Space Flight, Pete Conrad, Titan II GLVBryan Swopes

Astronauts L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., and Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr., lift of from Launch Complex 19, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Florida, at 13:59:59 UTC, 21 August 1965. This would be an 8-day mission. (NASA) — Astronauts L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., and Charles “Pete” Conrad, Jr., aboard Gemini 5/Titan II GLV, lift of from Launch Complex 19, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Florida, at 13:59:59.518 UTC, 21 August 1965. This would be an 8-day mission. (NASA)

21 August 1965: At 9:00 a.m., Eastern Standard Time (13:59:59.518 UTC), Gemini V lifted off from Launch Complex 19 at Cape Kennedy, Florida. On board the spacecraft were L. Gordon Cooper, Command Pilot, and Charles (“Pete”) Conrad, Jr. The purpose of the mission was to demonstrate manned orbital flight for a period of 8 days. During the launch, the crew experienced a maximum acceleration of 7.6 g.

Five minutes, 56.91 seconds after liftoff, the Gemini spacecraft was placed in a 87.4 × 188.9 nautical mile elliptical orbit with a velocity of 25,805 feet/second, inclined from Earth’s axis by 32.59°, orbiting once every 89.59 minutes. At 56:00 ground elapsed time (g.e.t.), the crew performed an orbital maneuver which increased the minimum orbital altitude (perigee) to 92 nautical miles. The orbital period increased very slightly to 89.68 minutes.

The heater for the liquid oxygen supply of one of the two fuel cells failed at 25:51 g.e.t. The gaseous oxygen pressure began to decline from 853 psi to 70 over the next four hours. The crew powered down he spacecraft until it could be determined that the fuel cells could provide sufficient electrical power to continue the mission. Power was restored slowly over ten orbits.

During the third day, the crew practiced orbital maneuvers for upcoming Agena rendezvous and docking missions. 16 of 17 planned experiments were carried out over the course of the mission.

Reentery deceleration was 7.1 g. The actual landing point was 89 nautical miles short of predicted, at N. 29° 47′, W. 69° 45′. Total duration of the Gemini V mission was 190:55:17. The spacecraft and crew were recovered by the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain (CVS -39).

Gemini Spacecraft. (NASA Gemini IV Mission Report, Figure 3–2 at Page 3–25)

The two-man Gemini spacecraft was built by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis, the same company that built the earlier Mercury space capsule. The spacecraft consisted of a reentry module and an adapter section. It had an overall length of 19 feet (5.791 meters) and a diameter of 10 feet (3.048 meters) at the base of the adapter section. The reentry module was 11 feet (3.353 meters) long with a diameter of 7.5 feet (2.347 meters). The weight of the Gemini varied from ship to ship. At launch. Gemini Spacecraft 5 weighed 7,947.17 pounds (3,604.78 kilograms). At touchdown, after the parachute was jettisoned, it weighed 4,244.75 pounds (1,925.39 kilograms).

Titan II GLV, (NASA Gemini IV Mission Report, Figure 3-1, at Page 3–23)

The Titan II GLV was a “man-rated” variant of the Martin SM-68B intercontinental ballistic missile. It was assembled at Martin’s Middle River, Maryland plant so as not to interfere with the production of the ICBM at Denver, Colorado. Twelve GLVs were ordered by the Air Force for the Gemini Program.

The Titan II GLV was a two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket. The first stage was 63 feet (19.202 meters) long with a diameter of 10 feet (3.048 meters). The second stage was 27 feet (8.230 meters) long, with the same diameter. The 1st stage was powered by an Aerojet Engineering Corporation LR-87-7 engine which combined two combustion chambers and exhaust nozzles with a single turbopump unit. The engine was fueled by a hypergolic combination of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Ignition occurred spontaneously as the two components were combined in the combustion chambers. The LR-87-7 produced 430,000 pounds of thrust. It was not throttled and could not be shut down and restarted. The 2nd stage used an Aerojet LR-91 engine which produced 100,000 pounds of thrust.

The Gemini 5/Titan II GLV-5 combination had a total height of 109 feet (33.223 meters) and weighed 344,685 pounds (156,346 kilograms) when at first stage ignition.

20 August 1977

August 20, 2024Space FlightAsteroid Belt, Interstellar Space, Jupiter, LC-41, NASA, Neptune, Rocket, Saturn, Space Flight, Titan IIIE-Centaur, Uranus, Voyager 2Bryan Swopes

20 August 1977: Voyager 2 was launched from Launch Complex 41 at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a Titan IIIE-Centaur launch vehicle. It was placed on an orbital trajectory that would take it on a journey throughout the Solar System and beyond.

Nearly two years later, 9 July 1979, Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Jupiter, passing within 350,000 miles (570,000 kilometers) of the planet. Many dramatic images as well as scientific data were transmitted back to Earth.