We’re changing up the release schedule a bit. That way, the email that reaches your inbox every Friday (after this catch-up message) covers the upcoming week in space history instead of the previous week. So here’s the catchup post, and then tomorrow, we’ll be on the new release schedule.
Today, January 26, 2023, is NASA’s official Day of Remembrance in honor of the "members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery, including the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia.” Take a moment today and over the coming week to remember these crews and those who lost their lives in the pursuit of space exploration.
63 Years Ago-
Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey, lifted off on a test flight on January 21, 1960. This launch was focused on testing the Mercury capsule’s launch escape system, a critical part of making sure the capsule was human-rated. The Little Joe rockets were used during the Gemini program to test the escape system at Max Q, test parachute systems, study the aerodynamics of the capsule at different altitudes, and check the splashdown and retrieval methods that would be used for human flights.
61 Years Ago-
The Ranger 3 spacecraft launched on January 26, 1962. Ranger 3 was a lunar impactor and was NASA’s first attempt to land, albeit roughly, on the Moon. There were numerous issues with the spacecraft, resulting in Ranger 3 flying by the Moon two days after launch.
Looking at the early Pioneer and Ranger missions, one sees a great number of failures. The first Ranger spacecraft to impact the lunar surface was Ranger 7 in 1964.
59 Years Ago-
NASA launched the Echo 2 satellite on January 25, 1964. The Echo satellites were passive communication satellites that reflected signals sent from Earth back to another place on Earth. Echo 2 measured 135 feet across and was used to test the practicality of passive communications satellites. Check out the National Air and Space Museum’s article to find out more.
55 Years Ago-
On January 22, 1968, a Saturn 1B rocket carried a Lunar Module into a Low Earth Orbit, where the Lunar Module’s propulsion systems were tested in space for the first time during the Apollo 5 mission. There were some programming issues with the LM software, and the first firing of the LM descent engine only lasted 4 seconds. Ground controllers were able to compensate, and simulated lunar landing sequences were then performed with the LM.
The LM then tested the ascent propulsion system for the first time, simulating a landing abort, something that thankfully never happened during the Apollo program. After successfully test-firing the descent and ascent propulsion systems, the test was deemed a success. Both LM stages reentered the atmosphere after expending all of their fuel.
The timeline of the Apollo program leaves me in awe. The rate of flights and the number of tests that were carried out in such a short time is staggering. There were years of development time for the LM, but it's incredible that the spacecraft went from the first test flight to landing on the Moon in roughly a year and a half.
I’d love it if you could please take a moment to check out my shop- Starlight and Gleam. Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and nothing says love like a piece of space-inspired jewelry. ;) There’s FREE shipping on all orders with the code SUBSTACK, so check out the site and snag something nice for yourself or someone special. Also, check out this glow-in-the-dark Lunar Module and Command Module, plus a holographic Space Shuttle sticker- available in this 3-pack!
53 Years Ago-
On January 23, 1970, The ITOS-1 or Improved TIROS Operational Satellite was launched along with the OSCAR 5 satellite. The TIROS or Television Infrared Observation satellites were part of a series of early weather satellites that were launched by the United States, starting in 1960. ITOS-1 was a second-generation sun-synchronous meteorological satellite that observed Earth in infrared and visual wavelengths.
The other satellite that launched with the ITOS-1 weather satellite was the OSCAR 5 amateur radio satellite. This small, battery-powered spacecraft transmitted “battery conditions, spacecraft temperatures, and horizon sensor responses.” Amateurs in over 25 countries made contact with the spacecraft over its short, month and a half or so life. OSCAR 1 was the first amateur satellite launched into space, all the way back in 1961.
37 Years Ago-
On January 24, 1986, the Voyager 2 spacecraft made history when it passed by Uranus, the first and, so far, the only time a spacecraft has visited this ice giant. The trajectories of Voyager 2 and its sister mission, Voyager 1, were made possible because of a unique planetary alignment that occurs once every 175 years.
Uranus was the second to last planet that Voyager 2 passed by on its planetary mission. Voyager 2 passed within 50,600 miles of Uranus as it sped out of our solar system. During this brief, six-hour encounter, the spacecraft sent back thousands of pictures and a large amount of data on Uranus and its numerous moons. Voyager 2 also imaged the planet’s rings and discovered several new ones.
Speaking of moons, new ones were discovered, and existing ones were imaged in greater detail than ever before. The Uranian moons are primarily named after Shakespearean characters: Oberon and Titania are the largest, followed by 25 other moons. Voyager 2 discovered ten moons, among them, Juliet, Puck, Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, and Portia, among others. The inner moons that were imaged by the spacecraft look to be composed of half water ice and half rock, while the outer moons are most likely captured asteroids. Miranda, which is the smallest of the innermost of the largest Uraniun moons, has giant canyons that are 12 times as deep as the Grand Canyon. Check out this NASA website that details all of these incredible moons.
I hope we visit Uranus and these moons again soon, there’s so much to learn about these incredible worlds.
31 Years Ago-
Liftoff of STS-42! On the morning of January 22, 1992, the Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off on an 8-day mission with the first female Canadian astronaut onboard, Roberta Bondar. During this mission, the crew split up into red and blue shifts so they could perform experiments around the clock.
25 Years Ago-
On the night of January 22, 1998, the Shuttle Endeavour launched on STS-89, the penultimate Shuttle-Mir mission.
In addition to rendezvousing with Mir and transferring crew, this Shuttle mission had a slate of science investigations that were performed during the nearly 9-day long mission.
Shuttle missions carried a variety of science experiments in the mid-deck of the shuttle and the Spacelab module. One of the experiments that caught my eye was the intra-vehicular radiation environment measurements. This instrument examined radiation inside the shuttle and studied the effects of the South Atlantic Anomaly on the spacecraft.
The South Atlantic Anomaly is a region of space in low earth orbit where Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts dip closer to Earth over much of South America and the south Atlantic. The Van Allen Belts store energetic particles from the solar wind. Because the belts dip to a lower altitude in the South Atlantic, the spacecraft that pass through this region experience an increase in energetic particles.
Astronauts that pass through this region report seeing “shooting stars” or “light flashes.” This visual phenomenon was also perceived by Apollo astronauts, specifically flashes of light that astronauts can see even when they close their eyes. These flashes are caused by cosmic rays, so an astronaut’s eyes can perceive cosmic rays, which is pretty wild. Check out this article by Nancy Atkinson on Universe Today that goes into this topic in more detail.
29 Years Ago-
Clementine launched on January 25, 1994, and studied the lunar surface for 73 days before departing lunar orbit to encounter the asteroid 1620 Geographos. Upon arrival at the asteroid, a thruster malfunctioned onboard the spacecraft, causing it to expend its fuel supply and placing it into an 80 rpm spin. The mission ended in June of 1994.
It’s important to note that Clementine was a joint mission between NASA and the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.
5 Years Ago-
SpaceX performed the first static fire test of the Falcon Heavy at historic Pad 39-A at Kennedy Space Center. The rotating service structure (RSS) was still present at the pad 5 years ago. The RSS protected the Space Shuttles from the elements and provided a facility for processing orbiter payloads on the launch pad. NASA notes that “The majority of payloads are installed in the vertical position at the pad, partly because of their design and partly because payload processing can thus take place further along in the launch processing schedule.”
Over the past five years, SpaceX upgraded the launch structure to support Crew Dragon flights from this complex. Since this first test, SpaceX has launched Falcon Heavy five times, all successfully. SpaceX has four more Falcon Heavy launches scheduled for 2023, which means they could effectively double the number of Falcon Heavy flights by the end of this year if all missions are successful.
Falcon Heavy is also slated to launch the Europa Clipper mission next year, as long as that spacecraft isn’t delayed by potential government shutdowns in the divided Congress this year.
In some recent SpaceX news, the company has completed a fully fueled “wet-dress" rehearsal” test of the massive new Starship launch vehicle. This ARS article by Eric Berger notes that the next step in testing Starship is a static fire of the 33 engines on the first stage (the aptly named Super Heavy) as a final test before an actual launch attempt.
For comparison, the Falcon Heavy produces over 5 million pounds of thrust, with its 27 Merlin engines, as seen in the video above. Super Heavy uses liquid methane and liquid oxygen for its 33 Raptor engines and should be able to produce up to 17 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. That’s going to be one heck of a show when it launches.
The fully-fueled Starship is seen in the picture below. Here’s to a successful launch and test of Starship and Super Heavy!