50 Years Since Kennedy's Moon Speech

[Rather than doing my usual Astro-Lesson, today marks a historic event, although it is still educational.]

President Kennedy Addressing Congress. (Source)

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy gave the 'Decision to Go to the Moon' speech before a Joint Session of Congress. It announced the ambitious goal of safely sending and returning an American to the Moon before the end of the decade.

Kennedy's decision and timing of announcement was influenced by political factors. At the time the United States felt greatly embarrassed to be losing the space race. In the four years after the Sputnik flew in 1957, the Soviet Union managed to get the first human into space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961. On May 5, the first American, astronaut Alan Shepard, made it into space. Unlike Gagarin, Shepard did not orbit the Earth, completing a suborbital flight.

The U.S. needed a program that they had a strong chance of at achieving before the Soviets. Kennedy consulted with Vice President Johnson, NASA Administrator James Webb, and other officials, concluding on the Moon. Landing an American on the Moon had the potential to push the U.S. to the lead in space exploration.

The technological feat would be most challenging in human history, only the Manhattan Project and the construction of the Panama Canal are comparable. The enormous expenditures and human efforts were deliberated on carefully before being made public, leading to the reality of Project Apollo in 1969.

Kennedy's words would guide NASA's overall human spaceflight efforts. The later half of Project Mercury, Project Gemini, and Project Apollo were all designed to this goal. His goal was achieved on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong stepped off the Lunar Module's ladder and onto the Moon's surface.

Men would return the Moon five more times through the early 70s, on Apollos 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. (13 malfunctioned and did not land.) The six missions that landed on the Moon returned a wealth of scientific data and almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples. Experiments included soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.

I listened to the roughly 45 minute speech last night, and was blown away. (You can also read the transcript in the link.) There was a lot more discussed then just the race to the Moon, it is a study in American politics at the time. The funny thing is how little things have changed, replace the words 'communists' and 'Soviets' with 'terrorists' and 'al-Queda' and you almost have a speech for modern America.

The most impressive part is Kennedy's words on space exploration, which come late in the speech. His enthusiasm is palpable and impressive. You can feel that this was the right decision for the nation, something we could do, something to be proud of, despite all the hurdles that would have to be cleared.

More over, even though this was program was framed during the cold war, and the context of most of the speech belongs there, this was a human achievement. It reflects tenacity of the entire human race, our drive for exploration and pushing onto new frontiers, expanding our boundaries. In less than 70 years of flight, we had reached the Moon. For the first time in the history of Earth, life had visited another celestial body. It was a pretty good start.

Since then it has been a bit sad that we haven't physically continued this trend. We have tread cautiously into space, with the use of probes and robots. In the context of the Universe, the Moon isn't even very far. But our mechanical messengers and explorers have dominated the Solar System. We have visited every planet and studied them closely, we are now studied major small Solar System objects; this includes Pluto with New Horizons and Ceres and Vesta with Dawn. The Voyager 1 & 2 probes are about to leave the comfort of our Sun, passing into interstellar space.

We have come to a point in 50 years of knowing an immense amount about our Solar System, and even our Universe. We are now getting ready to tread out into those waters again, to reach new frontiers and vistas. NASA, in the last day, has released more information on the new crew spacecraft vehicle, dubbed the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). (read more on it here) With the shuttles retiring, the world looks to NASA for the next step in human history. This new spacecraft is being designed with future missions in mind, these include returning to the Moon, supporting the International Space Station, an asteroid mission, and eventually reaching Mars.

The space age is not over, it has just begun.

Read more »

Posted in America,Apollo,JFK,Moon,Space Exploration,Spaceflight 25 comments

Animals in Space

Since it is Earth Day weekend and Caturday (well it was when I started writing this, then I got seriously distracted), I decided what would a better way to celebrate then to talk about some of the animal we've sent to space.

Human's aren't the only animals from this planet to have gone to space, we have often sent animals to test conditions or for scientific research. Most people know this and tend to think of dogs and chimps, but really the list is a lot more diverse then that. And there are those who proclaim animal cruelty, but it is part of the process for ensuring safe travel in the future. Most of the time these days, animals are put in no real danger, no more then their astronaut counterparts.

So far six national space programs have flown animals to space: the Soviet Union, the United States, France, China, Japan, and Iran.

The first animals sent into space, the first travelers from Earth, were fruit flies. Dramatic, I know... They were accompanied by rye and cotton seeds aboard a U.S. V2 rocket launched on February 29, 1947. The experiment was to test radiation exposure at high altitudes, and the rocket made it past both the US 50 mile and international 100 km definitions of the edge of space. The experiment was a success, the fruit flies were recovered alive and the seeds were able to grow. Future V2 missions would also carried biological samples too. (Source)

What Earth's first emissary to the stars might have looked like. (UW-Madison)

On June 14, 1949, a rhesus monkey named Albert II became the first monkey in space, reaching about 83 miles in his V2 rocket. The first Albert had died due to rocket failure during the missions ascent. Albert II died on impact after a parachute failure. Monkeys would continue to be used throughout the 1950s and 60s, implanted with sensors to measure vital signs and usually under anesthesia.

Albert II's launch. (Smithsonian)

The U.S. launched a mouse into space on August 31, 1950 aboard a V2. Called Albert V, unlike the earlier Albert flights, did not fly a monkey. The rocket disintegrated due to parachute failure. Several other mice would be launched in the 1950s.

The Soviet Union launched the first two dogs into space aboard the R-1 IIIA-1 flight on January 29, 1951. The dogs were Tsygan and Dezik, and although they reached space, they did not orbit. Both dogs survived the flight, but one would later die on a subsequent flight.

The dog Laika would become the first animal to orbit, aboard the second spacecraft to achieve orbit. Sputnik 2 (nicknamed Muttnik in the West) was launched November 3, 1957 with the dog. Laika died a few hours in orbit as planned since there was reentry strategy from orbit developed yet. She was a small stray picked up from the streets. Ten other dogs would reach orbit before Yuri Gagarin's flight on April 12, 1961.

Laika in her flight harness.

Of those other dogs, Belka and Strelka of Sputnik 5, launched August 19 1960, were the first animals to achieve orbit and be returned alive. One of Strelka's pups after the mission was given to Caroline Kennedy as a gift and many descendants are known to exist.

On December 13, 1958, the first squirrel monkey, named Gordo, was put into space aboard a Jupiter IRBM. He was lost to yet another parachute failure, the capsule landed in the Atlantic ocean and was never recovered. Telemetry data from the mission was considered a success though, Gordo survived the stress of launch and weightlessness, alleviating concerns about affects on humans. (Also, you can read about how awesome squirrel monkeys are over at Leaving the Next: An Expat Survival Guide.)

Baker on a model V2 rocket (not his actual spacecraft). (U.S. Army)

Soon after Gordo's flight, a rhesus monkey named Able and a squirrel monkey named Baker would become the first monkeys to survive spaceflight on May 28, 1959. Both survived in good condition. Unfortunately Able died during surgery to remove an infected medical electrode. Baker would live as the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama until 1984.

Ham the Chimp, hamming it up after his spaceflight. (NASA)

The first chimp in space, Ham the Chimp, launched in a Mercury capsule aboard a Redstone rocket on January 31, 1961. He was trained to pull levers to receive banana pellets and avoid shocks. During the flight this was used to show the ability to perform tasks during spaceflight. About 3 months later, Alan Shepard would become the second human and first American in space. Enos the Chimp would become the first chimp in orbit on November 29, 1961.

France had a relatively short lived animal testing program, running from 1961-67. They first flew a rat (Hector) on February 22, 1961, then two more rats later. Then the first cat, Felix, on October 18, 1963, who was recovered alive. The second cat in space was not. The final launches were of two monkeys in March 1967.

China launched mice and rats in 1964 and 65; two dogs in 1966; and guinea pigs in 1990.

In the 1960s, Argentina launched a series of rats (the first was Belisario, recovered successfully) aboard Orion II rockets. And later two cai monkeys on separate flights, the first using a two-stage Rigel 04 rocket the second using a X-1 Panther rocket. The monkeys never reached the 100 km space mark, and it is unclear if any of the rats did.

Japan launched its first animals, a species of newt, into space on March 18, 1995 aboard the Space Flyer Unit.

Bigelow Aerospace has the distinction of being the only private/commercial launching of animals into space (not counting humans which would include Virgin Galactic). On June 12, 2006, their Genesis I inflatable space module launched with Madagascar hissing cockroaches and Mexican jumping beans (they contain live moth larvae). Genesis II launched on June 28, 2007, with more Madagascar hissing cockroaches and added South African flat rock scorpions and seed-harvester ants.

Tardigrades... IN SPACE!

In September 2007, the European Space Agency's FOTON-M3 mission carried tardigrades, aka water-bears, who were able to survive 10 days exposed to open-space with only their natural protection.

Iran was the latest county to launch animals into space on February 3, 2010. They launched a mouse, two turtles, and some worms on top of the Kavoshgar 3 rocket and returned alive to Earth.

First spider web made in space. (NASA)

Over the years several other animal species have been sent to space, including: macaques, monarch butterfly larva, roundworms, nematodes, many species of ants, crickets, snails, carp, brine shrimp, various insects and insect eggs, spiders, silkworms, sea urchins, various fish species, quail eggs, chicken embryos, bullfrogs, frogs, toads, turtles, tortoises, meal worms, flies, and parasitic wasps.

All of these missions have gone on to help understand the effects of life in space. Our earthly compatriots join us on our journey to the stars and are important to understand because we will likely need them when we leave Earth. The study of the effects of living in space is a part of astrobiology.

Who knows what we will send next? Any of you guys have any suggestions? I know I would personally like to see bird in space (that isn't an egg/embryo), but would be tough to do with their fragile bone structure.

Read more »

Posted in Animals,astrobiology,Life,Spaceflight 11 comments

50 Years: Redux

 Earlier I had posted about the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first flight, known as Yuri's Night. Well, I also learned that a movie has been made, just premiered in fact, called First Orbit. It is a real time recreation of Yuri's 108 minute flight, using the original mission audio from Yuri's flight and shot from the ISS by ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli with a musical score by composer Philip Sheppard.

The audio is subtitled in English and runs about 140 minutes. It is completely free and on Youtube (embedded below) and on their website: firstorbit.org. I just started watching it and I have to say, the high definition video really gives justice to this historic anniversary. I hope you take the time to enjoy!

Read more »

Posted in Space News,Spaceflight,Yuri Gagarin 18 comments

50 Years of Human Spaceflight!

Tomorrow night is Yuri's Night, a celebration of the first human spaceflight, made on April 12, 1961 by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. His flight took one orbit that lasted 108 minutes in his Vostok 1 spacecraft.

He was the first person to leave the bonds of the Earth's gravity and the first to see the planet as a globe without borders. The celebration of this event has slowly been growing over the years, and hopefully you will join in too. You can find out more and event locations spanning the globe at yurisnight.net, and more on Yuri Gagarin on Wikipedia.

"Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty — not destroy it!"
Yuri Gagarin, 1st person in space

[Sorry this one is relatively short, messing around with this template and still trying to get back into things.]

Read more »

Posted in Spaceflight,Yuri Gagarin 14 comments