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1968 In Spaceflight
The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 157 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches, which occurred in 1968. The first crewed Apollo missions occurred in 1968. It was also the year in which Earth lifeforms first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Zond 5 mission to the Moon and the Zond 6 lunar mission which crashed upon return, and the year that humans first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Apollo 8 mission to the Moon. Deep space lunar missions Orbital launches :Key : : January February March April May June July August September October November December Suborbital Launches January-December Orbital launch summary References Footnotes {{Orbital launches in 1968 1968 in science 1960s in transport Spaceflight by year, 1968 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lunar Orbiter 5
Lunar Orbiter 5, the last of the "Lunar Orbiter series", was designed to take additional Project Apollo, Apollo and Surveyor program, Surveyor landing site photography and to take broad survey images of unphotographed parts of the Moon's far side. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data and was used to evaluate the Manned Space Flight Network tracking stations and Apollo Orbit Determination Program. Mission summary The spacecraft was placed in a cislunar trajectory and on August 5, 1967 was injected into an elliptical near polar lunar orbit with an inclination of 85 degrees and a period of 8 hours 30 minutes. On August 7 the perilune was lowered to , and on August 9 the orbit was lowered to a , 3 hour 11 minute period. The spacecraft acquired photographic data from August 6 to 18, 1967, and readout occurred until August 27, 1967. A total of 633 high resolution and 211 medium resolution frames at resolution down to were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thor Agena
Thor-Agena was a series of orbital launch vehicles. The launch vehicles used the Douglas-built Thor first stage and the Lockheed-built Agena second stages. They are thus cousins of the more-famous Thor-Deltas, which founded the Delta rocket family. The first attempted launch of a Thor-Agena was in January 1959. The first successful launch was on 28 February 1959, launching ''Discoverer 1''. It was the first two-stage launch vehicle to place a satellite into orbit. Missions Among other uses, the clandestine CORONA program used Thor-Agena from June 1959 until January 1968 to launch United States military reconnaissance satellites operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). During this program, Thor-Agena launch vehicles were used in 145 launch attempts, now known to have been part of satellite surveillance programs. Also, ''Alouette 1,'' Canada's first satellite, was launched on a Thor-Agena B. Versions Thor-Agena A * Thor-Agena A (Thor-DM18 Agena-A) was us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 41
Plesetsk Cosmodrome () is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, near the town of Plesetsk, from which it takes its name. Until 2025 and the commissioning of the Andøya base in Norway, it was the only operational orbital spaceport in Europe and the northernmost spaceport in the world. Originally developed as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) site for the R-7 missile, its strategic location approximately north of Moscow was key to its selection. Due to its high latitude, Plesetsk is particularly suited for specific types of satellite launches, such as those into Molniya orbits, and historically served as a secondary launch facility. Most Soviet orbital launches were conducted from Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in the Kazakh SSR. However, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Baikonur became part of Kazakhstan, which began charging Russia to lease the land for its use. As a result, Plesetsk has seen significantly increased activity sin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Plesetsk Cosmodrome () is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, near the town of Plesetsk, from which it takes its name. Until 2025 and the commissioning of the Andøya Space, Andøya base in Norway, it was the only operational orbital spaceport in Europe and the northernmost spaceport in the world. Originally developed as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) site for the R-7 (missile), R-7 missile, its strategic location approximately north of Moscow was key to its selection. Due to its high latitude, Plesetsk is particularly suited for specific types of satellite launches, such as those into Molniya orbits, and historically served as a secondary launch facility. Most Soviet orbital launches were conducted from Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in the Kazakh SSR. However, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Baikonur became part of Kazakhstan, which began charging Russia to lease the land for its use. As a result, Plesetsk has seen significant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voskhod (rocket)
The Voskhod rocket (, ''"ascent"'', ''"dawn"'') was a derivative of the Soviet Union, Soviet R-7 Semyorka, R-7 ICBM designed for the human spaceflight Voskhod programme, programme but later used for launching Zenit (satellite), Zenit reconnaissance satellites. It was essentially an 8K78/8K78M minus the Blok L stage and spec-wise was a halfway between the two boosters, with the former's older, lower-spec engines and the latter's improved Blok I design. Its first flight was on 16 November 1963 when it successfully launched a Zenit satellite from LC-1/5 at Baikonur. Boosters used in the Voskhod program had a man-rated version of the RD-0107 engine; this version was known as the RD-0108. Starting in 1966, the 11A57 adopted the standardized 11A511 core with the more powerful 8D74M first stage engines, however the Blok I stage continued using the RD-0107 engine rather than the RD-0110. Around 300 were flown from Baikonur and Plesetsk through 1976, almost all of them used to launch Ze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Explorer 36
Explorer 36 (also called GEOS 2 or GEOS B, acronym for Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite) was a NASA satellite launched as part of the Explorer program, being the second of the two satellites GEOS. Explorer 36 was launched on 11 January 1968 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, with Thor-Delta E1 launch vehicle. Explorer 36 was a gravity-gradient stabilized, solar cell powered spacecraft that carried electronic and geodetic instrumentation. The spacecraft's thermal control system was notable for the first non-experimental use of a heat pipe in a spacecraft. Instruments The geodetic instrumentation systems included: * C-Band Radar Transponder * Laser Tracking Reflector * Magnetometer * NASA Minitrack System * Optical Beacon System * Precipitating Electron Detector * Radio Doppler System * Radio Range/Rate System * SECOR Range Transponder Non-geodetic systems included a laser detector and a Minitrack interferometer beacon. The objectives of the spacecraft were to optimize opti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SLC-2E
Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC-2) is an active rocket launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California, USA. It consists of two launch pads: Space Launch Complex 2 East (SLC-2E, originally LC 75-1-1), used by the PGM-17 Thor missile and several of its derivatives from 1958 to 1972; and Space Launch Complex 2 West (SLC-2W, originally LC 75-1-2), which has been in use since 1959 to launch the Thor-Delta family and Delta II, and is currently used by the Firefly Alpha. Space Launch Complex 2 was originally part of Launch Complex 75 (LC 75) and was known by designation LC 75-1 or just 75-1 (and the launch pads were designated LC 75-1-1 and LC 75–1–2). The first launch out of the newly designated Space Launch Complex 2 was that of a Delta E with ESSA-3 on 2 October 1966 from SLC-2E. SLC-2E and SLC-2W are located approximately apart. SLC-2W Thor and Thor-Agena (1959–1968) Space Launch Complex 2 West (originally Launch Complex 75-1-2) was built in the late 1950s to la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VSFB
Vandenberg Space Force Base , previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a United States Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Space Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from the Western Range, and also performs missile testing. The United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 30 serves as the host delta for the base, equivalent to an Air Force air base wing. In addition to its military space launch mission, Vandenberg Space Force Base also hosts space launches for civil and commercial space entities, such as NASA and SpaceX. History United States Army Camp Cooke (1941–1953) In 1941, just before the United States entered World War II, the United States Army embarked on an initiative to acquire lands in the United States to be used to train infantry and armored forces. These areas needed to be of a varied nature to ensure relevant training. In March 1941, the Army identified approximately of open ran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delta E
The Delta E, or Thor-Delta E was an American expendable launch system used for twenty-three orbital launches between 1965 and 1971. It was a member of the Delta family of rockets. The first stage was a Thor missile in the DSV-2C configuration, and the second stage was the Delta-E, which was derived from the earlier Delta-A. Three Castor-1 solid rocket boosters were clustered around the first stage. Two different solid-fuel upper stages were available; an Altair-2 was used on the baseline version, however this could be replaced with an FW-4D to increase performance. A Delta E with the FW-4D upper stage was designated Delta E1. Six flights used the Delta E configuration and seventeen used the Delta E1. Delta E rockets were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17 and Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 2E. All 23 flights were successful. On December 16 1965, a Delta E launched the Pioneer 6 space probe Uncrewed spacecraft or robot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SLC-36A
Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) is a launch complex located at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Located south of the Missile Row launch range, the complex originally consisted of two pads—designated LC-36A and LC-36B—to support the flights of Atlas launch vehicles equipped with a Centaur upper stage. From the 1960s to the 1980s, LC-36 was used by NASA and the United States Air Force to launch many payloads from the Atlas-Centaur and its derivatives, including the Pioneer, Surveyor, and Mariner probes. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, General Dynamics (and later Lockheed Martin) modified the two pads to support the larger Atlas I, Atlas II, and Atlas III. Following the Atlas program's relocation to Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) in 2005, LC-36 stood vacant until Blue Origin acquired the lease in 2015 for use by their heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. The company made extensive modifications to the complex during this time, including demolishing 36A and 36B to buil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CCSFS
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the station is the primary launch site for the Space Force's Eastern RangeCAST 1999, p. 1-12. with four launch pads currently active (Space Launch Complexes 36, 40, 41 and 46). The facility is south-southeast of NASA's Kennedy Space Center on adjacent Merritt Island, with the two linked by bridges and causeways. The Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Skid Strip provides a runway close to the launch complexes for military airlift aircraft delivering heavy and outsized payloads to the Cape. A number of American space exploration pioneers were launched from CCSFS, including the first U.S. Earth satellite (1958), first U.S. astronaut (1961), first U.S. astronaut in orbit (1962), first two-man U.S. spacecraft (1965), first U.S. uncrewed lunar lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
