Episode 76: The Space Shuttle, Part II

 

Before The Space Shuttle was declared fully mission capable, NASA flew four test flights with just two astronauts on board (a regular crew would be 5-7 astronauts), none of which was more dangerous that the first flight, STS-1 which was commanded by the most experienced astronaut of the day, Chief of the Astronaut Office, John Young - a veteran of two Gemini and two Apollo missions and who walked on the moon as part of Apollo 16. He selected rookie Bob Crippen.

NASA breathed a sign of relief when STS-1 made it into orbit on April 12, 1981 - the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first manned space flight.

This successful two-day mission ended with the Space Shuttle Columbia touching down at a dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert...

...where 20,000 spectators gathered to see Columbia land.

The final test flight, STS-4, landed on July 4, 1982...

...President and Mrs. Reagan were present that Independence Day to declare the Shuttle test flights over and the shuttle program ready for regular flights.

STS-7 saw Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, launch on the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Ride was chosen for this mission in part because of her expertise with the shuttle's robotic manipulator arm which was crucial to the launching of two commercial communication satellites - the primary purpose of this particular shuttle mission. 

This is the first image of a Shuttle in orbit. It's difficult to see, but Ride has placed the manipulator arm so that it looks like the number 7, just as it does on the mission patch.

It's easier to see in this photo

Episode 75: The Space Shuttle, Part I

Even before the Apollo program ended, work on the next generation space vehicle began. The Space Shuttle prototype was unveiled in 1976.

The prototype Space Shuttle was originally called Constitution since it was going to be revealed during the 200th anniversary of the US Constitution, but a letter writing campaign by Star Trek fans convinced President Gerald Ford to name the ship Enterprise. For this reason, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry (in the stylish brown leisure suit) and many Star Trek cast members were on hand for the public unveiling of the shuttle prototype.

Enterprise never flew in space, but it was used to ensure the shuttle and its systems would be successful during its space missions. One series of tests included testing how the shuttle would operate during landing and included being lifted to altitude on the back of a 747, released, and allowed to glide back to Earth.

After the Shuttle Program kicked off, Enterprise was placed in storage from 1985-2003 when it was put on display after the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center in Northern Virginia opened near Dulles International Airport. It remained on display until 2012, but the reason why it is no longer there is a story for another day.

Episode 74: Space Stations, Part II

 

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Program was a joint space mission that saw two cosmonauts in a Soyuz capsule dock with three astronauts in an Apollo module for nearly two days. It was planned during a thaw in Cold War tensions but by the time it was carried out, the détente was over and Cold War rivalries were back in full swing. As such, this would be the final US-Russian cooperation in space for twenty years.

The US delegation consisted of Docking Module Pilot and original Mercury 7 astronaut Deke Slayton (left, wearing an Omega Speedmaster on his left wrist!), Commander Tom Stafford (standing left), and Command Module Pilot Vance Brand (center). The Soviet delegation was Commander Alexei Leonov, from the USSR's first class of cosmonauts (standing right) and Flight Engineer Valeri Kubasov (right).

There were two insignias for this mission. The official insignia, jointly designed by NASA and the Soviet space agency, with Apollo in English and Soyuz in Russian, around a stylized Earth and the silhouette of docked Apollo and Soyuz capsules.

The astronauts also designed an insignia for unofficial use that was a more realistic depiction of the official insignia and also included the astronauts' and cosmonauts' names.

The historic handshake between Leonov (left) and Stafford (right), the two commanders of the two crews, took place over the French city, Metz, and was seen by millions of people around the word.

Mercury 7 astronaut Deke Slayton was 51-years-old at the time of his first mission, and was the last of NASA's original astronaut class to make it to space and the oldest person to go to space at that time. His majestic gray flat top and gold Omega Speedmaster are just two of the reasons this is my favorite astronaut portrait. 

Slayton (seen here with Soviet commander Leonov) knew this would be his only spaceflight and made the most of it. When he saw the Earth from orbit for the first time, he remarked that it was a sight worth waiting sixteen years for.

Episode 73: Space Stations, Part I

 

The post-Apollo space missions of the 1970s revolved around space stations and the Russians decided if they couldn't be the first to the Moon, they would focus on gaining space station primacy.

The Soviet Salyut space station would built to function with Soviet Soyuz spaceships, but the first attempt to send a crew to Salyut was a failure. The crew couldn't achieve a hard dock with the station and after several attempts, the mission was aborted. The second crew had success, but disaster struck when the crew returned to Earth. The Soyuz capsule depressurized. None of the cosmonauts were wearing space suits and all three died before reentering Earth's atmosphere. These are the only three people to die above the Karmen line, the official point where outer space begins. The Soyuz capsule was redesigned to allow the crew to wear pressure suits going forward.

Several Salyut stations were launched during the 1970s. Roughly half were open scientific missions while the other half were secretive military mission, likely focused on taking surveillance photos of Western targets.

While the Soviets established space station primacy, the United States get launch its owns space station, called Skylab, made with materials left over from the Apollo program. 

There were a total of four Skylab launches. The first launch was an unmanned mission to put the station in orbit and was a near disaster. Problems with the launch left the station nearly powerless and virtually dead in space. The second mission - carrying the station's first crew - was delayed by two weeks while engineers devised a way to fix the repair the stricken station.

The patch for the first Skylab crew was designed by Kelly Freas, a well-known artist highly regarded in the science fiction community. It features Skylab above the earth with the sun in the background, eclipsed by the Earth. The upper left quadrant of the emblem reads Skylab I and the lower right quadrant lists the crewmembers.

Skylab's first crew consisted of science pilot Joe Kerwin (left), mission commander Pete Conrad, and pilot Paul Weitz. A good chunk of their 28 day mission consisted of space walks to repair Skylab, but they also found time to study the Earth and the Sun, and conduct a few medical experiments with the crew serving as the guinea pigs.

Now that astronauts were staying in space for longer stretched of time, NASA improved the food that was available to the astronauts (including magnetized heating trays to keep the food warm).

Space Showers...

...and Space Haircuts were also a thing now.

Pete Conrad, a member of NASA's second astronaut class, had a colorful personality but was also a consummate professional (his personal motto was "If you can't be good, be colorful!"). He served on two Gemini missions, commanded Apollo 12 and became the third person to walk on the moon, and commanded the first Skylab crew. After retiring from NASA he remained active in the aviation community and helped set a record for an around-the-world flight in a Learjet in 1996.

Sadly, in 1999, he died in a motorcycle crash while wearing a helmet and operating within the speed limit. Navy Captain Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 11, Grave 113-3.

The second Skylab crew consisted of scientist pilot Owen Garriott, pilot Jack Lousma, and commander Al Bean. Thanks to the hard work of the first crew, this second crew did not have to continue the repairs of the station and were able to focus completely on the science during its 60-day mission.

The mission's insignia featured Leonard da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man as its focal point, representing the mission’s medical experiments. In the background is a disk that is half sun and half Earth to represent the experiments done on the flight. The patch has a white background with the crew’s names arcing across the top and Skylab II at the six o’clock position. The patch has a red, white, and blue boarder. The wives of the crew secretly had an alternate graphic made of a “universal woman” with their first names in place of the crew’s. Stickers with this image on it were put in lockers aboard the Command Module to surprise the crew.

The final Skylab crew consisted entirely of space rookies and ran into some initial problems with balancing work. Mission commander Jerry Carr (left), science pilot Ed Gibson (center), and pilot Bill Pogue (right) felt mission control was pressing them too hard and mission control felt they were not working as hard as they should. After a few weeks of frustration they two sides talked it out, came to consensus, and in the end, got more work done than they were scheduled to during their 84-day mission... though none of the crew members were ever given another space mission.

When this final crew boarded the station, they found they had company - the previous crew had left three dummies on board wearing flight suits including the new crew's names and insignia.

This final crew's insignia The symbols in the final crew's patch refer to the three major area of investigation proposed in the mission. The three represents man's natural environment and relates directly to advancing the study of Earth resources. The hydrogen atom, as the basic building block of the universe, represents man's exploration of the physical world, the application of knowledge, and the development of technology. Since the sun is composed primarily of hydrogen, it is appropriate that the symbol refers to the study of solar physics. The human silhouette represents mankind and the human capacity to direct technology with a wisdom tempered by regard for the natural environment. It also directly relates to the medical studies done on the astronauts themselves.. The rainbow, adopted from the biblical story of the flood, symbolizes the promise that is offered mankind. It embraces the man and extends to the tree and hydrogen atom emphasizing mankind's pivotal role in the conciliation of technology with nature. 

Bill Pogue wore the first automatic chronograph watch in space and it was * gasps in horror * a Seiko and not an Omega, even though the first automatic Omega came out two years earlier. Come on man, it's not even a Grand Seiko!

Episode 72: The Apollo Program, Part XVII

 

Apollo 17 - the final mission of the Apollo Program - was made up Gene Cernan (a veteran of Gemini 9 and Apollo 10) and two space rookies, Ron Evans and Jack Schmitt (both making their only space flights)

The prominent feature of this mission’s insignia is the Greek sun god Apollo, backdropped by what is described as an American eagle. Red stripes on the eagle’s wing mirror those of the US flag. Three white stars above the red bars represent the three members of the mission’s crew. The background includes the Moon, the planet Saturn, and a galaxy or nebula. The eagle’s wing partially overlays the Moon, suggesting humanity’s established presence there. Both Apollo and the Moon are gold, representing the golden age of space flight that NASA hoped would begin with Apollo 17.

The image of Apollo on the insignia was based on the Apollo Belvedere, a sculpture from classical antiquity housed in the Vatican Museum. Apollo is looking forward into the future, towards the celestial objects in the insignia behind the moon. These objects – Saturn and the galaxy – represent humanity’s goals, and the image symbolizes human intelligence, wisdom, and ambition. 

I didn't mention this on the podcast, but Omega put out a limited edition Speedmaster based on Apollo 17's insignia for the mission's 40th anniversary...

and its 45th anniversary!

Apollo 17 was the only Apollo mission with a night launch, lifting off just after midnight on December 7, 1972.

    On the way to the moon, the crew took this picture of Earth - now known as the blue marble - which is one of the most reproduced images in history. This image is actually cropped from the original which has a lot more black space and has the planet oriented with the north pole facing down.

Of course they took an obligatory photo with Cernan by the flag, with the lunar lander Challenger and the lunar rover in the background.

Apollo 17's landing cite - the Taurus-Littrow Valley - and its surrounding area as seen from the command module America.

A still-sealed sample taken during Apollo 17 was opened for the first time in January 2022. These excited scientists has equipment that their 1970s counterparts did not and were able to gain new insights into the moon and its makeup. Their mass spectrometer was even able to capture lunar gases present in the sample. 

You will need to find someone more knowledgeable than I to break down the specifics of the finding - what I read about the findings were beyond my understanding!

The Apollo 17 crew splashed down on December 19, 1972 and were recovered by the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga, the same ship that recovered the Apollo 16 crew.