It's been over a year, and New Horizons is still sending data back to Earth from its encounter with the Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth. Arrokoth is the name finally officially given to the object by the International Astronomical Union. It comes from the Powahatan Native American language, and means "sky". The original nickname was broken up to represent its two lobes. The larger lobe took the name Ultima, and the smaller lobe took the name Thule. The nickname "Ultima Thule" was always a controversial name due to its appropriation by Nazi occultists. Members of the New Horizons science team are on the record as hoping to take the term back from that association. Arrokoth is now believed to be a very flat body, most of the object being about 10 km deep. Ultima lobe is 21x20x10, while Thule lobe is 15x14x10. Color data suggests it's a similar color to Pluto. New Horizons isn't going to be done sending data on the encounter with Arrokoth until this September. The science team still hopes to find another Kuiper Belt object to direct New Horizons to for another close encounter some time in the 2020s. The probe will definitely operate into the 2030s due to its mmRTG power supply. For now, the science team continues to point its instruments toward other Kuiper Belt objects; even from afar, they're still at a better vantage than from Earth. This image pinpoints 50000 Quaoar, one of the largest of the Kuiper Belt objects. Its discovery in 2002, in particular, led to the current revolution in observations of trans-Neptunian objects. Once they have closed the book on KBO operations, the science team will turn the camera toward Earth to take another Pale Blue Dot photo, just as Voyager 1 did in 1990. It will be the last task of the imaging experiment, as doing so runs the risk of ruining the camera since it will have to point very close to the Sun in order to see Earth.
Last week, Northrop Grumman did something revolutionary. They physically linked one satellite in geostationary orbit with another. Their first Mission Extension Vehicle, MEV-1, was launched back in October 2019, piggy-backed with two comsats on a Proton-M rocket. It then visited its target, Intelsat 901, which was in a graveyard orbit a couple hundred miles above the Clarke Belt. After a few weeks of test maneuvers to prove its rendezvous capabilities, this past Tuesday it made its attempt to dock with Intelsat 901. It accomplished this by extending a probe into Intelsat 901's main engine nozzle and deploying graspers to hold onto it inside the exhaust chamber. It then pulled itself against the side of the comsat. It is arranged so its own solar panels are at a cross with the comsat's solar panels. MEV-1 is now using its own propulsion system to return Intelsat 901 to the Clarke Belt, where it will resume operation at 27.5°W longitude. It will take over for Intelsat 907 at that position. Intelsat is paying Northrop Grumman $13 million a year for five years of mission extension services. When it is done, Intelsat 901 will be returned to a graveyard orbit, but MEV-1 could go to another satellite afterward depending on how much fuel it has left. A second MEV is targeted to launch in June 2020, again hitching a ride with two comsats this time atop an Ariane 5 rocket. Because MEV-1's testing went so well, MEV-2 will go to its first target—which has not yet been announced—while it is still in the Clarke Belt.
John Leland Atwood was born on October 26, 1904, in Walton, Kentucky. A bright student, he moved to Texas and earned a bachelor's degree from Hardin-Simmons University in 1926, then did postgraduate work at Texas. After spending some time at Douglas Aircraft Company, Lee, as he was called, was hired by North American Aviation. His engineering prowess resulted in him quickly rising to the position of general manager. He was indispensable as World War II began, leading design of some of America's greatest warplanes, including the P-51 Mustang fighter plane, the T-6 Texan trainer, and the B-25 Mitchell bomber. He became known in the industry as "the chief engineer of chief engineers". Already a vice president in the late 1930s, he became President of North American in 1948, CEO in 1960, and Chairman of the Board in 1962. He would also have a hand in the design of the FJ-4 Fury and F-86 Sabre fighter jets, the F-100 Super Sabre, and several X-series experimental planes including the X-15 and XB-70. His reputation was paramount in North American winning the contract for the Apollo command and service module. And his guidance would be necessary in the recovery from the Apollo 1 disaster. After North American merged with Rockwell in 1967, Atwood was named President and CEO of the new company. During this time, he led their efforts in competing for the Space Shuttle orbiter, and also oversaw early development of the B-1 Lancer strategic bomber. Atwood retired as President and CEO of Rockwell in 1970, but remained on its board through 1978. He then kept a quiet retirement. He died in Santa Monica 21 years ago today, aged 94.
As it began, so shall it end. 38 years ago today, the U.S. Air Force launched OPS 8701, the 13th satellite in the Integrated Missile Early Warning System (IMEWS), atop a Titan 23C rocket from Pad 40, Cape Canaveral. This satellite was part of Block 3 of the Defense Support Program, referred to as Multi-Orbit Satellite Performance Improvement Modification (MOS/PIM). Although DSP has never been needed for a full-scale exchange of ballistic missiles, it has played a role in smaller regional wars. I've noted before how the later Block 5 phase, DSP-I, came about just in time to support Operation Desert Storm. But this phase would play a role in monitoring the Iran-Iraq War. This would be the final launch of the Titan IIIC rocket. Heavy Titan launches would be shifted to the Titan 34D rocket.
They had the results on the Independent Flight Review for Boeing's Starliner OFT. Here's the tl;dr version: #Starliner what's new: - 61 action items- 49 software test gaps- NO decision on Orbital Flight Test reflight- Starliner not flying for monthsBACKGROUND:1st issue: https://t.co/ZQDBWNak93More issues: https://t.co/73hjNc8TbR@BoeingSpace deep dive: https://t.co/hAUzdQnNlC pic.twitter.com/XgFteM2reo— Chris G (@ChrisG_SpX) March 6, 2020 Essentially, Starliner isn't flying for a while. Boeing has a ton to do before they are ready. It's going to be months before another test, and we have no idea if the next test will be crewed or not. There is one positive: no crossover was found between the issues found on Starliner, and anything they have experienced thus far with SpaceX and Crew Dragon. Doug: No known issue to @SpaceX schedule from this.— Chris G (@ChrisG_SpX) March 6, 2020
11 years ago today, the Kepler Space Telescope was launched atop a Delta II 7925 rocket from Pad 17B, Cape Canaveral. Placed in a heliocentric orbit that trails Earth, its mission was finding planets around other stars. Given just how successful it was at this mission, you'd be surprised with some of the issues the telescope suffered. A high signal-to-noise ratio was found in its signal, automatically necessitating an extension to its primary mission. Two reaction wheels failed, necessitating implementation of its propulsion system to aid the remaining two reaction wheels, further shortening its potential life. Kepler certainly discovered 2,662 exoplanets over its lifetime, and also did observations of supernovae. Which is fitting, considering its namesake. The mission ended in October 2018 when the telescope ran out of fuel. It will return to the vicinity of Earth in 2060.
Yuri Alexeievich Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934, in Klushino, Russian SFSR, a town about 85 km due West of Moscow. His family worked on a collective farm...which really made their conditions no different than being a serf of the old Russian Empire. His two older siblings were kidnapped by the Nazis during Operation Barbarossa and put in the concentration camps, but both survived and returned after the Great Patriotic War. As a teenager, Yuri became a foundry apprentice. After graduating from vocational school, he got an interest in flying. He went Chkalovsky Air Force Pilot School, and trained on the Yakovlev Yak-18, then the Mikoyan-Gurovich MiG-15 fighter jet. He was coimmissioned in the Soviet Air Force in 1957. He married his wife the same day he graduated from flight school. Yuri was interested in the burgeoning Soviet space program, particularly after the success of the Luna 3 probe. His superiors recommended him for the first group of cosmonaut training, and he was among 20 selectees in 1960. The Vostok capsule was an even tighter fit than the Mercury capsule. As I noted before, Mercury had a height limit of 5' 11". Vostok's height limit was only 5' 7". Yuri was only 5' 2". Yuri excelled at cosmonaut training; he was liked not only by his superiors, but his peers as well. He had the technical grasp, kept himself focused on his training at all times, and had a magnetic personality. He was one of the "Vanguard Six", the finalists for the first two Vostok flights. And he was ultimately chosen for Vostok 1, with Gherman Titov as his backup. (I think I'll cover the actual spaceflight next month.) Because of his popularity after Vostok 1, he was in demand all over the world. He even visited Western bloc nations, even Canada. But President Kennedy personally barred Yuri from coming to the United States. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was more interested in putting him in positions of power. He was placed on the Central Committee of the Young Communist League, and rose to the rank of Colonel in the Soviet Air Force. He even tried his hand at engineering, and worked on designs for a reusable spaceplane in Korolev's design bureau. He'd earn a master's in aerospace engineering from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in February 1968. He was not above the trappings of popularity. In September 1961, his wife caught him cheating, and he suffered a minor injury trying to escape a liaison. Officials were also concerned about him drinking; though his friends observed he was usually careful around alcohol, social demands usually put him in situations that could lead to heavier social drinking. Although Khrushchev used him in his anti-religious propaganda, claiming Yuri said he saw no God in orbit, in reality Yuri was a religious man. He was in the Russian Orthodox Church, and made sure his elder daughter was baptized before his flight. The Church confirmed in the 21st century that his family celebrated both Christmas and Easter. As problems mounted in the space program, Soviet leadership grew more skittish of letting Gagarin fly. After Soyuz 1 claimed the life of Vladimir Komarov, he was expressly banned from any future spaceflights. Still, he wanted to fly. After earning his master's degree, he resumed training in jets. On March 27, 1968, he was flying with a trainer in a MiG-15 trainer when it crashed near Kirzhach, 50 km NE of Moscow. The exact details of the incident were shrouded in secrecy for a long time. A declassified KGB investigation in 2011 revealed that the jet entered a tailspin while maneuvering to avoid something. Alexei Leonov believed a Sukhoi Su-15 shot by their jet while breaking the sound barrier, creating interference that resulted in the crash. Yuri was 34. He left his wife and two daughters. His ashes were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
Happy 64th birthday to former NASA astronaut Curtis Brown. Born in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, he got an electrical engineering degree from Air Force in 1978. After flight school, he specialized in the Fairchild Republic A-10 Warthog air support jet. After going through Air Force Test Pilot School, he would add the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon to his repertoire. He would accumulate over 6,000 hours of jet flight time. Curt was selected to NASA in the pilot track of Group 12 in 1987. With the Astronaut Office, he oversaw upgrades to the orbiter simulators, as well as refits of Columbia and Discovery. He would take various lead roles later in his NASA career, including Lead of Shuttle Operations. Oddly enough, he would end up taking the pilot position in three missions. His first was STS-47. the Japanese Spacelab mission aboard Endeavour in September 1992. His second mission STS-66, the ATLAS-3 mission aboard Atlantis in November 1994. He would then fly Endeavour again for STS-77, a standalone biotechnology mission, in May 1996. Curt's first command would come with STS-85 aboard Discovery in August 1997. That mission flew the CRISTA-SPAS platform, and tested technologies for the International Space Station. He would command Discovery again for STS-95, the Spacelab flight with John Glenn, in November 1998. His last mission was STS-103, the snap Hubble Space Telescope service mission 3A, in December 1999. Curt left NASA immediately after STS-103, also retiring from the Air Force as a Colonel. He would become an airline pilot, joining American Airlines. He is married, and has one child.
Walter Schirra, Jr., was born on March 12, 1923, in Hackensack, New Jersey. His parents were both into early aviation; his dad went to the UK to fly bombers for the Royal Air Force in World War I, and then was a barnstormer, with his mom doing wing-walking stunts on his plane. Being a bright student, he graduated from high school at 17. Initially going to an ROTC at the Newark College of Engineering, he transferred to Navy after Pearl Harbor. But by the time he graduated in 1945, World War II was just about over. He did spend the final months of the war serving on the cruiser USS Alaska. After the war, he went to NAS Pensacola to train as a Naval aviator. After flying the Grumman F8F Bearcat, he joined jet transition training, flying the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star and the Grumman F9F Panther. During the Korean War, Wally went into an exchange with the Air Force, and flew 90 combat missions over Korea out of Japan, downing two MiG-15s. After Korea, he became a test pilot at a Naval ordnance test base, and was the first pilot to launch the Sidewinder air-to-air missile. After that, he underwent formal test pilot training, working out of NAS Patuxent River. Wally was among the pilots and aviators selected to undergo testing for Project Mercury, and was one of the seven selected. His specialization was in the life support system and adapting the Navy Mark 4 pressure suit for the Mercury capsule. He troubleshot cooling issues in his pressure suit during his flight, Sigma 7 in 1962, and also proved the ability for the astronauts to control the spacecraft manually. In Project Gemini, Schirra stepped up and replaced Alan Shepard as the command pilot over Tom Stafford, and the crew was swapped to backup for Gemini 3 in 1965. They would become the crew for Gemini 6, originally to be the first docking with an Agena Target Vehicle. When it failed to make orbit, they were delayed and re-purposed to instead rendezvous with Gemini 7. Gemini 6A became a single-day mission in December 1965 that spent a few orbits flying in close tandem with Gemini 7. Schirra became the commander of the second Apollo crew, with CM pilot Donn Eisele and LM pilot Walt Cunningham. After the Apollo 204 fire, they became the first crew, and ultimately flew on Apollo 7 in October 1968. The 11-day Earth orbital mission, while technologically successful, quickly became a quagmire for the crew itself. Wally was miserable, as he developed a head cold during the mission. The crew violated orders by not wearing their helmets during re-entry. Schirra had already planned to retire after the flight, and left NASA in July 1969. He also retired from the Navy as a Captain. He must've gotten some sort of relief from the head cold. Because the experimental cold medicine that was prescribed by the flight surgeon, and on-board during the flight, was endorsed by Wally when it hit the market under the brand name Actifed. After he left NASA, Wally became a commentator for CBS News, frequently consulted during the Apollo moon landings, and appearing with Walter Cronkite during all their launches. He served on various corporate boards in the 1970s, and was also a consultant. He wrote many books about his spaceflight experience, with his first book, We Seven, being published in 1962. Toward the end of his life, Wally developed abdominal cancer. During treatment in San Diego, he suffered a heart attack and died on May 3, 2007, aged 84. He left a wife and two children. He was cremated, and his ashes were buried at sea off the carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
This morning, SpaceX launched its sixth batch of Starlink internet satellites. The journey wasn't completely smooth. Not long before first-stage MECO, one of the engines failed. It's unknown if this was the engine that caused the abort on Sunday. It was close enough to MECO that it only required an extra metric ton of fuel through the remaining eight engines to compensate and permit the second stage to operate normally. The engine is believed to be one of the engines that is used for landing. The landing burn never took place, so it went into the Atlantic. The first stage booster was attempting its fifth landing. Since it happened too fast for the telemetry to report the engine-out to Hawthorne, Elon has already said he will make sure the issue is investigated.
12 years ago today, DirecTV-11 (renamed T11 after the AT&T acquisition) was launched atop a Zenit-3SL rocket from the Ocean Odyssey platform in the territorial waters of Kiribati. It was placed at 99.25°W longitude to bolster DirecTV's capacity to broadcast HD channels throughout North America. Its solar array had a capacity of 18 kW at launch; it is expected to decay to 16 kW by the time it is retired. In addition to its liquid-fueled apogee motor, it also features ion engines for attitude control.
53 years ago today, the Air Force was dealing with some issues on what to do to implement the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. They weren't sure whether to get new, wider solid-rocket boosters for the Titan rocket, or simply use the stretched Titan IIIM core stage for launches. The dithering led to a delay for the first flight to 1970, and resulted in costs that ballooned 50%.
107 years ago today, Robert Goddard was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The irony of early 20th-century immunology and medicine was that it was a lot easier to innoculate against viruses than it was to innoculate against bacteria. Tuberculosis was a common nuisance, with a best-case scenario of just something you have to live with. Goddard initially was given two weeks to live. While he recovered, he put together some of his first rocketry patents. The bout led him to do much of his work in secrecy, only allowing access to trusted allies. Damage from his tuberculosis would affect him for the rest of his life, though he would be at his healthiest working in arid New Mexico in the 1930s.
Happy 63rd birthday to former NASA astronaut Scott Horowitz. After getting an engineering degree from Cal State-Northridge in 1978, he joined the Air Force, and became a pilot. While teaching airplane design at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on detail, he did post-grad studies at Georgia Tech, earning a doctorate in aerospace engineering in 1984. From that point, he was typically known as "Doc". Doc completed Air Force Test Pilot School in 1990, then was selected to be an astronaut in the pilot track of NASA Group 14 in 1992. He was the pilot of STS-75, the 1996 reflight of the Tethered Satellite System aboard Columbia. As an extended shift-based mission, he shared a bunk with Jeffrey Hoffman; the two were both Jewish, and attached a mezuzah to their bunk. He would also pilot Discovery for STS-82, the second Hubble servicing mission, in February 1997; and Atlantis for STS-101, an early ISS outfitting mission in May 2000. Doc finally got a command with STS-105, aboard Discovery in August 2001, which did further outfitting of the ISS and swapped Expeditions 2 and 3. He retired from NASA and the Air Force (final rank Colonel) in October 2004, and joined Thiokol. He was tasked with deriving a launch system from Space Shuttle technology. His efforts led NASA to appoint him in 2005 as an Associate Administrator overseeing the Vision for Space Exploration. He left NASA for good in October 2007. Doc is heavily involved in the Mars Society, and recently became a boardmember of blockchain-based global transportation initiative DAV Foundation. He is married, and has three children.
Impacts of the coronavirus have spread to the space program. Unlike a lot of things in this thread, that particular pun was not intended. Astra's attempted first launch of Rocket 3.0 after failing the DARPA Launch Challenge was supposed to take place this week, but is now on standby. They probably don't even have their payload yet. Though that is not unexpected, as they are advertising as a rapid-ready launch service. Argentina's SAOCOM 1B Earth Observation satellite, originally scheduled to launch next Monday, is also delayed indefinitely. It is scheduled to be the first polar orbit launch from Cape Canaveral in 60 years. SpaceX will accomplish it by doglegging south from a launch at Pad 40, minimizing flyover of land masses in the Caribbean. Hopefully they won't kill a cow this time. The U.S. Space Force is going ahead with the launch of the next Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) comsat atop an Atlas V 551 rocket tomorrow afternoon at 2:57pm EDT from Pad 41, Cape Canaveral. Currently, the next scheduled Falcon 9 launch is a GPS-IIIA navigation satellite NET April 29 from Pad 40, Cape Canaveral. And SpaceX is pressing on with Starship testing at their Boca Chica facility on South Padre Island, Texas. Their third test article is just about ready, and a fourth is under construction. NASA is still aiming for SpaceX to launch Demonstration Mission 2 (DM2) of their Crew Dragon in May, currently advertising it as "mid-to-late-May". This shift isn't unexpected, as the soft target of May 7 was qualified as likely to shift back or forward. They began advertising for media availability last Wednesday. As the mission will be using a brand new first stage, B1058.1, it is unlikely that the engine issue from the most recent Starlink launch last Wednesday (the first time a first stage was flown for a fifth time) will delay DM2. The first crewed Starliner flight is now advertised to take place on August 31, but we don't even know yet if NASA will require an unmanned test reflight first. They have also pushed USCV-1, SpaceX's first operational crew rotation flight with Crew Dragon, to Q4 2020. In addition to formally adding Soichi Noguchi to the crew, they also added veteran NASA astronaut Shannon Walker. The crew of four, including the already-established crew of Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover, is now set up as being part of ISS Expedition 64.
42 years ago today, NASA, Thiokol, and United Technologies announced that the refurbishment facilities for the Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters were functionally ready. Facilities for refurbishment and refueling of the segments of the solid rocket boosters were managed by United Space Boosters, Inc. (USBI), a subsidiary of United Technologies under the Pratt & Whitney brand. They had personnel at Kennedy Space Center and Marshall Spaceflight Center. Over 5,000 different parts needed to be cleaned and refurbished after each launch. The most important part of the refurbishment was cleaning any seawater from the internal parts of the solid rocket boosters. The process did not noticeably change with the SRB modifications following the Challenger disaster. USBI's assets were acquired by the United Space Alliance in 1997, and United Technologies disbanded USBI the following year.
40 years ago today, the ejection seats to be used on Space Shuttle Columbia for the four test flights were tested at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. The ejection seats were manufactured by Lockheed, and were derived from their SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance jet. The ejector packs on the seats were deactivated after STS-4, but the seats themselves were not replaced with standard seats until its first retrofit following STS-9. Another interesting fact is that Columbia did not come with a heads-up display on the commander and pilot windscreens. Those were also installed following STS-9, along with the removal of all other Orbiter Flight Test hardware. All subsequent orbiters would be delivered with HUDs.
21 years ago today, Progress M-41 was launched to Mir atop a Soyuz-U rocket from Site 1/5, Baikonur Cosmodrome. In addition to the typical resupply mission, a third French subscale replica of Sputnik, Sputnik '99, was brought to the station. It was a battery-powered replica that transmitted a carrier signal to be heard on amateur radios at the same frequency as the original. Sputnik '99 was deployed from Mir shortly after arrival. It re-entered at the end of July, two weeks after the Progress capsule itself re-entered. The previous two were deployed from Mir in the two preceding years. A fourth would be delivered to Mir, but was never deployed. It would re-enter with Mir in 2001.
47 years ago today, NASA released a final report on potential disposal of Skylab at the end of its mission. Three scenarios were presented: Using an Apollo mission and its Service Propulsion System Using an Apollo mission and its Reaction Control System Launching a Saturn INT-21 rocket and using its S-II second stage NASA quickly discarded anything involving a manned flight (the first two options) as too much of a risk to a crew. They felt there was too big a risk of the re-entering Orbital Workshop impeding the return of the Apollo mission. Interestingly enough, technologically speaking, using the RCS was considered more feasible than using the Service Module's main engine (SPS). The third option involved using the Saturn INT-21 rocket, a Saturn V variant that was just the S-IC first stage and S-II second stage. With no payload, the S-II would have more than enough fuel left to reach Skylab, attach to it, and provide a controlled disposal. As I have mentioned in the past, this Saturn variant is sometimes erroneously attributed to the launch of Skylab itself. This is incorrect because the Saturn INT-21 would've had a relocated Instrument Unit flight computer since it didn't have an S-IVB stage. As Skylab was derived from an S-IVB stage, it didn't necessitate moving the Instrument Unit. At any rate, the costs required to implement the INT-21 option were considered too high. At the time, the risk of damage and/or injury from an uncontrolled re-entry of Skylab was minuscule enough that NASA considered it acceptable to wait and see if they could get the Space Shuttle to it. If they knew it was going to spread debris all over Australia, they probably would've tried harder.
23 years ago today, Columbia was launched on STS-83 from Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center. It was a Spacelab mission called the Microgravity Science Laboratory. It was a follow-on to the previous International and U.S. Microgravity Labotary missions, and carried the EDO module for a planned mission of nearly 16 days. An anomaly began to appear in fuel cell #2, suggesting an uncontrollable mix of oxygen and hydrogen which could cause it to explode. Eventually, the readings got to the point where mission control ordered the fuel cell shut down, and aborted the mission. Chris Hadfield, who was a CAPCOM on the mission, noted the decision to end the mission early as a triumph in following flight rules to ensure crew safety. Columbia landed four days after launch. With delays in the International Space Station, there was space both on the Shuttle manifest—and specifically in Columbia's manifest—to conduct a snap reflight. The mission was re-manifested initially as STS-83R, and later as STS-94. The suspect fuel cell was replaced, but otherwise they only needed to resupply the orbiter in processing. It would fly with the same exact crew three months later. Though their science mission was heavily curtailed, they did manage to get some sick pictures of Comet Hale-Bopp.
Astronomer Alan Hale—no relation to the actor who played The Skipper on Gilligan's Island; or his father, who was also an actor—spent much of the early-to-mid-90s looking for comets with no luck. But on June 23, 1995, he identified a new object while using an amateur telescope at his home in New Mexico. He verified that it was indeed moving against the background, and that there weren't supposed to be any comets in that area of the night sky. After verifying this was a new object, he e-mailed the Central Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams, the clearinghouse for potential astronomical discoveries. Yes, it's still called that to this very day. That same night, another amateur astronomer, Thomas Bopp, found the same object while observing the sky with friends from his house in Arizona. He also contacted the CBAT...this time, by actual telegram. The director of the bureau at the time, Brian Marsden, chuckled at that. Even that early in the Internet era, all their communication was being done by e-mail. They hadn't received an actual telegram in years. The object was confirmed the next morning as a new comet, and designated C/1995 O1. The International Astronomical Union published its discovery, and eventually named it after both astronomers. At the time it was discovered, Comet Hale-Bopp was estimated to be 7.3 AU from the Sun; between Jupiter and Saturn. It became visible to the naked eye in May 1996, ten months before its perihelion. Further analysis determined it was huge by cometary standards: estimates range 40-80 km wide. The likely exact estimate of 60 km would make it six times larger than Halley's Comet. It aligned with the Sun toward the end of 1996. But when it re-emerged at the beginning of 1997, still on its way to perihelion, it was intensely bright, visible anywhere it would be within view. It became an early Internet phenomenon, and a challenger for Comet of the 20th Century along with the 1910 apparition of Halley's Comet; and a separate 1910 cometary appearance designated C/1910 A1, referred to as the Daylight Comet. Its brilliance owed to its immense size, though its swing through the inner Solar System was timed so it crossed Earth's orbital distance while Earth was on the opposite side of the Sun. It could be seen during daytime in China, Mongolia, and Siberia, due to a solar eclipse on March 9. It passed perihelion on April 1, 1997, and remained visible to the naked eye for the rest of the year, primarily from the southern hemisphere of Earth. It has only recently become indiscernible from the largest telescopes. As I said yesterday, the only real space mission that was able to observe Hale-Bopp directly was STS-83. Very little, if anything, was observed of the comet on the aborted mission's reflight. ******** With the Internet, even that early, sometimes you got some crazies. Someone early in the apparition claimed there was a small object tailing the comet. The most common image of this object was eventually dismissed as a catalogued star, SAO141894. Even Alan Hale himself was able to identify that. Paranormalist Art Bell claimed to have evidence of a UFO, but the image he was using was revealed to have been doctored. Several cults claimed the UFO was going to pick people up before an apocalypse. One such cult, Heaven's Gate, eventually eliminated themselves with a mass suicide that killed 39 in late March 1997. They put on their Nike's, took a mix of barbiturates and vodka, then suffocated themselves with plastic bags tied over their heads. Among the dead were the cult's founder, Marshall Applewhite; and Thomas Nichols, the brother of Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols. The notoriety of the incident was such that Hale himself had to address it when talking about the comet. This caused him great annoyance, being a scientific skeptic who frequently spent his time dispelling paranormal phenomena. But it was hardly the only tragic incident associated with the comet. We'll get to another one in July.
42 years ago today, NASA withdrew an option to use the Titan 34D rocket as a backup to launch the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System satellite if the Space Shuttle could not complete the first launch in 1980. It was decided that TDRSS wouldn't see much use before the Space Shuttle became operational. So they decided to wait out any delay. TDRS-A was originally planned for STS-8, which would've been the second operational Space Shuttle mission under the original schedule which was planned to begin in 1979. This mission was originally planned for July 1, 1980. When the schedule first slipped, TDRS-A was moved to the first operational mission, STS-7, and scheduled for February 27, 1981. Both missions would've been flown by Columbia. When the beginning of the program was pushed to 1981, the launch was ultimately slipped to STS-6 in April 1983. It was again on the second operational Shuttle flight, this time the maiden flight of Challenger.
Boeing announced yesterday that they will indeed re-fly their unmanned Orbital Flight Test of Starliner. The problem is, they are planning on flying it "sometime in October or November". So we can forget about Starliner flying a human crew this year.
55 years ago today, NASA awarded a contract of $4.6 million to RCA to provide deep space tracking and data acquisition equipment for the Manned Space Flight Network. MSFN was a subset of the Deep Space Network dedicated to manned spaceflight, particularly Project Apollo. It would be the primary clearinghouse for telemetry from lunar missions. The station was placed at the ground tracking station installed at Cooper's Island, Bermuda. As the completion of TDRSS eliminated the need for ground stations, the station at Cooper's Island was made redundant. It was shut down in the mid-1990s, with all equipment removed by 2002. Bermuda turned the island into a nature reserve. NASA and Bermuda continue to cooperate on tracking initiatives. A temporary station was re-established on Cooper's Island in 2008, with the two sides agreeing to a new permanent station there in 2012 for collecting data from NASA probes in low-Earth orbit.