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Dale M. Gray is the president of Frontier Historical Consultants. Frontier Status reports are a free weekly annotated index chronicling the progress of the emerging "space frontier".
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Understanding the Frontier
Space Launch Initiative
Frontier Processes at Work
Current Space Development as a Manifestation of Historic Frontier Processes
Why has the U. S. State Department Declared War on the American Satellite Industry?
Congress is Closing The Wrong Barn Door
Intelligent Life in Washington
Wither Iridium?
High Flight from the High Country
Robotic Spacecraft: Loaded for Bear or Barely Loaded?
Wanted: Freedom
Go Web, Young Man!
Imponderables
"Why", asked the Mad Hatter, "is a raven like a writing desk?"
Forging Plowshares into Spears
Amateur Rocketry Takes Flight
Why Compton Had to Die
The New Frontier
Previous postings are archived at:FSR Archive and ASI.org
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Frontier Status 245
March 9, 2001
by Dale M. Gray
Frontier Historical Consultants
The history of the new high frontier is now at your
fingertips. Research topics from past issues of Frontier
Status at FrontierStatus.com.
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the present for the future!
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For the second month in a row, a Shuttle and an Ariane
rocket lifted off on the same day. On March 8, the Shuttle
Discovery was launched to the International Space Station.
It carried on-board the second crew for the station along with
equipment and systems to outfit the Destiny module attached
last month. An Ariane 5 rocket carrying two
communications satellites also launched on March 8. Other
news of note includes the unveiling of plans for a man to
parachute from space. Iridium Satellite announces an
agreement with 13 service providers even as the court
decides that Motorola can be sued to the tune of $5 billion
for its role in the bankrupt original Iridium effort. In fall-out
over the cancellation of the X-33 program, testing of its
linear aerospike engine is halted.
Highlights of the week of March 9 include:
SHUTTLE
Discovery
On March 8 at 6:42 a.m. EDT, the Shuttle
Discovery and her seven-person crew rocketed into the dawn
skies of Cape Kennedy. STS-102 is the 103 Shuttle launch.
The two solid rocket boosters completed their work and
were jettisoned at T+2:20 minutes. The main engines cut off
at T+8:35 minutes -- followed about half a minute later by
the release of the external tank. At T+40 minutes, the Orbital
Maneuvering System fired to boost the shuttle into a 115 x
136 statute mile orbit. A few minutes later, the Expedition
One crew on-board the International Space Station reported
that they could see the exhaust plume of Discovery's launch.
At T+107 minutes the payload bay doors were opened and
mission control gave the astronauts the "go" for on-orbit
operations (
NASA;
Spaceflight Now;
NASA Mission
Status Report at SpaceRef.com;
Space.com).
Discovery carries the Expedition Two crew, the second crew
to occupy the International Space Station, along with the
Leonardo MPLM. The Shuttle is expected to link with the
space station at 12:30 a.m. EST Saturday, March 10. The
first walk on Sunday will feature Expedition Two crew
members James Voss and Susan Helms. Together the pair
will work with Andy Thomas who will be controlling the
Shuttle's robot arm to move the docking hub. Voss and
Helms will disconnect cables and stow an antenna that is no
longer needed. The Leonardo module will be attached to the
station on Monday. The second spacewalk, on Tuesday,
will feature Discovery crew members Andrew Thomas and
Paul Richards. They will attach a stowage platform and
coolant pump to Destiny's exterior, conduct a photographic
survey and activate power converter units. For the
remainder of mission, the combined crew will work to
transfer the contents of the Leonard module into the space
station, outfit the Destiny Laboratory module and work
together to assure the smooth transfer of the station to the
second crew. The Expedition One crew will return to Earth
with the Shuttle (Spaceflight Now; Washington Post;
SpaceRef;
Spacefl
ight Now Preview;
NASA PR at
SpaceRef.com).
Atlantis and Columbia
Weather delays continued to plague
the cross-country flights of Atlantis and Columbia. The two
shuttles finally came home to roost on March 5. Waiting for
a break in the weather, Atlantis was delayed at its first stop at
Altus Air Force Base. On Sunday, it flew to Barksdale AFB
for refueling then on to Elgin AFB for the night. Perched
on top of its modified 747, the Shuttle Atlantis landed at the
Shuttle Landing Facility at 10:56 a.m. EST Monday. Four
hours behind, Columbia was diverted to the Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station Skid Strip because there isn't room for the
two Orbiters at the Shuttle Landing Facility. On
Wednesday, Columbia, still on its 747, made the short hop
to the SLF (Spaceflight Now;
Space.com;
NASA PR at
SpaceRef.com).
ISS ALPHA
Enterprise
On February 16, a Joint Resolution Concerning
Basic Principles of Implementation was signed by
SpaceHab, RKK Energia and Rosaviakosmos that will
replace the Russian Docking and Stowage Module (SSM)
with the Enterprise module. The Enterprise module has been
proposed by Spacehab and developed by RKK Energia.
Rosaviakosmos will provide the Proton rocket to carry the
Enterprise module aloft. The use of a Proton rocket will
allow the design of the Enterprise module to be expanded to
not only provide a "multimedia studio" in space as originally
proposed, but also the additional capability of habitation and
experimentation. This additional function will take up some
of the slack created by American program cancellations
announced last week. In addition, the module will provide
all the functions of the SSM by offering a docking port for
logistics vehicles, propellant resupply via transit fuel lines
and roll control thruster accommodations. The Enterprise
module will be offered as a package along with a Soyuz
TMA spacecraft -- allowing the crew compliment to rise
from three to six. The Soyuz TMA is a specially adapted
Soyuz capsule that can accommodate taller crew members.
The Enterprise module could be launched as early as 2003,
which could give the station additional personnel two years
ahead of timelines established by NASA before their
Habitation Module and Crew Return Vehicle programs were
canceled. The module would be attached to the Russian
portion of the station (
SpaceHab;
RussianSpa
ceweb.com;
Spaceflight
Now;
SpaceHab PR at
SpaceRef.com).
Robot Arm
A critical system for the International Space
Station, the Canadian-built robot arm, will reach several
milestones this coming week. During the first spacewalk by
Voss and Helms on Sunday, the Lab Cradle Assembly for
the arm will be attached to the exterior of the Destiny
module. After the Leonardo MPLM is secured to the station
on Monday, two work stations will be transferred to the
station. One will be installed in Destiny, while the other will
be stored away to be installed in the Cupola when it is added
to the station. The work stations will control the 17-meter
long robotic Canadarm-2. The arm will be delivered to the
station in April. The Canadarm-2, workstations and
controlling software were developed by MD Robotics, a
subsidiary of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (
MacDonald
Dettwiler PR at SpaceRef.com).
MIR
On March 8, the Mir space station was reported to be
at an altitude of 255 km and losing about 2 km per day.
New predictions place its deorbit at March 20, plus or minus
three days. When the station reaches a critical altitude of
around March 12, controllers will begin a series of
maneuvers to control the station's reentry. Plans are still in
place to scatter the station in a long swath in the remote
Pacific Ocean 5,400 km east of Australia. To assure the
successful completion of the deorbit, Russia has enlisted the
aid of US Space Command to track the station. It has also
taken out $200 million in insurance to pay claims should the
station accidentally fall astray (RussianSpaceWeb.com;
Aviation
Now;
Spaceflight Now;
Space.com;
Mir Status
Report at SpaceRef.com).
CHINA
Manned Flight
News is trickling out of China that the
country is planning to launch its first manned mission to
space in late 2002. Between now and then the country plans
three more unmanned tests of the rocket and spacecraft
systems. The country also recently revealed a new
spacesuit. China's movement toward becoming a space
faring nation appears to be politically motivated to strengthen
the authority of Chinese President Jiang Zemin and to raise
nationalist sentiment, much like the movements in the USA
and USSR in the 1960s (
Yomiuri.co.jp;
SpaceDaily.com).
LAUNCHES
Ariane 5 / Eurobird / BSAT 2a
On March 8 at 5:51 p.m.
EST, an Ariane 5 (509) rocket carrying two communications
satellites lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana. The twin
solid rocket boosters were jettisoned at T+30 seconds. A
minute later the payload fairing was released at an altitude of
over 100 km. At T+10:15 seconds the main Vulcain engine
completed its burn and separated. The second stage fired
until T+27 minutes. Following its burn, it spun up for the
release of the two satellites. At T+29:35 minutes the
Eurobird satellite was released. The Sylda 5 dual payload
adapter was then shed and the BSAT 2a was deployed, 37
minutes into the flight. Flight 140 injected the two satellites
into a geostationary transfer orbit of 863 x 36,032 km with
an inclination of 2.02 degrees. This was well within
predicted orbital parameters (Arianespace;
Spaceflight Now
Story;
Spaceflight Now
Log).
Eurobird was built by Alcatel Space of Cannes, France. The
3,050 kg satellite has 24 Ku-band transponders and is
expected to serve for 12 years. It will be placed in the 28.5
degrees East longitude slot above Africa where it will
provide digital television for the British Isles, and Internet
file transfer, video conferencing and cable TV distribution
for Germany. It will be part of Eutelsat's constellation of 18
satellites. This was the 14th satellite launched for Eutelsat
by Ariane with two more on order (Arianespace).
BSAT-2A was built by Orbital Sciences for the Japanese
Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation. The 1,317 kg
satellite has 4 transponders and will be placed in the 110
degrees East longitude orbital slot where it will serve Japan
with direct-to-home television (Arianespace).
LAUNCH SYSTEMS
X-33
Following last week's cancellation of the X-33
program, testing of its Linear Aerospike rocket engine has
been halted at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Only
eight tests of the engines in flight configuration remained.
The engines were developed by Boeing's Rocketdyne
division (
Space.com).
X-34
J.R. Thompson, the president of Orbital Sciences,
has spoken out at the cancellation of the X-34 project.
Thompson, the former director of the Marshall Space Flight
Center, stated that following the Mars mission failures of last
year, NASA injected itself into the development process of
the X-34. It began to require redundant systems and review
processes that were unnecessary in the unmanned test
vehicle. Increased safety requirement and design changes
injected three years into development caused delays and cost
overruns. Extensive meetings resulting in design changes to
assure that the program would be a success also contributed
to the escalating costs and delays that caused ultimately
caused the program to be canceled. NASA also failed to
deliver the promised Fastrac engine rocket engine to power
the X-34. While Orbital Sciences has delivered two test
vehicles ready for flight, there is no engine available to
power them. Orbital has been paid about $77 million of its
$97 million contract to build the X-34. Orbital spent about
$40 million on the program along with another $16.5 million
to modify an L-1011 to be a launch platform (Huntsville
Times).
HTHL/RBCC/SSTO
Marshall Space Flight Center has
announced that it plans to issue a Request for Quotation
(RVQ) for the development of a Horizontal Take-Off and
Landing (HTHL) Rocket-Based Combined Cycle (RBCC)
Single Stage-to-Orbit (SSTO) Vehicle Concept. Required
disciplinary support includes trajectory, aerodynamic,
propulsion, and aerothermal analysis, as well as, thermal
protection system sizing, operations analysis and economic
analysis. Inquires should be received by March 21
(
NASA Note;
Marshall Spaceflight Center Business
Opportunities).
TECHNOLOGY
Aerojet Attitude Control System
On February 21, a
sounding rocket launched out of White Sands Missile Range
in New Mexico carrying a new version of Aerojet's Attitude
Control System. During the seven-minute flight into space,
the Aerojet Mark VI-D system precisely positioned a science
experiment to observe a white dwarf star (G191-B2B) with a
high-resolution spectrometer and camera. A low jitter rate
was required for the success of the mission. The new Mark
VI-D achieved this stability using onboard cold gas thrusters
(
Aerojet;
News.com;
Aerojet PR at
SpaceRef.com).
CHARISMA
STARS
Space Media, a subsidiary of SpaceHab, has put a
student run experiment on the International Space Station.
The experiment consists of a self-contained mini-ecosystem
that was delivered to the station on last month's Progress
supply flight. The experiment is a small container containing
miniature red shrimp. Students ranging from 8 to 18 years-
old are participating in the STARS education program. They
will be able to watch the shrimp adapt to microgravity via an
Internet link and compare them to shrimp living in their own
classrooms. They will also be able to chat with station crew
members in question-and-answer sessions (
SpaceHab PR at
SpaceRef.com).
EXPLORATION
Pioneer 10
Twenty-nine years ago on March 3, NASA
launched the Pioneer 10 probe from Kennedy Space Center
on a Delta rocket. The spacecraft was the first man-made
object to ever survive passage through the asteroid belt and
the first to obtain close photographs of Jupiter. In 1983, it
was the first to travel beyond the orbit of Pluto. The probe's
formal mission ended on March 31, 1997, but controllers
maintained regular contact with the spacecraft until July of
2000. Recent efforts feature five downlink sessions from
the Deep Space Network along with three two-way sessions.
But they were unable to establish a communications link
with Pioneer 10's eight-watt transmitter. The giant Arecibo
radio telescope in Puerto Rico listened for a response from
the spacecraft for an hour each night from February 26 to
March 5. Another attempt to receive data from the spacecraft
using the Arecibo radio telescope will occur from March 8 to
18. A more aggressive communications link campaign may
occur in April. The spacecraft is currently 7.16 billion miles
from Earth and is moving away from the Sun at a rate of
27,380 mph. It takes communications 21 hours and 20
minutes to reach the spacecraft from Earth (AP;
Spaceflight
Now).
FOURTH FRONTIER
Dedicated to the emerging history of space as a destination
Adventurers
Space Jump
Rodd Millner, a former Australian army
commando, has announced plans to travel to the edge of
space and return to the ground via parachute. Wearing an
astronaut's suit, Millner will ascend to a record-setting
40,000 meters (130,000 feet) in a high-altitude helium
balloon. The previous record was set in 1960 when USAF
Captain Joe W. Kittinger parachuted from a balloon at
31,100 meters (102,000 feet). Reaching altitude, Millner
will depart the balloon and begin a seven-minute free-fall to
Earth. During the descent, he could reach speeds of up to
1,100 mph, which would make him the first human to break
the sound barrier without a vehicle. As he approaches the
ground, the thicker air will slow his fall to about 120 mph.
He will then pull his parachute at about 1,500 meters to
bring him safely to ground. He is planning the "Space
Jump" from Alice Springs, Australia in March of 2002. It
will be filmed in 70 mm film and HD video tape from a
variety of balloons, jets and lower level skydivers (AP;
aapmedianet.com.au;
Feed
Magazine;
PR at
SpaceRef.com).
THIRD FRONTIER
Dedicated to the history of the Internet link to space
Satellite Broadband
Starband
Starband, the satellite-based two-way broadband
Internet company, issued a statement on March 9 that it
would be withdrawing its planned initial public offering.
The company had filed for the IPO in October, but company
officials have determined that the company has enough
capital to move forward with its plans without the IPO. The
company lists Gilat Satellite Networks, Microsoft and
EchoStar among its investors. It began shipping its systems
last year for consumer use and is selling them both as stand-
alone systems and as combinations with Dish Network
television systems (Cahners Business Information).
AlphaStar
AlphaStar has announced a pricing plan for its
hybrid two-way broadband satellite Internet service.
Customers pay $199 for the equipment along with a $199
installation fee. Thereafter, the service will charge only
$39.99 per month. The service has been available through
the GE-5 satellite since August of 2000. The service was
inaugurated under the name TeleCrossing network, but
recently changed its name to SkyCrossing network. The
service is available in the US, Canada, Caribbean and
portions of Latin America. Recently the company also
demonstrated that it could use Loral Skynet satellites to
provide the same service worldwide. Satellite signals are
sent and received through a six-foot satellite dish that is
connected to subscribers via local fixed wireless systems
similar to those used by cell phones (BusinessWire PR;
Greenwich Time;
SkyCrossing).
SECOND FRONTIER
Dedicated to the history of space-based network to individual
communications.
GPS
Geo-caching
Think of it as a giant game of hide-and-seek.
The game of Geo-caching is rapidly growing in popularity.
Using his store-bought GPS unit, the geo-cacher sets out to
find concealed treasure. The geo-caching gamesman uses
the GPS to home in on coordinates. The payoff is a small
trove of items left by previous players and a guest book.
After depositing a new item and signing the book, the
"cacher" is free to pick out an item out of the trove.
Typically, such items are CDs, toys, candy, money, photos
or tools. Dove-tailing with the established sport of
orienteering, the game is actually an outgrowth of hacker
tourism where surfers visit web sites of interest. The first
cache was placed near Portland, Oregon in May of 2000
only days after the US government stopped degrading
signals from the $12 billion GPS satellite system. It
received its first two visitors three days later. Caches are
categorized from 1-5 by level of difficulty (5 being the
hardest). There are hundreds of caches in the US with
caches beginning to turn up in the UK (BBC;
Geo-caching Web site).
Satellite Telephone Frontier
Iridium Satellite LLC
Having risen from the ashes of the
bankrupt Iridium venture, Iridium Satellite LLC this past
week announced that it had signed partnership agreements
with 13 service providers. Most of the service providers are
overseas operations. The company also announced that the
www.iridium.com Web site had been reopened along with a
new customer response center. The company expects to
restart commercial operations next month with air time
marketed at less than $1.50 per minute (Reuters; Washington
Post;
Space.com).
BUSINESS
Motorola
Creditors of the bankrupt Iridium LLC have been
granted the ability to sue Motorola. In all Motorola faces
creditors with $2 billion in damages with another $3.5
billion of damages from Iridium investors. Creditors content
that the money that they loaned Iridium was actually
funneled to Motorola and that it should be returned. Iridium
filed for bankruptcy in August of 1999 when it could not
attract enough customers for its $7 per minute satellite
telephone system (New York Times).
GE Americom
General Electric is said to be in talks with
the Societe Europeenne des Satellites SA (SES) of
Luxembourg for the purchase of GE's satellite unit GE
American Communications (GE Americom). The deal
would take the form of a joint venture with significant
ownership retained by GE Capital, but with control of the 15
satellite network turned over to SES. A number of satellite
companies were interested in acquiring GE Americom, but
SES was said to have presented the best offer. The Wall
Street Journal reported the price for the GE unit to between
$4.5 and $5 billion in cash and shares (AFP).
Orbcomm
On March 8, Advanced Communications
Technologies Inc. (ACT) of Irvine, California was
announced the winner of an auction for Orbcomm Global
LP. The company operates a constellation of data
communicaiton satellites in low Earth orbit. Orbcomm was
put up for auction as a result of declaring bankruptcy in
September. The main shareholders in the company are
Orbital Sciences and Teleglobe Inc of Montreal. ACT is a
remote monitoring and wireless infrastructure company.
Transfer of the Orbcomm to ACT is contingent on the
bankruptcy court certifying the results of the auction
(SpaceNews;
Space.com).
SPACE STOCKS
The stock listing is for informational
purposes only and not intended for trading purposes.
Frontier Status shall not be liable for any errors or delays in
the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Additional stocks may be listed by request
(dalegray@micron.net).
| Company |
Ticker |
Friday Close |
Last Friday |
Change |
| Alliant Techsys |
ATK |
84.20 |
84.90 |
-0.70 |
| Boeing |
BA |
65.5 |
61.10 |
4.4 |
| EchoStar |
DISH |
28.25 |
26.9375 |
1.3125 |
| GlobalStar |
GSTRF |
0.5938 |
0.5625 |
0.0313 |
| Hughes Electronics |
GMH |
22.9 |
23.05 |
-0.15 |
| Lockheed Martin |
LMT |
38.56 |
38.3 |
0.26 |
| Loral Space |
LOR |
3.35 |
3.49 |
0.14 |
| Motorola |
MOT |
15.55 |
16.79 |
-1.24 |
| Orbital Sciences |
ORB |
6.95 |
6.65 |
0.30 |
| Sirius |
SIRI |
22.625 |
24.375 |
-1.750 |
| SpaceDev |
SPDVE.OB |
0.9062 |
0.8750 |
0.0312 |
| SpaceHab |
SPAB |
2.6875 |
2.5625 |
0.1250 |
| TRW |
TRW |
39.91 |
39.69 |
0.22 |
| NASDAQ |
NASDAQ |
2052.78 |
2117.63 |
-128.23 |
COMING EVENTS
- March 10-14 - March Storm 2001, ProSpace lobbying effort
on Capitol Hill.
- March 18 - Sea Launch Zenit 3SL, XM-2 (Rock), Equatorial
Pacific.
- March 20 - Shuttle Discovery, STS-102/ISS 5A.1, landing,
Kennedy Space Center.
- March 20 (+/-) - Mir deorbit, remote Pacific Ocean.
- March - Proton M/ Briz (Maiden Flight), Russian
communications satellite, Baikonur Cosmodrome,
Tyuratam, Kazakhstan.
- March - GSLV, G-Sat 1, Srkharikota, India. This is will be
the maiden flight of India's Geosynchronous Satellite
Launch Vehicle.
- April 7 - Delta 2, Mars Odyssey, Kennedy Space Center.
- April 12 - Soyuz U, Progress 4P ISS resupply, Baikonur
Cosmodrome,
- April 19 - Shuttle Endeavour, STS-100/ISS 2S, Raffaello,
Cape Kennedy LS-39A.
- April 21 - Delta 2, Jason/TIMED, Vandenberg AFB.
- April 30 - Soyuz, ISS crew return vehicle swap-out,
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Tyuratam, Kazakhstan.
- April - Pegasus XL, HESSI, Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station.
FRONTIER CENSUS REPORT
With the launch of the Shuttle Discovery on
March 8, the space population has risen to 10. Five
Americans, one Russian and an Australian- born astronaut
on the Shuttle and two Russians and one American on the
International Space Station. Humans have spent a total of
280.685 man-days in orbit in the year 2001. The
International Space Station has been occupied for 128 days
beginning on November 2, 2000. ISS has been in orbit for
840 days.
NASA Human
Spaceflight
HISTORY
March 9, 1996 - Orbital Sciences launched the REX-II
satellite using a Pegasus XL rocket flown out of Vandenberg
AFB.
- March 6, 1991 - The USSR launched a Soyuz rocket from
Plesetsk carrying the 6,300 kg Zenit-8 military cartographic
satellite.
- March 8, 1991 - The US launched a Delta rocket from Cape
Canaveral carrying the 1,385 Inmarsat 2 F2. The satellite
was used for mobile and marine communications.
- March 8, 1991 - The US launched a Titan IVA rocket from
Vandenberg AFB. The rocket carried a Lacrosse 2
surveillance satellite. This was the first west coast launch of
a Titan IV.
- March 5, 1981 - The USSR launched a Soyuz rocket
carrying a 6,600 kg Yantar-2K surveillance satellite from
Plesetsk.
- March 5, 1981 - The USSR launched a Tsyklon 2 rocket
from Baikonur carrying the 3,800 kg RORSAT surveillance
satellite.
- March 6, 1981 - The USSR launched a Kosmos rocket from
Plesetsk carrying eight 40 kg Strela communications
satellites.
- March 2, 1972 - The US launched Pioneer 10 to study
Jupiter. The spacecraft was launched by an Atlas-Centaur
rocket from Kennedy Space Center.
- March 3, 1971 - China launched a Long March 1 (CZ-1)
from Jiuquan carrying the 221 kg Shi Jian 1 comsat
technology satellite.
- March 3, 1971 - The USSR launched a Voskhod rocket
from Baikonur carrying a 6,300 kg Zenit-4M surveillance
satellite.
- March 5, 1971 - The USSR launched a Kosmos rocket from
Kapustin Yar. The rocket, carrying a military satellite,
experienced a second stage failure.
- March 5, 1971 - The USSR launched a Voskhod rocket
from Plesetsk. The spacecraft carried a Zenit-2M photo
reconnaissance satellite. The rocket launch is listed as a
failure.
- March 9, 1969 - The US launched a Saturn 5 rocket carrying
Apollo 9 into Earth orbit to evaluate the Command Module /
Lunar Module system. The mission crew included Col.
James A McDivitt; Col. David R. Scott and Russell L.
Schweickart. During the 10-day mission, the crew made
151 orbits and achieved the first Lunar Module docking in
orbit. Schweickart also conducted a 37-minute EVA from
the Lunar Module.
- March 9-10, 1966 - The first integrated test of the Apollo
service module was conducted at White Sands Test Facility.
- March 9, 1966 - The US launched a TA Thor Agena D from
Vandenberg AFB. The rocket carried a USAF surveillance
payload.
- March 3, 1961 - The US launched a Blue Scout 2 rocket
from Cape Canaveral. The Suborbital flight featured a
radiation probe to study the magnetosphere.
- March 7, 1961 - The first flight model of a Saturn I booster
was installed on a static test stand for check-out at Marshall
Space Flight Center.
- March 7, 1961 - Robert White piloted an X-15 out of
Edwards AFB. Mission 34 of the test program reached a
speed of 4674 kph and an altitude of 23,610 km.
- March 8, 1961 - The US launched a Redstone missile at
Cape Canaveral. The control system malfunctioned during
re-entry 374 seconds into the flight, causing it to miss its
target by 358 miles.
- March 9, 1961 - The USSR launched a Vostok rocket from
Baikonur. The 4,700 kg capsule carried a dog named
Chernushka, a mannequin (Ivan Ivanovich), and biological
specimens. The mannequin ejected from the capsule and
returned by parachute. The dog and samples were recovered
alive in the capsule.
- March 8, 1935 - Robert Goddard launched a LOX/gasoline
rocket that featured a pendulum stabilizer. The rocket
achieved a velocity of 700 mph (1,126 kph) and landed
9,000 feet (2.74 km) from the launch site.
Mark Wade's
Encylopedia Astronautica Chronology Pages; "The Illustrated
Encyclopedia of Space Technology" by Kenneth Gatland.
SOURCES
SERVICES
108 articles archived; 78 used
(c) Copyright Dale M. Gray March 9, 2001.
Dale M. Gray is the president of Frontier Historical
Consultants. Frontier Status reports are a free weekly
annotated index chronicling the progress of the emerging "space frontier".
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