SPACE MISSIONSBy: Peter Shen

Mercury The mercury program was initiated in 1958 and

completed in 1963, and was the first human space mission ever. The program had three goals:

- to orbit a manned spacecraft around space - to investigate mans ability to function in space

- to recover man and space shuttle successfully Mercury was a one man capsule, which was 2

meters long and 1.9 meters wide. A 5.8 meter escape tower was also attached to the capsule.

Mercury Summary Mercury-Redstone 3 on May 5th 1961 - a

suborbital flight that put the first man in space.

Mercury-Redstone 4 - a so suborbital and successful, but sunk after splashdown.

Mercury-Atlas 6 was a three orbital flight, taking nearly five hours, and putting the first Man into orbit.

Mercury Summary cont. Mercury-Atlas 7 was also successful, by

copying Atlas 6’s flight pattern. Mercury-Atlas 8, a six orbital test flight

which took twice as long as its predecessors.

Mercury-Atlas 9 was the last Mercury mission, completing 22 orbits in space to test effects of one day in space.

Gemini Gemini was named after the third constellation of

the zodiac. It included 10 manned flights and 2 unmanned ones. Like Mercury it had three goals:- To put man and gear in space for up to two weeks- To meet and dock with orbiting vehicles and to

maneuver it- To perfect ways of landing onto earth

These goals were met, except for the landing goal which was cancelled on 1964

5.8m long, 3m wide and weighing 3810 kilograms, which is considered to be an enlargement of the mercury space craft.

Gemini Summary Gemini 3 was the first mission, with three

orbits lasting nearly 5 hours. Gemini 4 was the first extravehicular

activity by an American, White’s space walk was a 22 minute EVA and lasted four days.

Gemini 5 was the first time fuel cells were used for electricity, and completed 120 orbits.

Gemini 7 was used for rendezvous with the primary objective being to see if humans could live in space for two weeks.

Gemini 6-A accomplished a successful rendezvous with Gemini 7.

Gemini Summary cont. Gemini 8 accomplished the first docking with another

space vehicle and the first emergency landing of a manned space mission.

Gemini 9-A was rescheduled from May to June to rendezvous and dock the target, however the ATDA shroud didn’t separate and docking was impossible.

Gemini Ten was the first usage of Agena target vehicle’s propulsion system and rendezvoused with Gemini 8.

Gemini 11 made a record altitude of 1139 km with 33 orbits and a two and a half hour EVA.

Gemini 12 was the final Gemini flight with a recorded 5 and a half EVA with one space walk and two stank up exercises.

Apollo The Apollo program’s dates were 1963-1972.

Unlike its predecessors it had four goals in mind which were:

To meet technological standards to fulfill national interests in space.

To surpass other countries in space for the U.S.A. To carry out a program of scientific exploration of

the moon. To develop mans capacity to work in lunar

enviroment. The space craft had three parts, the command

module, the service module, and the lunar module.

Apollo Summary Apollo 7 had 163 Earth orbits, was the first manned CSM

operation, and was the first operation on live TV. Apollo 8 was in Lunar orbit for 20 hours with 10 orbits,

and was the first manned lunar mission. Apollo 9 was the first manned flight of all lunar hardware

in Earth orbit, and was the first manned flight of lunar module.

Apollo 10 was the first manned CSM/LM operation in cislunar and lunar environment. In lunar orbit about 60 hours, with 31 orbits.

Apollo 11 was the first space shuttle to land on the moon. Apollo 12 retrieved parts from an unmanned shuttle

which landed on the moon in 1967.

Apollo Summary cont. Apollo 13 was the third attempt and was considered a

successful failure of experience in rescuing crew. Apollo 14 stood on the moon for 33 and a half hours, was in

lunar orbit for 67 hours, with 34 orbits. Apollo 14 also collected 42 kilograms of materials.

Apollo 15 collects 76.7 kilograms of material, staying on the moon for 66.9 hours, and in lunar orbit for 145 hours.

Apollo 16 was the first study of highlands area, using ultraviolet cameras for the first time.

Apollo 16 was on the moon for 71 hours, lunar orbit 126 hours, and collected 95 kilograms of material.

Apollo 17 had the first scientist-astronaut to land on the moon aboard, with 75 hours on the moon, 148 hours in orbit, and 75 orbits. Apollo 17 also collected 110.4 kilograms of material.

Skylab America’s first experimental space station Launched May 14 1973 and landed on July 11

1979. Skylab had two goals: - to prove humans could live large quantities

of time in space - to extend the human knowledge of

astronomy. Three three man crews occupied the

workshop, doing nearly 300 experiments. Skylab also made use of Saturn and Apollo

equipment.

Skylab Summary The station was launched into space by a

Saturn 5 booster, but almost instantly their were technical difficulties. The launch of Skylab 2 was delayed while the crew was trained to be able to live in the workshop.

Skylab 2 was the first manned mission with the crew of Charles Conrad, Jr., Paul J. Weitz, Joseph P. Kerwin who rendezvoused with Skylab on the 5th orbit, and had 404 successful orbits.

Skylab Summary cont. Skylab 3 continued maintenance and did

numerous experiments, completing 858 earth orbits and 1081 hours of experiments.

Finally was Skylab 4, with 1214 earth orbits and 4 EVAs totaling 22 hours and 13 minutes.

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