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Science / Space Race

[October 28, 1967] Unveiling Venus – at Least a Little (Venera-4 and Mariner-5)

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by Kaye Dee

Despite the hiatus in manned spaceflight missions while the Apollo-1 and Soyuz-1 accident investigations continue, October has been a very busy month for space activities – so much so that I’ve had to defer writing about some of this month’s events to an article next month!

Spaceflight Slowdown?

4 October saw the tenth anniversary of the launch of Sputnik-1, the Soviet satellite that surprised the world and ushered in the Space Age and the Space Race. Since that first launch, the pace of space exploration has been breathtaking, far surpassing what even its most ardent proponents in the 1950s anticipated.

In the famous Colliers’ “Man Will Conquer Space Soon” article series, reproduced even here in Australia, Dr Wernher von Braun predicted that the first manned mission to the Moon would not occur until the late 1970s

As part of the USSR’s Sputnik 10th anniversary celebrations, many space-focussed newspaper articles were published.  One of these, written by Voskhod-1 cosmonaut and engineer Dr. Konstantin Feoktistov, strongly hinted that Russia's next major space feat would be the launch of an orbiting space platform. This would certainly be an important development in establishing a permanent human presence in space and put the Soviet Union once again ahead in the Space Race, especially if the US and USSR lunar programmes are faltering.

Earlier this month, the head of the NASA, Mr James Webb, said it was increasingly doubtful that either the United States or the Soviet Union would land people on the Moon in this decade. He delivered a gloomy prognostication for the second decade of the Space Age, saying the entire US programme was “slowing down”. Mr. Webb criticised recent Congressional cuts of 10 per cent to the space-agency budget projected for the year ending next 30 June, saying that NASA was laying off over 100,000 people.

Administrator Webb also cast doubt on some proposed NASA planetary exploration missions. “The serious question is whether or not this country wants to start a Voyager mission to Mars in 1968”, he is reported to have said. The Voyager programme is a 10-year project that envisages sending two spacecraft to Mars (one to orbit around it, the other to land on its surface), with the additional possibility of landing a spacecraft on Venus and exploring Jupiter. These would undoubtedly be exciting missions that would reveal new knowledge about these planets, but Mr Webb said he had virtually no money for the Voyager programme as a result of the budget cut.

Parallel Planetary Probes: Venera-4 and Mariner-5

But possible future downturns in space activity can’t detract from this month’s big news: the safe arrival of two spacecraft at Venus!

Back in June, a suitable launch window meant that both the USSR and NASA sent spacecraft on their way to our closest planetary neighbour. First off the blocks was the Soviet Union, which launched its Venera-4 mission (generally known in the West as Venus-4) on 12 June from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA’s Mariner-5 followed two days later, on 14 June, launched from Cape Kennedy.

Pre-launch photo of Venera-4

Venera-4 is the most recent Soviet attempt to reach the planet after Venera-2 and 3 failed to send back any data in March last year. There is some speculation that, since its previous Venus mission employed twin spacecraft, Russia may have also intended this Venus shot to be a two-spacecraft mission. It’s possible that the short-lived Cosmos 167 spacecraft, launched on 17 June, was Venera-4’s twin that failed to leave orbit, although with the secrecy that surrounds so much of the Soviet space program, who knows if we’ll ever get the truth of it? Venera-4 was itself first put into a parking orbit around the Earth before being launched in the direction of Venus. A course correction was performed on 29 July, to ensure that the probe would not miss its target.


Mariner-5 being prepared for launch

Mariner-5 is NASA’s first Venus probe since Mariner-2 in 1962. Originally constructed as a backup for the Mariner-4 Mars mission, that probe’s success meant that the spacecraft could be repurposed to take advantage of the 1967 Venus launch window. Interestingly, I understand from my friends at the Sydney Observatory that there were initial suggestions to send the Mariner back-up spacecraft to either comet 7P/Pons–Winnecke or comet 10P/Tempel, before the Venus mission was decided upon. While it’s useful to have additional data from Venus, it would have been fascinating to send an exploratory mission to a comet, since we know so little about these transient visitors to our skies. 

At its closest, Venus is just 36 million miles from Earth, but Mariner-5 followed a looping flightpath of 212 million miles, to enable it to fly past Venus at a distance of around 2,500 miles (about 10 times closer than Mariner-2’s flyby). Australia’s Deep Space Network (DSN) stations at Tidbinbilla, near Canberra, and Island Lagoon, near the Woomera Rocket Range, were respectively the prime and back-up monitoring and control stations for Mariner-5’s mid-course correction burn that placed it on its close flyby trajectory. 

Keys to Unlock a Mystery

Venus has always been a planet shrouded in mystery since its thick, cloudy atmosphere prevents any telescopic observation of its surface. For this year’s launch window, one could almost believe that Cold War tensions had been overcome and the USSR and USA had agreed to work together on a Venus exploration program, given that their two spacecraft effectively complement each other.

Venera-4’s mission was announced as “direct atmospheric studies”, with Western scientists speculating that this meant that it would follow Venera-3 in attempting to land on the planet’s surface. The spacecraft’s arrival at Venus has proved this speculation to be correct, and the few images of Venera-4 now available show the 2,436 lb spacecraft to be near-identical to Venera-3. 11 ft high, with its solar panels spanning 13 ft, Venera-4 carried a 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) spherical landing capsule that was released to descend through the atmosphere while the main spacecraft flew past Venus and provided a relay station for its signals.
Soviet models of the Venera-4 spacecraft and its descent capsule

The 844 lb descent capsule was equipped with a heat shield, capable of withstanding temperatures up to 11,000°C (19,800 °F) and had a rechargeable battery providing 100 minutes of power for the instruments and transmitter. During the flight to Venus the battery was kept charged by the solar panels of the carrier spacecraft. Supposedly, the entire Venera-4 probe was sterilised to prevent any biological contamination of Venus, but some Western scientists have cast doubt on this claim. The capsule was pressurized up to 25 atmospheres since the surface pressure on Venus was unknown until Venera-4’s arrival.
Picture of the Venera-4 descent capsule released by the USSR. Western scientists are wondering what that heat shield is made of

Information recently released by the Soviet Academy of Sciences has said that the descent vehicle carried two thermometers, a barometer, a radio altimeter, an atmospheric density gauge, 11 gas analysers, and two radio transmitters. Scientific instruments on the main body of the spacecraft included a magnetometer and charged particle traps, both for measuring Venus' magnetic field and the stellar wind on the way to Venus, an ultraviolet spectrometer to detect hydrogen and oxygen gases in Venus' atmosphere, and cosmic ray detectors.


Much smaller than Venera-4, the 5401b Mariner-5 was designed to flyby Venus taking scientific measurements: it was not equipped with a camera, as NASA considered this un-necessary in view of the planet’s cloud cover. NASA controllers initially planned a distant flyby of Venus, to avoid the possibility of an unsterilised spacecraft crashing into the planet, but the final close flyby was eventually chosen to improve the chances of detecting a magnetic field and any interaction with the solar wind.

As Mariner-4’s backup, Mariner-5 has the same basic body – an octagonal magnesium frame 50 in diagonally across and 18 in high. However, since it was heading to Venus instead of Mars, Mariner-5 had to be modified to cope with the conditions much closer to the Sun. Due to its trajectory, Mariner-5 needed to face away from the Sun to keep its high-gain antenna pointed at Earth. Its solar panels were therefore reversed to face aft, so they could remain pointed at the Sun. They were also reduced in size, since closer proximity to the Sun meant less solar cells were needed to generate the same level of power. Mariner-5's trajectory also required the high-gain antenna to be placed at a different angle and made moveable as part of the radio occultation experiment. A deployable sunshade on the aft of the spacecraft was used for thermal control, and Mariner-5 was fully attitude stabilized, using the sun and Canopus as references.
View from below showing the main components of Mariner-5

Mariner-5’s prime task was to determine the thickness of Venus’ atmosphere, investigate any potential magnetic field and refine the understanding of Venus’ gravity. Its suite of instruments included: an ultraviolet photometer, a two-frequency beacon receiver, a S-Band radio occultation experiment, a helium magnetometer, an interplanetary ion plasma probe and a trapped radiation detector. The spacecraft instruments measured both interplanetary and Venusian magnetic fields, charged particles, and plasmas, as well as the radio refractivity and UV emissions of the Venusian atmosphere.

During its 127-day cruise to Venus, Mariner-5 gathered data on the interplanetary environment. In September and October, observations were co-ordinated with measurements made by Mariner-4, which is on its own extended mission, following its 1965 encounter with Mars. Similar observations were made by Venera-4 during its flight to Venus, which found that the concentration of positive ions in interplanetary space is much lower than expected. 

Missions Accomplished

A few days before it arrived at Venus, the Soviet Academy of Sciences requested assistance from the massive 250 feet radio telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK, asking the facility to track Venera-4 for the final part of its voyage. This has provided Western scientists with some independent verification of Soviet claims about the mission. Jodrell Bank even announced the landing of the Venera-4 descent capsule more than seven hours before it was reported by the Soviet news agency Tass!

On 18 October, Venera-4’s descent vehicle entered the Venusian atmosphere, deploying a parachute to slow its fall onto the night side of the planet. According to a story that one of the Sydney Observatory astronomers picked up from a Soviet colleague at a recent international scientific conference, because there was still the possibility that, beneath its clouds Venus might be largely covered by water (one of the main theories about its surface), the capsule was designed to float if it did land in water. Uniquely, the spacecraft’s designers made the lock of the capsule using sugar, which would dissolve in liquid water and release the transmitter antennae in the event of a water landing.

Although the Venera-4 capsule had 100 minutes of battery power available and sent back valuable data as it fell through the atmosphere, Jodrell Bank observations, and the official announcement from Tass, indicated that the signal cut off around 96 minutes. While it was initially thought that this meant that the capsule had touched down on the surface, and there were even early reports claiming it had detected a rocky terrain, questions are now being raised as to whether it actually reached the surface, or if the spacecraft failed while still descending. Tass has said that the capsule stopped transmitting data because it apparently landed in a way that obstructed its directional antenna. A recording of the last 20 seconds of signal received at Jodrell Bank was delivered to Vostok-5 cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky during a visit to the radio telescope on 26 October. Perhaps once it is fully analysed, the question of the capsule’s fate will be clarified. Of course, if the landing is confirmed, Venera-4 will have made history with the first successful landing and in-situ data gathering on another planet.

Diagram illustrating the major milestones during the Mariner-5 encounter with Venus on 19 October
Mariner-5 swept past Venus on 19 October, making a close approach of 2,480 miles. At 02:49 GMT the Island Lagoon DSN station commanded Mariner 5 to prepare for the encounter sequence and 12 hours later its tape recorder began to store science data. Tracked by the new 200 in antenna at NASA’s Goldstone tracking station, Mariner reached its closest encounter distance at 17:35 GMT, and minutes later entered the “occultation zone” before passed behind Venus as seen from the Earth. 17 minutes later, Mariner-5 emerged from behind Venus and completed its encounter at 18:34 GMT.

The following day, Mariner-5 began to transmit its recorded data back to Earth. Over 72½ hours there were three playbacks of the data to correct for missed bits. Mariner-5's flight path following its Venus encounter is bringing it closer to the Sun than any previous probe and the intention is for to be tracked until its instruments fail.

A Peep Behind the Veil

So what have we learned about Venus from these two successful probes? There has long been controversy among astronomers as to whether Venus is a desert planet, too hot for life, or an ocean world, covered in water. The data from both Venera and Mariner has come down firmly on the side of the desert world hypothesis.
Astronomical artist Mr. Chesley Bonestell's 1947 vision of a desert Venus

The effects of Venus’ atmosphere on radio signals during Mariner-5’s occultation experiment have enabled scientists to calculate temperature and pressure at the planet's surface as 980°F and 75 to 100 Earth atmospheres. These figures disagree with readings from Venera 4 mission, which indicate surface temperatures from 104 to 536°F and 15 Earth atmospheres’ pressure, but both sets of data indicate a hellish world, with little evidence of water and an extremely dense atmosphere.

Venera has established that Venus’ atmosphere consists almost exclusively of carbon dioxide with traces of hydrogen vapour, very little oxygen, and no nitrogen. Mariner-5's data indicates that the atmosphere of Venus ranges from 52 to 87 per cent carbon dioxide, with both hydrogen and oxygen in the upper atmosphere: it found no trace of nitrogen. It detected about as much hydrogen proportionately as there is in the Earth's atmosphere. Mariner scientists, however, have pointed out that further analysis and refinements of both Russian and American data could clear up the apparent discrepancies.

Although Mariner’s instruments could not penetrate deeply enough into Venus’ atmosphere to obtain surface readings, they determined that the outer fringe of the atmosphere, where atoms were excited by direct sunlight, had a temperature of 700°F, below which was a layer close to Zero degrees, lying about 100 miles above the surface. Chemicals in the atmosphere, or electrical storms far more intense than those of Earth, give the night side of the planet an ashen glow.
A view of the Mariner-5 control room at JPL during the Venus encounter

A fascinating finding is that the dense atmosphere acts like a giant lens, bending light waves so they travel around the planet. Both American and Russian researchers agree that astronauts standing on the surface would feel like they were “standing at the bottom of a giant bowl”, with the back of their own heads a shimmering mirage on the horizon. Vision would be so distorted that the sun would appear at sunset to be a long bright line on the horizon: its light could penetrate the atmosphere, but not escape because of scattering, so that it would appear as a bright ball again for a time at sunrise until the atmosphere distorted its rays.

Neither spacecraft found any evidence of radiation belts comparable to the Van Allen belts around the Earth, and both established that Venus has only a very slight magnetic field, less than 1% that of the Earth. Observing how much Venus' gravity changed Mariner 5's trajectory established that Venus’ mass is 81.5 % that of Earth. Tracking of radio signals from Mariner-5 as it swept behind Venus, has shown that the planet is virtually spherical, compared with Earth's slightly pear-shape. (Other celestial mechanics experiments conducted with Mariner-5 obtained improved determinations of the mass of the Moon, of the astronomical unit, and improved ephemerides of Earth and Venus).

Life on Venus?

Although neither spacecraft was equipped to look for life on Venus, their findings will undoubtedly contribute to the growing scientific controversy over whether life does, or can, exist there. Based on its Venera results, the Soviet Union has said that Venus is “too hot for human life”, although Sir Bernard Lovell, the Director of Jodrell Bank Station, has suggested that future probes might find remnants of some early organic development, even if conditions today make life highly unlikely. However, German/American rocket pioneer and space writer Dr Willy Ley, has suggested there might be the possibility of “a very specialised kind of life on Venus”, possibly at the poles, which he believes would be cooler that the currently measured temperatures. The USSR’s Dr Krasilnikov has said that Earth bacteria could withstand the atmospheric pressure on Venus and might even be able to survive the intense heat. 


But just as Mariner-4 demolished fantasies of canals made by intelligent Martians, so the results from Venera-4 and Mariner-5, in allowing us a glimpse behind its cloudy veil, have swept aside any number of science fiction visions of Venus. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ verdant Amtor, with its continents and oceans, and Heinlein’s swampy Venus are no more. They have been replaced by a new vision of a hellish Venus, almost certainly inimical to life, with fiery storms raging in a dense, metal melting atmosphere which traps and bends light waves in a weird manner. I wonder where the SF writers of the future will take it?



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Science / Space Race, Science Fiction/Fantasy, TV

[August 22, 1967] Boldly Going Down Under (Star Trek, Spies and space in Australia)

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by Kaye Dee

Since Star Trek debuted in the US last year, I’ve been eagerly awaiting its appearance Down Under after reading all the fascinating episode reviews that my fellow writers have produced for the Journey.

As I’ve mentioned before , the arrival of overseas television programmes onto Australian screens can vary wildly, from a few months to several years after premiering in their home country, so I had no idea how long I might have to wait. Thankfully, this time it’s only taken about ten months for the adventures of the crew of the USS Enterprise to reach our shores, with the series premiering in Sydney on TCN-9, the flagship station of the Nine Network, on Thursday 6 July.

Who’s Watching Out for the Watchers?
Like the introduction of Doctor Who in Australia, Star Trek’s presence on our screens has had to pass the scrutiny of the Australian Film Censorship Board (AFCB), which reviews all foreign content for television broadcast in Australia – and like Doctor Who, it has not escaped unscathed. The good Doctor’s Australian premiere was delayed by the AFCB considering its early episodes not suitable for broadcast in a “children’s” timeslot. Other episodes have experienced censorship cuts of scenes considered scary for children, and the entire Dalek Masterplan story was even banned for being too terrifying! (I really must write a future article on the curious censorship of Doctor Who in Australia).

Similarly, The Man Trap , screened as the first episode in the US, has also been banned here, deemed unsuitable for the show’s 8.30pm timeslot due to its themes of vampirism! Apparently, the ACFB thinks Australian adults can’t handle a good, suspenseful horror-themed story at a decent viewing hour, even though it permits B-grade (or should that be Z-grade?) vampire and other horror movies to be screened after 10.30pm, as part of the Awful Movies show hosted by Deadly Earnest (the nom-de-screen of local television personality Ian Bannerman, seen above in character). However, that show plays on another network, so it is unlikely that we’ll see The Man Trap turn up there any time soon.

Meanwhile, the AFCB is still reviewing some of the first series episodes, but hopefully they won’t ban any more from screening in the normal Star Trek timeslot. However, the review process seems to have thrown any adherence to the US screening order out the window and the seven episodes shown so far have appeared in quite a different sequence. Commencing with The Corbomite Manoeuvre as the first episode, we’ve now seen Menagerie (parts 1 and 2), Arena, This Side of Paradise, A Taste of Armageddon and Tomorrow is Yesterday. Galileo Seven is scheduled for this coming Thursday. My favourite so far? Tomorrow is Yesterday : I'm always up for a time travel story.

This order may be at least partly based on what TCN-9 has available while the AFCB completes its reviews. But it could also be that the television station staff have been indulging in the apparently common practice (so I’m told by my friend at the Australian Broadcasting Commission) of picking episodes at random off the shelf, when no specific screening order has been defined. Still, as long as we get to see the rest of the episodes, in whatever order, I’ll be happy, even if we will only be watching them in black and white (as we’re not likely to get colour TV in Australia until the mid-1970s on current government planning).

A Sydney Exclusive For Now
Star Trek is only screening in Sydney at the moment, although it will be shown nationally later in the year on other Nine Network capital city stations. The reason for this broadcast strategy is not clear, but perhaps Nine is waiting to see how popular the series is in Australia’s largest market before scheduling it elsewhere? Even though the various Irwin Allen productions have had reasonable ratings on Australian television, science fiction is still seen as something of a gamble by Australian commercial broadcasters and Nine may not be as confident in its purchase of the series as it seems.

On the other hand, rumour has it that Mr. Kerry Packer, the son of the Nine Network’s chief shareholder, media baron Sir Frank Packer, is something of a science fiction fan – I do have it on good authority that he’s a fan of that wonderfully quirky British series The Avengers. Maybe Mr. Packer wants to enjoy Star Trek in his home market of Sydney first, before sharing it with the rest of the country?


Everyone Loves Mr. Spock
While the arrival of Star Trek hasn’t had a huge promotional campaign attached to it – unlike the debut of Mission:Impossible (see below) – Sir Frank has certainly made use of the resources of his Australian Consolidated Press magazines and newspapers to plug the series. The Australian Women’s Weekly, the country’s most popular women’s magazine, is rather conservative and not exactly known for embracing “out there” interests like science fiction. Yet its television critic, Nan Musgrove, gave Star Trek a very positive review in her column (and it does feel like a genuinely positive review, not just a promotion for a Packer interest).

A full page colour spread about Star Trek (above) has recently appeared in the 2 August issue and a further article about Mr. Nimoy’s Emmy nomination in the 9 August issue. Articles about Star Trek have also appeared in the Packer-owned TV Week magazine and Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The television critics of other newspapers and television guides have also generally reviewed the series favourably, although one did dismiss it rather scathingly (but then, I think he dislikes science fiction as a matter of principle!) Mr. Spock certainly stands out as the most intriguing and popular character to the reviewers, and to letter writers to the newspapers and magazines. Several have also commented very favourably on the multi-national nature of the Enterprise crew and the lack of racial prejudice in the series – these latter comments undoubtedly influenced by the racial unrest we’ve seen in the US in recent times.

Who's Watching?
I’ve not been able to obtain any ratings figures yet for these early Star Trek episodes, so it’s hard to really judge the show’s popularity with the viewing audience. But if what I’m hearing at the university is anything to go by, and what my sister and her husband tell me they are hearing at the hairdresser and at work, people who would not consider themselves science fiction fans (or even interested in science fiction) are watching Star Trek and enjoying it.

And it’s not just the adults that are watching Star Trek, either. My niece Vickie, who recently turned 10, asked to be allowed to stay up and watch Star Trek for her birthday (as her normal bedtime is 8.30pm). Her first episode was Arena – and she was so taken by it that she refused to go to bed at the usual time the following week, insisting that now she is a "big girl", she's old enough to stay up an extra hour one night a week! Well, how could we refuse a budding fan? So now she joins her parents and I in our new Thursday night routine of watching Hunter at 7.30, followed by Star Trek at 8.30pm.


Spies are All the Rage
Hunter, which precedes Star Trek (and commenced on the same evening that Star Trek premiered), is a new Australian-made spy drama from the Crawford Productions stable. Better known for its radio dramas and police show Homicide, Crawfords has decided to cash in on the current popularity of the espionage genre by producing a very slick, American-style spy drama based around the exploits of John Hunter, a Bond-like intelligence agent for an Australian security organisation, COSMIC (Commonwealth Office of Security & Military Intelligence Co-ordination).

Being on the Nine Network, Hunter has also been heavily promoted in the Packer-owned press, but nothing like the way in which the 0-10 Network has promoted the debut of its prize overseas spy-drama purchase, Mission: Impossible. Ahead of that show’s first screening at the end of June, TEN-10 in Sydney flew 50 journalists and celebrities down to Canberra on a specially chartered flight. The station’s guests were treated to an in-flight meal of champagne, fillet mignon and “super spy cocktails” (served by silver-mini-skirted hostesses), before enjoying an exclusive preview of the first episode, screened at the museum within the Royal Australian Mint! The 0-10 network must be expecting great things from Mission: Impossible, to spend so lavishly on its promotion. 

Crawfords has preferred to spend its Hunter budget, not on promotion, but on extensive location filming. This has included segments of its first six-part story, The Tolhurst File, being shot on location at the Woomera Rocket Range. Hunter is the first commercial television programme to receive permission to film at Woomera, and it’s rumoured that Hector Crawford himself made use of his high-level political connections to obtain the clearances – because right now Woomera is a very busy place indeed!

ELDO Launches at Woomera
Of course, I wouldn't let a piece on science fiction go by without a bit on actual science as well–and there is plenty to report.

It’s been over twelve months since I wrote an update on the activities of the ELDO programme. After the Europa F-4 launch was un-necessarily terminated by the Range Safety Officer in May last year, a replacement flight to test the all-up configuration of the three-stage vehicle had to be arranged. This took place on 15 November 1966, with an active Blue Streak first stage and inert dummies of the French second stage and West German third stage. The rocket’s dummy test satellite also carried instrumentation to measure the conditions that a real satellite would experience during launch.

Fortunately, this test flight was a complete success, reaching a height of over 60 miles. The dummy upper stages separated successfully from the active first stage, with all the vehicle’s components falling, as planned, into the upper region of the Simpson Desert, south-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

Not so successful, however, was the flight of Europa F-6, launched just a couple of weeks ago on 4 August. This mission was intended to be the first trial flight with active first and second stages (the third stage and satellite still being dummies). Initially planned for 11 July, the flight experienced 10 aborts and launch delays over more than two weeks due to systems problems and weather.

When the mission finally launched, while the first stage once again performed as planned, the French second stage failed to ignite. The cause of this failure is not yet known, but as many components of the French Coralie stage were reaching the end of their operational life due to the launch delays, investigations of the failure are focussed on this aspect. A reflight, already dubbed F6/2 is being scheduled for later this year, possibly November.

An "Australian" Astronaut
And Australia now has its "own" astronaut, in the person of Dr Phillip K Chapman, just this month selected as part of NASA's second group of 11 scientist-astronauts. Although Chapman, who is now an American citizen (as he had to be, in order to be eligible for the astronaut programme), will not fly as an astronaut wearing an Australian flag on his shoulder, we are all excited that he will probably participate in the Apollo Applications Program, which is planned to follow-on from the initial Apollo lunar landing program: maybe he will even get to walk on the Moon as the Apollo programme expands?

Originally from Melbourne, Chapman (seen here in the back row, extreme right) is one of the first two naturalised US citizens to be selected as an astronaut. A physicist and engineer, specialising in instrumentation, Chapman studied at the University of Sydney and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), from which he obtained a degree in aeronautics and astronautics.

Prior to his astronaut selection, Chapman's career has included studying aurorae in Antarctica, as part of the Australian expedition there during the International Geophysical Year. He also worked on aviation electronics in Canada before joining MIT as a staff physicist in 1961. Prior to his selection as an astronaut, Chapman has most recently been employed in MIT’s Experimental Astronomy Laboratory, where he worked on several satellites. I hope I'll have the opportuntiy to meet Dr Chapman some time soon, and I look forward to reporting on his future astronaut career. 

And while I wait for a real life Australian astronaut to make his first flight, I can at last enjoy the adventures of the crew of the USS Enterprise for myself – and hope that one day they'll add an Australian to its crew as well!



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Science / Space Race

[July 22, 1967] Getting the mail through (Australia introduces Postcodes)

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by Kaye Dee

In my first article for the Journey, just over three years ago, I talked about rocket mail and flying postmen. Well, we haven’t seen either of them yet – despite continual promises that they are “only a few years away”. This month, though, Australia has taken a step into the future of postal technology with the introduction of Postcode, the new national mail sorting system.

Zipping the Mail Along
Postal codes are not exactly new. They were first developed in large cities like London (where they were introduced in 1857) to help improve the speed of mail sorting and delivery as populations and the size and complexity of cities grew.

Modern postal codes were first introduced in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1932, followed by Germany (1941), Singapore (1950) and Argentina in 1958. Britain began introducing its current postal code system in 1959, while the US Postal Service introduced the five-digit ZIP code in 1963. I was interested to learn as I prepared to write this article that the ZIP part of ZIP code is actually an acronym standing for Zone Improvement Plan. I always thought that it was just a play on the idea of zipping, or speeding, the mail along to its destination. Switzerland was the most recent country to introduce postal codes before Australia, in 1964.

Mechanising Mail Sorting
What made the Postmaster General’s Department (PMG), which manages all Australia’s postal, telephone and telegraph services, decide that we needed to follow suit and speed up our mail by using a postal code system? After all, Australia’s current population is only 11.87 million – less than the population of New York City, which I understand is about 15.6 million.

Until now, mail sorting in this country has primarily been done by skilled human sorters, who have a detailed knowledge of geographical localities, reading the address on each letter. However, there are about 8,000 delivery offices around the country, so getting the mail to its final destnations has required at least two or three stages of sorting.


Mail sorting at the Sydney General Post Office in 1964

Australia has long been a world leader in in postal service mechanisation, and as early as 1958, the PMG decided to introduce large-scale mechanical mail sorting systems across Australia. As the first stage of this plan, the Sydney Mail Exchange opened in the suburb of Redfern in 1965, to automate and centralise the mail sorting facilities for New South Wales. It’s the largest and most advanced mechanised mail centre in the Southern Hemisphere, and the new electronic equipment and technology is attracting Worldwide interest. I’ve even heard that the Mail Exchange’s design concept is being considered as a possible future system by the US Postal Service.


Sydey's ultra-modern new mail exchange, in the inner-city suburb of Redfern

Sydney is our largest city, and New South Wales, the most populous state, so it makes sense to introduce a new Postcode system to work in conjunction with the state-of-the-art electronic mail handling equipment at the Sydney Mail Exchange, through which so much mail passes. Postcodes simplify the sorting process, as the mail sorter is now a coding operator, who enters the postcode using their data entry terminal, enabling the letters to be rapidly sorted electronically and speedily despatched to their delivery offices.


The Sydney Mail Exchange's state-of-the-art data entry system for the new sorting computers. Conveyors drop individual letters in front of the operators, who then type the postcode or suburb identifying the letter’s destination

The computers controlling this process occupy a large amount of space in the Mail Exchange building. Similar mechanised sorting systems will be gradually introduced around the country over the coming years: they’ll be immediately able to take advantage of the Postcode system to speed their mail sorting, without many of the teething problems that have bedevilled the Sydney mail Exchange.

The Australian Postcode System
The Postcode system was introduced on Saturday, 1 July. The new four-digit number system replaces some earlier postal sorting systems, such as Melbourne's letter and number codes (e.g., N3, E5) and a similar system that has been in use in rural and regional New South Wales. Nearly 5,000 postcodes have been allocated across the country, to every city, town, suburb and small regional centre.

Postcodes have been allocated following a broad geographical pattern, with Postcode numbers for capital city suburbs beginning in the west and moving to the north, east and south. A similar pattern is followed for regional country areas. The first digit of the Postcodes in each station corresponds to radio station call signs for that state: 2 (New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory – our equivalent of the District of Columbia), 3 (Victoria), 4 (Queensland), 5 (South Australia), 6 (Western Australia), 7 (Tasmania) and 8 (Northern Territory).

I think this is a good idea because everyone knows the radio callsigns, so it will make it easier to remember Postcodes for their friends locally or interstate. Subscriber Trunk Dialing for telephones, which commenced last year, is also using the state radio call sign number as the basis of the dialing codes for each capital city, so I imagine that will help with remembering the direct dial codes too. 

Getting the Word Out

The first edition of the Postcode booklet, listing every national Postcode, is being distributed free by mail this month to every Australian household and business address. A total of 4.5 million booklets are expected to be distributed, along with a postcard identifying the recipient’s own postcode. Of course, with 5,000 postcodes to include in the booklet, and with some geographical oddities to contend with, it’s not surprising that diligent nit-pickers have already found faults in the booklet to complain about and have been writing carping letters to the editors of local and major state newspapers.

There has been extensive advertising about the new Postcode system in the newspapers and on television and radio, but so far, we have not been treated to a catchy jingle like the one that introduced us to decimal currency last year.

The PMG is hoping that if we all start using the Postcodes properly at the end of addresses, not only will it improve the speed of mail delivery, but that next year it will make it easier to introduce “post office preferred-size envelopes” as well, whose standardised sizes will further improve the speed of mechanised mail sorting! 

And then I can finally get my postcards from the Traveler in a timely manner!



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Science / Space Race

[June 28, 1967] Around the World in Two Seconds (Our World Global Satellite Broadcast)

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by Kaye Dee

I love how our world is drawing closer every day to some of the amazing futures that science fiction has spread before us. I’ve written before about the importance of satellite communications in connecting this divided planet. Just two days ago, 24 countries around the globe were linked together in the first world-spanning live satellite broadcast, titled – appropriately enough – Our World.

Our World's visual symbol incorporates a modernised version of da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man", with arms encircling the globe, and vertical and horizontal lines representing longitude and latitude

Down Under Comes Up Live – from a town with no television!
For us in Australia, being instantaneously connected to the rest of the world through phone and television is a major step in breaking the “tyranny of distance” that has shaped our national history. Our first Satellite Earth Station was opened just last October in Carnarvon, a remote township in Western Australia, whose only other connection to the rest of the world is a phone line. It’s no wonder NASA wanted to provide a satellite connection back to the United States for its tracking station located there, using the INTELSAT communications network. Just after the station opened, a mishap with the launch of the first INTELSAT II satellite (Blue Bird) on 26 October placed the satellite into the wrong orbit, providing an opportunity for the first satellite broadcast from Down Under.


SES Carnarvon's unusual antenna, one of only four that have been built for the INTELSAT network. Officially described a 42-foot aperture cassegrain-fed folded-horn antenna, you can see why it's nicknamed the “sugar scoop”

According to my friend at the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), some hasty calculations revealed that short segments of television broadcast could be relayed to the United Kingdom via INTELSAT II in its unplanned elliptical orbit. So the ABC and the BBC quickly put together a plan for a live telecast, called Down Under Comes Up Live, from Carnarvon – a town which doesn’t even have a television service!

Connection was the theme, and ordinary people were the stars of the show. The program reunited three families of British immigrants living in Carnarvon, two of whom who happened to be employees of the NASA tracking station, with their relatives in the BBC studios in London. It also included some interviews with local residents talking abut life in their remote community. Introducing new babies to family is a universal ritual, and it's delightful to see that it was one that played out in both Down Under Comes Up Live and Our World.

Down Under Comes Up Live was a direct one-way broadcast (a return signal was not possible for technical reasons) that was a complex undertaking (and a good rehearsal for our involvement in Our World). Without a local television station in Carnarvon, ABC outside broadcast vans and their technical staff made a 560 mile trip from Perth to produce the program. The vision was sent live to London from the satellite station, but the audio to and from London was transmitted separately by cable.

On Friday 25 November 1966, more than twelve minutes of television was broadcast to London. Although the program was seen live in the UK, rather ironically, we couldn’t see it live in Australia because there are no television links between Carnarvon and Perth. We had to wait for a few days to see this history-making program, once a film copy of the UK broadcast was flown back to Australia.

Incoming – Australia Day at Expo 67
Apart from a few test transmissions, it was just three weeks ago that we saw the first satellite broadcast into Australia – a live telecast of Australia’s ‘special day’ at Expo 67 in Montreal. This time the transmission came via NASA’s Applications Technology Satellite (ATS)-1. To support this program, NASA has established a temporary satellite station at Cooby Creek dam, about 14 miles north of Toowoomba in Queensland.

The picturesque setting for NASA's Cooby Creek tracking station that brought both Australia Day at Expo 67 and Our World to Australia via ATS-1

Several hundred thousand people around the country, including my sister’s family and I, watched live through the early hours of 7 June our time, as Australia took centre stage in Canada. The program commenced with Prime Minister Harold Holt officially opening the Australian Pavilion at the Expo. Special events for “Australia Day” included boomerang throwing, sheep-dog trials, wood chopping contests and tennis matches with members of the Australian Davis Cup team. Celebrity was an important theme for the variety concert, "Pop Goes Australia", which showcased Australian talent, including the internationally-known Rolf Harris and The Seekers.

The clarity of the satellite picture from Montreal was surprisingly good: I’ve heard that hundreds of viewers rang the ABC in Sydney wanting to be assured that the vision really was being broadcast live from Canada! I just wish I could find some decent reproductions to show you or had thought to take a picture on the screen of our TV set. 

Our World – joining hands (almost) around the planet
So, with just two satellite broadcasts under its belt, from 4.50am Australian Eastern Time on 26 June, Australia participated in the Our World program, helping to string Puck's "girdle around the world". We joined 13 other nations in providing television content for the first live global television broadcast, which instantaneously linked 24 countries on six continents via four communications satellites, with the signals travelling around the world in just 2 seconds!

The brainchild of the BBC, though produced under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union, the global telecast was controlled from the BBC in London, with America’s National Educational Television in New York City feeding items from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Japan to the British Control Centre. Literally thousands of technicians handled the outside broadcasts and studio operations around the world. Satellite ground stations in Australia (NASA's Cooby Creek facility again), Japan, Canada, the United States, Britain and France transmitted sound and vision to and from the satellites. As each of the contributing countries provided commentary in their own language, there was also the necessity of rapidly translating the various languages, so that everyone in the receiving countries could understand what was being said.

The technical complexity of Our World is evident from this diagram, which shows just part of the world-wide links between television stations and satellites necessary to make the global broadcast a reality

Given the incredible technical complexity of the television transmission, it’s quite amazing that the two-hour program was carried through with very few technical problems – especially when the entire broadcast was televised live, with no filmed insertions or other previously produced material apart from the opening montage. We saw everything as it happened.

Our World was intended as a major achievement for both space technology and international relations, a bridge between East and West in these troubled times of wars cold and hot. Unfortunately, at the last minute, politics reared its ugly head and the USSR and several Eastern European nations that were originally going to participate pulled out of the broadcast just a few days before, as a protest against the recent war in the Middle East. This was disappointing and made for some hurried re-arrangement of parts of the program, but it didn’t dampen the mostly aspirational tone of the broadcast as a celebration of human achievement and hope for a more peaceful future. There was also the irony that a US segment about the Glassboro, New Jersey conference between American president Lyndon Johnson and Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin was still included in the broadcast, although – since the Our World producers insisted that no politicians could be shown – only an external view of the house where the conference was being held was televised.

New Babies and their World
The broadcast crossed countries, seas and time zones, and was presented as fusing “yesterday”, “today” and “tomorrow” (by dint of the different time zones around the world) into a globe-encircling “now”. The birth of several babies across the world opened the program, which was presented in a sense as a “survey” of the world into which these newborns are entering.

A baby in Mexico, born live on television for all the world to see!

The babies are introduced to their new world through several themes: This Moment's World (what people were doing are doing at that moment around the world); the Hungry World (what scientists are doing to attempt to solve or alleviate the hunger problem); the Crowded World (looking at proposed solutions to the population explosion); Aspiration to Physical Excellence (the continual attempt to develop physical skill); Aspiration to Artistic Excellence (the drive to excel in the arts); and the World Beyond (focussed on astronomy and space travel. Within these themes, vignettes of life and activity from around the world formed the tapestry of the program. Even if some of the actual presentation was, quite frankly, dull and pedestrian (the excitement was, after all, the fact that we were seeing something live from another part of the globe), I thought the concept was an interesting way to approach telling the story of our planet. If an extra-terrestrial civilisation one day happens to intercept this program as its signals travel through space, they'll learn a lot more about the reality of the Earth and its people from Our World than they will get from episodes of I love Lucy.

Everyday Life

The theme This Moment's World presented a panorama of people and activities in various parts of the globe, moving through evening in Europe to afternoon in New York City, with a visit to Tunis along the way. I loved the views of old and new parts of the city. We saw Marshall McLuhan being interviewed in a Toronto television control room, people swimming at the beach at lunchtime in Vancouver, Canada (making us Aussies all envious on a cold winter's morning) and workmen digging a subway at 4am in Japan. Since the program took place between 5.00 am and 7.00 am Australian Eastern time, our first contribution commenced at 5:22 am local time, with a visit to the Hammer Street Tram Depot in Melbourne, where the first tram of the day was departing to service Monday morning commuters. 

This segment was the first cross to the Southern Hemisphere and came directly after the broadcast from Japan. The switch from Japan to Australia was apparently the most technically complicated of the program, as the Japanese and Australian satellite stations had to switch immediately from transmission to receiving mode and back again. The material coming into Australia also had to be converted from the 525-line system to our 625-line format for local broadcast, while the segment going out of Australia had to be converted from 625 to 525-line in order to be sent back to the US and then on to London!

Sweden gave us the first – and almost the only – female presenter in the program!

Global Concerns
Australia also featured in the Hungry World theme, which concentrated on food production and the issues of feeding an ever-growing world population. In addition to items from the United States and a shrimp farm in Takamatsu, Japan, we visited the Canberra phytotron, a laboratory run by the national scientific research agency, CSIRO. In the phytotron, plants can be grown under a wide range of closely controlled climatic conditions. It’s claimed to be one of the world's finest and most up-to-date facilities for plant research, and a number of international scientists work there alongside local researchers.

The CSIRO phytotron's Director, Dr. Lloyd Evans, at work in his plant laboratory. Apparently, he often starts his workday at 5am, so he didn't have to get up earlier than usual for the show!

A couple of segments that were of interest to me in The Crowded World theme were a visit to Cumbernauld (near my father’s home town of Glasgow, Scotland), which was the recipient of an international award for best planning in a new town, and a glimpse of Habitat, a new concept of living accommodation, on display at Expo '67.

Human Achievement
In Aspiration to Physical Excellence, there were contributions from Rome, Sweden, France (where a parachutist made a dizzying free fall with a camera strapped to him), and Winnipeg, Canada, where a 16-year-old Butterfly champion attempted to beat her own world indoor swimming record.


We get to watch live as actors rehearse the wedding scenes from Italian director Franco Zefferelli's next film, Romeo and Juliet
Aspiration to Artistic Excellence included a visit to the Maeght Foundation museum of modern art in France, with artists Marc Chagall and Joan Miro, Leonard Bernstein and pianist Van Cliburn rehearsing Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto. Opera singer Maria Callas, and painter Pablo Picasso also featured. In the context of this theme, it’s interesting to note that the Our World anthem, which accompanied the opening montage was composed by Frenchman Georges Delerue, whose musical score credits includes the recent Academy Award winning motion picture, A Man for All Seasons. He wrote the melody based on the rhythm established by the words “Our World”, sung in 22 different languages by the Vienna Boys’ Choir.

But the highlight of this theme has to be a ‘fly on the wall’ visit to a recording studio where the fabulous Beatles were recording their latest anthem “All You Need is Love”, which was specially written for the Our World broadcast! You can see them below, surrounded by their many friends in the music world, who came to the recording party and became informal backing singers. The black and white shot shows how we saw the FAB Four in the live broadcast, while the colour photo was taken just before the televised performance. 

 
Reaching for the Stars
The World Beyond theme took us to the heart of the Space Race, with a visit to Cape Kennedy to see a Saturn V Moon rocket on the pad being readied for its first flight. The telecast also came to a close on the theme of outer space, with a visit to Australia’s Parkes radio telescope – at 210 ft. the largest fully-steerable radio telescope in the world. Here we sat in on an observation of the most distant object currently known – a mysterious quasar only discovered last year by the Parkes telescope's director, Dr. John Bolton. It’s so far away that its light and radio signals take 13,000 million years to reach us!

An ABC cameraman, wearing a heavy jacket in the early morning winter cold, prepares for filming the Our World segment at the Parkes Radio Telescope.

So that was Our World. A fascinating mix of banality and creativity, made magical by the technology of the Space Age, and the knowledge that everyone watching was sharing the experience simultaneously with millions of others across our planet in a way that has never before been possible. With a worldwide audience estimated between 350 and 700 million, the broadcast was a potent demonstration of the potential reach of satellite television. I'm sure that before too long, satellite television from around the world will be a regular occurrence, bringing us news, sport, entertainment and major world events – and we here in Australia will have to get used to being up at all hours of the night to watch! But I wonder what will top this broadcast's incredible audience reach? The first manned landing on the Moon, perhaps?



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Science / Space Race

[April 26, 1967] Fallen Cosmonaut ( The Loss of Soyuz 1)

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by Kaye Dee

Back in November last year, while writing about Gemini 12, I asked “where are the Russians?”, since there had not been a manned Soviet space mission since Voskhod 2, in March 1965. I didn't expect that when I finally came to write about the next Soviet space flight, it would be to report the first death to occur during a space mission: an incident as deeply shocking as the Apollo 1 fire just three months ago. Sadly, the return of Soviet manned spaceflight and the introduction of its new Soyuz spacecraft (the name means “Union” in Russian) has been mared by the death of its crew and the destruction of the spacecraft itself.

Re-entry Mishap
Early yesterday (25 April Australian time), after more than twelve hours of silence about the mission, the official Soviet newsagency TASS announced that Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov had been killed after the failure of the parachute on his Soyuz 1 spacecraft, following re-entry. As I write this, little is known about what actually happened, but it appears that the parachute lines became tangled in some way, preventing the chute from fully opening, so that the spacecraft smashed into the ground at high velocity. However, it is not clear whether Cosmonaut Komarov died before the spacecraft hit the ground, or whether he was killed on impact.


Newspaper article from the 25 April edition of The Canberra Times announcing the loss of Soyuz-1

New Spacecraft, Ambitious Mission
As is always the case with the USSR’s space programme, nothing was known about the Soviet Union’s latest space mission until it was safely in orbit. We now know that Soyuz 1 was the first flight of a new spacecraft, believed to be even bigger than the Voskhod, which, as we saw, could carry a crew of three. Moscow television has supposedly described the Soyuz as “huge”. Just as Mercury and Vostok, and Gemini and Voskhod, could be considered parallel programs, Soyuz is assumed to be the equivalent of Apollo, and part of the USSR’s Moon landing programme about which we know so little. Could the Soyuz be capable of carrying a crew of four, or even five cosmonauts?

Unconfirmed reports suggest that Soyuz 1 was intended to undertake a surprisingly ambitious mission for the shakedown flight of a new vehicle. The craft was apparently planned to rendezvous in orbit with at least one, and possibly two, other spacecraft, with between six and nine cosmonauts joining Komarov in space before the end of the mission. The low altitude of Komarov's orbits (the lowest to date in the Soviet manned programme), only 138 miles above the Earth, certainly hint that rendezvous and docking operations were included in the flight programme, as a low orbit conserves power resources. This would have been a significant spaceflight first indeed, especially if – as has also been rumoured – there were plans for a crew transfer between one of these other spacecraft and Soyuz 1.

Crew Transfers Planned?
The fact that Komarov was the only cosmonaut on board Soyuz 1 certainly gives the crew trasnfer rumour some credence, as cosmonauts from one or two other spacecraft could have transferred to Soyuz 1 to fill its empty crew couches. Of course, we have no idea whether this transfer would have taken place through a docking tunnel between two spacecraft, or via a spacewalk, since we know nothing about the Soyuz vehicle itself. However, unless the Soviet manned space programme has been conducting an equivalent to the Gemini programme in secret over the past two years, its cosmonauts have little rendezvous experience (apart from Vostok 3-4 and 5-6), no docking experience, and have conducted only one spacewalk, whereas NASA has firmly mastered these critical techniques needed for the Apollo Moon programme. Perhaps the USSR intended to start catching up by carrying out extensive practice of these techniques during this first Soyuz mission? Or perhaps they have largely ignored them because they are planning a completely different approach to their manned lunar programme?

The official photo of Cosmonaut Komarov, released when the Soyuz 1 mission was announced, shows him wearing a spacesuit similar to that worn by Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov when he made the world’s first spacewalk. This photo can be seen in the reproduction of the article from The Canberra Times, above. It offers an intriguing hint that Komarov himself was possibly intended to make a spacewalk, or swap into another spacecraft for his return to Earth. However, confusing the issue is the picture below, which shows Komarov walking to board Soyuz 1 wearing a flight suit (similar to the one he wore as commander of Voskhod 1) rather than a spacesuit.

Problems with the Soyuz Spacecraft?
So why didn’t this rumoured space feat take place? Soyuz 1 was launched on 23 April. No problems were publicly reported during the early orbits of the mission, and Cosmonaut Komarov sent greetings from space “to the hardworking Australian people”. In another message, he also slammed the Vietnam War, in which Australia is fighting alongside the United States and other allies, sending a propaganda broadcast from orbit: "My warm greetings to the courageous Vietnamese people, fighting with dedication against the bandit aggression of American imperialism for freedom and independence", he said.

Soyuz 1 returned from space on its 19th orbit, after just 27 hours in space. It seems unlikely that this was the intended mission duration if rendezvous/docking and spacewalks with multiple spacecraft were really planned. The shortness of the flight may therefore be an indication that there were problems with the spacecraft, which is not necessarily unexpected with the first flight of a new vehicle. No other spacecraft launched to rendezvous with Soyuz 1, so perhaps this aspect of the mission was abandoned when problems arose.

Reports from amateur space-trackers in Italy also claim that they picked up messages in which Komarov complained to the Soviet Mission Control that they were “guiding [him] wrongly” during re-entry. Whether problems with the Soyuz spacecraft in orbit were responsible for the parachute failure that caused Soyuz 1 to plummet to Earth is perhaps something that we may not know for decades, if ever, given the habitual secrecy of the Soviet space programme.


One of the few photos available showing what remained of Soyuz-1 after its imapct with the ground

Lost Cosmonaut
As commander of the earlier Voskhod 1 mission, Colonel Vladimir Komarov was one of the handful of Soviet cosmonauts already known to us in the West. At 40, he was the second oldest of the cosmonauts (after Voskhod 2 mission commander Pavel Belyayev) and the first cosmonaut to make two spaceflights. Said to be highly respected by his cosmonaut colleagues, Komarov overcame a heart murmur, similar to that which grounded Astronaut Donald K. "Deke" Slayton durng the Mercury programmme, and other medical issues to retain his place in the Soviet comsonaut team. He was
married with a 15-year old son and 9-year old daughter. Komarov's 38-year old wife wife, Valentina, has been quoted as saying that she did not even know her husband had been assigned to the Soyuz 1 flight until it was publicly announced after launch. The identity of the cosmonauts slated to fly the other other spacecraft due to be launched as part of Soyuz-1's mission is completeley unknown at this point.


Cosmoanut Komarov with his wife Valentina and daughter Irina

Accident or Incompetence?
Was the loss of Soyuz 1 and Cosmonaut Komarov’s death just a tragic accident? There are persistent rumours that the spacecraft was not actually ready to be flight tested, and that political pressure was brought to bear on the space programme to produce another significant achievement in advance of a major conference marking 50 years since the October Revolution. Another question that arises is whether or not the unexpected death in January 1966 of Chief Designer Sergei Korolev (whose identity was only revealed after he passed away), could have had any impact on the development of the Soyuz and its subsequent fatal first flight?

Professor Sergei Korolev, the formerly anonymous Chief Designer of the Soviet space programme

An Honoured Hero
Like the lost crew of Apollo 1, Col. Komarov is a hero of the quest to explore space and has been posthumously awarded his second Hero of the Soviet Union medal and Order of Lenin. A Kremlin statement expressed the "profound grief" of the Soviet leadership at Komarov's death, and was signed by the Communist Party Central Committee, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and the
Council of Ministers. A ten-minute public announcement of Komarov's loss on Moscow television showed the Soviet space monument and a black-bordered version of the official photo of Komarov wearing his spacesuit, while Moscow radio is said to have played sombre music. Komarov’s funeral will be held today, after which his ashes will be interred in the Kremlin Wall. The United States requested permission from the Soviet authorities for two astronauts to attend the funeral as a mark of respect, but disappointingly this was turned down.

Presumably the USSR will now launch an accident investigation similar to that being conducted by NASA to find the causes of the Apollo 1 fire, and will place the Soyuz programme into a hiatus until the invetsigation is complete. With both participants in the Moon race now investigating tragic accidents that have led to the loss of astronaut and cosmonaut lives, will the Moon race ever resume? Or will both programmes instead return to spaceflight with different goals? Only time will tell…. 



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Science / Space Race

[January 28, 1967] "Fire in the cockpit!" (The AS-204 Accident)

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by Kaye Dee

As I write this, I’m still in shock. It’s only a few hours since the news broke here in Australia of the tragic loss of the crew of Apollo 204 in a fire on the launchpad at Cape Kennedy, during a launch rehearsal. Spaceflight is difficult and dangerous – we know that. Astronauts Freeman, Bassett and See were killed in plane crashes during training; Armstrong and Scott had a narrow escape from inflight disaster during Gemini VIII.

Unconfirmed rumours abound of Soviet cosmonauts who died in unsuccessful space missions before Gagarin, and the Russians have probably had training accidents to which they have not yet admitted. When I wrote about Gemini VIII’s aborted mission, I asked if spaceflight was moving too fast. There’s certainly been a headlong rush on NASA’s part to get to the Moon ahead of the Soviet Union, so perhaps this tragedy is the answer to my rhetorical question.


The first image available showing the fire-ravaged interior of the Apollo 204 spacecraft

Details are still sketchy at this time, although no doubt more information about the accident will emerge in the coming days and weeks as investigations take place. But right now, let’s explore the background to the mission and what we know about the catastrophe.

The Lost Crew
Apollo 204 (AS-204) was intended to be the first manned test flight of the new Apollo Command and Service Modules, the spacecraft that will be used to carry the first NASA astronauts to the Moon within the next few years. As such, two experienced astronaut test pilots were assigned to the flight: USAF Lt. Colonels Virgil “Gus” Grissom, the Command Pilot, and Senior Pilot Edward White. Grissom was the United States’ second space traveller, flying the Mercury MR-4 mission. He also commanded the first manned Gemini mission, Gemini III. Rumour even has it that Grissom was already under possible consideration to command NASA’s first lunar landing mission. Lt. Col. White is famous as the first American to make a spacewalk, during Gemini IV. These veteran astronauts were joined for this mission by rookie US Navy Lt. Commander Roger Chaffee. Chaffee was selected as a member of the third astronaut group and specialised in communications: he had been a CapCom for both Gemini III and IV.


Official Apollo 204 crew portrait, including a model of the new Apollo Command Module which their mission was intended to test. Left to right Ed White, "Gus" Grissom and Roger Chaffee

The Apollo 204 back-up crew consists of experienced Mercury and Gemini astronaut Walter Schirra and first-time fliers Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham. Astronaut Eisele had originally been assigned in Lt. Commander Chaffee’s role for the Apollo 204 mission but had to be replaced when he needed shoulder surgery in early 1966. I assume that once Apollo missions resume after the accident investigation, this crew will fly the first orbital mission that should have been accomplished by AS-204.

What’s in a Name?
The design for the official Apollo 204 patch, developed by the crew and illustrated by North American Rockwell artist Allen Stevens, carries the designation Apollo 1. At the time that it was approved by NASA, in June 1966, this was the flight’s official name. However, it seems that only recently some doubt arose as to whether the formal designation of the mission would be Apollo 1 after all, which is why it is presently being referred to as Apollo 204, or AS-204. I’ve heard from the Australian liaison officer at NASA, that just last week approval for the patch was withdrawn and that, if this accident had not occurred, the patch might have had to be redesigned, depending on the final mission designation.

But as it stands, the mission patch uses the American flag for a background, with a central image depicting an Apollo spacecraft in Earth orbit. The Moon appears to the right of the Earth, reminding us of the eventual goal of Project Apollo. The designation Apollo 1 and the names of the crew appear in a border around the central image, while the patch is edged with a black border – a touch that is poignantly even more appropriate in view of the loss of the crew. I do hope that this patch, and the designation Apollo 1, will be re-instated as the official insignia of this mission in honour of its lost crew.

The Mission that Should Have Been
The fire that has killed the Apollo 204 crew occurred during a preflight test ahead of a launch scheduled for 21 February. It was planned to be the first manned orbital test flight of the Apollo Command and Service Modules, launched on a Saturn IB rocket. The mission was to have tested launch operations, ground tracking and control facilities, as well as the performance of the Apollo-Saturn launch vehicle. Depending on how well the spacecraft performed, the mission might have lasted up to two weeks, perhaps equalling Gemini VII's record spaceflight and demonstrating that the Apollo spacecraft could function successfully for the duration of the longest Moon flights currently in planning.


The Apollo 204 crew in front of Pad 34, from which they should have launched, and where they have been killed

The Command Module allocated to Apollo 204, CM-012, was a so-called “Block I” version, originally designed before the lunar orbit rendezvous landing strategy was selected. Block 1 spacecraft aren’t able to dock with a lunar module, but future “Block II” versions will.

Was It a Lemon?
The Apollo Command and Service Modules are undoubtedly far more complex than any previously-built spacecraft, so it isn’t surprising that their development has had many teething problems. Over the last few months, I’ve heard from my former colleagues at the WRE that many issues with the Command Module became evident last year, especially when CM-012 was delivered to Kennedy Space Centre in August to be prepared for its flight. Even before it arrived, the Apollo 1 crew had expressed concerns to Apollo Spacecraft Program Office manager Joseph Shea about the quantity of flammable materials, such as nylon netting and Velcro, being used in the spacecraft cabin to hold tools and equipment in place. It seems that, even though Shea ordered these flammable materials removed, this may not have happened.


The Apollo 204 crew sent Program manager Jospeh Shea a parody of their crew portrait to express their concernes about the spacecraft. They are shown praying, and the picture carried the inscription: "It isn't that we don't trust you, Joe, but this time we've decided to go over your head"  

When CM-012 arrived at Kennedy Space Center, there were still 113 significant planned engineering changes to be completed, and another 623 engineering change orders were made following delivery! This suggests that many issues with the spacecraft design were still being resolved. Apparently, the engineers in charge of the spacecraft training simulators just couldn’t keep up with all these changes, and I’ve heard that Lt. Colonel Grissom expressed his frustration about this by bringing a lemon from a tree at his home and hanging it on the simulator.


CM-012, at that time designated Apollo 1, arriving at Kennedy Space Centre

There were several problems with the environmental control unit in the Command Module, which was twice returned to the manufacturer for designed changes and repairs. During a high-speed landing test, when the Command Module was dropped into a water tank to simulate splashdown, its heat shield split wide open, and the ship sank like a stone! There were also apparently concerns about a propellant tank in the Service Module that had ruptured during pre-delivery testing. NASA had it removed and tested at Kennedy Space Centre to be sure there were no further problems. 

CM-012 finally completed a successful altitude chamber test on 30 December and was mated to its Saturn IB launch vehicle on Pad 34 at Cape Kennedy on 6 January. So, was this particular spacecraft a lemon – an accident waiting to happen? Or has this tragedy shown that the design of the Apollo Command Module is inherently flawed? We’ll undoubtedly have to wait for the results of the accident investigation before we know the answer.

Countdown to Disaster
At this point, we still know very little about the disastrous fire or what led to its breakout, but my WRE colleagues have helped me put together some information accident from their contacts at NASA. The fire broke out during what had apparently been a trouble-plagued launch simulation known as a "plugs-out" test. This kind pre-flight simulation is intended to demonstrate that the spacecraft will operate as it should on internal power, detached from all cables and umbilicals, and successfully carrying out this test was essential for confirming the 21 February launch date.


The AS-204 crew in the CM simulator on 19 January, as part of their preparations ahead of the "plugs out" test

Almost as soon as the astronauts entered the Command Module, there were problems when Grissom experienced a strange odour in his oxygen supply from the spacecraft, which delayed the start of the test. Problems with a high oxygen flow indication that kept triggering the master alarm also caused delays. There were also serious communications issues: at first, it was Command Pilot Grissom experiencing difficulty speaking with the control room, but the problems spread to include communications between the operations and checkout building and the blockhouse at complex 34, forcing another hold in the simulated countdown.

Fire Erupts
It was not until five and a half hours after the simulation began that the countdown finally resumed, and when it did instruments apparently showed an unexplained rise in the oxygen flow into the crew’s spacesuits. Within seconds, there were calls from the spacecraft indicating that a fire had broken out in the cabin and that the astronauts were facing a serious emergency, trying to escape. The final transmission from inside the spacecraft ended with a cry of pain.

Of course, there are emergency escape procedures for the Command Module, but with the triple spacecraft hatch, it requires at least 90 seconds to get it open, and it seems that the crew had never been able to accomplish the escape routine in that minimum time. There is some evidence that Lt. Col. White was trying to carry out his assigned emergency task of opening the hatch, but in the pure oxygen atmosphere of the spacecraft, the fire became incredibly intense very rapidly and rising internal pressure would have made it difficult, if not impossible to open the inward-opening hatch.


Picture taken shortly after the fire was extinguished showing the external damage to the Command Module caused by the hull rupture resulting from the fire

In less than 20 seconds from the first detection of the fire, the pressure inside CM-012 rose to the point where it actually ruptured the hull of the spacecraft, sending flame, heat and dense smoke into the pad service structure. The ground crew bravely tried to rescue the astronauts, but the dangerous conditions and unsuitable emergency equipment made it virtually impossible. Many were later treated for smoke inhalation. There were fears the CM had exploded, and that the fire might ignite the solid fuel rocket in the launch escape tower above it. If this happened, it could set fire to the entire service structure.

It took about five minutes for the ground crew to finally get the spacecraft hatch open, but their efforts were in vain, as the astronauts were already dead. The exact cause of death has yet to be determined: it may have been physical burns from the fire, or carbon monoxide asphyxia, from the fire's by-products.

Whatever the cause, three brave men have died, and an exhaustive investigation of the fire and its causes will now take place as part of the accident investigation. Exactly what effect this tragedy will have on the future of the Apollo programme will very much depend upon the findings of that investigation. If the design of the Command Module is found to be intrinsically flawed, the necessary redesigns could delay the programme for years, causing NASA to miss President Kennedy’s deadline for a Moon landing, and allowing the Soviet Union to overtake the United States again in the Space Race.

Grissom and White have both said in past interviews that they recognized the possibility that there could be catastrophic failures and accidents in spaceflight and that they accepted that possibility and continued with their work. I’d just like to give the last word in this article to Astronaut Frank Borman, who said in a 1965 interview "I hope that the people in the US are mature enough that when we do lose our first crews they accept this as part of the business". It would not honour the loss of the Apollo 204 crew if this tragedy led to the termination of the Apollo programme.



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Science / Space Race

[November 16, 1966] A Grand Finale (Gemini 12)

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by Kaye Dee

As I write, it’s less than a day since the splashdown of Gemini 12 brought NASA’s second manned spaceflight programme to an overwhelmingly successful conclusion, demonstrating that the Space Agency has finally mastered the art of spacewalking. It’s incredible to think that it’s only been 20 months since the first manned Gemini mission was launched, but the packed schedule of ten flights has tested out all the techniques that the space agency needs to advance to its Apollo lunar programme.

Two for the Show

Gemini 12's Command Pilot was former Naval aviator Captain Jim Lovell (left in photo above). Making his second spaceflight, Lovell previously flew on the Gemini 7 long duration mission and now holds the record for the longest time spent in space by any astronaut or cosmonaut. Pilot for this mission was rookie astronaut USAF Major Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, who performed an unprecedented three successful extravehicular activities (EVAs) during this flight. The only member of the astronaut corps to hold a Doctorate, Aldrin is a specialist in rendezvous and docking techniques, and on this mission he put that knowledge to very good use.

A “Halloween” Patch

Gemini 12 was originally scheduled to launch on October 31, so Lovell and Aldrin had considered a Halloween theme for their mission patch. They wanted to evoke Halloween with the use of orange and black colours and also planned to show their Gemini capsule launched on a witch’s broomstick instead of a rocket! However, with the launch rescheduled to November, only the Halloween colour-scheme remained of the original concept.

The final design features the Roman numeral XII at the top of the round patch, in the position it would be on a clock-face. Just like an hour hand, the Gemini spacecraft points to the XII, a reminder that this is the final flight of the Gemini programme. The crescent Moon on the left side of the patch symbolises the ultimate goal of the upcoming Apollo programme.

Training for Weightlessness

Gemini 12's main goal was to complete three EVAs that would demonstrate that NASA had finally cracked the problem of successfully carrying out spacewalking operations, a technique crucial to the Apollo programme.

The astronauts who attempted to perform spacewalks on Gemini 9, 10 and 11, had all reported that operating in orbit was much more difficult and tiring than the simulations conducted using the KC-135 weightlessness training aircraft. They also complained that there were few handholds on the exterior of the Gemini and Agena to help them move around in Zero-G. Consequently, a new approach to training was employed for Gemini 12, which I understand was suggested by Astronaut Aldrin himself, who is a keen scuba diver.


"Buzz" Aldrin practices installing a handrail between the Gemini capsule and Agena target vehicle, in an underwater training simulation

In addition to the KC-135 flights, Aldrin trained in a large pool containing a Gemini mockup. In the pool, special weights were added to the astronaut’s spacesuit to create “neutral buoyancy,” offsetting gravity so he would neither rise nor sink, and Aldrin spent several EVA simulation training sessions of more than two hours underwater.

As well as this new training technique, more handrails and handholds were added to the Gemini capsule, along with a waist tether that would enable Aldrin to turn wrenches and retrieve experiment packages without too much effort.

Dr. Rendezvous Saves the Day, Again!

After two delays caused by technical issues, the final Gemini mission lifted off on the afternoon of November 11 US time. On its third orbit, Gemini 12 prepared to dock with the Agena target vehicle, but problems with the Gemini's onboard radar threatened to make that impossible.

Luckily, Aldrin had already developed procedures for onboard backup rendezvous techniques in the event of radar failure. Drawing on his expertise, Aldrin used a sextant and his slide rule, measuring the angle between the horizon and the Agena. Once he had confirmed the information with his rendezvous chart, Aldrin calculated corrections with the spacecraft’s computer, enabling the rendezvous and docking to be successfully accomplished.

Rendezvous with the Sun

Despite the successful rendezvous, some anomalies with the Agena’s turbopump during launch led to Mission Control cancelling a planned boost to a higher orbit, like that conducted on Gemini 11. Instead, NASA took the opportunity to have the crew photograph a solar eclipse through the spacecraft windows at the beginning of mission day two.

Using the Agena’s secondary propulsion system, Gemini 12 changed orbits to place itself above South America at the right time and location to capture the first colour images of a total solar eclipse free from the interference of the Earth’s atmosphere. During the scant eight seconds that the astronauts could view the eclipse, they snapped four images that are expected to help scientists discover the secrets of the solar corona. The pictures were taken with film sensitive to ultra-violet light, which does not penetrate through the Earth's atmosphere.

Standing Up in Space

About two hours after photographing the eclipse, Aldrin commenced his first EVA, with his head and upper body exposed to space as he stood in the open hatch above his spacecraft seat. During this “stand-up EVA”, which lasted almost two and a half hours, Aldrin took the time to accustom himself to the space environment, which it was thought would better prepare him for his later spacewalk.

One of his first jobs was to install a handrail between his hatch and the docking collar of the Agena that would aid his movements during his day three spacewalk. Aldrin mounted a camera on the side of the spacecraft, with which he took a close-up picture of himself (above), the first shot of its type ever taken! He collected a micrometeorite experiment, and took photographs of the Earth as well as ultra-violet astronomical photography.

Aldrin’s photographic tasks were part of the 14 scientific, medical, and technological experiments planned for Gemini 12. Although five experiments could not be fully completed, those that were included: frog egg growth under zero-g conditions; synoptic terrain and weather photography; airglow horizon photography; and UV astronomy and dim sky photography.

Walking and Working in Space

Gemini 12 flight day three began with some minor fuel cell and manoeuvring thruster issues that would last for the rest of the mission. They did not, however, prevent the highlight of the flight from taking place: a planned two hour tethered spacewalk by Major Aldrin. Until Gemini 12, successfully performing work outside a spacecraft was the one Gemini objective that had eluded NASA, but Aldrin exceeded even the most optimistic hopes for this flight as he performed a record two hours, nine minute and 25 second EVA.

Attached to a 30-foot umbilical cord, Aldrin used the handrail he had installed the day before to assist in attaching a 100-foot long tether between the nose of the Gemini and the Agena. With the handholds, he did not experience the problems Gordon encountered on Gemini 11. Aldrin’s approach to his spacewalk was to go slowly and carefully, resting for two-minute periods between tasks. In fact, about a dozen two-minute rest periods were built into the EVA schedule to prevent Aldrin from becoming exhausted like previous Gemini spacewalkers. 

Moving to the spacecraft’s aft adapter, Aldrin supported himself with overshoe restraints and waist tethers to carry out a number of work tasks. He was able to fasten rings and hooks, connect and disconnect electrical and fluid connections, tighten bolts and cut cables. Aldrin then moved across to the Agena, where he worked at pulling apart electrical connectors and putting them together again. He also tried out a torque wrench designed for the Apollo programme.

At the completion of his spacewalk, Aldrin returned to his Gemini seat with no fatigue and all his tasks accomplished. This demonstrated that the use of neutral buoyancy training, available handholds and foot restraints on the spacecraft, and a slow and measured pace of work while in space, are the ingredients needed for future successful EVAs during the Apollo missions. 

Going for a Spin

The other major task for flight day three was a repeat of the gravity-gradient stabilisation/artificial gravity experiment performed on Gemini 11. Undocking from the Agena, Gemini 12 moved to the end of the tether connecting the two vehicles and then fired its thrusters to slowly rotate the combined spacecraft. Although they had some difficulty keeping the tether taut, the astronauts were able to use centrifugal force to generate a small amount of gravity during the four hour, 20 minute exercise, and achieve gravity-gradient stabilization. After releasing the tether connected to the Agena, Gemini 12 pulled away from the target vehicle and did not re-dock with it again.

One More Time

The last day of Gemini 12’s mission began with an attempt to sight two yellow clouds of sodium particles ejected by a pair of French Centaure rockets launched from the Algerian Sahara. This experiment was designed to measure high altitude winds. Although Lovell and Aldrin could not see the clouds, they did attempt to photograph them using directional instructions from the ground. We’ll have to wait until those films are developed to see if they were successful.

Shortly afterwards, as the spacecraft came over Australia, Gemini 12’s hatch opened for the final time, and Aldrin conducted a second stand-up EVA. Lasting 55 minutes, this brought Aldrin’s total spacewalking time up to a record five hours and 30 minutes! Most of this EVA occurred as Gemini 12 passed over the night side of the Earth, so that Aldrin could aim his camera at “hot young stars”, which have stimulated the curiosity of astronomers all over the world. He also took numerous ultraviolet photographs of stars and constellations.

Mission Accomplished

After a spaceflight lasting 94 hours, 34 minutes and 31 seconds, Geminin 12 made the second computer-controlled re-entry of the programme, splashing down safely in the western Atlantic just three miles from their target, near the recovery aircraft carrier USS Wasp.

Captain Lovell and Major Aldrin have now been recovered and are on their way back to the United States for post-flight debriefing. But we already know that the Gemini 12 mission has been a fitting grand finale to the Gemini project, clearly demonstrating that NASA has achieved all the goals it set for the programme: it has now mastered rendezvous and docking, direct ascent to orbit rendezvous, long-duration spaceflight equivalent to the time of an Apollo lunar mission, and – the trickiest of all, as they discovered – the art of spacewalking.

We should not forget that Gemini has been a team effort, directly involving more than 25,000 people from NASA, the US Department of Defence, other government agencies, universities and research centres, industry and tracking station partners overseas. Everyone involved should feel great pride in the way spaceflight has been advanced in an amazingly short time.

Very soon, the manned Apollo programme will commence, and we can all hope that it will lead to a successful landing on the Moon before the end of this decade. But we should not forget that its success will stand on the shoulders of the Gemini programme.

Postscript

But where are the Russians in the race to the Moon? No Soviet manned flight has been announced since Voskhod 2 in March last year. Has the USSR withdrawn from the race? That seems unlikely, but why do they appear not to have attempted rendezvous and docking missions? Perhaps they have decided to use a different method of reaching the Moon, such as direct ascent, using a massive multi-stage rocket, without the need for orbital rendezvous? After all, as far as we can tell, they still have larger and more powerful rockets than Western nations. Only time will tell, but I think there are still many surprises in store from the USSR before either the East or West wins the Space Race!

(Want more exciting space stories?  Join us for Star Trek tomorrow night at 8:30 PM (Pacific AND Eastern — two showings)!!)

Here's the invitation!



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Science / Space Race

[September 18, 1966] Soaring Higher (Gemini 11)

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by Kaye Dee

Back in July, Gemini 10 accomplished an incredibly ambitious mission, and I wondered then what the next Gemini flight could do to top it. Now we know. In its three-day mission, Gemini 11 carried out a packed program: it made a direct ascent to its Agena target vehicle, soared even higher than its predecessor, conducted two EVAs and 12 different experiments, created artificial gravity and even performed the first computer-controlled return to Earth. I’m exhausted just listing all these highlights!


Gemini-11 prime and backup crews (L to R): William A. Anders, backup crew pilot; Richard F. Gordon Jr., prime crew pilot; Charles Conrad Jr. (foot on desk), prime crew command pilot; and Neil A. Armstrong, backup crew command pilot

Anchors Aweigh!

You could almost say that Gemini 11 has been a US Navy mission, since both its crew are naval officers. The Command Pilot, Commander Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr., was selected in the second astronaut group in 1962. He was previously the Pilot for the then-record breaking Gemini 5 mission, spending almost 8 days in space. Making his first spaceflight, Gemini 11 Pilot L.t Commander Richard “Dick” Gordon Jr. was part of NASA’s third astronaut intake in October 1963. Both men were previously naval aviators and test pilots.

There’s also a nod to the crew’s US Navy background in their mission patch, which was designed in Navy colours of blue and gold. The major milestones of the mission are indicated by stars. The first orbit rendezvous with the Agena is indicated by the tiny star on the line representing the mission’s low Earth orbit, while the actual docking is marked by the large star on the left. The star at the top marks the plan to reach a record high apogee, and the star on the right signifies Astronaut Gordon's spacewalk. The three events symbolised by the three large stars are also depicted visually, with representations of the docked Gemini 11 and Agena, a gold line representing the high apogee orbit and a spacewalking astronaut. The Roman numeral XI soars above the Earth from the launch site in Florida.

Preparing for Apollo

An important goal of Gemini 11 was to prove the feasibility of the plan for direct ascent rendezvous on Apollo lunar missions, in which a returning Lunar Module will lift off from the Moon’s surface to rendezvous with the Command Module as it passes overhead. To practice this technique, Gemini 11 would attempt to rendezvous directly with its Agena target vehicle on its first orbit, rather than taking around four orbits, as has been the case on earlier Gemini flights. To achieve this manoeuvre, the Atlas-Agena target vehicle had to launch within the desired time, while the Gemini itself had only a two-second launch window!

Present and future in one picture. As Gemini 11 lifts off from the Cape Kennedy Air Force Station's Launch Complex 19, the first Apollo Saturn V rocket is on Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Centre. This Saturn V is a non-flight Facility Verification Vehicle that is being used for pad fit checks

Although technical issues twice delayed the launch, Gemini 11 finally lifted off exactly on time 12 September (US time): its target vehicle had been launched an hour and 37 minutes earlier. Manoeuvres for Gemini to catch up with the Agena began quickly, and before its first orbit had been completed, Gemini 11 was flying in formation with its target and ready to dock. The actual docking was achieved nine minutes after rendezvous, just one hour and 34 minutes after liftoff. With an achievement like this, it’s amazing to think that the first rendezvous between two orbiting spacecraft occurred only nine months ago! Unlike Gemini 10, the Gemini 11 docking consumed less fuel than expected and both Commander Conrad and Lt. Commander Gordon conducted two docking exercises with the Agena, before a final manoeuvre established the docked spacecraft in a 178 x 188 mile orbit.


After a first orbit rendezvous, Gemini 11 is docked with its Agena. The target vehicle's antenna is seen extending upwards

“Ride ‘em Cowboy”

The first Extra-Vehicular Activity of the mission occurred 24 hours after launch, when Astronaut Gordon left the spacecraft to begin a spacewalk that was scheduled to last about 105 minutes, while he remained tethered to Gemini 11 by a life support umbilical line. After setting up a movie camera and retrieving a micrometeorite experiment, the next task involved fastening a 100-foot tether, stored in the Agena's docking collar, to a docking bar on the Gemini's nose. These would be used for experiments in passive stabilisation and the first creation of artificial gravity in space (see below!)


"Ride 'em cowboy," said Gemini 11 Command Pilot Conrad as Astronaut Dick Gordon rested on the Agena target vehicle. This view was taken over the Atlantic Ocean at approximately 160 miles above Earth

Like previous Gemini EVAs, working in space for an extended period proved more tiring than in the simulations and Gordon became exhausted, overstressing his spacesuit’s life support system. After attaching the tether, he stopped to rest, sitting astride the Agena, like a cowboy riding a bucking bronco. Heavy perspiration inside the suit obscured the astronaut’s vision, virtually blinding his right eye and the faceplate of his helmet became fogged due to heavy breathing. As a result, the EVA was terminated, with Gordon spending just 21 minutes outside the spacecraft. 

Reaching New Heights

On 14 September, more than 40 hours into the mission, the Agena target vehicle’s primary propulsion system was fired for 25 seconds to thrust the docked spacecraft to a maximum altitude of 853 miles, establishing a new manned spaceflight altitude record! The Gemini 11 crew were enthralled by the spectacular view from this unprecedented vantage point. They particularly commented on the blueness of the water and marked curvature of the Earth below them.


Conrad and Gordon reached the maximum altitude of their high orbit over the southern hemisphere. As they looked west over the western half of Australia, Conrad said "We're looking straight down over Australia now. We have the whole southern part of the world out one window. Utterly fantastic."

After two orbits at this record-breaking altitude, completed in 3 hours, 23 minutes, Conrad and Gordon once again used the Agena’s engines to drive the joined spacecraft back down to their original low Earth orbit.

Standing Up in Space

On flight day three, Astronaut Gordon performed the mission’s second EVA, a “stand-up" spacewalk like that conducted on Gemini 10. Positioned in the open hatch, standing on his seat, Gordon spent two hours and eight minutes photographing the Earth, clouds and stars, as part of the range of experiments to be performed during the flight. During this period, Conrad manoeuvred the spacecraft to point Gordon and his camera in whatever direction was required. Unlike his first EVA experience, Gordon found the “stand-up” spacewalk so peaceful that he actually fell asleep!


Astronaut Dick Gordon stands in the open spacecraft hatch during the Gemini 11 mission

Inflight Experiments

The photography that Gordon undertook during his “stand-up” EVA were part of a packed program of 12 scientific experiments planned for Gemini 11. These included photography of the Earth for research in geology, geophysics, geography, oceanography, and related fields, and photography of clouds to study the fine structure of the Earth's weather system. Other experiments focused on astronomy and upper-atmosphere studies, while three experiments had specific military applications. There was a biological experiment looking at whether weightlessness enhances the effects of radiation on human white blood cells and Neurospora crassa fungi. An interesting photographic experiment investigated the regions of the L4 and L5 libration points of the Earth–Moon system. These are zones trailing and ahead of the Moon's orbit that are gravitationally stable. It is theorized that there might be clouds of particulate matter, or even tiny mini-Moons, which it is theorised may be orbiting the Earth in these regions.

Making Artificial Gravity!

After the stand-up EVA, 50 hours into the mission, Gemini 11 commenced a fascinating experiment in creating artificial gravity. Undocking from the Agena target vehicle, the Gemini 11 spacecraft slowly manoeuvred to stretch out the tether that Gordon had connected between them during his first spacewalk, and then allow the two tethered spacecraft to slowly rotate around one another.

The movement of the tethered spacecraft was first erratic, but stabilised after about 20 minutes, so that the rotation rate could then be increased. The astronauts found it challenging to keep the rope tether between the spacecraft tight, but they were able to demonstrate the "passive attitude stabilisation" of two spacecraft connected by a tether.


While tethered to their Agena target vehicle, the Gemini 11 crew manoeuvred their craft to keep the tether taut between the two. By firing their side thrusters to slowly rotate the combined spacecraft, they were able to use centrifugal force to generate about 0.00015 g of artificial gravity

The circular motion at the end of the tether created a slight artificial “gravitational acceleration” within Gemini 11. This is the first time artificial gravity has been demonstrated in space, even though that gravitational force was only 1.5 one-thousandths that of Earth. After about three hours, the rope tether was released, and the spacecraft moved apart.

Final Rendezvous

Although a fuel cell failed after the artificial gravity experiment, the remaining fuel cells were able to satisfactorily cope, and just under five hours before planned re-entry, Gemini 11 made a final “flyby” rendezvous with the Agena. This last rendezvous had not been part of the original flight plan but was made possible because of the fuel efficiency of the earlier rendezvous and docking manoeuvres. The fact that this rendezvous was made without use of the rendezvous radar, which had malfunctioned, is a testament to the skill and training of the Gemini 11 crew.


Gemini 11's Agena target vehicle seen during the "flyby" rendezvous. The tether from the artificial gravity and passive stabilisation experiment can be seen still attached to the vehicle

Coming Home Under Computer Control

Gemini 11’s return to Earth was the first fully automatic splashdown in the history of the US space program. On 15 September, at the end of its 44th orbit, Gemini 11’s retro-rockets were fired and the automatic re-entry was accomplished by computer commands directly to the thrusters. On earlier Gemini missions, the Command Pilot took controls of the re-entry at about 75 miles up, using the spacecraft's offset centre of gravity to generate lift for changes in direction. For Gemini 11, these manoeuvres were accomplished by computer commands. This process proved successful, and the capsule splashed down only 1.5 miles from the planned position in the Atlantic Ocean. A helicopter from the USS Guam picked up Conrad and Dick Gordon, taking the astronauts to the recovery ship.


Command Pilot Conrad climbs from Gemini 11 minutes after its successful computer-controlled splashdown

Heading to a Grand Finale

With Gemini 11, NASA demonstrated that it has has well and truly mastered rendezvous and docking. But the difficulties encountered by Lt Commander Gordon on his first EVA, and the problems that occurred on the spacewalks in previous missions, show that Extra-Vehicular Activity remains a challenge to be conquered. EVA is vital to the success of the Apollo programme, so Gemini 12, the final mission in this programme, will have spacewalking as its primary objective: it will be a grand finale indeed if Gemini 12 can demonstrate that the problems of EVA, like those of rendezvous and docking, have been successfully solved.




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Science / Space Race

[August 26, 1966] Shooting the Moon – and Going Even Further (Lunar Orbiter, AS-202 and Pioneer 7)

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by Kaye Dee

It’s been a busy month in deep space exploration, with new space probes exploring the Moon and conditions in interplanetary space, while another step forward in testing the hardware for the Apollo programme has just taken place.

Surveying the Moon

NASA may have called its lunar soft lander Surveyor 1, but its latest lunar mission, Lunar Orbiter 1, is actually surveying the Moon from orbit. It is the first of a series of Lunar Orbiter spacecraft that NASA wants to send to the Moon, with a launch planned every three months to obtain high-resolution photographs of potential Apollo landing sites. These probes will also extensively map the Moon’s surface with a resolution of 200 feet or better and study the Moon’s gravitational field as well as its radiation and micrometeoroid environments. The Boeing Missile Production Centre in Seattle is building the solar-powered spacecraft, with NASA’s Langley Research Centre managing the project.

Launched on 10 August (US time), Lunar Orbiter 1’s goals include imaging nine primary and seven secondary potential Apollo landing sites on the Earth-facing side of the Moon at medium and high resolutions, as well as photographing 11 areas on the hidden lunar far side at lower resolution. Although the spacecraft experienced a temporary failure of its navigation system (based on tracking the star Canopus) and overheated too, both these problems were resolved by the time it reached the Moon.

After a 92-hour cruise, Lunar Orbiter 1 entered an elliptical 117-by-1,160-mile orbit around the Moon, to become the first US probe to orbit our natural satellite (the USSR’s Luna 10 became the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon back in April). On 15 August, Lunar Orbiter 1 activated its 145-pound camera system and began testing it by scanning and transmitting back to Earth several pre-exposed frames of film.

A Photography Studio in Lunar Orbit

Photography is critical to the purpose and success of the Lunar Orbiter missions, and the advanced Lunar Orbiter camera system has been built by Eastman-Kodak. Rumours I heard during my recent visit to Woomera indicate that it is based on a system originally designed for a classified military satellite. Lunar Orbiter’s “camera” is actually a double instrument, using two lenses to take a wide-angle medium-resolution shot and a high-resolution image on the same film. The narrow angle, high-resolution camera has a resolution of just three feet, while the resolution of the wide-angle camera is 25 feet.

The first medium-resolution image taken by Lunar Orbiter 1, showing part of the Mare Smythii region

Once it takes a picture, Lunar Orbiter functions as a photography studio in space, developing its film onboard using a semi-dry process. The developed film is scanned in narrow strips using a photomultiplier, with the scans transmitted back to Earth. The signals are then reconverted into photos in a way that is quite fascinating. I was fortunate enough to see this process for myself while I was visiting NASA’s Island Lagoon deep space tracking station near Woomera last week. The signals representing each scanned strip are reconverted to images on film and then each strip is laid on a board, one beside the other, to build up the photograph. Once all the film strips comprising the complete frame have been received and laid out, the final image is photographed. This produces the “striped” effect seen in the pictures that NASA has already released.

Getting to Work

Lunar Orbiter acquired its first images of the Moon on 18 August, taking 16 high-resolution and four medium-resolution frames. While the medium-resolution photos were of good quality, a problem with the spacecraft’s motion compensation system caused blurring of the early high-resolution images, although this has now been resolved. A separate issue with the film developing system has also required the film to be advanced more frequently than planned, resulting in the need to take additional unplanned photographs. This has proved a bonus for mission managers, enabling them to shoot additional photographs at unusual oblique angles by temporarily reorienting the spacecraft. Perhaps these special images will produce useful perspectives that can be more fully explored on later Lunar Orbiter missions.

A medium-resolution view of the Moon's heavily-cratered far side, with the unusual crater Tsiolkovsky (with the dark interior) appearing in the top right

Initially, Lunar Orbiter concentrated on imaging the Moon's hidden side, of which we know so little, before moving on to its main task of surveying the proposed Apollo landing sites. On 20 August, the spacecraft altered its orbit to approach as close as 36 miles above the Moon’s surface, and on 25 August, it lowered its orbit still further, to 25.2 miles, to get the most detailed views of potential Apollo landing sites. This will help scientists to determine which ones will be safest for the first manned missions to the Moon.

An Historic Image

On 23 August, as Lunar Orbiter 1 emerged from behind the Moon, it captured what has to be one of the most important images so far produced in space exploration: a view of the Earth appearing to rise over the lunar horizon. This is the first time that our home planet has been photographed from so far out in space, and also the first time that the Earth and the Moon have appeared in the same picture. The hi-resolution image, seen below, is breathtaking in black and white – I just wish it could be reproduced at a larger scale here. so that you could see all the detail it provides. Just imagine how much more spectacular this view of the Earth will be when we can finally see it in colour, perhaps taken when the first Apollo astronauts orbit the Moon! 

As I write this, Lunar Orbiter has recently taken another image of the Earth from the Moon and is continuing its primary task of imaging Apollo landing sites. The spacecraft will soon run out of film and take its last photographs, although transmission of the 200 or so scanned images may not be completed until mid-September. Its photography mission may then be over, but the probe will continue to return data on radiation and micrometeoroid conditions around the Moon. Once its maneouvring fuel is almost depleted, ground controllers will command Lunar Orbiter 1 to de-orbit and crash onto the Moon. This will ensure that its presence as a dead satellite in orbit will not interfere with future Lunar Orbiter or Apollo missions.

Prelude to Apollo

While Lunar Orbiter has been assisting the Apollo programme with its work in lunar orbit, here on Earth the latest step forward in the manned lunar program has just taken place. 25 August saw the sub-orbital flight of AS-202, the second unmanned test flight of a production Block I Apollo Command and Service Module and the third for the Saturn 1B rocket.

Originally intended as the second test flight of the Saturn IB vehicle, the mission was delayed until after AS-203 because its Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM-011) was not yet ready. CSM-011 is essentially a production model capable of carrying a crew, although it was not fully fitted out and lacked the crew couches. This was the first flight of the spacecraft’s guidance and navigation system as well as the fuel cell electrical system. The flight was also designed to test the Command Module’s heat shield.

The performance of the Saturn 1B was perfect, putting the spacecraft into a ballistic trajectory. Separating from the launcher’s second stage at an altitude of 419.8 nautical miles, the CSM was pre-programmed to make four burns to test its service propulsion system (SPS). The first, and longest, burn lasted 3 minutes, 35 seconds, lifting the spacecraft apogee to 617.1 nautical miles, 874.8 nautical miles downrange. The two final burns lasted only three seconds each, designed to test the rapid restart capabilities of the engine.

The spacecraft performed a skip re-entry to shed speed. It first descended to 36 nautical miles before lifting back up to 44 nautical miles and descending again. The Command Module splashed down south-east of Wake Island, about 205 nautical miles from the target landing site, but was retrieved by the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

The success of this flight indicates that the Block I spacecraft and Saturn IB are ready to carry a crew into orbit, so the next mission, AS-204, may well be manned. What an exciting development that will be!

Continually Pioneering

Moon missions, manned spaceflight and planetary explorers capture the attention of the public, but NASA’s Pioneer series of probes are quietly continuing to gather scientific information about the Sun and conditions in interplanetary space.

Launched on 17 August, Pioneer 7 joins its predecessor Pioneer 6, as the second of five spacecraft designed to make a long term study of the solar wind, solar magnetic field and cosmic rays. This research will contribute to the Apollo programme as well, by producing a better understanding of the radiation environment that the astronauts will encounter on the Moon, which is not protected by a magnetic field like the Earth.

NASA illustration depicting the locations in interplanetary space of the Pioneer 6, 7 and the future Pioneer 8 (Pioneer C) spacecraft 37 days after launch

Where Pioneer 6 is orbiting the Sun between the orbits of Earth and Venus, Pioneer 7 is heading 12 million miles beyond Earth’s orbit, taking up station at approximately 1.1 Astronomical Units, between the orbits of Earth and Mars. Its 140-pound package of seven scientific instruments is the same as that carried on Pioneer 6. One of these instruments, the cosmic ray anisotropy experiment, was developed by Dr. Ken McCracken, an Australian physicist interested in the hazards of space radiation to astronauts and the behaviour of cosmic rays. With professorships at both the University of Adelaide and the University of Texas, McCracken is earning himself the nickname “Sir Launchalot” for the number of instruments he has already flown on satellites, sounding rockets and high-altitude balloons!

With NASA’s Ames Research Centre as the project managers, Pioneer 7 was built by TRW and is identical to Pioneer 6. Each spin-stabilised spacecraft is cylindrical, with the main body measuring 37 inches in diameter by 35 inches high. Solar panels are mounted around the body, with a long magnetometer boom extending 82 inches long. The antenna mast is 52 inches long and the entire spacecraft weighs approximately 150 pounds. The spacecraft have a design life of six months, but Pioneer 6 has already outlived that, and there is every expectation that Pioneer 7 will exceed its design life as well.

Off the Earth

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this update is that all of the launches involve extraterrestrial destinations. The focus has turned from the Earth to its nearest neighbors. How far we have come in just a few years! Where might we be headed come 1970?




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Science / Space Race

[July 24, 1966] Doubling Up (Gemini 10)

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by Kaye Dee

A few days ago, Gemini 10 returned from the most ambitious US spaceflight to date. It literally took the Gemini programme to new heights and has firmly cemented the United States’ lead over the Soviet Union in the race to the Moon. Featuring not one, but two orbital rendezvous and two EVAs, Gemini 10 was a complex mission designed to increase NASA’s experience with these two techniques vital to the success of the Apollo lunar programme.

Designed by astronaut John Young’s wife Barbara, the Gemini 10 patch is simple, but highly symbolic. It features the Roman numeral 10 and two stars representing the two rendezvous attempts; Castor and Pollux (the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini); and the two crew members. A stylized rendezvous is also depicted.

Crew for a Complex Mission

The Command Pilot for Gemini 10 was US Navy Commander John Young (left in the picture below), making his second spaceflight after acting as the Pilot of Gemini 3. Sitting in the right-hand seat as Pilot was US Air Force Major Michael Collins. A member of NASA’s third astronaut group, he is the first astronaut born outside the United States: his father is an Army officer and was stationed in Rome at the time of Collins’ birth.

Critical Timing

Blasting off on July 18, Gemini 10 was the first dual launch of a target vehicle and a manned Gemini flight to occurr exactly as planned. Launch timing was crucial, as Gemini 10 had only a 35-second window if it was going to rendezvous with two Agena targets in different orbits. The launch of the first rendezvous target, Agena 10, could not be delayed by more than 28 minutes, or it would result in a two-day wait until the second Agena already in orbit (originally launched for Gemini 8) would again be in position for the dual rendezvous plan to succeed. Agena 10 lifted off just two seconds late. One hundred minutes later it was followed by Gemini 10, launching exactly on time.

An amazing timelapse photo of Gemini 10's launch, showing the supporting rocker arm tower falling away

First Rendezvous

Despite the perfect launch, the path to Gemini 10’s first rendezvous was not completely smooth. An error made by John Young during the second burn – needed to rendezvous with the Agena about 160 miles above the Earth – required two additional burns to correct. By the time Gemini 10, on its fourth orbit, rendezvoused and docked with Agena 10, 60% of its fuel had been consumed. This placed constraints on the remainder of the mission, leading to the cancellation of several scheduled scientific experiments and additional docking practice.

Fortunately, the docking itself was successful and Mission Control decided to keep Gemini 10 docked to the Agena as long as possible. The target vehicle carried 3,400 pounds of fuel, some of which could be used for attitude control of the docked vehicles.


Docked to the nose of Agena 10, Gemini 10 Pilot Michael Collins took this impressive photograph of the Agena's engine firing as it boosted them to a record altitude

Rocketing to New Heights

Most of that fuel was needed for the second phase of Gemini 10’s mission. About seven and a half hours after launch, an 80 second burn of the Agena engine hurtled Young and Collins to an altitude of 474 miles, the farthest anyone has so far been from the Earth. This new record completely eclipses the previous record of 310 miles set by Voskhod 2 last year.

As the Gemini was docked nose-to-nose with the Agena, Young and Collins were flying ‘backwards’ as the rocket thrust them towards the higher altitude in a wild ride. Despite their unique vantage point, much of the view from the crew’s windows was blocked by the bulk of the Agena in front of them, so Young and Collins took very few photos: instead, they concentrated on their spacecraft’s instruments, especially the radiation dosage. The crew was particularly concerned about the radiation levels at their record-breaking altitude, as the lower edge of the inner Van Allen radiation belt was only about 150 miles above them. Fortunately, their instruments showed that the radiation levels at that altitude posed no danger to human life.


One of the few photos taken by the Gemini 10 crew at their record altitude, showing the curvature of the Earth. The Straits of Gibraltar are visible, with Europe to the left and North Africa to the right

Speaking of radiation, while Gemini 10 was orbiting aloft, France tested another nuclear weapon at Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific. Although the astronauts were high too high above the blast zone for radiation to be an issue, Young and Collins were warned not to look at its blinding flash as they passed overhead.

When is a Spacewalk not a Spacewalk? When It’s a “Standup EVA”!

The Gemini crew began their second day in space with the news that they had enough fuel to complete the next phase of their mission, the rendezvous with Gemini 8’s Agena target vehicle. Another wild ride, pushed by Agena 10, lowered the Gemini to a new orbit with an apogee of 237 miles. Now the crew began to prepare for the mission’s first EVA, which would not see an astronaut actually leave the spacecraft. 

As an orbital sunset approached, Collins opened his hatch, exposing both astronauts to the space environment to perform a “standup EVA”. Standing in his seat with the upper part of his body outside the spacecraft, for a view unconstrained by its small windows, Collins commenced a photographic study of stellar ultraviolet radiation. He took 22 images of the southern Milky Way, scanning from Beta Crucis to Gamma Velorum (though, unfortunately, few of the images have proved scientifically usable). As Gemini 10 passed from night back to day, Collins also photographed a colour patch on the exterior of the spacecraft, to see if film could accurately reproduce colors in space. This task was cut short, though, when both Collins and Young experienced an eye irritation that caused their eyes to tear, making it difficult to see. As I write this article, the cause of this irritation is still uncertain, although it is thought to be a leak of lithium hydroxide in the environmental system.

Second Rendezvous

Gemini 10’s third day in space was its most complex and hazardous, commencing with the rendezvous with Agena 8. For the final time, Agena 10 fired its engine, to bring the docked spacecraft within 70 miles of Agena 8. At this point Gemini 10 discarded the Agena, which remains in orbit for use as a target by a future Gemini mission. Gemini 10 continued under its own power, for the first time in almost 48 hours, to reach Agena 8.

The former Gemini 8 target, having been in space since March, was essentially dead, without any power. Commander Young completed the critical final stage of rendezvous without the help of bright running lights and target radar, while trying to conserve enough fuel to let Collins take a one-hour spacewalk. He successfully guided the Gemini to within 10 feet of Agena 8, maintaining station close to the target vehicle without docking. This unique rendezvous simulated the rescue of astronauts from a spacecraft that had lost all electrical power.

A “Working” Spacewalk

With enough maneouvring fuel still available, Collins’ second EVA was now Go! Dubbed a “working spacewalk”, this EVA involved activities around the exterior of Gemini 10 and a traverse across to Agena 8. Like Gene Cernan on Gemini 9, Major Collins experienced difficulties in conducting his EVA tasks, demonstrating the need for more hand- and footholds on the exterior of future space vehicles. Nevertheless, he retrieved a micrometeorite collector from the exterior of the Gemini, containing experiments from Britain, Israel and West Germany. Unfortunately, this collector was later lost in space, apparently floating out of the spacecraft before the final hatch closing. 

Another micrometeorite collector was located on Agena 8. After one failed attempt to retrieve it, Collins used an experimental nitrogen-propelled “jet gun”, the Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit, to propel himself back to the Agena. This time he successfully retrieved the micrometeorite experiment, which is of particular scientific interest because of its long duration in orbit. There are no photos of the spacewalk available, but these training images give some idea of the complexity of the operations. However, low propellant quantity curtailed the spacewalk after only 39 minutes, instead of the originally planned hour. The crew experienced some difficulty in closing the hatch, due to the snake-like 50-foot umbilical used for Collins’ spacewalk and it was later jettisoned, along with the chestpack used by Collins and some other equipment an hour later. 

Return to Earth

About 63 hours into the flight, Young and Collins awoke to homecoming day, completing some final experiments, mostly involving photography of the Earth. Then, 70 hours and 10 minutes after liftoff, re-entry commenced and Young steered Gemini 10 to a pinpoint landing in the Atlantic only three and a half miles from the aiming point. The crew of the prime recovery vessel, the USS Guadalcanal, watched the spacecraft hit the water, as did millions of television viewers via the Early Bird satellite (though not us here in Australia, as we do not yet have access to satellite communications: it’s coming soon, though!).


For the first time the children of the recovery ship crew were allowed to be aboard to watch the splashdown and recovery. Here they join the party celebrating Gemini 10's safe return from a record-setting mission

Gemini 10 was certainly a mission for the record books: I can’t wait to see what further developments Gemini 11 will bring in just a couple of months’ time.




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