![[June 20, 1970] Gemini Too (the two-week flight of <i>Soyuz 9</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/700620launch-443x372.jpg)
by Gideon Marcus
There's big news on both sides of the pole regarding a pair of recently ended space flights: Apollo 13 and Soyuz 9…
Continue reading [June 20, 1970] Gemini Too (the two-week flight of Soyuz 9)
Tag Archives: space
[May 14, 1970 Another Perfect Emergency (Saving Apollo-13)
[New to the Journey? Read this for a brief introduction!]
by Kaye Dee
On 5 May, the Apollo-13 crew visited the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation factory in Bethpage, New York, to thank the company for its lifesaving Lunar Module, without which the recent lunar mission would have ended in disaster.
left to right: Apollo-13 astronauts Haise, Swigert, and Lovell during their visit to Grumman's Bethpage plant
The Grumman team’s contribution to the successful outcome of the mission – understanding the full capabilities of the vehicle they had designed so that it could be pressed into service as the astronauts’ lifeboat – is just one example of the innovativeness and dedication of the many NASA support teams working behind the scenes in the Apollo programme.
Today, I want to tell another behind-the-scenes story, one that comes “straight from the horse’s mouth”, as I’ve interviewed many of the personnel involved – the crucial role played by NASA’s space tracking networks, in particular the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) in Australia, in saving Apollo-13. I hope it will give you some insight into the complex technical and logistical operations that were required to respond to the emergency, and a feel for the urgency with which everyone was operating.
Continue reading [May 14, 1970 Another Perfect Emergency (Saving Apollo-13)
![[April 26, 1970] Red stars in space (Communist China and the USSR make leaps)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/700426dongfanghong1-672x372.jpg)
[April 26, 1970] Red stars in space (Communist China and the USSR make leaps)
by Gideon Marcus
It's likely you missed the other big news in space given how much the flight of Apollo 13 dominated the air waves. But while we were busy ensuring that Lovell, Swigert, and Haise made it back home, the ChiComs and the Russkies were accomplishing some space spectaculars of their own:
If you look up in the sky, you'll see nine new stars, all of them Red!
Continue reading [April 26, 1970] Red stars in space (Communist China and the USSR make leaps)
![[April 22, 1970] “Houston, We’ve had a Problem Here!” (Apollo-13 emergency in space)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Apollo-13-13-672x372.jpg)
[April 22, 1970] “Houston, We’ve had a Problem Here!” (Apollo-13 emergency in space)
[New to the Journey? Read this for a brief introduction!]
by Kaye Dee
We all breathed a sigh of relief when the astronauts of Apollo-13 returned to Earth safely a few days ago, after the Apollo programmes’ first (and hopefully last) inflight emergency, but superstitious people are claiming that Apollo-13 was unlucky because of a prevalence of “13s”! After all, the mission was launched at 13:13 Houston time (but somewhere in the world there will always be a place where the time is 13: something!) and the explosion that caused its inflight emergency occurred on 13 April (but only in certain timezones – it was already 14 April in Australia and most of the world east of the United States).
Don’t tell me the Apollo-13 crew were “unlucky”; in fact, they were immensely lucky that when something did go wrong they were a team with the right skills for the situation. As seasoned test pilots, the crew were experienced at working in critical situations with their lives on the line, and their professional skills as astronauts were matched by the “tough and competent” (to quote Flight Director Mr. Gene Kranz) Mission Control teams, backed by highly trained engineers and scientists – all determined to “return them safely to the Earth”, just as President Kennedy committed NASA to do when he set the goal of a manned lunar landing by 1970!
Timeline of major mission events during Apollo-13
![[March 30, 1970] The Age of Explorer — the end of the Space Race](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/700331nixon-672x372.jpg)
[March 30, 1970] The Age of Explorer — the end of the Space Race
by Gideon Marcus
In February 1958, just months before Galactic Journey took to press, Vice President Nixon visited Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He went personally congratulate the team that had built America's first artificial satellite, Explorer 1.
Vice President Richard Nixon and a model of the Explorer satellite with Dr. Lee DuBridge, left, president of Cal Tech, and Dr. William H. Pickering, right, director of the Cal Tech Jet Propulsion lab, during a news conference in Pasadena, Calif., Feb. 17, 1958.
Now it is 1970. President Nixon is presiding over a severe curtailing of our space program. Next month, Apollo 13 will head to the Moon, marking the end of the first stage of lunar reconnaissance. The original plan was for ten increasingly ambitious lunar landings, paving the way for long term exploration and exploitation. But it's looking now like Apollo 11 was more of a conclusion than a beginning. The Saturn V assembly line is shut down, Congress and the President are against any ambitious space endeavors, and even the three phases of Apollo flights are being cut down to two.
Continue reading [March 30, 1970] The Age of Explorer — the end of the Space Race
![[March 20, 1970] Here comes the sun (April 1970 <i>Fantasy and Science Fiction</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/700320fsfcover-651x372.jpg)
[March 20, 1970] Here comes the sun (April 1970 Fantasy and Science Fiction)
by Gideon Marcus
Out, damn spot!
A couple of weeks ago, Victoria Silverwolf offered us a tidbit on the latest solar eclipse. I've since read a bit more about the scientific side of things and thought I'd share what I've learned with you.
It was the first total solar eclipse to be seen over heavily populated areas of U.S. since 1925, greeted by millions of viewers who crowded the beaches, towns, and islands where viewing was most favorable. The eclipse cut a nearly 100 mile wide swath through Mexico, Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Nantucket Island, Mass. It was 96% total in New York City and 95% in the nation's capital.
a clipping from Escondido's Times-Advocate
But ground viewing was only the beginning. NASA employed a flotilla of platforms to observe the eclipse from an unprecedented variety of vantages. A barrage of sounding rockets (suborbital science probes) were launched during the eclipse to take measurements of the Earth's atmosphere and ionosphere.
In space, radio signals from Mars probe Mariner 6, currently on the far side of Sun, were measured to determine how the eclipse affected communications and to study changes in charged particles in earth’s atmosphere.
Two Orbiting Solar Observatories, #5 and #6, pointed their instruments at the Sun to gather data on the solar atmosphere, while Advanced Test Satellite #3 took pictures of the Moon's shadow on the Earth from more than 20,000 miles above the surface. Three American-Canadian satellites, Alouette 1, Alouette 2, and Isis 1, all examined the change the eclipse caused in the Earth's ionosphere.
Earthside telescopes got into the mix, too: Observers from three universities and four NASA centers at sites in Virginia and Mexico not only got great shots of the solar corona, but also of faint comets normally washed out in the glare of the Sun.
I can't imagine anyone in 1925 but maybe Hugo Gernsback could have foreseen how much attention, and from how many angles such attention would be applied, during the 1970 eclipse. It's just one more example of how science fiction has become science.
Waiting for the dawn
The last two months of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction weren't too hot. Does the latest issue mark a return of the light or continued darkness? Let's find out…
cover by Chesley Bonestell
Continue reading [March 20, 1970] Here comes the sun (April 1970 Fantasy and Science Fiction)
![[February 26, 1970] Made in Japan! (Ohsumi, first Japanese satellite)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Ohsumi-1-3-672x372.jpg)
[February 26, 1970] Made in Japan! (Ohsumi, first Japanese satellite)
[New to the Journey? Read this for a brief introduction!]
by Kaye Dee
An aerial view of the Expo 70 site in Osaka
In just three weeks, on 15 March, World Expo 1970 will open in Osaka, Japan, the first time that a world’s fair has been held in Asia. This event is intended to welcome the world to Japan as a celebration of the massive strides the country has made in national re-development since the War. One of Japan’s latest achievements took place only two weeks ago – the launch of its first satellite!
Yes, Japan has now joined the Space Club, as the first Asian nation to put a satellite into orbit. Not only that, but Japan becomes only the fourth country to have launched its own satellite using a home-grown launch vehicle!
The small satellite, named Ohsumi for the peninsula on the island of Kyushu from which it was launched, was lofted on a four-stage Lambda 4S solid-fuel rocket on 11 February. The launch site, known as the Kagoshima Space Centre, is located in Kagoshima Prefecture at the southernmost end of the island of Kyushu, near Uchinoura. It’s been the home of Japan’s space launch activities since 1962.
At this point, you are probably thinking that you’ve never heard anything before about Japanese space activity – and that would be no surprise, as the Western media, unfortunately, pays little attention to Asian nations outside of reporting on conflicts and (supposed) Communist threats. So you might be surprised to know that Japanese interest in space exploration goes back to the mid-1950s.
Continue reading [February 26, 1970] Made in Japan! (Ohsumi, first Japanese satellite)
![[February 20, 1970] Fun-nee enough… (<i>OSCAR 5</i> and the March 1970 <i>Fantasy and Science Fiction</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/700220coverfsf-631x372.jpg)
[February 20, 1970] Fun-nee enough… (OSCAR 5 and the March 1970 Fantasy and Science Fiction)
[New to the Journey? Read this for a brief introduction!]
by Kaye Dee
Recently, The Traveller covered the launch of the TIROS-M weather satellite, noting that the rocket’s payload also included a small Australian-made ham radio satellite, OSCAR-5 (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio), also known as OSCAR-A.
Cover of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre's in-house magazine, marking the launch of ITOS-1/TIROS-M and Australis-OSCAR-5
A New Star in the Southern Cross
It was exciting to be in “Mission Control” at the University of Melbourne when the satellite was launched in the evening (Australian time) on 23 January. You should have heard the cheers! After all, Australis-OSCAR-5 (AO-5), as we call it, is Australia’s second satellite. It’s also the first amateur radio satellite built outside the United States and the first OSCAR satellite constructed by university students – in this case, members of the Melbourne University Astronautical Society (MUAS).
The MUAS student team with the engineering model of Australia's first amateur radio satellite
Radio Hams and Satellite Trackers
Commencing in 1961, the first OSCAR satellite was constructed by a group of American amateur radio enthusiasts. Cross-over membership between MUAS and the Melbourne University Radio Club (MURC) encouraged the students to begin tracking OSCAR satellites, moving quickly on to tracking and receiving signals from many other US and Soviet satellites.
Nimbus satellite image of the western half of Australia received by MUAS for the weather bureau
One of MUAS’ achievements was the first regular reception in Australia of images from TIROS and Nimbus meteorological satellites. By 1964, they were supplying satellite weather images daily to the Bureau of Meteorology, before it established its own receiving facilities.
"How Do We Build a Satellite?"
After tracking OSCARs 3 and 4 in 1965, the MUAS students decided to try building their own satellite. “No one told us it couldn’t be done, and we were too naive to realise how complex it would be to get the satellite launched!”, an AO-5 team member told me at the launch party. MUAS decided to build a small ‘beacon’ satellite which would transmit telemetry data back to Earth on fixed frequencies.
Even before Australia’s first-launched satellite, WRESAT-1, was on the drawing board, the Australis satellite project commenced in March 1966. Volunteers from MUAS, MURC and university staff worked together to design and build the satellite, with technical and financial assistance from the Wireless Institute of Australia and a tiny budget of $600. The Australian NASA representative also gave the project invaluable support. The students acquired electronic and other components through donations from suppliers where possible: the springs used to push the satellite away from the launcher were generously made by a mattress manufacturer in Melbourne. Any other expenses came out of their own pockets!
Carpenter's steel tape was used to make AO-5's flexible antennae, seen here folded in launch configuration. Notice the inch markings on the tape!
AO-5 is a fantastic example of Aussie ‘make-do’ ingenuity. A flexible steel measuring tape from a hardware shop was cut up to make the antennae. The oven at the share house of one team member served to test the satellite’s heat tolerance, and a freezer in the university's glaciology lab was unofficially used for the cold soak. Copper circuit boards were etched with a technique using nail varnish, and a rifle-sight was used to help tune the antennae! Various components, including the transmitters and command system, were flight-tested on the university’s high altitude research balloon flights.
A university lab freezer and hitching a ride with university experiments on US HiBal high altitude balloon flights in Australia used to test the ruggedness of AO-5 components
A Long Wait for Launch
Australis was completed and delivered to Project OSCAR headquarters in June 1967, well before WRESAT’s launch in November that year. Unfortunately, AO-5 then had to wait a few years for a launch to be arranged by the Amateur Radio Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), which now operates the OSCAR project. However, it is surely appropriate that, as OSCAR-5, it finally made it into orbit with a weather satellite.
After launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, AO-5 was placed into a 115-minute orbit, varying in altitude between 880 – 910 miles. This means it will be in orbit for hundreds of years – unlike the short-lived WRESAT.
In Orbit at Last!
Battery-powered, Australis-OSCAR-5 weighs only 39 pounds and carries two transmitters, beaming out the same telemetry signal on the two-metre and 10-metre amateur radio bands. Its telemetry system is sophisticated but designed for simple decoding without expensive equipment. The start of a telemetry sequence is indicated by the letters HI in Morse code, followed by data on battery voltage, current, and the temperature of the satellite at two points as well as information on the satellite's orientation in space from three horizon sensors.
AO-5 includes the first use in an amateur satellite of innovations such as a passive magnetic attitude stabilisation system (which helps reduce signal fading), and a command system to switch it on and off to conserve power. Observations are recorded on special standardised reporting forms that are suitable for computer analysis.
Just 66 minutes after launch, the first signal was detected in Madagascar and soon other hams reported receiving both the two and 10-metre signals on the satellite's first orbit. At “Mission Control” in Melbourne, we were thrilled when MURC members managed to pick up the satellite’s signals! By the end of Australis’ first day of operation, AMSAT headquarters had already received more than 100 tracking, telemetry and reception reports.
A selection of local newspaper cuttings following AO-5's launch. There was plenty of interest here in Australia.
The two-metre signal failed on 14 February, but the 10-metre transmission continues for now. How much longer AO-5’s batteries will last is anybody’s guess, but the satellite has proven itself to be a successful demonstration of the MUAS students’ technical capabilities, and the team is already contemplating a more advanced follow-on satellite project.
This philatelic cover for the ITOS-1/TIROS-M launch, includes mention of AO-5, but the satellite depicted is actually OSCAR-1
by Gideon Marcus
Fantastic emanations on Earth
And now that you've had a chance to digest the latest space news, here's some less exciting (but no less necessary) coverage of the latest issue of F&SF.
by Ronald Walotsky
![[January 31, 1970] Both sides now (February 1970 <i>Analog</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/700131analogcover-631x372.jpg)
[January 31, 1970] Both sides now (February 1970 Analog)
[New to the Journey? Read this for a brief introduction!]
by Gideon Marcus
Rows and floes of angel's hair
Woody Allen likes to quip that being "bi-sexual" (liking both men and women) doubles of your chance of getting a date on the weekend.
NASA has just doubled the amount of weather they can look at in a single launch. TIROS-M (does the "M" stand for "Mature"?) was launched from California on January 23rd into a two-hour orbit over the poles. 12 times a day, it circles the Earth, which rotates underneath. Unlike the last 19 TIROS satellites, TIROS-M can see in the dark. That means it gets and transmits a worldwide view of the weather twice a day rather than once.
More than that, the satellite is called the "space bus" because it carries a number of other experiments, measuring the heat of the Earth as well as solar proton radiation. Launched "pickaback" with TIROS-M was Oscar 5, an Aussie satellite that broadcasts on a couple of bands so ham radio fans can track signals from orbit. Maybe Kaye Dee will write more about that one in her next piece!
Clouds got in my way
If the distinctive feature of the Earth as viewed from space is its swaddling blanket of clouds, then perhaps the salient characteristic of this month's Analog is its conspicuous degree of padding. Almost all of the stories are longer than they need to be, at least if their purpose be readability and conveying of point. Of course, more words means more four-cent rate…
by Kelly Freas, illustrating "Birthright"
Continue reading [January 31, 1970] Both sides now (February 1970 Analog)
![[December 20, 1969] Stars above, stars at hand (January 1970 <i>Fantasy and Science Fiction</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/691220fsfcover-406x372.jpg)
[December 20, 1969] Stars above, stars at hand (January 1970 Fantasy and Science Fiction)
[New to the Journey? Read this for a brief introduction!]
by Gideon Marcus
Being #2… stinks
On the scene at the launch of Apollo 12, President Nixon assured the NASA technicians that America was #1 in space, and that it wasn't just jingoism—it was true!
Well, even a stopped clock, etc. In fact, all accounts suggest the Soviet space program had some serious setbacks last year, the results of which will be felt through at least to 1971. Schedules got shifted as large rockets were earmarked for purely military service in response to the escalating (now calmed) Sino-Soviet crisis. But the biggest issue was reported in Aviation Weekly last month: apparently, the Soviets lost a Saturn-class booster on the launch pad before liftoff last summer. I hadn't even heard that such a thing was in development! The rocket's loss has set back the USSR's manned space program by at least a year, resulting in tepid non-achievements like their recent triple Soyuz mission rather than the construction of a space station or a trip to the Moon.
This is actually the rocket from the Soviet film The Sky Calls (American title: Battle Beyond the Sun)
It didn't help that the Soyuz pads were occupied during the summer as the Soviets tried to match our lunar efforts. It may well be that their Saturn was rushed to service too soon, and similar gun-jumping may have caused the loss of the Luna 15 sample-return mission.
Speaking of which, in September, the Soviets launched Kosmos 300 and 305. Both of them were heavy satellites that went into the orbit usually used for lunar Zond missions. And then they reentered shortly thereafter…in pieces. It's not certain if these were to be circumlunar flights or retries of Luna 15. Either way, they didn't work out, either.
Meanwhile, the Apollo mission moves blithely along. Apollo 13 will go to the Moon next March to Fra Mauro, a landing site photographically scouted out by the Apollo 12 folks. This chapter of the Space Race is well and truly over, won by the forces of democracy championed by such luminaries as Spiro Agnew.
That's a good rock
Speaking of Apollo 12, you may recall earlier this month I talked about analysis of the Moon rocks brought back by Apollo 11. A similar report has come out about the rocks brought back by Conrad and Bean. Dr. Oliver A. Schaeffer of New York State Univ. at Stony Brook says they are only 2.2 to 2.5 billion years old—1-2 billion years younger than the Armstrong and Aldrin's samples. This means some kind of surface activity was ongoing on the comparatively quiet Moon—meteorite strikes and/or vulcanism, we don't know yet.
NASA astronaut Charles "Pete" Conrad, commander of the Apollo 12 mission, holds two moon rocks he and Alan Bean brought back to Earth. Taken last month at Manned Spacecraft Center's Lunar Receiving Laboratory.
Also, Dr. S. Ross Taylor of Australian National Univ. says the Apollo 12 samples contain about half the titanium as the Apollo 11 rocks and also more nickel, though otherwise, their chemistry is similar. Thus, the Moon is far from homogeneous, and we have just scratched the surface (so to speak) of the mystery that is the Moon. As we get more samples from more sites, a better picture will come together, but it will undoubtedly take time; imagine trying to contemplate all of Earth's geologic diversity from just two short digs?
Holiday Feast
It may have been rocky going on the Moon (yuk yuk) but it's fair sailing with this month's issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction!
Cover by Mel Hunter