astronauts – Australian Science

Shenzhou 10: another step in China’s ‘Long March’ into space

Kevin Orrman-Rossiter — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 05:07:52 +0000

The Long March 2F rocket, Shenzhou 10, seconds after its launch. Photo credit CCTV.

The colorful and polished launch of Shenzhou 10 confirms that China has come of age as a spacefaring nation. At 19:40 AEST on Tuesday June 11 (17:40 local time) three ‘yuhangyuan’, Chinese astronauts, embarked on China’s sixth crewed space mission. This second mission to Tiangong 1, the Chinese space station, is a credible step in mastering the art and engineering of space exploration. It was also a public relations success.

Shenzhou 10 crew

Announcing in early April, that Wang Yaping, a 33 year old Major in the PLA Air Force, was one of the 3-person Shenzhou 10 crew, silence then descended on the identity of the other crew members. Wang was named as the in-flight instructor. She becomes China’s second female and 9th astronaut to have flown. As the in-flight instructor Wang will give lectures to middle and elementary school students from orbit.

Building the suspense the Chinese finally announcing the other two the names of the three person crew yesterday. Along with Wang the Shenzhou 10 crew are: Nie Haisheng (48) Commander of Shenzhou 10, a veteran of Shenzhou 6 in 2005, and a Major General in PLA Air Force, and Zhang Xiaoguang, 47 Assistant Pilot of Shenzhou 10, backup crew of Shenzhou 9 (along with Wang) and a Senior Colonel of PLA Air Force.

This places the Chinese astronaut corps as a modern, relatively, gender balanced operation. Zhang and Nie both hale from the 1996 second astronaut selection. As have all male yuhangyuan to date including Yang Liwei, China’s first astronaut. The first group of astronauts were selected in 1971 in a hopelessly ambitious and quickly abandoned attempt to put astronauts into space in the 1970s. Wang, along with Liu Yang, China’s first female yuhangyuan, comes from China’s 2010 third group of yuhangyuan. The Chinese, at least to the outside world, have not followed the more memorable and colorful NASA lead of allowing astronaut groups to pick their nick-names.

The heavenly palace

With the launch a success, Nie will now chase, rendezvous and dock with an orbital laboratory, Tiangong (a mandarin word meaning “heavenly palace”), which was launched nearly two years ago on September 29, 2011.On November 2, 2011 China successfully docked the unmanned Shenzhou 8 with Tiangong. It remained docked for 14 days and then undocked and repeated the docking maneuver – proof that the first was not a fluke. It then was undocked, leaving Tiangong to its solitary orbit 370km above the earth’s surface.

Image of the interior of Shenzhou 10 after launch. China TV demonstrates its new openness and confidence. Image credit CCTV.

On June 18, 2012 a second craft docked with Tiangong. This time it was the crewed Shenzhou 9. The space station was then declared operational. China had joined Russia and the USA in having the capability to become space residents. The three person crew on Tiangong conducted experiments and aclimatised to the prolonged weightlessness for their 10 day mission.

The normal pattern was for two to sleep in Tiangong and one to sleep in Shenzhou. At only 10.4m in length, Shenzhou is smaller than the 1971 Russian Salyut (13.1m) and the 1973 US Skylab (36.1m) space laboratories. Like these other first space laboratories Tiangong is designed with a limited lifespan. The current mission, Shenzhou 10, will be the last to Tiangong 1.

Shenzhou 10

As is the norm now the Shenzhou launch was covered live by the Chinese media. providing pictures, expert commentary and graphics depicting what was going on at the various stages of the launch. Shenzhou 10 is now safely in orbit and will spend the next few days approaching a suitable orbit for docking. The Shenzhou 10 will dock with the orbiting lab module Tiangong 1 several times.

“The three astronauts will stay in orbit for 15 days, including 12 days when they will work inside the coupled complex of the Shenzhou 10 and Tiangong 1,” said Zhou Jianping, head designer of China’s manned space program. It is expected that they will set a Chinese record for time in orbit.

The interesting point is that the mission profile for Shenzhou 10 is opaque. Although it is expected that the craft will be put through it’s docking paces – not something to be dismissed lightly – the scientific and engineering goals of this mission are less obvious that the recent Shenzhou missions.

The view from the orbiting Shenzhou 10. Image credit CCTV.

This will be the last Chinese human space mission for quite some time. The next Shenzhou missions are expected to fly to the Tiangong 2 laboratory. This will be an expanded version of Tiangong 1, similar in design to the Russian 1986 Mir space station. It is expected to be able to sustain 20-day visits. It will probably not be launched until around 2015 or possibly later. The gap between the flight of Shenzhou 10 and Shenzhou 11 could ultimately prove to be the longest hiatus in Chinese human spaceflight to date.

Regional implications

With this in mind it will be interesting to see how the Chinese promote this current mission once it is completed. Its success, or otherwise, will not aid any military space activities, nor directly any commercial space activities. It does provide a compelling message, I suggest, to its regional competitors. Human exploration is possibly the most expensive and prestigious space activity. I think we will find China promoting this expedition to its fullest, as it build on its robotic missions to the Moon over the next few years. Fully intending to continue its long march to put humans onto the moon and mars in the next few decades.

Cite this article:
Orrman-Rossiter K (2013-06-12 05:07:52). Shenzhou 10: another step in China's 'Long March' into space. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 07, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/space/shenzhou-10-another-step-in-chinas-long-march-into-space/

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The perils of space exploration: last flight of space shuttle Columbia

Kevin Orrman-Rossiter — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:01:33 +0000

The 28th and last flight (STS-107) of the space shuttle Columbia was ten years ago. Launched on January 16, 2003 Columbia was destroyed at about 0900 EST on February 1, 2003 while re-entering the atmosphere after its 16-day scientific mission. The destruction of the shuttle killed all seven astronauts on board.

The traditional “in-flight” picture of the crew. This picture was taken from a camera recovered from the crash debris. Photo credit NASA.

An illustrious career

Columbia was the first of the space shuttles to fly, it was successfully launched on April 12, 1981, the 20th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1, and returned on April 14, 1981, after orbiting the Earth 36 times. The first flight of Columbia (STS-1) was commanded by John Young, a Gemini and Apollo veteran who was the ninth person to walk on the Moon in 1972, and piloted by Robert Crippen, a rookie astronaut who served as a support crew member for the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz missions.

Columbia has an illustrious career as part of the US space program, featuring many ‘firsts’. It was the first true manned spaceship. It was also the first manned vehicle to be flown into orbit without benefit of previous unmanned “orbital” testing; the first to launch with wings using solid rocket boosters. It was also the first winged reentry vehicle to return to a conventional runway landing, weighing more than 99-tons as it was braked to a stop on the dry lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

NASA PHOTO: The April 12, 1981 launch at Pad 39A of STS-1, just seconds past 7 a.m., Columbia carries astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen into an Earth orbital mission scheduled to last for 54 hours, ending with unpowered landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Its second flight, STS-2 on November 12, 1981 marked the first re-use of a manned space vehicle. A year later it became the first 4-person space vehicle – bumping this to six on its sixth flight (STS-9) on November 28, 1983. This flight also featured both the first flight of the reusable laboratory ‘Spacelab’ and the first non-American astronaut on a space shuttle, Ulf Merbold. STS-93, launched on July 23, 1999, was commanded by Eileen Collins, the first female Commander of a US spacecraft.

Space Shuttle Columbia flew 28 flights, spent 300.74 days in space, completed 4,808 orbits, launched 8 satellites and flew 201,497,772 km in total, including its final mission. Its penultimate flight (STS-109) was the third of the highly publicised servicing and upgrade flights to the Hubble Space Telescope.

The fatal flight

The rockets fire. Amidst the thundering fiery roar the shuttle lifts majestically from the launch pad. Unnoticed at the time, at 81.9 seconds after launch a foam insulating block disintegrates upon hitting the leading edge of the shuttles left-wing. The launch continues as scheduled. One hour after launch Columbia was in orbit and the crew began to configure it for their 16-day mission in space.

The next day, routine analysis of high-resolution video from the tracking cameras reveals the debris strike. Multiple groups within the mission team review the tapes. They assess the possibility of damage and decide that an image is required of the wing. They make a request to the NASA ground management for imaging of the wing in-orbit.

However, it was considered “of low concern” that the carbon matrix could be damaged by the foam block. The engineers were over-reacting. The Space shuttle Program managers declined to get the Columbia imaged – or alert the shuttle crew. In fact the crew were told that the impact was a “turn-around issue”, something they had seen before and would be a maintenance check only. Titanic-like the mission continued.

Scientifically the mission was great success. The shuttle crew worked around the clock to ensure that maximum scientific value was achieved. Including an investigation of the web-spinning abilities of the Golden orb spider under low gravity. An experiment designed by students from Glen Waverley Secondary College, in Melbourne Australia.

The morning of re-entry all appears calm and normal in the mission control room. As re-entry started the crew are seen to be in good spirits and looking forward to coming home.

Then while travelling at Mach 24.1, during the 10-minute fiery re-entry, when the leading edge reaches temperatures in excess of 1550 Celsius, the damaged thermal protection panels on the wing overheated – then failed catastrophically. The wing and shuttle disintegrating.

The nearly 84,000 pieces of debris from the shuttle are stored in a 16th floor office suite in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center.

The seven crew members who died aboard this final mission were: Rick Husband, Commander; Willie McCool, Pilot; Michael Anderson, Payload Commander; David Brown, Mission Specialist 1; Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist 2; Laurel Clark, Mission Specialist 4; and Ilan Ramon, Payload Specialist 1.

Two other died in the search for the debris: Jules Mier (Debris Search Pilot) and Charles Krenek (Debris Search Aviation Specialist).

NASA PHOTO: Final descent, Columbia streaking over the Owens Valley Radio Observatory in Big Pine, California

Is spaceflight perilous? Or an unforgiving adventure?

It is rather remarkable that NASA had launched men into space sixteen times during the the Mercury and Gemini programs without a casualty – although there had been some scary moments.

Compared to the cramped and tiny Mercury capsule the Apollo command module was, in spaceflight terms, a luxury liner. So when a spark ignited the oxygen atmosphere of the Apollo 1 capsule on January 27, 1967 killing three astronauts it was shocking for both NASA and the public. The last communication from the Apollo 1 capsule was not revealed for a long time to the public:

Fire! We’ve got a fire in the cockpit! We’ve got a bad fire…..get us out. We’re burning up…..

The last sound was a scream, shrill and brief. After this nothing at NASA would be quite the same again.

The fatal Apollo 1 fire was also unexpected. At the time of the fire the crew of Gus Grissom, John Young and Roger Chaffee were perched atop an empty Saturn V rocket involved in routine testing of the capsule control systems.

The 1986 Challenger disaster was equally shocking – and far more public. The explosion 73 seconds after lift off claimed shuttle crew and vehicle. The cause of explosion was determined to be an o-ring failure in the right solid rocket booster. Cold weather was determined to be a contributing factor. The subsequent investigation and changes delayed the next shuttle launch to late 1988.

Space Shuttle Challenger’s smoke plume after its in-flight breakup, resulting in its crash and the deaths of all seven crew members. Photo credit NASA.

You could say that space exploration in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than aviation, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect. Gus Grissom has been quoted as saying during the pioneering Mercury missions:

If we die we want people to accept it. We hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.

I’m not sure that Gus Grissom would have accepted these deaths as an acceptable risk of human spaceflight.

Cite this article:
Orrman-Rossiter K (2013-01-16 00:01:33). The perils of space exploration: last flight of space shuttle Columbia . Australian Science. Retrieved: May 07, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/science-2/the-perils-of-space-exploration-last-flight-of-space-shuttle-columbia/

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Apollo 17: last men on the moon

Kevin Orrman-Rossiter — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:03:17 +0000

Apollo 17 Commander, Eugene Cernan, next to the lunar rover. Image credit NASA.

After kangaroo hopping back to the lunar rover, Eugene and Jack drove back to the lunar module, Challenger. There they dusted each other off and loaded the last of their 100kg of lunar rock samples. Jack cleaned up inside While Eugene parked the rover a kilometre and a half away so the takeoff could be televised. Then hopping and skipping in the low lunar gravity he made the most of his last moments on the moon. Once back at the lunar module, one foot on the Challenger’s landing pad, Eugene Cernan lifted his other from the moon, and said:

As I take these last steps from the surface for some time to come, I’d just like to record that America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow.

The next day, December 14, 1972, they blasted off from the moon, ending the sixth and last human exploration of the moon for the 20th century.

The last of the lunar Apollos

The Apollo program was a child of the cold war between the USA and Soviet Russia. It was invigorated by President Kennedy’s 1961 challenge to put man on the moon and return him safely before the decade was over. Once the landing of Apollo 11 was achieved in July 1969, the Apollo and NASA budgets came under savage scrutiny. It was the time of the war in Vietnam, budget problems for the 1972 fiscal year and followed the scare of Apollo 13.

The final two scheduled Apollo missions, 18 and 19, were finally cancelled in September 2, 1970. Apollo 20 had already been cancelled on January 2 so that its Saturn V rocket could be used as the launch vehicle for the Skylab space-station in 1973.

The first part of the return journey as the Lunar module, Challenger, approaches Apollo 17 Command Service Module, America, after blasting off the lunar surface. Photo credit NASA

The Apollo program was an incredible, successful human feat. It remains the only program to have placed humans beyond low-earth orbit and onto another celestial body. Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, while Apollo 11 landed the first humans on another world. The program returned 382 kg of lunar rocks and soil to Earth, contributing to the understanding of lunar geology.

It laid the foundation for NASA’s current human spaceflight capability, and funded construction of its Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center. Apollo also spurred advances in many areas of technology incidental to rocketry and manned spaceflight and the start of huge opportunities for technology transfer, leading to more than 1,500 successful spinoffs related to areas as disparate as heart monitors, solar panels, and cordless innovation. More recently, we’ve seen a fledgling private-sector American space industry complete its first cargo delivery to the international space station.

Stepping up, walking tall

There is a marvelous fascination with human exploration. The Apollo missions are a great representation of that drive and curiosity. Apollo 17 astronauts, Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt and Ron Evans, exemplified those attributes.

Publicity shot of the Apollo 17 crew with their Saturn V vehicle in the background. (L-R): jack Schmitt, Eugene Cernan (seated) and Ron Evans.

Eugene Cernan is ‘Captain America’ to a tee. A US Navy pilot who, like much of America, was caught up in the early space race. In 1962 he watched, captivated, on TV the launch of John Glenn. Who in the third manned Mercury capsule became the first American to orbit the earth. Cernan at the time lacked the coveted ‘test-pilot’ wings to be selected in the September 1962 second group of astronauts, which included Apollo 11 commander, Neil Armstrong. Cernan was picked, in October 1963, for the third astronaut group – which included the other Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

Cernan became the second American astronaut, after Ed White on June 3 1965, to perform an extra-vehicular activity – a spacewalk. His Gemini 9 spacewalk lasted 2 hours and nine minutes, travelling 57,600 km, and rated as one most difficult achievements of his life. The brutal mechanics of Newton’s third law in action in space making seemingly simple tasks into exhausting and challenging experiences, resulting in fogging his helmet and pushing his heart rate to 188 bpm. His experiences made NASA rethink the training required for future extra-vehicular activities.

Gemini 9 splashdown with Eugene Cernan (L) and a smiling Tom Stafford (R).

On January 27, 1967 Tom Stafford, John Young and Cernan were in an altitude chamber “trying to bring a new, untried, stubborn spacecraft up to launch standards”. Meanwhile, in an identical craft, Apollo 1 astronauts veteran Gus Grissom, first American spacewalker Ed White and Cernan’s closest friend the rookie Roger Chaffee, were conducting similar tests atop a Saturn rocket at Cape Kennedy. Minutes later they were dead, killed in a fire – a tragedy stunning the close-knit space community.

In May 1969, Cernan, as part of the Apollo 10 crew along with Tom Stafford and John Young achieved a number of records and a “dry-run” for the Apollo 11 landing two months later. As befitting a crew of test pilots they set the record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle at 39,897 km/h during the return from the Moon on May 26, 1969 and hold the record of being the humans who have traveled to the farthest point away from home, some 408,950 kilometres. Cernan and Stafford came within 15.6km of the lunar surface in their lunar module Snoopy.

Jack Schmitt being suited up for dress rehearsal prior to launch. Photo credit NASA.

Harrison “Jack” Schmitt is a geologist and one of the NASA group 4 astronauts, “the scientists“, that were announced on June 28, 1965. His and their story is worthy of is own post, coming in January 2013.

Ron Evans having a suit fitting during the pre-launch phase. Photo credit NASA.

Ron Evans was picked as a Command Module specialist from the beginning of his NASA career. Chosen in April 1966, one of the group 5 astronauts, he was support crew for Apollo 1 and back-up command module pilot for Apollo 14. I found him notable for his almost invisibility in memoirs of the time. In both Deke Slayton’s and Eugene Cernan’s fascinating autobiographies Ron Evans is there an accepted, uncontroversial part of the missions, without a strong personality, extremely competent – obviously the perfect man for the pilot seat of the command module America.

Adventures in the Taurus-Littrow valley

A moon landing was the payoff for all the hard-work, according to Cernan, “the ultimate dream for any pilot.” Following the tradition began by Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11, Cernan, as Commander, was first out on the moon. As he skipped around Schmitt quipped, “Hey, whose been tracking up my lunar surface?” and then stepped out onto a geologist’s paradise – the moon.

The primary objectives for Apollo 17 were: to sample lunar highland material older than the impact that formed Mare Imbrium and investigate the possibility of relatively young volcanic activity in the same vicinity. The Taurus-Littrow valley was selected with the prospects of finding highland material in the valley’s north and south walls and the possibility that several craters in the valley surrounded by dark material could be linked to volcanic activity

Cernan and Schmitt had a three-day lunar surface stay, conducting three periods of extra-vehicular activity, either moonwalking or driving around in the third Lunar Roving Vehicle. They amassed over 22 hours on the surface during these periods in which they collected lunar samples and deployed scientific instruments.

Eugene Cernan on the first EVA, suits still pristine and the Earth above his head. Evocative shot by Jack Schmitt. Photo credit NASA.

The largest haul of lunar rocks was collected by the two moon-walkers as well as deploying the Apollo lunar surface experiments package (ALSEP), a feature of all manned lunar missions. The stations ran from deployment until they were turned off on 30 September 1977 due to: budgetary considerations, the power packs could not run both the transmitter and any other instrument, and the ALSEP control room was needed for the attempt to reactivate Skylab.

They also carried out gravimeter experiments to learn about the moon’s internal structure. The gravimeter was used to obtain readings at the landing site in the immediate vicinity of the lunar module, as well as various locations on the mission’s roving routes.

Eugene Cernan next to the lunar rover vehicle. Photo credit NASA.

Meanwhile the command module also housed a series of scientific experiments. A special bay housed three experiments (as well as cameras and altimeter) for use in lunar orbit: a lunar sounder, an infrared scanning radiometer, and a far-ultraviolet spectrometer. The film canisters were recovered by Ron Evans in a spacewalk after docking with the returned lunar module.

Ron Evans on his space-walk to retrieve film canisters from the outside of the service module prior to separation of the command module and return to earth. Photo credit NASA.

Splashdown in the Pacific on December 19, 1972 brought this “first phase” of human space exploration to a close – I now wait for the second phase to begin and wonder who might it be?

Cite this article:
Orrman-Rossiter K (2012-12-18 00:03:17). Apollo 17: last men on the moon. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 07, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/space/apollo-17-last-men-on-the-moon/

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The astronauts who put the USA on the moon

Kevin Orrman-Rossiter — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:19:52 +0000

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 into an elliptical low Earth orbit on October 4, 1957. This surprise precipitated the space age and triggered the space race. The success ushered in new technological, political, military, and scientific developments.

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person in history to leave the Earth’s atmosphere and venture into space. His flight aboard a Soviet Vostok rocket lasted 108 minutes, at the end of it he had ignited the manned space race.

Who were men who responded to these Soviet firsts, launching America into space and then onto the moon?

NASA selected the first US astronauts, the Original Seven (also referred to as the Mercury Seven and Astronaut Group 1), on April 9, 1959. This was the only astronaut group with members who flew on all classes of NASA manned orbital spacecraft of the 20th century — Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle.

The Mercury Seven stand in front of a F-106 Delta Dart. Photo credit NASA.

The original seven were Alan B Shepard Jr, Virgil I “Gus” Grissom, John Herschel Glenn Jr, M Scott Carpenter, Walter M “Wally” Schirra, Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr, and Donald K “Deke” Slayton.

The first American launched into space was Alan Shepard, followed by Gus Grissom. Their ballistic flights were followed by orbital flights by John Glenn then Scott Carpenter, each managing three orbits. Wally Schirra made six orbits and Gordon Cooper completed the Mercury project with 22 orbits. Cooper was the first American travelling in space for over a day and the last American to be launched solo into Earth orbit. Deke Slayton, was grounded in 1962 due to a heart arrhythmia, but reinstated in 1972 and flew on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

The New Nine. Back row: See, McDivitt, Lovell, White, & Stafford. Front row: Conrad, Borman, Armstrong, & Young. Photo credit NASA.

With the announcement of the Gemini program and planning of the Apollo program a second group of astronauts were selected by NASA and announced on September 17, 1962. The New Nine augmented the original Mercury 7. While the original seven had been selected to accomplish the simpler task of orbital flight, the new challenges of rendezvous and lunar landing led to the selection of candidates with advanced engineering degrees (for four of the New Nine) as well as test pilot experience.

This illustrious group became the first group with civilian test pilots in the group; Neil A Armstrong, first man on the moon and Elliott M See Jr, killed in a plane crash four months before he was due to pilot Gemini 9. Two of this group, Charles Conrad Jr and James A Lovell Jr, had been candidates for the original seven, but were not selected then for medical reasons. In addition, the group was Frank F Borman Jr, James A McDivitt, Thomas P Stafford, Edward H White II, and John W Young.

NASA announced the third group of astronauts, the “Apollo fourteen” in October 1963. Four (Charles A Bassett II, Roger B Chaffee, Theodore C Freeman, and Clifton C Williams Jr) died in training accidents before they could fly in space. Chaffee was killed along with Grissom and White in the Apollo 1 fire. All of the surviving ten (Edwin E “Buzz” Aldrin Jr, William A Anders, Alan A Bean, Eugene A Cernan, Michael Collins, R Walter Cunningham, Donn F Eisele, Richard F Gordon Jr, Russell “Rusty” L Schwiekart, and David R Scott) flew in the Apollo program; five (Aldrin, Cernan, Collins, Gordon, and Scott) also flew Gemini missions. Aldrin, Bean, Cernan and Scott walked on the Moon.

The Fourteen (seated, left to right) Aldrin, Anders, Bassett, Bean, Cernan, and Chaffee. Standing (left to right) are Collins, Cunninham, Eisele, Freeman, Gordon, Schweickart, Scott and Williams. Photo credit NASA.

Group 3 was the first group to include candidates with no test pilot background. They are the only ones of the first 19 NASA astronaut groups to have no members at all fly on the Space Shuttle.

The fourth group of astronauts, the Scientists, selected by NASA in June 1965, came as a rude shock to the existing astronauts. While the astronauts of the previous three groups were required to have college and some advanced degrees, they were chosen for their test pilot expertise. The six members of this group, on the other hand, were chosen for their research and academic backgrounds. Doctorate degrees were required and minimum flight time requirements were waived for this group.

Scientist-Astronauts: Front row, L-R: Michel, Schmitt, and Kerwin. Back row, L-R: Garriot, and Gibson. Photo credit NASA.

This group included the science poster boy, Harrison H Schmitt, a geologist, the only scientist to walk on the Moon. Owen K Garriott, Edward G Gibson and Joseph P Kerwin all flew to Skylab. Garriott also flew on the Space Shuttle. While Duane E Graveline and F Curtis Michel left NASA without flying in space.

John Young labelled the next astronaut group, selected by NASA in April 1966, the “Original Nineteen” in parody of the original seven Mercury astronauts. Of the six Lunar Module Pilots that walked on the Moon, three came from this group (Charles M Duke Jr, James B Irwin, and Edward D Mitchell). This group is also distinctive in being the only time when NASA hired a person into the astronaut corps who had already earned astronaut wings, X-15 pilot Joseph “Joe” H Engle.

The Original Nineteen. Photo credit NASA.

The group as a whole is roughly split between the half who flew Apollo (Duke, Ronald E Evans Jr, Fred W Haise Jr, Irwin, T Kenneth Mattingly II, Mitchell, Stuart A Roosa, John Swigert Jr, and Alfred M Worden) and the other half who flew Skylab and Shuttle (Vance D Brand, Gerald P Carr, Engle, Don L Lind, Jack R Lousma, Bruce McCandless II, William R Pogue, and Paul J Weitz) providing the core of Shuttle Commanders early in that program. John S Bull resigned from the program for medical reasons, whilst Edward G Givens Jr died in a car crash after being support crew for Apollo 7.

The final group of this era, the second group of scientist-astronauts, were appointed by NASA on August 11, 1967. They were labelled the “excess Eleven” with only five, including the first Australian born astronaut Philip Chapman, given formal assignments in the Apollo Program, and these were all non-flying. These were: Joseph P Allen, Chapman, Anthony W England, Karl G Henize, and Robert A R Parker. Chapman resigned from NASA in July 1972 due to lack of space-flight opportunities. Three others, Donald L Holmquest, Anthony A Llewellyn, and Brian T O’Leary resigned earlier from the group for various reasons.

The Excess Eleven civilian scientists. Seated at the table, L to R: Chapman, Parker, Thornton, and Llewellyn. Standing, L to R: Allen, Henize, England, Holmquest, Musgrave, Lenoir, and O'Leary. Photo credit NASA.

Assignments for the group were delayed by the requirement to spend a full year to become qualified as jet pilots (as were the Group 4 scientists before them). This requirement for scientists to be trained as jet pilots was eventually lifted with the creation of the Mission Specialist position in the Shuttle Program. The seven members (Allan, England, Henize, William “Bill” Lenoir, Story Musgrave, Parker, and William E Thornton) of Group 6 who stayed with the program after Apollo went on to form the core of Shuttle Mission Specialists, accomplishing a total of 15 flights.

This chart organizes each NASA astronaut group by order of their assignment to fly. Codes as explained in the legend illustrate each person's skills and accomplishments. Image credit: Tdadamemd

In all 66 men became NASA astronauts during this first era of manned space exploration. No women were included – although there was an unofficial group called the First Lady Astronaut Trainees– not being jet test pilots there were ineligible to become astronauts.

Was this a “boys’ own adventure”? Was this a period of great social upheaval in the USA? Did this era cement in the US politicians and public the image of supremacy and isolationism in space endeavors? Yes, is the answer to all three questions.

There are a myriad of stories from these groups’ exploits. These stories have a contemporary relevance as we reach an era of: new commercial space opportunities (leisure, exploration and mining), new entrants (China and India), and find the US and Europe hampered by self-imposed budget challenges and hurdles.

Cite this article:
Orrman-Rossiter K (2012-10-31 00:19:52). The astronauts who put the USA on the moon. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 07, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/history/the-astronauts-who-put-the-usa-on-the-moon/

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