From Spacerubble by Mark Daymont
50 Years Ago: Preparing for MA-9
Mercury-Atlas 9 assembled on Pad 14.
After months of delays, the next scheduled flight of the Mercury space
program was approaching in May of 1963. The capsule and rocket
components had been stacked together on April 22 and engineers continued
testing on the flight and life support systems. The launch would take
place at Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral in sunny Florida.
Gordon Cooper practicing entry to the capsule.
Although only one would fly, two astronauts continued training for the
flight. The prime crew member was Gordon Cooper. He had been selected in
November 1962, after NASA officials decided to go ahead with the
mission as an all-day test flight to push the boundaries of man's
endurance in space. Some engineers worried that it was pushing the
Mercury-Atlas program too far. The last mission, Sigma-7 with Wally
Schirra had gone very well and some felt it was better to end the
program before a disaster could occur.
Raising the Atlas rocket on April 22.
The backup pilot for the flight was Alan B. Shepard, Jr. He had made the
first successful flight of an American astronaut on the MA-3 flight on
May 5, 1961. His was a sub-orbital flight, lasting only 15 minutes over
the Atlantic Ocean. The MA-9 mission was hoped to bring the American
program back into parity with the Soviets, who had been able to keep
Vostok spacecraft in orbit for a day.
Cooper in the Mercury spacecraft simulator.
With the flight date coming up, Cooper and Shepard trained relentlessly
in simulators and flying jet fighters and trainers. The previous 5
missions had given engineers plenty of data that could now be worked
into the flight parameters, and its ambitious nature demanded that each
test simulation prepare the astronauts for every emergency conceivable.
A better look at Launch Complex 14, with the MA-9 rocket stack in place.
Launch Complex 14 had been used for all of the Mercury-Atlas missions
starting with John Glenn in MA-6. Later, after the conclusion of the
Mercury program, it would be used again for launches of the Agena target
vehicle during Project Gemini. However, the corrosion of sea salt and
the environment took its toll and the pad was later scrapped for safety.
Today, a Mercury program memorial stands at the entrance to the site
and is a frequent stop on the Cape Canaveral bus tour.
At the LC-14 memorial with my uncle John.
Recent ISS activities
Progress Rocket on the way to the ISS.
Living in space continues to be a busy activity for the Expedition 35
crew on board the International Space Station. Let's take a look at the
goings-on of Earth's premium real estate.
ATV-4 in the preparation building.
The European Space Agency has announced the upcoming launch of the next
ATV supply mission to the ISS. ATV-4, named Albert Einstein after the
famous physicist, is expected to lift off for the station on June 5th
this year. The ATV is the 4th to be built in the series, and completed
its fueling on April 16th. You can read more about it's mission at
SpaceRef:
http://spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=43823
Cosmonaut Vinogradov as seen by cosmonaut Romanenko's helmet cam.
On April 19, tow cosmonauts of the Expedition 35 crew ventured outside
for a chance to set up an experiment and do some maintenance on the
station's exterior. Flight Engineers Roman Romanenko and Pavel
Vinogradov installed an experiment that studies plasma waves and space
weather, then repaired a navigation antenna that will be needed for the
upcoming ATV-4 mission. They then retrieved an experiment and some
experiment samples to bring inside the station. More on the spacewalk
at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition35/eva_041913.html
Astronaut Marshburn experiments with two SPHERES robots.
Experiments and daily maintenance continues on the station. At any given
time on the ISS, astronauts are performing medical studies on their own
bodies (Yikes!) repairing or doing regular maintenance on station life
support and experiment equipment, and working on the myriad numbers of
experiments aboard ship. I've been fascinated with the experiments being
performed with the SPHERES little robots, to ball-shaped
remotely-operated "servants" (we should just call them droids and be
done with it!). The NASA experiment SCan (Space Communications and
Navigation) tests have begun. This is a laboratory setup that is
experimenting with new methods of controlling radio, navigation, and
networking solutions by controlling software changes. You can keep up
with the goings on at ISS science at
NASA.gov: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Progress 51 (M-19M) on the pad at Baikonur.
Earlier this month, the crew undocked the older Progress cargo ship (now
loaded with station trash and expendables) and Russian ground
controllers de-orbited the craft, allowing it to burn up in the
atmosphere. Then, on April 24th, the next Progress space rocket blasted
off from Baikonur for the station. Designated M-19M or Progress 51, the
spacecraft lifted off well but suffered a glitch when one of the
navigational antennas malfunctioned. However, Russian mission
controllers were able to work around the problem and successfully docked
the supply ship on April 26th.
View from ISS of the Progress craft approaching.
Progress 51 brings 3.1 tons of cargo for the Expedition 35 crew,
including equipment and life support supplies. The Progress series of
supply spacecraft have been one of Russia's outstanding contributions to
the ISS project, regularly contributing important cargo to the crews.
However, their supply capacity seems smaller now compared to the larger
craft such as Dragon which can bring almost 7 tons of supplies. Still,
we could not have done the ISS program without such regular life support
supply missions.
What the Space Center did for Me
The Problem I've always had
If you could spend a few hours in only one of these ships, which would it be?
People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but
*actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a
big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."
- Dr. Who
I'm not one for tattoos, but these may be the most creative yet.
Tide.
Yep, its that good.
Faith in humanity restored...
You should see his coupon file. An everyman's superhero.
The only iPhone I'll ever buy.
Rude, but I couldn't resist.
Creativity: A
Now you know what's every basketball.
The Moral,
The more you know, the more you are aware of just how fragile our existence really is.
The atheists are in the lead. Strange.
Great pride was once taken in design.
From the top of the Golden Gate Bridge.
My way of doing it.
Art on Toast.
Why didn't I try this as a kid?
Two in one.
Creative way of getting tips.
A river runs under this house.
