Happy 60th birthday to former NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio. After getting his electrical engineering degree from UConn in 1982, he went to work for Hamilton Standard, developing flight controls. After a master's in the same discipline from Rensselaer in 1987, he moved to Houston and went to work for Rockwell in connection to the Space Shuttle program. In 1990, Mastracchio was hired by NASA as an engineer in the Flight Crew Operations Directorate. In 1993, he switched to the Guidance and Procedures Office, and worked 17 missions in Mission Control. He was selected as an astronaut in the mission specialist track of Group 16 in 1996. One of his primary assignments in the Astronaut Office was upgrades for orbiter cockpit avionics. Mastracchio got his first assignment with STS-106 aboard Atlantis in September 2000, which outfitted the newly-arrived Zvezda module at the International Space Station. He was assigned to STS-117 before the Columbia disaster, but was swapped to STS-118 afterward, bringing the S5 truss to the ISS aboard Endeavour in August 2007. His third flight was STS-131 aboard Discovery in April 2010, an ISS resupply mission that installed an ammonia coolant tank. He would join ISS Expedition 38/39 in November 2013, flying to the station on Soyuz TMA-11M. The mission brought the Olympic torch to the ISS in preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia; it returned to Earth with ISS Expedition 37 aboard Soyuz TMA-09M five days later. Mastracchio would return aboard Soyuz TMA-11M in May 2014. Mastracchio retired from NASA after Expedition 39. He was hired by Orbital ATK in 2017, and is currently a Senior Director at Northrop Grumman in charge of Operations for the Cygnus program. He is married, and has three children.
The Crew Dragon Demonstration Mission 2 has a...somewhat solid launch date. NASA revealed on Monday that they are aiming to give SpaceX a go-ahead to launch Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on May 7, but said that date was "fluid". By fluid, they did not mean that as an NET time. It could move back, or even forward. It could still go as early as mid-April. SpaceX wants to complete two more parachute drop tests. They are also finishing the paperwork associated with the In-Flight Abort test, though no issues have been found so far. NASA is still trying to decide whether or not to promote DM2 to a full ISS crew rotation. When Soyuz MS-15 leaves the ISS in April with astronauts Drew Morgan and Jessica Meir, it will leave Chris Cassidy as the lone American astronaut on the station. And NASA wants to minimize the amount of time that he is the only one there. As I have mentioned before, doing so would necessitate some extra training time that could push DM2 back to June. Specifically, if the mission is extended, Behnken in particular needs to do some refreshers in the neutral buoyancy tank. He has completed six spacewalks in his astronaut career—he was involved in installing both Kibō and Tranquility; in fact, he installed Tranquility literally 10 years ago today—but his most recent one was 10 years ago. NASA has stated that the mission will be finalized soon, and we'll get an even more solid schedule once they decide whether or not the mission will be extended. Once DM2 is completed, SpaceX can push ahead with their first official crew rotation. USCV-1, as it is designated, will carry American astronauts Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover (a rookie), and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. Taiwanese-American astronaut Kjell Lindgren will be a backup for USCV-1. The crew rotation part would not have been such a big deal if Boeing didn't botch its first test mission. Now their first crew rotation of Chris Ferguson, Michael Fincke, and Nicole Aunapu Mann (also a rookie), will have to wait.
Happy 97th birthday to aeronautics pioneer Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager. Born in Myra, West Virginia, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps a month or so before Pearl Harbor, and became a flight officer. He became an expert flying the P-51 Mustang fighter plane over Europe beginning in the winter of 1943. But he was shot down over France in March 1944, and ended up spending two months with the French Resistance helping them build IEDs. He was able to get to England in May 1944. After D-Day, Chuck and another pilot had to petition General Eisenhower personally to re-join active flight status. At the time, it was against regulation for a pilot to return to active flight if he was shot down, but escaped. The argument was that, by then, the Maquis were actively fighting alongside the United Nations since the invasion of France had begun. During the final year of the War, he achieved "ace in a day" status, notching five confirmed kills on October 12, 1944. One of those kills was a Me-262, the first confirmed kill against a jet aircraft. Chuck was commissioned while serving out of England, and was a Captain by the time his tour ended in January 1945. Shortly after, he married his girlfriend, Glennis Dickhouse. They would move to Muroc Army Air Field in California (what is now Edwards AFB), and he became a test pilot. It was then that he joined the Bell XS-1 program. He was detailed by the Army to work with the NACA on the project. His work on that project has been detailed in this thread many times before. In 1955, after breaking many records, Yeager shifted to command, transferring to West Germany to lead squadrons in the Cold War. He became the first commandant of the Aerospace Research Pilot School in 1962. Yeager was never considered to become an astronaut because he had zero college education, something NASA desired for its candidates. The only non-graduate among the Mercury Seven, John Glenn, still had extensive college experience. (I'll actually be getting into that shortly.) He resumed test flights out of Edwards, including five flights of the M2-F1 lifting body. But an incident with an NF-104 on November 1, 1963, which led to a crash where he suffered moderate burns but otherwise no serious injury, ended his active tesing career. (If you've seen The Right Stuff, then you've seen the incident.) The mid-1960s were spent in the Philippines, commanding squadrons conducting raids in the early days of the Vietnam War. Yeager was promoted to Brigadier General in 1969, and some of his last assignments involved advisory roles in Germany and Pakistan. The Pakistan stint led to an international incident, where India attacked the air base where he was stationed. His plane, at the time parked at the base, was specifically targeted and destroyed. (America was batting 1.000 in the Seventies.) Yeager retired from the Air Force in 1975, but continued as a consulting test pilot for both the Air Force and NASA for literal decades afterward. Glennis died in 1990; they had four children together. Yeager re-married in 2000, and still travels to various expositions.
48 years ago today, the Soviet Union launched Luna 20 atop a Proton-K rocket from Site 81/24, Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was the eighth attempt by the Russians to complete a robotic lunar sample return mission, the second to make it successfully to the Moon. This particular mission landed in the Apollonius highlands, far off to the east of where the Apollo missions landed. The other two successful Soviet sample return missions (Lunas 16 and 24) also landed in that vicinity, around Mare Fecunditatis. This mission only returned 30 grams (about 1 oz) of soil, the least of the three missions. The return capsule landed on an island in the Karkingir River, about 40 km north Jezkazgan. The lander was located by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2010.
Roger Chaffee was born on February 15, 1935, at his grandmother's home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His family was visiting there while his father was quarantined at their home in nearby Greenville, suffering from scarlet fever. They moved back when he recovered, but would return to Grand Rapids when his father became an Army ordnance inspector during World War II. After graduating from high school, he turned down an invitation to attend Navy, and instead took a scholarship to attend the Navy ROTC at Illinois Tech. He would later transfer to Purdue, as he found their Naval aviator program to be superior. He graduated with distinction in 1957, was commissioned as an ensign and an aviation cadet, and got married. Roger got his first assignment on the carrier USS Lake Champlain, to be begun after his honeymoon. The ship left without him, so after some time at Chambers Field in Norfolk, he began aviator training at NAS Pensacola. During advanced training at NAS Jacksonville, he became so proficient at reconnaissance aircraft that, at 24, he became the youngest aviator--and first below a rank of lieutenant commander--to fly the Douglas A3D. Chaffee would cut his teeth over Cuba, flying reconnaissance missions between NAS Jacksonville and Guantanamo Bay. He played a huge role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. When that was over, he was stationed on the carrier USS Saratoga, and took a service cruise to Africa. But right before the Crisis, he applied with NASA to become an astronaut. He was chosen to NASA in Group 3 in October 1963; he was the second-youngest member of the group at 28, with Rusty Schweickart just about to turn 28. After training, he was frequently CAPCOM during Project Gemini, and also flew chase planes out of Patrick AFB to observe rocket launches, including the early unmanned tests of the Saturn IB rocket. He was assigned as the junior pilot for Apollo 204. Unfortunately... ...do I really need to waste your time with how that one ends? Chaffee was just short of turning 32 when he died. Along with his wife, he left two children. His final rank in the Navy was lieutenant commander. Among all his other honors, one of the buildings for the Navy ROTC at Purdue bears his name.
72 years ago today, astronomer Gerard Kuiper was circling Uranus looking for Klingons. ... ...oh, come on! When it comes to probing Uranus, the jokes write themselves. ... (Full disclosure: I've been planning this all week.) Anyway, what he did find was the fifth discovered moon of Uranus, Miranda. When Voyager 2 visited Uranus in 1986, the visual blandness of the planet itself contributed to Miranda becoming the main attraction, with wild theories on how such a small, cold moon could end up with such a lively appearance. As noted before, the early theory was that it was destroyed early on in a massive impact. But closer studies would uncover the truth. It's connected to the Soviet Venus missions Venera 15 and 16 three years before, which brought radar to Venus for the first time. They discovered evidence of pyroclastic magma flows, resulting in features called coronae. Those features were found on Miranda. They are the only two bodies in the solar system that have coronae. While they tend to be curved, like Elsinore Corona (top right), there is also a unique chevron-shaped corona, Inverness Corona (bottom left). On Miranda, it is believed these features were formed by diapirs, a sort of cryoclastic flow of "warm" ice that may have occurred in the past when Miranda was at orbital resonance with another moon. Inverness points right to one of the highest features on any body in the solar system: Verona Rupes. Verona Rupes is an escarpment that sticks out like a sore thumb on the surface, especially as it intrudes in the shadows with the insane seasons of the system. The cliff rises 20 km over the surrounding surface. Both NASA and ESA are looking to send an orbiter to the system, targeting a launch later this decade to get to the system by the 2040s. Undoubtedly, Miranda will again be a focal point when they are probing Uranus. It really is the gift that keeps on giving. I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
Happy 100th birthday to Annie Glenn. Born in Columbus, Ohio, she was the daughter of a dentist. Her family moved to New Concord when she was three years old, and her family became friends local plumber John Glenn and his teacher wife, Clara. As a result, Annie grew up with their son, John, Jr. Annie was heavily involved in sports, music, and the Girl Scouts, and went quite far despite having a heavy stutter. As they grew older, she and John ultimately fell in love. She earned a scholarship for the pipe organ from the Juilliard School, but declined it, and instead went to local Muskingum College along with John, where she majored in music, with a double-minor in secretarial skills and physical education. John dropped out of college after Pearl Harbor, and looked for opportunities to fly. Not called up when he entered the Army, he instead enlisted in the Navy. He and Annie married in April 1943, after which John would begin flight training, ultimately being chosen to be a Marine Corps aviator, and flying 57 combat missions out of the Marshall Islands. After John's service in World War II, he and Annie would have two children. While John continued his military career, including flying with Ted Williams in Korea, Annie would play pipe organ at various churches, and teach music lessons. When John was selected to be part of the Mercury Seven, Annie bonded with the wives of the other astronauts, forming a close-knit support structure. That being said, I have no idea if she really told off LBJ after one of Friendship 7's aborts, as depicted in The Right Stuff. As John began his political career, Annie got help from a speech therapist in the early '70s. Finally able to speak confidently, she became a champion for the disabled during her husband's service in the Senate. She actually spent time as an adjunct professor in speech pathology at Ohio State.
41 years ago today, the first Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE), Explorer 60, was launched atop a Scout D-1 rocket from Pad 3A, Wallops Island. SAGE examined the composition of aerosols and other fluids in the upper atmosphere. It was one of the earliest satellites to study the ozone layer. It operated for three years, and remained in orbit for just over a decade. Follow-on experiments would be attached to larger satellites. SAGE II was part of the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, released from Challenger during STS-41-G in 1984. SAGE III piggy-backed on a Russian Meteor-3M LEO weather satellite in 2001. A repeat of SAGE III was flown to the International Space Station aboard a Dragon cargo flight in 2017, and is now mounted to the ISS.
The United States Space Force is about to take off. As much as people have scoffed at it, this is something that has been brewing for quite some time. The idea of an actual separate military branch for space operations was first seriously considered in 2000, though other events put it on the back burner. The Space Force is actually being created by turning the Air Force Space Command into a separate branch of service. It will be a sub-branch of the Air Force, in the same way that the Marine Corps is affiliated with the Navy, being in the same department. Its insignia is derived directly from the Space Command insignia. The actual transition is in progress, and is expected to be completed by the end of March. So far, at least eight USAF installations in California, Florida, and Colorado, are being shifted to the Space Force, including Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg. The first commander of the Space Force is four-star General Jay Raymond. He's been heading Air Force Space Command, at that rank, since 2016. A graduate from the Air Force ROTC at Clemson, he's been involved in missile systems throughout his military career. There is currently an ongoing discussion to also separate Space Force-affiliated Reserve and National Guard groups. The current proposal seeks to create state Space National Guards in California, Florida, Alaska, Colorado, Arkansas, Ohio, and New York.
Is this another Star Trek alternate universe where we find out that the genesis of Starfleet was actually in 2020?
Happy 72nd birthday to former NASA astronaut Byron Lichtenberg. Born in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, he graduated with an aeronautical engineering degree from the Air Force ROTC at Brown in 1969. He would quickly get his pilot's wings, and flew 138 combat missions over Vietnam associated with the Massachusetts Air National Guard. After Vietnam, he became a researcher at MIT, eventually earning a master's in mechanical engineering in 1975, and a doctorate in biomedical engineering in 1979. As part of his research, he began working on experiments to be flown aboard Spacelab. Lichtenberg was turned down for formal selection to NASA in both Group 8 and Group 9. However, he was selected as part of their new payload specialist program, in the same way that commercial satellite customers were permitted to have representatives train to fly on missions with their payloads. In this capacity, Lichtenberg became the first payload specialist astronaut, flying with Spacelab aboard Columbia on STS-9 in 1983. Following the mission, he returned to MIT, continuing to work on Spacelab experiments. In 1989, NASA selected him in a payload specialist group connected to ATLAS-1. That flight was STS-45 aboard Atlantis in 1992. Following his second flight, Lichtenberg trained to be an airline pilot, and was hired by Southwest Airlines in 1995. He also founded ZERO-G, a company that aimed to bring parabolic microgravity experiences to tourism. He is currently their Chief Technical Officer. They have done research flights for NASA and for Hollywood, and finally got authorization from the FAA to offer the service to consumers in 2011. He is married, and has five children, two of which are adopted.
58 years ago today, Friendship 7 was launched atop an Atlas LV-3B rocket from Pad 14, Cape Canaveral. On board was the man determined to be America's third astronaut, and the first one launched into orbit, John Glenn. Since the Soviets were keeping the results of their orbital flights secret, NASA had Glenn prepared for anything, with a medical kit including medicines for motion sickness, lethargy, and even systemic shock. He also had a standard field survival kit in case he splashed down far flung from his target in the north Atlantic. After a few delays over the previous month, the rocket launched at 9:47am EST. Other than max Q, Glenn described the launch as smooth. When he entered orbit, his orbital parameters were only 7 ft/s lower than anticipated, and the capsule was estimated to be able to stay in 100 orbits if it had the supplies for it. As he finished his first orbit, Glenn reported issues with his yaw thruster sticking. It was at this point that launch controllers at Cape Canaveral noticed an anomaly: Segment 51. It was suggesting that the landing bag was deployed, and the only thing holding it in place was the retrorocket's straps. As re-entry approached on the third orbit, Glenn was asked to test the airbag deploy switch; if its indicator light turned on when set to "auto", that would mean it was indeed deployed. It did not. Also, Glenn did not notice any unusual bumping during thruster firings. Still, Flight Director Chris Kraft decided not to take any chances. Friendship 7 would re-enter with the retrorocket pack still attached to the heat shield. The pack ultimately disintegrated, but the heat shield remained in place. Glenn noted severe oscillations between the end of re-entry ionization and the deployment of the drogue parachute, and the spacecraft ran out of fuel counteracting it. The capsule splashed down about 250 miles NW of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was 40 miles short of its target. It was recovered by the destroyer USS Noa, which was 6 miles away from the spacecraft when it landed.
Astra Space is going live. Welcome to Astra! We’re launching a new generation of space services to observe, connect, and improve life on earth. pic.twitter.com/6BQabAFhGh— Astra (@Astra) February 18, 2020 (I meant that. This was literally their first tweet. They opened their Twitter account on Monday.) Astra has been working on their own small-payload rocket for the past three years. Their current design, simply called "Rocket 3.0" (1.0 and 2.0 were suborbital test articles), is just about ready for its first launch attempt. And they are going ambitious with it by taking part in the DARPA Launch Challenge. One of their occasional Grand Challenges they have been doing during the 21st century, the challenge is to launch a rocket with minimal lead time, then turn around and launch a second rocket into a different orbit inside a month. The first launch will carry a set of four cubesats: one from SOCOM, and a triad from USF. They are targeting Tuesday at 3:30pm EST from the Pacific Spaceport on Kodiak Island, Alaska, for the first launch. DARPA's criteria are pretty simple. While they optimally want a 450-mile SSO, they only care that the satellites achieve orbit. The payload for the second launch has yet to be determined, but Astra appears to be basing its business model on rapid-ready launch availability for cubesats up to the 3U size. If they manage to launch the first payload by March 1, Astra will need to launch the second during the second half of March. If they succeed at that, they will win a total of US$12 million: US$2 million for the first launch, and US$10 million for the second. If they don't, DARPA has suggested they could have other chances.
Happy 68th birthday to former NASA astronaut James Bagian. He is the first person of Armenian descent to fly in space. Born in Philly, he got a mechanical engineering degree from Drexel in 1973 (first in his class), and went to work with 3M while putting himself through medical school at Thomas Jefferson University. During med school, he also was commissioned in the Air Force Reserve. After getting his MD, he went to the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (where he graduated first in his class again), then joined NASA in 1978 as a flight surgeon. He was selected as an astronaut with Group 9 in 1980 (the youngest candidate of the group, at 28), and worked on emergency medicine and rescue protocol in the Astronaut Office. At the time of the Challenger disaster, he was scheduled to fly on STS-61-I, which was supposed to be the retrieval of the Long Duration Exposure Facility. In the aftermath, he was one of the medical investigators for the disaster, and helped design the pressure suits that would be worn during launch and re-entry thereafter. After RTF, he was chosen as a replacement for STS-29 (deployment of TDRS-D aboard Discovery, 1989), swapping in for Dr. Anna Fisher, who was on maternity leave. He would also fly on STS-40, Spacelab Life Sciences-1, aboard Columbia in 1991. Bagian left NASA in 1995, and served in many institutes for medicine and engineering. He would return to be the chief medical officer for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board in 2003. He is currently a professor at Michigan, teaching both in medicine and engineering. He eventually retired from the Air Force Reserve as a colonel; during his military career, he specialized in pararescue, and was certified in freefall parachuting. He is married, and has four children.
Remember when our discussions somehow got around to this guy? Well, he finally got around to launching his homemade steam-powered rocket yesterday. With him on-board. The parachute got stripped out of the rocket upon takeoff, and it crashed. Mike Hughes was 64. Michael 'Mad Mike' Hughes tragically passed away today during an attempt to launch his homemade rocket. Our thoughts & prayers go out to his family & friends during this difficult time. It was always his dream to do this launch & Science Channel was there to chronicle his journey pic.twitter.com/GxwjpVf2md— Science Channel (@ScienceChannel) February 23, 2020 Video of the crash is on Twitter. YouTube content creator and well-known rocket enthusiast Scott Manley actually retweeted it. So if you're sadistic and want a look, you can go looking for it. For whatever reason, Twitter connected its trends to the NFL. Can't imagine why.
55 years ago today, NASA entered a $2.7 million contract with Collins Radio to install S-band radio reception equipment at all three Deep Space Network sites. NASA and Lincoln Labs had developed a special radio signal called Unified S-band. It would combine audio, video, and telemetry signals into a single transmission. For this, uplink and downlink would use slightly different wavelengths of the microwave spectrum. Uplinks to spacecraft were 2100-2119 MHz, while downlinks were 2272-2283 MHz. Each of the mission's ALSEP packages had separate bands for transmitting back to Earth. There was also an emergency subcarrier at 512 kHz for Morse code. It was tested on Apollo 7, but never used again, as it was never required, not even by Apollo 13. Third-party monitoring of these transmissions was legal, though dissemination by outside parties specifically of the telemetry required permission from NASA. While designed specifically for the Moon, Unified S-band would serve as a model for communication with LEO manned missions. Similar models of microwave communication have been used by the Space Shuttle, TDRSS, later Soyuz capsules and Soviet space stations, and the International Space Station.
Happy 62nd birthday to former NASA astronaut Susan Helms. Born in Charlotte, but raised in Portland, Oregon, her father was in the Air Force. She decided to follow in his footsteps, and actually graduated from Air Force in 1980. She became involved in weapons systems, working with armament of the F-15 and F-16 at Eglin AFB in Florida. After a master's in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford in 1985, she spent time as a professor at Air Force, then became a test pilot at Edwards AFB. She also spent time in exchange with the Canadian Forces, testing their CF-18, the Canadian import of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. She was selected as an astronaut with NASA Group 13 in 1990 in the mission specialist track. (Ironically, this was the group that brought us the first female pilot and Shuttle commander, Eileen Collins.) Helms' first mission was STS-54 aboard Endeavour in January 1993, which deployed TDRS-F. Her second was STS-64 aboard Discovery in September 1994, which conducted LIDAR experiments. Her third mission was STS-78 aboard Columbia in June 1996, which was a 16-day Spacelab flight. Her fourth mission, STS-101 aboard Atlantis in May 2000, was a snap refurbishment of the International Space Station, replacing the battery systems in the Zarya module and outfitting it and Unity in preparation for Expedition 1's arrival. Helms was selected to take part in ISS Expedition 2, which launched to the station on STS-102 aboard Discovery in March 2001. During the expedition, she helped install Canadarm2, then later used it to install the Quest airlock during STS-104. She returned to Earth with STS-105 aboard Discovery in August 2001. Helms left NASA in 2002, and resumed her military career, being assigned to Air Force Space Command. She was promoted to brigadier general in 2006, and at that time took command of the 45th Space Wing at Patrick AFB and Cape Canaveral AFS. She would take command of the 14th Air Force, and be promoted to lieutenant general, in 2011. Unfortunately, her military career would end in an ignoble fashion. President Obama nominated her to become the vice commander of the entire U.S. Air Force in 2013. However, a Democratic senator put a hold on the nomination, citing allegations that she improperly interfered in an Air Force officer's court-martial on sexual assault allegations, leading to a conviction on lesser charges. The nomination was withdrawn, and Gen. Helms retired from the Air Force in 2014. She currently serves on the board of directors of Concho, a petroleum exploration company.
44 years ago today, the Department of Defense and NASA released the results of a joint study about consolidation of expendable rockets in preparation for the Space Shuttle program taking up satellite payloads. It was decided that Centaur could be used with the Space Shuttle, but additional development time would be required, meaning it wouldn't be available for Shuttle use until the mid-1980s. The Transtage was suitable for DoD requirements, but NASA deemed it insufficient for its payloads. They decided to come up with an Interim Transfer Stage, a two-stage solid-fueled upper stage that could handle DoD payloads, and could launch interplanetary missions for NASA; toward outer planets with the assistance of gravity assists from the inner planets. The Interim Upper Stage would eventually be re-christened the Inertial Upper Stage. It was built by United Technologies, and could be used either in the Space Shuttle, or on the Titan 34D rocket in place of the Transtage. It would later be used with the Titan IV rocket as well. On the Space Shuttle, the stage and payload were raised to a 50° angle out of the orbiter's payload bay, and deployed with pyrotechnics. The IUS was used a total of 24 times; 15 times with the Shuttle, once with the Titan 34D, and eight times with the Titan IV. It launched all first-gen TDRSS satellites, Galileo, Magellan, Ulysses, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and quite a few DSP early-warning missile launch detection satellites. The stage only suffered two failures; the aforementioned TDRS-A issue with STS-6, and a DSP launch on a Titan IV in 1999. TDRS-A was able to compensate for tumbling during the second stage burn with its own fuel. The DSP failure was a failure of the two stages of the IUS to separate, which could not be corrected for. It was last used by the Space Shuttle in 1999. It was retired in 2004.
Elliot See was born on July 23, 1927, in Dallas, Texas. Graduating from high school right on the tail end of World War II, he took a unique path to the military, joining the Merchant Marine Academy. He got a degree in marine engineering in 1949, and was commissioned in the Navy Reserve. While training in private aviation, he took his girlfriend out for a flight. The plane's engine failed, and the plane caught a power line while he attempted an emergency landing. He suffered deep facial cuts that required plastic surgery. His girlfriend was hurt far less seriously. They would marry in 1954 while he was on active duty, activated at the tail end of the Korean War. By that time, See had been trained as a Naval aviator, and spent the mid-1950s flying carrier aircraft in the Mediterranean. Later in the 1950s, he returned to GE, overseeing jet engine tests at Edwards AFB. He also flew those planes as part of the Navy Reserve. He was selected as part of the New Nine group of astronauts in 1962. Among the specialties See was involved in were spacecraft electrical systems and mission planning. He used his experience and connections at GE to troubleshoot electrical issues that cropped up during Gemini 5, which he was the backup pilot for. Although being backup for Gemini 5 would've rotated See into Gemini 8, Deke Slayton bumped him to Gemini 9 over concerns about physical fitness. He felt that Dave Scott was more capable of completing the planned extravehicular activity for that mission. Ironically, instead of being junior pilot for Gemini 8 under Neil Armstrong, he would be command pilot for Gemini 9 over Charlie Bassett. ******** In case you couldn't tell, Deke Slayton wasn't terribly impressed with Elliot See. He chose Bassett as his junior pilot because he felt Bassett could carry See during the mission. Not that it was going to matter. And they would learn why too late. 54 years ago today, during preparation for Gemini 9, See and Bassett, along with backup crew Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan, were flying to the McDonnell plant in St. Louis to examine their capsule and do two weeks of docking simulator training. The two crews took separate T-38 Talon trainer aircraft from Houston to St. Louis. The commanders were the pilots, and the junior pilots were the navigators. It was cloudy when they arrived in St. Louis, and they both accidentally flew over Lambert Field in St. Louis. They circled around to land. See and Bassett's plane was too far to the right of the runway. See tried to use the afterburner to elevate the plane for yet another attempt, only to crash into one of McDonnell's buildings. 17 McDonnell employees inside the building received minor injuries. Gemini 9 was undamaged, but Gemini 10 was struck by one of the T-38's wings. Neither astronaut had time to eject, and both died instantly. See's body was thrown from the building, still strapped to his ejection seat, and landed in the parking lot. He was 38. In the initial aftermath, air traffic controllers had no idea which plane had crashed. Stafford and Cernan identified themselves and made a safe landing, but did not know about the crash initially. Stafford took control of the scene on behalf of the Astronaut Office, though he was distraught at See and Bassett's deaths. A NASA investigation ultimately cited "pilot error" for the crash. Slayton personally felt See was too conservative in his control of the T-38. See left a wife and three children. Both men were buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His final rank in the Navy was Commander. Stafford and Cernan would take over as prime crew of Gemini 9. Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin were assigned as their backup crew. With the capsule undamaged, the mission would continue with planning, headed for a planned May 1966 launch.
Happy 84th (21st?) birthday to former NASA astronaut Jack Lousma. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he was the backup quarterback for Michigan until an elbow injury ended his football career. He'd have to settle for an aeronautical engineering degree from their Navy ROTC in 1959. He was commissioned as a Marine Corps aviator, and spent time flying attack jets out of Japan before switching to reconnaissance aircraft. He was selected to NASA as part of the Original 19 in 1966. He was being considered as lunar module pilot for Apollo 20 before they lopped off the last few lunar mission. He was also CAPCOM when SHTF with Apollo 13. After the later lunar landings were canceled, Lousma moved to the Apollo Applications Program, and was set as CM pilot for the Skylab 3 mission. He engaged in two spacewalks; the first one, with Owen Garriott to deploy the twin pole sunshade on the station, was the longest EVA yet in Earth orbit, though that record would be edged out twice by Skylab 4. After backing up Apollo-Soyuz as docking module pilot, he switched to the Space Shuttle program. Considered as a pilot for early missions, he was ultimately chosen to command STS-3 in 1982 with pilot Gordon Fullerton, which would be the first week-long Shuttle mission and first tests of Canadarm. He retired from NASA and the Marine Corps (final rank Colonel) in 1983. He made a brief foray into politics, but lost his first election and never really tried again. He would spend time with contracting firm Diamond General, and has also gotten involved in many NASA-related documentaries in the 21st century. He is married, and has four children.
For all the problems that have plagued Starliner's aborted OFT-1 mission, there were some positives. The heat shield and power system, including its solar panels, performed far better than originally predicted. The landing system also performed perfectly. (Which is a far cry from what happened with their pad abort.) There was absolutely nothing wrong with the performance of the Atlas V N22 rocket in placing Starliner where it was designed to be: a slightly suborbital trajectory, where the spacecraft was supposed to immediately complete orbital insertion under its own power. As we already know, things didn't quite work out that way. As seems to be the case all too often with Boeing these days. They're desperately looking for positives. Like the fact that Starliner's propulsion and reaction control systems were able to go above and beyond their operating parameters to fix their s*** and make it to a contingency orbit. Though a pressurant valve did fail during re-entry. It was at a point where it couldn't affect anything anymore, but it's just another thing to add the laundry list of items that need fixing in the system. The tl;dr version of their preliminary report is that Boeing simply did not foresee everything that was going to happen, and they didn't test the full system robustly enough. They are now testing the system for the entire mission profile. NASA is going to release a full report on the mission at a press conference on Friday. It is unknown yet if they will require a reflight of the OFT-1 mission. So the way forward for Boeing is not yet clear. ******** A way forward that is clearer, is Northrop Grumman committing to a more robust launch system. And they're going in a surprising direction by designing OmegA, a solid-fueled heavy-lift vehicle. The rocket has been compared to the Ares I rocket, which was axed after its first launch in 2009. It will be designed by their Thiokol assets, with the first and second stages based off the Castor SRM, and boosters derived from the Graphite Epoxy Motor (GEM). It will even be capable of a Centaur-class liquid hydrogen-fueled upper stage. Northrop Grumman is hoping for a first launch toward the beginning of 2021, and is bidding for a DoD contract to assume classified launch services.
105 years ago today, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was formed. As World War I was flaring up across Europe, the United States was looking at the infant warplanes being used in Europe, and realized they needed to be part of the action. Ideas for such an agency were floated as early as 1912, with a proposal by President William Howard Taft being defeated by Congress the next year. The NACA was enacted as a rider on a budget bill on the last day of the first year of the 63rd Congress, and signed by Woodrow Wilson that day. The initial committee was a 12-man volunteer committee with an annual budget of $5,000. By 1920, the year President Wilson appointed Orville Wright to the board, they had four research facilities: Langley Field in Virginia, Moffett and Muroc Fields in California, and the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio. The agency would begin pumping out research, particularly with wind tunnels. The NACA was seen as a major driver in American aeronautical superiority in World War II, and became the talk of the world as they broke the sound barrier. One of their last projects was the X-15 rocket plane, designed to probe the edge of space. Of course, in 1958, the NACA was transitioned to form the backbone of NASA, which would expressly add space research to its domain.