Tag Archives: Apollo
Three Canopies into the Pacific: Coming Home during Project Apollo
Since July 24 is the 48th anniversary of the return from space of Apollo 11, here is a short account the return via parachutes of the Apollo spacecraft. For all of the earlier work on the Gemini Earth landing system … Continue reading
NASA’s Overestimates of Soviet Lunar Capabilities During the Moon Race
Many times NASA officials used the national security intelligence on the Soviet Union to sustain their case for an aggressive effort to complete Apollo by the end of the 1960s. In a few instances these public statements aroused within the … Continue reading
Announcing a Forthcoming Conference: “NASA in the ‘Long’ Civil Rights Movement”
When: Thursday March 16 – Friday March 17, 2017 Where: United States Space and Rocket Center, Educational Training Facility, 1 Tranquility Base – Huntsville, Alabama 35805 On March 16-17, 2017, the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center History Office and the University … Continue reading
A Brief on the Apollo 1 (Capsule 204) Fire on its 50th Anniversary
What happened? The Apollo 1 (204) Command Module was on the ground at the Kennedy Space Center on January 27, 1967 when a fire broke out in the capsule. The three crew members (Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Edward … Continue reading
A Truly Hilarious Cartoon on the Apollo/Saturn Stack
This cartoon from the XKCD website helps explain with considerable humor the awesomeness of the Saturn V. It uses onlty the most common words in English to rescribe the stack. You may find the original here. Enjoy!
Some New 2016 Books about Apollo, Only One of Which I might Review
There were several new books published about Apollo in 2016. Here is my list of them. Any additions? French, Francis. Editor. Apollo Pilot: The Memoir of Astronaut Donn Eisele. University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Eisele served on Apollo 7 in … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Soviet Robots in the Solar System: Mission Technologies and Discoveries”
Soviet Robots in the Solar System: Mission Technologies and Discoveries. By Wesley T. Huntress Jr. and Mikhail Ya. Marov. Chichester, UK: Springer Praxis, 2011. Paperback, 467 pp., illustrations, ISBN 978-1-4419-7897-4. $44.95. It seems hard to believe now, but once there … Continue reading
How Might We Preserve the History of the Lunar Landing Research Facility?
How might we preserve the history of the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF)? It is a germane question. Located at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the LLRF was built in 1965 at a cost of $3.5 million. It was … Continue reading
Remembering the Gemini Program
Since it is the fiftieth anniversary of the the end of the Gemini program in 1966, with the flight of Gemini XII on November 12-15, I thought it appropriate to reflect on what I refer to as the middle child … Continue reading
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