Magellan was the first spacecraft to use aerobraking, and by doing so saved fuel for future maneuvers.Įditor’s Note: While I’m on holiday over the next week, Space history items may be late, combined in odd ways, or even nonexistent. In other space history, on this date 20 years ago, the Magellan radar-mapping spacecraft began a 70-day aerobraking maneuver to circularize its orbit around Venus. You can read more on this Skylab mission page or this Skylab 2 page. The crew returned to Earth on June 22, 1973. Once the repair work was done, “the crew conducted solar astronomy and Earth resources experiments, medical studies, and five student experiments” over the course of their 28-day stay. They also had to release one solar array that had become stuck during deployment. The astronauts had to make substantial repairs of launch damage to make the station habitable, beginning with deploying and attaching a sunshade - which they dubbed a “parasol” - to keep the interior cool. Kerwin aboard the station for just under a month. The Skylab 2 mission placed astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr., Paul J. (Artist’s cutaway illustration of Skylab, from 1972. by Tagged launch, mars, space history, space shuttle, space station, venusįorty years ago today - a Saturn 1B rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, carrying the first crew to inhabit the Skylab space station. Mars Express itself continues to study the red planet from orbit.įor anyone who cares, today’s space history post was delayed because the National Space Science Data Center’s catalog of spacecraft data has been balky lately. The spacecraft arrived at Mars in December 2003 and released the “Beagle 2” lander, which unfortunately was lost. Venera 15 entered orbit around Venus on October 10, 1983, and operated until July 1984.Īnd 10 years ago today, the European Space Agency launched the Mars Express mission on a Soyuz-Fregat rocket out of Baikonur. Its sister ship, Venera 16, launched a few days later. On this date 30 years ago, the Venera 15 radar mapping spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Proton K rocket. They transferred water and other supplies to the station, conducted a series of experiments, and returned astronaut Andrew Thomas to Earth after he spent 130 days on Mir. Kavandi, along with Russian cosmonaut Valery Victorovitch Ryumin, docked with the Mir space station on June 4th, marking the ninth time a shuttle had docked with the Russian station (but the first for Discovery). (STS-91 rolling out to the launch complex. On My Way Out the Door: First Afghani Cosmonaut, and Five German Satellitesįifteen years ago today - Jthe Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center on the final Shuttle/Mir mission. by Tagged launch, space history, space station Garriott spent nine days aboard the ISS and returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-12, along with cosmonauts and ISS residents Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, while the other two TMA-13 passengers stayed aboard the ISS. The Soyuz docked with the Zarya module two days after launch. (The Soyuz rocket carrying TMA-13 being erected on the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad. But this space history item will not be denied!įive years ago today - Octoa Soyuz-FG rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying mission Soyuz TMA-13 to the International Space Station. Someone will need to explain to me why NASA’s websites have to be shut down - did they shut down the power to the server rooms? - but the fact is that the National Space Science Data Center site came up empty today.
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