apollo

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

17. July 2022 Tabea Tietz

On July 17, 1975, the US-American Apollo Command/Service Module docked with the Soviet Soyuz 19 in the course of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the first joint U.S.–Soviet space flight, as a symbol of the policy of détente that the two superpowers were pursuing at the time. Cold War – Automated vs Human Control Due to the tense relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, space cooperation between both countries was…

aviation

Walter Schirra – the only Man to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo

12. March 2022 Tabea Tietz

On March 12, 1923, American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and astronaut Walter Marty “Wally” Schirra was born. Schirra was one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, United States first effort to put humans in space. He flew the six-orbit, nine-hour Mercury-Atlas 8 mission on October 3, 1962, becoming the fifth American, and the ninth human, to ride a rocket into space. He was the only astronaut…

engineering

The Russian Dream to Land a Man on the Moon

3. July 2020 Harald Sack

On July 3, 1969, the biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurred when the Soviet N-1 rocket exploded and subsequently destroyed its launchpad. After four unsuccessful launch tries of the Soviet counterpart to the NASA Saturn V rocket the Russian Moon program was cancelled in May 1974. Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev,[8] the leading Soviet space craft designer and rocket engineer, also known as the father of practical astronautics started directing…

space

The First American to walk in Space – Edward White

3. June 2019 Tabea Tietz

On June, 3, 1965, Edward Higgins White became the first American to “walk” in space in the course of the Gemini 4 space mission. White is one of the three U.S. astronauts, who died along with his fellow astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Roger B. Chaffee during prelaunch testing for the first manned Apollo mission at Cape Canaveral. Edward White Before Space Edward White earned his Bachelor degree at the U.S. Military Academy…

space

Apollo 17 – The Last Men on the Moon…so far

11. December 2018 Tabea Tietz

On December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 with Commander Eugene A. Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald E. Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison H. Schmitt landed in the Taurus-Littrow valley on the lunar surface and were (so far) the last men to set foot on the Moon. Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final mission of the United States‘ Apollo program, the sixth mission to land humans on the Moon. Background While earlier Apollo…

space

The First Image from Abroad – Earth Rising and Lunar Orbiter 1

23. August 2018 Harald Sack

On August 23, 1966, the space probe Lunar Orbiter 1 sent the very first images of the earth rising above the moon‘s surface back to earth. The Lunar Orbiter Program Lunar Orbiter 1 was part of the Lunar Orbiter program started in the 1960’s in preparation to the Apollo moon landing. The project consisted of five unmanned spacecrafts, equally built to take pictures of the moon. The purpose was to find a…

space

Neil Armstrong – the First Man of the Moon

5. August 2015 Harald Sack

On August 5, 1930, American astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong was born, the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also an aerospace engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. Armstrong was mission commander of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, in July 1969.[4] Armstrong’s Youth and Education Neil Armstrong was born in Auglaize County, near Wapakoneta, Ohio to Stephen Koenig Armstrong, an an auditor for the Ohio state government and…