Space Digest                Sun, 25 Jul 93       Volume 16 : Issue 918

Today's Topics:
             SPACE TRIVIA LIST - 24th July 1993 [Part 1]

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Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1993 19:50:47 GMT
From: Luke Plaizier <lukpla@scorch.apana.org.au>
Subject: SPACE TRIVIA LIST - 24th July 1993 [Part 1]
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,sci.astro,rec.radio.amateur.space

     PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR TRIVIA TO THIS LIST! ANY ITEM AT LEAST REMOTELY
          RELATED TO SPACE IN ANY WAY IS APPROPRIATE FOR THIS LIST!

        Well bugger it, I'm combining the update in with the trivia list so I
only have to post one file. We've got a couple of those Kettering Trivia
items, so this week we're posting to radio.amateur.space group as well. Just
this once though, unless we can get some more amateur radio trivia...
        We've rattled the English magazine Space Flight News and come up with
quite a few new items. The number we have produced, and collected from
submissions since the last post, have just about doubled the size of the
list. I'm not sure if we can keep this pace up, but it would be nice if
we could.
        Our local NSS chapter is going on a Trivia collection crusade, so if
there is any one else who makes a submission from an NSS chapter, please
let us know because we'd like to know what chapter you are from.

        Greetings to those who have submitted, and also Ray Dodds. You won't
believe the size of this one Ray!

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        Changes to July 24th Posting:

        Trivia: 1a, 20a, 36a, 36b, 37a, 41, 43a, 53..114
        Rumors: 5
        Speculation/Questions: 5..10

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                        #       SPACE TRIVIA LIST       #
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             Masterminded by:- THE NEWCASTLE SPACE FRONTIER SOCIETY
  Temporarily Moderated by:- Luke Plaizier

        PLEASE DIRECT YOUR SUBMISSIONS TO:-

                            EMAIL: lukpla@scorch.apana.org.au

                     snail mail:  Luke Plaizier
                                        c/o Newcastle Space
                                        Frontier Society
                                        PO Box 1150
                                        Newcastle   NSW
                                        Australia     2300
                   Direct Voice:  International     -  61-49-54-7454
                                        Inside Australia  -    049-54-7454
                                        Answering Machine -  61-49-63-5037


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        This is the list of Trivia information recorded in just over 25 years
of human activity in space. In no way is this an official list of events nor
is it guaranteed that all information included in this file is accurate or
true.
        This file has come about due to the happy donations of time and
information of people on the internet located at various sites world wide,
and represents a collection of information that many of them have either
found interesting themselves, or would otherwise believe that other people
might find interesting.
        The MOST important thing about this is that we'd like it to be built
by the input of many people, so if you can

        PLEASE DONATE SOME TRIVIA AND WE WILL ENDEAVOUR TO ENSURE THAT IT
                IS INCLUDED IN THIS FILE.

        Submission details are included in the trailer to this list.



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*                                                                           *
*       SPACE TRIVIA - Interesting Trivia Information on Manned and Unmanned*
*                       Spaceflight from anywhere around the Globe.         *
*                                                                           *
*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************



(1) Even though Yuri Gagarin, on the first manned spaceflight, ejected
        from his Vostok capsule  just before landing, the official Soviet
        report said otherwise for fear that the rest of the world might
        not recognise the mission as a complete success.
(1a) The Federation Aeronautic International, the governing body for
        aerospace records has rules specificially stating that the pilot
        must be in control of the craft from take-off to landing. Vostok
        cosmonauts ejecting clearly violated the rule so it was hidden.
        See my book "Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight" for details.
        Available from Zenith Books 800-826-6600.
        [From dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com]

(2) Radio frequencies in interstellar space between 1420 and 1720 MHz
        are known as 'the water hole', as it is thought that alien
        civilisations might converge and commune in radio frequencies
        in this band of 300MHz. (1420 = Emission line of neutral
        Hydrogen, 1720=same for Hydroxyl and together these two make
        water.) [BIS, SPACEFLIGHT, Vol. 35, No. 4]

(3) In one day, SETI searchers at Puerto Rico and California, using
        the new Targeted Search's  Multi Channel Spectral Analyzer,
        sifted through more information than had been collected on all
        previous SETI efforts combined.
        [BIS, SPACEFLIGHT, Vol. 35, No. 4]

(4) Silicon Engine's new Targeted Search's Multi Channel Spectrum
        Analyzer, developed for a 10 year NASA-funded SETI, is capable
        if listening in on some 15million frequency channels, some
        with a bandwidth of as little as 1Hz.
        [BIS, SPACEFLIGHT, Vol. 35, No. 4]

(5) The engines of the escape tower on the Apollo moon missions (on top of
        the mighty Saturn V) were more powerful than the entire Redstone
        launcher that put the first American into sub-orbital space.
        [Paul.Keinanen@Telebox.tele.fi, steven@spri.levels.unisa.edu.au]
(5a) The Apollo LES (Launch Escape System) thrust was 654 kN, while the
        Mercury-Redstone thrust was 347 kN. The Apollo CM mass was about 5800
        kg and the LES mass was 4000 kg or about 10000 kg combined. The
        accelleration would be about 65 m/s/s or about 6.5 G. As the maximum
        accelleration during ascent for Apollo-Saturn V was about 4 G,
        the CM+LES combination could still be separated, even if
        the Saturn V engines would still be running at full thrust.
(5b) The engines on the Launch Escape Tower (LES) of the Saturn V are
        indeed more powerful than the engines used on the Mercury-Redstone
        booster. From [1], the LES has a thrust of at least 654 kN (147 klbf)
        (Another figure of 689 kN (155 klbf) is also mentioned in [1]. The lower
        figure may be the total downwards thrust since the engines have to
        point at an angle to avoid burning up the Command Module if used.)
        The Mercury-Redstone has a thrust of 347 kN (78 klbf) [2].
        [1] M. Wilson, "Moon landing," Flight International, pp. 208-221,
                6 Feb. 1969.
        [2] K. Gatland, "The illustrated encyclopedia of space technology,"
                Landsdowne Press, Sydney, 1981.

(6) March 19, 1959
        "The Dept. of Defense announces that three atomic blasts were
        detonated in space during 1958 as part of Project Argus using modified
        X-17 rockets."
        [-Eugene Emme, ed., _Aeronautics and Astronautics, p. 107.]

(7) Hey, I don't know if you'll include this in your list of trivia but
        it surely is amusing.  After each launch countries are required by
        treaty to announce the launch.  There are no requirements about what
        the contents of the announcement are.  Shown below is a Chinese
        announcement from 1975. It is mostly propaganda. Did you know that
        launching a satellite refutes Confucius?
        (Actual transcript has been shortened for space considerations.)

        ((TEXT) PEKING, DECEMBER 17, 1975 (HSINHUA) -- CHINA
        SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED ANOTHER MAN-MADE EARTH SATELLITE ON

                DECEMBER 16, 1975, UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF CHAIRMAN MAO'S
        REVOLUTIONARY LINE, ON THE BASIS OF THE VICTORY IN THE
        GREAT PROLETRAIAN CULTURAL REVOLUTION AND THE MOVEMENT
        TO CRITICIZE LIN PIAO AND CONFUCIUS, AND IN THE EXCELLENT
        SITUATION CHARACTERIZED BY CONSISTENT NEW VICTORIES IN
        THE SOCIALIST REVOLUTION AND SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION.
        THE SATELLITE IS FUNCTIONING NORMALLY.
                THE SUCCESSFUL LAUNCHING OF THE SATELLITE IS A NEW
        ACHIEVEMENT MADE BY THE PEOPLE OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY,
        UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE
        HEADED BY THE GREAT LEADER CHAIRMAN MAO, IN TAKING CLASS
        STRUGGLE AS THE KEY LINK, CONTINUOUSLY CONSOLIDATING
        AND DEVELOPING THE FRUITS OF THE GREAT PROLETARIAN
        CULTURAL REVOLUTION, AND FIRMLY CARRYING OUT THE SERIES
        OF IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS OF CHAIRMAN MAO'S INCLUDING
        THOSE ON STUDYING THE THEORY AND COMBATING AND PREVENTING
        REVISIONISM, ON PROMOTING STABILITY AND UNITY AND ON
        PUSHING THE NATIONAL ECONOMY FORWARD.  IT IS A FRESH
        SUCCESS ACHIEVED BY ADHERING TO THE PRINCIPLE OF
        INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-RELIANCE, BRINGING INTO FULL PLAY
        THE INITIATIVE OF BOTH THE CENTRAL AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES,
        UNIFYING PLANNING, WORKING ENGERGETICALLY IN CLOSE
        COORDINATION, WAGING A UNITED STRUGGLE AND GRASPING
        REVOLUTION, PROMOTING PRODUCTION AND OTHER WORK AND
        PREPAREDNESS AGAINST WAR.
                THE CENTRAL COMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA,
        THE STATE COUNCIL AND THE MILITARY COMMISSION OF THE
        CCP CENTRAL COMMITEE EXTEND WARM CONGRATULATIONS
        TO THE WORKERS, COMMANDERS AND FIGHTERS OF THE PEOPLE'S
        LIBERATION ARMY, SCIENTIFIC WORKERS, ENGINEERS AND
        TECHNICIANS, REVOLUTIONARY CADRES AND MILITIAMEN WHO
        HAVE BEEN ENGAGED IN THE RESEARCH, MANUFACTURE AND LAUNCHING
        OF THE SATELLITE AND OTHER PEOPLE CONCERNED.  170110 UTT NY 17/O1224Z

(8) Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first men on the moon, almost
        crashed onto the lunar surface.  The Eagle's descent engine had
        about 10 seconds of fuel left when they landed.
        [From yantosca@bu.edu]
(8a) "The Eagle had landed on a countdown to abort, primarily because
        propellants were sloshing away from intakes and meters, giving off
        readings that the ship had entered the dead-man zone with its tanks
        running dry."
        [Submitted by davem@ee.ubc.ca, clarifying that although correct at
                the time, post-flight analysis uncovered this problem, meaning
                incorrect readings from the meters. ]

(9) The maiden launch of the first Space Shuttle, "Columbia", occurred
        on April 12, 1981, 20 years to the day of Yuri Gagarin's "Vostok"
        flight.
        [From yantosca@bu.edu]

(10) In 1963, the Soviet Union tried to launch a rocket (from Baikonur??)
        but the main engine didn't fire.  Several technicians were dispatched
        to the launch pad to correct the problem, under the command of an
        engineer/officer whose last name was Nedelin.  Somehow, the
        second stage engine fired, causing a massive explosion while the men
        were still on the launch pad.  It is estimated that more than 100 of
        the Soviet Union's best rocket engineers and technicians (including
        Nidelin) perished on that day.  Ironically, there was one survivor;
        he ducked into a fireproof box on the launch pad to smoke a cigarette
        and was shielded from the blast. The loss of so many engineers and
        technicians was a serious setback to the Soviet Space program; this
        may have been one of the reasons why the Soviets did not reach the
        Moon before NASA did.
        [ From yantosca@bu.edu, sourced from "AIR & SPACE / Smithsonian"]
(10a) The best account to date is in Rabochna Ya Tribuna, Dec. 6, 1990, p.4
        "Top Secret: Explosion at Baykonur Cosmodrome: Only after 30 years are
        we learning the truth about the death of Marshal Nedelin and a large
        group of rocket speciallists", FBIS-UPS-91-002 from NTIS.
                The author says numbers are still not known but range from 165
        to 200 deaths. Happened Oct. 24 1960, Nedelin was the head of the
        Strategic Rocket Forces (all ICBM's, launch crews, etc..). More than
        one person survived, the rumor of the one survivor is that it was
        Cheif Designer S Korolev, but this is unlikely. But it was not
        his rocket design and he should have had no reason to be there. The
        cause is speculated to be the failure of circuit isolation during
        electrical testing actually sent the signal for the 2nd stage of the
        SS-7 to fire after repairs were made. The reference above has a good
        account of the fire by a man who was blown 30 meters by the blast
        and survived. Flim of the fire is available.
        *NOTE: We'd like to thank the poster of this submission for his quick
                response for our request for more information.

(11) This is actually several combined into one, as they are from the
        same source. They are fact, but the exact source is unknown at
        the moment. Could the owner please step forward?
(a) 2 SSME's could generate as much power as that used by a NIMITZ class
        aircraft carrier.
(b) The Fuel and hydrogen pumps of 3 SSME's combined could generate as much
        power as that used by the battleship IOWA plus 12 ETHAN class
        submarines.
(c) One SSME has enough thrust for 2.5 Boeing 747's.
(d) The combustion in 3 SSME's combined, to make one shuttle flight
        system, releases more energy than the combined nuclear
        power plants of 9 non-US countries. (but which ones?)
(e) The turbo-pumps on the SSME rotate at 37,000 rpm. Formula One
        engines can rotate at up to 15,000 rpm. A standard 1990's
        vintage motor vehicle is very lucky to rev to 10,000rpm.

(12) The LOX turbopumps on the F-1 engines of the Saturn V booster delivered
        24,811 gallons of LOX per minute.  They could have filled a swimming
        pool 25 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 6 feet deep in about 27 seconds.
        (In metric, the pumping rate is about 94,000 liters per minute, and the
        example swimming pool is 7 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 2 meters
        deep.  The 27 seconds stays the same.)
        [ Source: "Apollo: The Race To The Moon", Charles Murray and Catherine
        Bly Cox, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1989, ISBN 0-671-61101-1,
        submitted by gbt@zia.cray.com ]

(13) (This one is specific to 1993) Although june 21, the summer solstace
        in the Northern hemisphere is the longest period of daylight, July 1
        was the longest day of the year worldwide! That is because at
        Z 00.00 (midnight world standard time) a leap second was added making
        July 1 24h00m01s long.....the longest day of the year!
        [ jbear@telerama.pgh.pa.us ]

(14) Astronaut charm school included teaching the boys what socks to wear
        with which pants and shoes.
        [mark.blevis@qmail.dgrc.doc.ca]

(15) After the first spacewalk, the Voshkod capsule carrying Alexei Leonov
        and Pavel Belyayev went off course and came down in the middle of a
        forest in Siberia. The two cosmonauts spent the night waiting for
        rescue in the snow, huddled around a fire in their spacesuits,
        listening nervously to wolves howling in the woods around them.
        [Reference: Several sources, notable James Oberg's `Red Star in Orbit'
                        From alien@acheron.amigans.gen.nz]

(16) "A typical Perseid meteoroid that produces a visible meteor of
        magnitude 2.5 has a mass of around *2.5 milligrams* and a velocity of
        order *60 kilometres per second*.  Such a meteoroid would inflict
        severe damage - a crater of 5 cm diameter has been estimated - if it
        struck an artificial satellite."
        [RANDALLJC@UK.AC.PORTSMOUTH.CSOVAX]

(17) The Apollo 13 moon mission was launched precisely on schedule, 13:13
        Houston time, April 11, 1970.  On April 13th, en-route to the moon,
        an oxygen tank in the service module exploded.  The crew got home
        safely thanks to the consumables and propulsion of the LM, and the
        ingenuity of ground controllers in improvising LM lifeboat procedures.
        The S-IVB stage which boosted the mission into translunar trajectory
        was delivered to Kennedy Space Center on June 13, 1969--Friday.
        [Apollo Expeditions to the Moon, NASA SP-350, Chapter 13; Stages to
        Saturn, NASA SP-4206. From kelvin@autodesk.com]

(18) For a Motor Vehicle Engine to have the same power-to-weight ratio
         as one Space Shuttle Main Engine, then it would only have to be the
        size of your clenched fist. [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]

(19) The Liquid Hydrogen Turbo-Pumps on a Space Shuttle Main Engine weigh
        as much as a standard  V8 Motor Vehicle engine, but output some 310
        times the power. [SHUTTEL, Nigel MacKnight.]

(20) The Apollo 12 moon mission in 1969, following closely on the heels of
        the Apollo 11 mission, was struck by a bolt of lightning just after
        it left the launch pad.
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]
(20a) Atlas-Centaur AC-67, launched on March 26, 1987, was hit by
        lightning and started to deviate from it's planned course some
        49-seconds after lift-off. Range Safety officials destroyed the
        vehicle.
        [Space Flight News, May 1987]
        {If anyone has record of any-other lightning strike, then let
                us know because it belongs here!}

(21) The VAB, where Space Shuttle components are assembled today, and
        Saturn V components were assembled in the 60's and 70's,
        occupies a ground area of 8 acres and boasts an internal
        volume of 3,624,000 cubic metres (129,428,000 cubic feet!)
        The structure was designed to withstand winds of 200km/h
        (125 mph) and has a foundation that rests on more than 4200
        steel pilings 40 cm (16 in) in diameter that each go to a
        depth of 49 metres (160 ft) through bedrock. The building
        has it's own internal weather!
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]

(22) There was an aluminium shed near launch pad 39A. It was roughly
        50 yards away from the perimeter. It was a prefab
        building and it wasn't determined whether it would stand up
        to the first launch of the shuttle or not. After the first
        launch of Columbia, the shed was reduced to a few pieces
        of debris scattered across the ground.
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]

(23) Noticeboard of Safety requirements inside the VAB:-
        REMOVE PERSONAL ITEMS FROM THE UPPER POCKETS. WEAR BADGES
        INSIDE SHIRT OR CARRY IN PANTS POCKET. REMOVE WATCHES AND
        RINGS OR TAPE SAME. EYEGLASSES MUST BE TETHERED. ACCESS
        RESTRICTED WITHIN THREE FEET OF VEHICLE-CONTACT ACCESS
        CONTROL MONITOR. FOOD AND BEVERAGES PROHIBITED. FLAMMABLE
        LIQUIDS MUST BE APPROVED. NO HARD HATS ALLOWED.
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]

(24) I worked at the Johnson Space Center, and during a material testing
        procedure on Space Suit Assemblies I got to play with a heat-soaked
        shuttle tile cube.  It was a one-inch cube, and it was soaking in an
        oven at about 1400F.  We took it out of the oven with tongs and then
        you could hold it by the edges, preferably the corners. You did not
        want to touch the face of it - by minimizing the surface that you were
        in contact with you could minimize the heat transfer.
                It glows (visibly) just a little, but it sure shows up on
        infrared Kokak slide film :-)
        [From jgladu@bcm.tmc.edu]

(25) The Software programmes controlling the Shuttle's on-board computers
        are the most sophisticated programmes ever developed for a
        spacecraft, and contain over 500,000 IBM-written instructions. This is
        twenty five times more than the programmes developed for the Saturn
        launch vehicle which guided Apollo astronauts from launch, through
        orbital insertion and into lunar trajectory.
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]

(26) John F. Kennedy Space Centre, or KSC as it is more usually referred to,
        is situated on Cape Canaveral. The operational areas are located
        adjacent to Mosquito Lagoon. Visitor's soon find out that the
        lagoon did not receive it's name frivolously, and that a reliable
        brand of mosquito repellant can be worth it's weight in gold!
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]

(27) And then there are the Alligators at KSC. Many of the 'gators have
        become quite tame, and some have developed the habit of clambering
        out of the pond in front of KSC's large canteen facility to 'beg'
        for scraps of food from the office workers who eat their lunch
        outside on the lawn.
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]
(27a) This is a big problem at KSC (Not "The Cape" as many call it...)
        because alligators are REALLY stupid.  They can't tell the difference
        between a sandwich or your hand...In fact to them there IS no
        difference.  We are warned over & over in the "KSC bulletin" not to
        feed them.  Since KSC is a nature preserve, it is illegal to feed
        the 'gators.  If caught, you can be disciplined.  When the alligators
        lose their fear of humans, they are caught and moved to a remote part
        of the preserve.  If they come back the alligators are killed.  Period.
        [From HOLLIS@TITAN.KSC.NASA.GOV]

(28) The oxygen tank of the External Tank of the Space Shuttle
        Transportation System occupies a small section at the front of the
        tank, whilst the Hydrogen Tank occupies the rest below it. The
        Hydrogen Tank is 2.5 times larger than the Oxygen tank, but weighs
        only one-third as much when filled to capacity. This difference
        comes about because liquid oxygen is some sixteen times more dense
        than liquid hydrogen.
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]

(29) The Crawler-Transporter, which carries the Space Shuttle, and
        previously the Saturn series of launch vehicles from the VAB to
        one of either launch pads 39A or 39B, is as wide as a 12 lane
        highway.
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]

(30) There are eight sets of tracks on each Crawler Transporter - two in
        each corner - and each set of tracks is comprised of fifty seven
        segments weighing one-ton apiece. That totals up to over 450 tons
        in track segments alone!
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]

(31) The Crawler Transporter isn't exactly good where fuel economy is
        concerned. Travelling at the rate of a mere 1 mile per hour, it
        guzzles fuel at the rate of of one gallon every twenty feet! Instead
        of Miles per Gallon, it is measured in Gallons per Mile!
        [SHUTTLE, Nigel MacKnight.]

(32) On July 20, 1969, Houston Mission Control put through the longest-
        distance telephone call in history. It connected Richard Nixon to
        the two astronauts, Armstrong and Aldrin, on the surface of the
        moon.
        [The Young Scientists Book of Spaceflight. Rigby Usborne]

(33) The Apollo Spacecraft, which carried astronauts to and from the Moon,
        had nearly two million working parts. A large Motor Vehicle has less
        than 3,000.
        [The Young Scientists Book of Spaceflight. Rigby Usborne]

(34) Initially scheduled to be called "Constitution", the first Space
        Shuttle orbiter, OV-101, was renamed "Enterprise" in deference to
        "Star Trek" television series fans.
        [Rockwell International Space Shuttle - Dennis R Jenkins]

(35) There is another unknown orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet. Tagged
        OV-098, the craft itself was named "Pathfinder". It's original role
        was as a rough dimension-and-weight mock-up for practising de-orbit
        operations on the run-way, and also to practise lifting and handling
        the orbiter at various facilities (Shuttle Carrier Mate De-Mate,
        VAB and OPF). The vehicle was heavily modified to eventually look
        like the other orbiters for the "Great Space Shuttle Exposition"
        scheduled for  June 1983 to August 1984. The craft was returned to
        MSFC and is on display today, with Filament wound boosters and
        the tank used in the main propulsion tests (MPTA-ET) at the
        Space and Rocket Center near Hunstville.
        [Rockwell International Space Shuttle - Dennis R Jenkins]

(36) The Soviet Voskhod spacecraft, in follow-on to Vostok flights, was
        essentially just a one-manned Vostok spacecraft. All three cosmonauts
        launched in the spacecraft were without spacecsuits. Officially this
        was reported to be because the Soviets were confident with the
        spacecraft, but a quick calculation reveals that there would not
        have been enough room for the three men if these spacesuits had been
        included!
        [The Soviet Manned Space Programme - Salamander Books]
(36a) The real trivia here I believe is the fact Korolevs engineers did
        not want to make the modification believing it a bad idea, then
        Korolev offered to fly one of the engineers on the first flight
        and they accepted the mission, Feoktistov was the lucky engineer.
        This was really part of Korolevs plans to get speciallists into
        space to learn and stop all flights from being all military
        pilots. Journalists were also selected for Voskhod missions.
        [dennisn@comm.mot.com (Dennis Newkirk)]
(36b) This was repeated with Soyuz, stuffing three people without pressure
        suits into a spacecraft designed for two with suits, resulting in the
        deaths of the Soyuz-11 crew when the spacecraft vented its atmosphere
        during reentry. After that all crews have worn pressure suits even
        when (from Soyuz-12 to T-5) this reduced the crew size from three to
        two.
        [Mark Grant <mark@isltd.insignia.com>]


(37) The Soyuz spacecraft was initially designed by the Soviets for their
        attempt at getting to the Moon before the Americans. But the orbital
        Module of the Soyuz spacecraft was missing one vital component -
        a transfer tunnel in the docking adapter. If it ever became necessary
        to transfer crew or equipment to a Lunar orbiter or Lander, then
        cosmonauts would have had to climb into suits and go into the
        vacuum of space! The docking tunnel was added for later space-station
        operations.
        [The Soviet Manned Space Programme - Salamander Books]
(37a) The lunar module docking drouge was just a metal honeycomb type
        crushable receptical for the LOK (lunar Soyuz) probe which just plunged
        into the material and hung on. It's only used once per mission anyway.
        [dennisn@comm.mot.com (Dennis Newkirk)]

(38) The EDO (Extended Duration Orbiter) toilet is indeed different from a
        standard shuttle toilet.  The standard shuttle toilet has a bowl that
        is used to contail fecal wastes.  The waste material is freeze dried
        when it enters the bowl.  The current toilet is able to support flights
        of up to 13 to 14 days.  Modifications to the toilet are expected to
        increase this to about 16 days.  The EDO toilet (This is the one making
        all the headlines about cost overruns) has just had the qualification
        unit complete its second flight.  The 23 million dollars only produced
        a qualification unit.  NASA has not purchased any actual flight units
        yet.  The EDO toilet is different in that in place of the bowl there
        is a canister that is used to collect fecal wastes. Each canister can
        support 23 to 27 uses depending on what else the crew throws down there.
        When the canister fills up, it is replaces with a fresh canister. The
        drawbacks to this toilet are that the canisters require a lot of
        storage space that is not required by the standard toilet.  The
        standard toilet has been in use since STS-1, while the EDO toilet
        is undergoing testing on OV-105 only. The standard toilet must be
        removed from the vehicle after each flight and returned to JSC for
        cleaning and processing.  The EDO toilet can remain in the vehicle
        and thus saves processing time.
        [From  oliver@vf.jsc.nasa.gov. This item came about in the discussion
                pertaining to the legitimacy of #5]

(39) Some western speculators, back when the Soviets were still in the race
        to beat the US to the moon, were wondering what the Soviets would use
        as a lunar lander, as they could not (until recently) find evidence
        of a separate lunar lander vehicle. They came up with the concept
        that an enhanced Soyuz, complete with landing legs, would be used
        to land vertically on the surface of the moon, and even used the
        re-positioning of the main hatch to verify this! This would mean
        that a cosmonaut would have had to descend a ladder some 2 stories
        high to get to the Lunar Surface!
        [The Soviet Manned Space Programme - Salamander Books]

(40) In the early 80's, the soviets were flying small 'cosmos' experimental
        vehicles which confounded international observers. Cosmos 1374,
        launched in June of 1982, was recovered in the Indian Ocean. The
        soviets issued a standard Cosmos-type announcement, failing to
        include an orbital period, yet stating that the mission was a success.
        The next similar flight, cosmos 1445, came nine months later. The
        retrieval of this one, simlarly with 1374, was observed by the
        Royal Australian Air Force, but in this case photographs were
        released to the rest of the world, revealing that the soviets had
        been testing a a small winged orbiter, with demensions of 3.4m
        length, 1.4m fuselage diameter and a wingspan of 2.6m.
        There are two more interesting notes. Firstly, Cosmos 1374, unlike
        1445, did not have any identifying national markings, indicating
        that the RAAF was an undexpected visitor to the retrieval area.
        Secondly, the reovery ship (the Yamal) and apparently many members of
        the the Soviet recovery team, were the same for both spacecraft
        retrievals. There is one man with an identical head of Afro-styled
        hair who appears in both photographic series of the retrieval
        sequences, despite the two missions happening 285 days apart!
        [The Soviet Manned Space Programme - Salamander Books. Peter
        Pesavento, Correspondence to the BIS Spaceflight magazine, Sept 1991.]

(41) The soviets had a large Saturn V type booster in development for the
        soviet manned assault on the Moon. This launcher was designated by
        many names, namely by G-1 or G-1e in the west in early years, but
        now as the SL-15 or N-1 booster). By mid 1966, US reconnaissance
        satellites spotted test facilities under construction at Tyuratam. By
        1968 static test models had been built and between March and April a
        full sized version was moved from it's fabrication area to the launch
        pad and back.
        [The Rocket - David Baker - New Cavendish Books.]

(42) The attempts to launch the G-1/N-1/SL-15 soviet booster are:-
        (a) February 21, 1969: The booster exploded 70 seconds after lift-off,
                when a fire developed in the tail section of the rocket. The
                booster was labelled 3L, and had an L-1 Zond Spacecraft.
        (b) July 3, 1969: A liquid oxygen pump failed causing an explosion
                that wrecked the launch site. Designated 5L, this booster is
                assumed to have had the same payload and launch aim as the
                first, namely to enter an orbit to the moon and attempt a
                lunar flyby.
        (c) July 21, (Or June 27?) 1971: The rocket fell back on the launch
                pad causing more extensive damage.This launcher, designated 6L,
                had a mock-up of the lunar module, lunar lander and escape
                system.
        (d) November 23, 1972: A fire developed in the engine compartment
                close to the end of the 1st stage burn and the booster exploded
                after 107 seconds of flight. Designated 7L, it had a proper
                lunar orbit module and escape system and a mock-up lunar
                landing module. It was planned this would be an Apollo 8
                style, but unmanned, lunar flyby.
        [BIS Spaceflight, June 1991 and June 1992]

(43) The one remaining G-1/N-1/SL-15 heavy lift booster (the fifth in the
        series that were built), which did not get a chance to fly due to
        the cancellation of the program, was partially converted
        into a bandstand for a town close to the launch site.

        [BIS Spaceflight, June 1991]
(43a) The 8L booster was nearing a 1974 launch date. Another booster
        was also being readied, parts for more were on hand. All assembly
        was done at Baykonur. There was growing confidence these boosters
        would perform better since significant modifications were made
        from the 4th launch onward.
        [dennisn@comm.mot.com (Dennis Newkirk)]

(44) There were several things to mention about Helens Sharman's flight to
        the MIR space station on May 18, 1991.:-
        (a) Great Britain was the 22nd nation to fly a citizen into space
        (b) Helen Sharman was the joint 248th person in space
        (c) She was the 15th woman into space
        (d) For the first time a nation's first space traveller was a woman.
        (e) She was the first non-soviet, non-amerian woman into space.
        (f) One record that was just missed: because the American Space
                Shuttle Columbia was delayed from it's scheduled launch
                date of May 22, the chance to set a new record or 4 women
                in space simultaneously was lost. (This was sts-40, which
                finally took off on June 5th.)
        [BIS Spaceflight, July 1991]

(45) Gagarin's flight began under a cover of secrecy. Nobody except the
        heads of Korolev's design bureau and the KGB knew of the place of
        landing. The inhabitants of Saratov could not even have suspected
        how close they were to the historic landing site.
                But the secrecy wasn't complete. Skilled workers were required
        to deal with measuring and other devices to dismantle them. These
        workers were taken by KGB agents from one of the nearby plants. They
        were told by the director of the plant that they were close to the
        landing site of Vostok.
                One of the workers had a camera and was able to take a clear
        photograph of Vostok that wasn't released until 1991!
        [BIS Spaceflight, August 1991. And they show the photo!]

(46) The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, developed to train US astronauts
        on how to control the Lunar Lander for flights to the moon, was
        a strange contraption built with a turbofan engine facing down
        vertically in the centre to provide vertical thrust with a weight
        distribution and throttle reaction time similar to that of the
        real Lunar Lander. It was based around the early VTOL 'Flying
        Bedsteads' developed to study the potential of Vertical Take-Off
        and Landing for jet aircraft.
        [Ed Henegveld, BIS Spaceflight, December 1992]

(47) Neil Armstrong had a close brush with death in a 'flying bedstead'
        LLRV on May 6th, 1968, when the craft went out of control and he
        was forced to eject. He landed by parachute and walked away without
        injury!
        [Ed Henegveld, BIS Spaceflight, December 1992]

(48) Yuri Gagarin, on the maiden launch of a man into space, landed in a
        field some 26km south-west of the town of Engels in the Saratov
        Region. In his orange flight-suit he approached a woman and a little
        girl with a calf. The cosmonaut was asked if he came from space.
          And of course he replied "As a matter of fact, I have!"
        [Neville Kidger - BIS Spaceflight, April 1991]

(49) Compared with the desired profile, the edge of the mirror surface
        of the primary mirror on the Hubble Space Telescope is too low by
        0.002mm. This results in an error where the Light from the edges
        of the mirror come to a focus about 38mm beyond where the innermost
        rays converge.
        [BIS Spaceflight, April 1991]

(50)The US Army Redstone missile has had a long and ditinguished service
        record.
        (a) A modified redstone, redesignated Jupiter C or Juno 1, sent into
                space the United States first satellite - Explorer 1 - on
                January 31, 1958.
        (b) It was used for the first manned American spaceflights of Shepard
                and Grissom in 1961.
        (c)It was the first rocket to detonate an atomic weapon (Project
                Hardtrack in 1958) above the Earth's surface.
        (d) It was the launcher used in Project SPARTA, a joint
                US/UK/Australia programme of re-entry research. The last of the
                10 Redstones shipped to Australia for the project was used to
                launch WRESAT, Australia's first satellite.
        [Keith Scala, Michael Crowe, BIS Spaceflight, August 1991.]

(51) The first real watch to be worn in space (Yuri Gagarin had a timepiece
        which was not a true Chronograph) was in July 1962, when Scott
        Carpenter flew the Aurora 7 Mercury capsule.
        [Alan A Nelson - BIS Spaceflight, April 1992]

(52) The Omega Speedmaster Professional, later to become standard issue
        to all Gemini, Apollo and Skylab Astronauts, was first flown by
        Wally Schirra aboard Sigma 7 in October 1962. This watch was later
        known as the "Moon Watch" as it was the first watch worn on the Moon.
        [Alan A Nelson - BIS Spaceflight, April 1992]


(53) The television series 'The Six Million Dollar Man' showed a terrible
        aircraft accident at the beginning of each episode, supposedly
        indicating how 'Steve Austin' was injured. The actual sequence was
        of a real accident on May 10, 1967, when NASA test pilot Bruce
        Peterson was fortunate to escape with his life in an experimental
        aircraft known as the M2-F2 lifting body. This small craft was
        part of a development to test the aerodynamics of small wingless
        craft that could generate aerodynamic lift through the simple
        shape of it's body. They came thundering down at incredible speeds,
        and attribute much of the information that is required today for
        the onc-attempt-only langings made by the Space Shuttle.
        [Space Flight News, May 1986. (No longer Published.)]

(54) The Apollo 10 crew of Tom Stafford, John Young and Gene Cernan put
        themselves in the record books by achieving the highest speed ever
        attained by man - 24,790mph.
        [Space Flight News, July 1986. (No longer Published.)]

(55) The Lunar Rover, as used on Apollo missions 15, 16 and 17, had a
        lifetime of 78 hours, and could cover up to 92kms. It could carry
        up to 400kg (Earth weight) - more than TWICE its own weight. (An
        average family car can usually only carry half it's own weight). Fully
        loaded it could climb a 25 degree slope, and on the flat it could
        reach a top speed of 16km/hr. It would be an almost precise 1/6th
        slow-motion replay of a car going 86km/h on Earth!
        [Space Travellers Handbook, Michael Freeman, Sovereign Books.]

(56) A 'logical lock' was in use on the Vostok spacecraft to lock out any
        actions that Yuri Gagarin might make in a panic. At that time, nobody
        knew how a human would react to space, so the logical lock idea was
        created. Yuri Gagarin had a small envelope in which the logical lock
        code was written, and in order to use the controls he would have to
        prove that he was capable of doing the simple task of reading the
        combination and punching 3 of nine buttons.
        [Space Flight News, November 1986. (No longer Published.)]

(57) There is a slide wire 'flying fox' type system at both launch
        pads 39a and 39b that the astronauts can use in the event of
        en emergency at the launch pad.
        [Space Flight News, February 1987]

(58) At the base of the slide wire system used for emergency astronaut
        escapes at pads 39a and 39b, is a modified military M113 tank
        used to evacuate the atronauts and support personnel from the
        vicinty of the launch pad in a protective environment. In
        actual fact there are 3 tanks. One near the base of the
        slide wire, one at the blast demarkation line some 4,485ft
        from the launch pad, and another three miles away in the
        hands another fire/rescure team.
         [Space Flight News, February 1987]

(59) The military has a long history of starting and then dropping astronaut
        and other manned programs - such as the Manned Orbiting Laboratory,
        the Dyna-Soar, etc.
                The latest one was the Manned Spaceflight Engineer program -
        and it did succeed in getting two Air Force payload specialists onto
        the Space Shuttle. Gary Payton (STS-51C) and Bill Pailes (STS-51J)
        flew before the Challenger accident.
                After Challenger the whole program was reconsidered and
        the military decided to concentrate on unmanned launch vehicles. The
        MSE program was disbanded and the people reassigned.
                The person who had probably the best chance of flying next was
        Kathy Roberts - but the Air Force dropped the program before she flew.
        [from CHARLES D. PHILLIPS]

(60) The Johnson Space Center in Houston has two control rooms where
        technicians can monitor the Shuttle's onboard systems.  The original
        control and display consoles in these rooms (dating back to the mid
        1960's and the Gemini program) are still in use today.  In the near
        future these consoles will be replaced with modern computer
        workstations.
        [ Tour Guide, Johnson Space Center, Houston TX
                from yantosca@bu-ast.bu.edu (Robert Yantosca)]

(61) Both of the control rooms at JSC have a viewing gallery behind a
        wall of one-way glass.  These viewing galleries are open to the public
        on days when the Space Shuttle is NOT in orbit (for security reasons).
        In fact, the galleries are closed to the public 24 hrs before launch
        time.  However, VIP's (the President, Senators, Congressmen, and
        visiting dignitaries) occasionally are present to watch the progress
        of a Shuttle mission from these galleries.
        [Tour Guide, JSC from yantosca@bu-ast.bu.edu (Robert Yantosca)]

(62) The first time four spacecraft had ever been docked together cae on
        22nd April, 1987, when the Russians had together Soyuz-TM2, Mir,
        Kvant and Progress 29.
        (I have the suspicion that this may have been surpassed by now with
                the addition of other Mir modules. Could anyone provide
                details on this?)
        [Space Flight News - May 1987]

(63) On the first four flights of Columbia, there were only two crew
        members, the Commander and the Pilot. Each was launched seated in a
        modified version of the rocket ejection seat installed in the SR-71
        'Blackbird'. This seat could safely eject them away from the Orbiter
        in case the control system should malfunction and send it out of
        control.
        [Bob Overmyer, Space Flight News, May 1987]

(64) Originally it was thought that the shuttle ejector system could be
        used to eject from the launch configuration as long as the Shuttle
        system was below 100,000 feet, but it was discovered later that
        once the solid rocket motors were burning, a crewmember ejecting
        would decend into the rocket plume.
        [Bob Overmyer, Space Flight News, May 1987]

(65) Crew safety concerns for the shuttle heightened when the results of
        the ditching tests conducted at the U.S. Navy David Taylor Model
        Basin become known. At the Taylor test facility, large-scale models
        of the Orbiter were catapulted over a long water trough. They contacted
        the water in attitudes and speeds simulating Orbiter ditching
        conditions. No-one had ever ditched an airplane at the typical
        landing speeds of the Shuttle and the results were disappointing.
                When the model contacted the water in the fkat attitude that was
        achieved with a normal landing speed of 200 knots, it would skip badly
        and become airborne again. The second or third contact was usually
        very violent, resulting in forces that woud totally destroy and
        Orbiter.
                When the model simulated the slower landing speeds made possible
        by the delta-wing configuration, the nose-up attitude would cause the
        body-flap to contact the water first, and the cockpit would pitch
        down violently, slamming into the water.
                One interesting test showed that if the orbiter approached with
        the landing gear down, it would immediately turn into a 'submarine'
        and dive straight to the bottom!
        [Bob Overmyer, Space Flight News, May 1987]

(66) On STS-5, there were 5 astronauts on board, but the two ejection seats
        remained in place but were unarmed. It had been originally proposed
        that the escape sequence would continue as follows:-
                The astronaut seated in the centre seat on the flight-deck would
        leave his seat and descend to the mid-deck if an emergency arose. The
        three in the mid-deck would then don-parachutes, wait for the Commander
        and Pilot to eject, and then climb through the two holes in the roof.
                This was rejected quickly, as it was found that the control
        wires would be severed in the roof after the ejection, and the orbiter
        would definitely go out of control. Besides this, those that crawled
        out would be brought around and slammed into the OMS pods on the
        rear of the orbiter!
        [Bob Overmyer, Space Flight News, May 1987]

(67) Using a small setup of around 25-pounds worth of Radio equipment,
        a teacher and a group of students at Kettering Grammar School,
        England, were regularly keeping  track of the Soviet 'eight day
        wonders' - recoverable satellites in the cosmos series. In 1966,
        differences in some of the orbits led to the discovery of a new
        Soviet launch site that had previously been a closely guarded secret
        of the USSR and the Pentagon. This site was christened in the west
        as 'Plesetsk'. Nearly 20 years passed before the Soviet Union
        publicly announced the existance of the site, and the Kettering
        group were proud to hear that they maintained the same name.
        [Space Flight News, May 1987]

(68) The kettering group, a small team of students and their teacher at
        Kettering Grammar School, England, were keeping track of the Soviet
        Soyuz-11 manned spaceflight. They received the signals of the
        depressurization of the Soyuz module, and were keeping track of
        the cosmonaut's heartbeats up until they lost contact. The capsule
        would have landed within 30 minutes of this loss of signal, but
        unfortunately all three cosmonauts were found dead. If they had
        been wearing their space-suits at the time, they might have
        survived.
        [Space Flight News, May 1987]

(69) In the weightlessness of space, the antennae of the big Hughes Intelsat
        6 spacecraft would be able to unfurl on their own, but during
        Earthly tests the two larger antennae needed some help to defy
        gravity. Engineers at Hughes Aircraft Company in El Segundo,
        California, turned to Helium-filled ballons to perform the task!
        [Space Flight News, June 1987]

(70) The current soviet spacesuit, used on-baord the MIR space station,
        requires the cosmonaut to swing the back-pak around and step into it
        from the back!
        [Space Flight News, July 1987]

(71) Belive it or not, the final analysis showed that, although 'Columbia'
        basically had about 30,000 separate tiles on it's exterior, they
        installed - in the period from May '79 until it finally flew in
        April '81 - a grand total of over 90,000 tiles!
        [Bob Overmyer, Space Flight News, July 1987]

(72) On STS-5, even though the commander and pilot ejector seats were
        disarmed, those two astronauts had to wear the SR-71 harness-type
        waistcoat in order to remain compatible with the seat!
        [Bob Overmyer, Space Flight News, July 1987]

(73) STS-5 was also the first time astronauts wore the now=familiar
        pale-blue suits used before the Challenger accident. (This was
        used in place of the SR-71 type flight-suits used on the first
        4 flights.)
        [Bob Overmyer, Space Flight News, June 1987]

(74) The shears used by astronaut Joe Kerwin to sever the strap of debris
        retaining the jammed solar wing on the Skylab Space station, were of a
        type more usually employed for snipping barbed wire. Manufactured in
        Missouri, they were purchased by NASA for the pricely sum of $75!
        [Space Flight News, August 1987]

(75) Whilst the Shuttle was still in development, Fred Haise amd Jack Lousma
        were scheduled to pilot STS-3 which was to have boosted Skylab back
        into orbit. Alas, Skylab to down in Western Australia in 1979, 2 years
        before the 1st flight of Columbia.
        [Bob Overmyer, Space Flight News, October 1987]

(76) The Soviets have a long-standing custom of only calling their people
        'Cosmonauts' after they have travelled in space. This conflicts with

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End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 918
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