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Space Rocket History Archive

Michael Annis

The history of early space exploration.

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20 episodes
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English

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#274
Jan 31, 2025 · 29 sec
Continue Listening to Space Rocket History on the Main Feed
Continue Listening to Space Rocket History on the Main Feed. Space Rocket History Podcast Homepage.
#273
Dec 30, 2024 · 33 min
Space Rocket History #273 – Apollo 13 – Free Return – Part 3
Lovell toggled the “master arm” switch to On and glanced around to see if everything else was in order. Guidance control was set to “Primary Guidance”; thrust control was on “Auto”; engine gimbals were enabled; the propellant quantity, temperature, and pressure looked good; the ship was maintaining the correct attitude. Homepage with pictures.
#272
Dec 30, 2024 · 33 min
Space Rocket History #272 – Apollo 13 – Free Return – Part 2
Aquarius, can you see any stars yet? Homepage with pictures
#271
Nov 30, 2024 · 35 min
Space Rocket History #271 – Apollo 13 – Free Return – Part 1
Kraft wanted to fire the descent engine now, get the ship back on its free-return slingshot course, and when it emerged from behind the moon and reached the PC+2 point, execute any maneuvers that might be required to refine the trajectory or increase its speed. Homepage with pictures.
#270
Nov 30, 2024 · 36 min
Space Rocket History #270 – Apollo 13 – The News Breaks
Cronkite did not look good. He called Schirra over and thrust a sheet of wire-service copy at him. Schirra scanned the text hurriedly, and with each sentence his heart sank. This was bad. This was worse than bad. This was . . . unheard of. He had a thousand questions, but there wasn’t time to ask…… Homepage with pictures
#269
Oct 31, 2024 · 33 min
Space Rocket History #269 – Apollo 13 – “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” – Part 4
EECOM, Sy Liebergot looked away from his monitor; the end, he knew, was at last here. Liebergot, through no fault of his own, was about to become the first flight controller in the history of the manned space program to lose the ship that had been placed in his charge. Homepage with pictures.
#268
Oct 31, 2024 · 33 min
Space Rocket History #268 – Apollo 13 – “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” – Part 3
As near as Lovell could tell, it would be a while before the ship’s endgame would play out. He had no way of calculating the leak rate in the tank, but if the moving needle was any indication, he had a couple hours at least before the 318 pounds of oxygen were gone. Homepage with pictures
#267
Sep 29, 2024 · 30 min
Space Rocket History #267 – Apollo 13 – “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” – Part 2
By the time Flight Director Kranz heard Lovell’s report, of “Houston, we’ve had a problem. ” three controllers had reported related problems. Kranz was wondering which problem Lovell was reporting, as he started relaying the long list of warning indications from the spacecraft displays. Homepage with Pictures
#266
Sep 29, 2024 · 33 min
Space Rocket History #266 – Apollo 13 – “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” – Part 1
Swigert: I believe we’ve had a problem here! CapComm: This is Houston. Say again, please. Lovell: Houston, we’ve had a problem. Homepage with Pictures:
#265
Aug 31, 2024 · 33 min
Space Rocket History #265 – Apollo 13 – Translunar Coast – The Calm Before the Storm
As Lovell prepared for the thruster adjustments, Haise finished closing down the LEM and drifted through the tunnel back toward the command module and Swigert threw the switch to stir all 4 cryogenic tanks. Homepage with Pictures
#264
Aug 31, 2024 · 31 min
Space Rocket History #264 – Apollo 13 – Orbit, Translunar Injection, Docking, and Extraction
Milt Windier’s team at mission control quickly reviewed the status of the remaining four engines, ran the computations for the new engine cutoff times, and passed them to the crew. Homepage with Pictures
#263
Jul 24, 2024 · 36 min
Space Rocket History #263 – Apollo 13 – The Launch
During the Apollo era, North American-Downey built the Apollo Command & Service Module. After each completed spacecraft, Nasa conducted formal reviews of the build paper work before each vehicle was accepted for flight. Homepage with pictures.
#262
Jul 24, 2024 · 33 min
Space Rocket History #262 – Apollo 13 – Commander Jim Lovell
Lovell completed four space flights and is one of only three men to travel to the Moon twice. Lovell accrued over 715 hours spent in space, and he saw a total of 269 sunrises from space on his Gemini and Apollo flights. Homepage with pictures.
#261
Jun 28, 2024 · 35 min
Space Rocket History #261 – Apollo 13 – Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise
At thirty-six, Haise was the youngest member of the crew of Apollo 13, and his black hair and angular features made him seem younger still. Homepage with Pictures.
#260
Jun 28, 2024 · 34 min
Space Rocket History #260 – Apollo 13 – Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert
John Leonard Swigert Jr. aka Jack Swigert was born on August 30, 1931 in Denver, Colorado to parents John Leonard Sr. and Virginia Swigert. Homepage with Pictures.
#259
May 29, 2024 · 33 min
Space Rocket History #259 – Apollo 13 – Introduction – Part 2
Just before the mission began things started to go wrong. The weekend before launch Charlie Duke, the backup lunar module pilot, came down with a case of German measles. Homepage with pictures.
#258
May 29, 2024 · 34 min
Space Rocket History #258 – Apollo 13 – Introduction – Part 1
Targeted for touchdown on the third lunar landing was a place known as the Fra Mauro range, a stretch of rugged, Appalachian-type mounds 110 miles east of the Apollo 12 landing site. Homepage with pictures.
#257
Apr 27, 2024 · 37 min
Space Rocket History #257 – Apollo 12 – Return, Re-entry and Splashdown
Ten days ago, their Saturn V rocket had blasted Bean and his crew mates out of earth’s gravitational pull. Now their home planet was pulling them back at more than 24,000 miles per hour, twelve times faster than a high-speed rifle bullet. “Boy,” said Bean, “we are really hauling!” Homepage with pictures
#256
Apr 27, 2024 · 33 min
Space Rocket History #256 – Apollo 12 – Leaving the Moon
Dick Gordon opened the tunnel to Intrepid, saw his companions floating in a dirty cloud of moon dust, and slammed the hatch closed. He called out, “You guys ain’t gonna mess up my nice clean spacecraft!” Homepage with pictures
#255
Mar 28, 2024 · 36 min
Space Rocket History #255 – Apollo 12 – Lunar Liftoff
After a total of 31.6 hours on the moon, the Lunar Module ascent stage fired for about 7 minutes placing Intrepid into an orbit of 10 miles by 54 miles. Homepage with pictures

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