Monthly Archives: May 2011

The Paresev: The Winged Tricycle Pilots Built

Posted on May 29, 2011 by asteitel

I’ve devoted a fair bit of time to discussing landing methods in the 1960s, particularly with respect to the Gemini program. Splashdowns were unsuitable as a long-term method of returning from space, and NASA’s second generation manned spaceflight program presented … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Losing Rogallo from Gemini

Posted on May 22, 2011 by asteitel

Landing methods and the Gemini program are two of my favourite topics, and I’ve previously posted about landing methods in Gemini. The Mercury program demonstrated sufficient reason to move away from splashdowns, and the second generation Gemini manned spaceflight program … Continue reading →

Posted in Apollo, Gemini, Manned Spaceflight, Mercury | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Man Who Chose the Moon

Posted on May 15, 2011 by asteitel

I’ve recently posted two articles about the first men in space. After the Soviet Union launched the space age with the artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957, the nation achieved another first with Yuri Gagarin’s Earth-orbital flight on April 12, 1961 … Continue reading →

Posted in Apollo, Manned Spaceflight, Mercury, Soviet | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Carnival of Space #196

Posted on May 9, 2011 by asteitel

From the furthest reaches of the universe and the Big Bang to near Earth objects and a dose of history, there’s a lot going on in the space-blog world this week!

Posted in History of Space Science, Manned Spaceflight, Planetary Science, Uncategorized, Unmanned Spaceflight | 10 Comments

A Tale of Two Landers

Posted on May 8, 2011 by asteitel

In previous posts about Mars and the difficulties of landing on other planets, I’ve mentioned that the red planet is a veritable graveyard for unmanned spacecraft – two-thirds of all Mars-bound missions have failed. In some cases, engineers are able … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Space Science, Planetary Science, Unmanned Spaceflight | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Shepard: First American in (Suborbital) Space

Posted on May 1, 2011 by asteitel

I’ve talked in previous posts about the first manned Soviet space program, Vostok, and Yuri Gagarin’s historic Vostok 1 flight. One aspect neither of these posts touched on, however, was the reaction in the United States. Understandably, Americans were less … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Space Science, Manned Spaceflight, Mercury, Soviet | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments