1966-108A
Zenit-4 No. 26 was launched on an 8 day mission in Dec 1966.
| Kosmos-134 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 Dec 3 | 0815 | Launch by 11A57 | KB |
| 0819? | Blok-I burn | ||
| 0824? | Blok-I sep | ||
| 1966 Dec 3 | 1835 | 89.51 205 x 294 x 65.0 | |
| 1966 Dec 7 | 1502 | 89.44 204 x 288 x 65.0 | |
| 1966 Dec 11 | 0528? | Deorbit | |
| 0550 | Landed | ||
1966-006A
Luna-9 was the first successful mission. It was article E-6M No. 13. The ALS lander has a pressurized spherical main spacecraft with a radio, a program timer, chemical batteries, telemetry and a thermal regulation system. Four antennae and a TV camera extend from the lander after its four `petals' open to turn it upright. The TV camera returned the first close up pictures of lunar soil.
| Luna-9 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 Jan 31 | 1141:37 | Launch by Molniya | KB |
| 1146 | Blok-A sep | ||
| 1146 | Blok-I burn | ||
| 1150 | Blok-I sep | 173 x 225 x 52 (TASS) | |
| 1248? | BOZ burn | ||
| 1249? | Blok-L burn | ||
| 1253:21 | Blok-L cutoff, sep | ||
| 1966 Feb 1 | 1929 | TCM, 233000 km from Moon, 71.2m/s | |
| 1966 Feb 3 | 1750? | Retro orientation, 8300 km | |
| 1966 Feb 3 | 1844:42 | Modules (otsekov) sep | |
| 1844:42 | Retro burn 75 km, 2.6 km/s | ||
| 1845:17 | Cutoff, 0.25km | ||
| 1845:25 | Dvigatel'niy ustanovka sep | ||
| 1845:30 | ALS Lunar landing 7 08 N 64 22 W | ||
| 1845:50 | Airbag jettison | ||
| 1846 | Petals open | ||
| 1849:40 | Transmission to Earth | ||
| 1966 Feb 6 | 2255 | End of transmissions | |
1965-015A
The next Zenit-4 spacecraft was No. 11; from now on the Zenit-2 and Zenit-4 payloads would be launched significantly out of production number sequence, suggesting that a large production line was underway by this time. This Zenit-4 carried a special experiment: the adapter for the Volga airlock was mounted outside the cabin. After Voskhod-2's spacewalk, its Volga airlock would be jettisoned leaving the thin adapter ring still attached to the cabin; Korolyov was concerned that the ring would destabilize the cabin on reentry, and this test flight proved there was no problem.
| Kosmos-59 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 Mar 7 | 0859:28 | Launch by 11A57 | KB |
| 0909? | Blok-I sep | 89.78 217 x 310 x 65.0 | |
| 1965 Mar 7 | 89.78 219 x 306 x 65.0 | ||
| 1965 Mar 8 | 89.79 205 x 322 x 65.0 | ||
| 1205? | Volga airlock jettison | ||
| 1965 Mar 15 | 0655? | Deorbit | |
| 0715? | Landed | ||
1967-064A
KH-8 no. 6 was GAMBIT program flight 44, following the final KH-7 flight. It flew a 10 day mission in a 127 x 325 km x 111 deg orbit after launch from Vandenberg on 1967 Jun 20. The Titan second stage had problems again, but in a much more minor key: part of the engine skirt blew off leading to a 27 m/s underspeed; orbit was 4 x 85 km lower than planned. The orbit was adjusted on rev 32 but the Agena engine suffered a chamber pressure loss. Another Agena burn on rev 98 tweaked the orbit when the mission was extended from 8 days to 10.
The mission orbit with a perigee at high northern latitudes and an early morning launch, allowing daytime imagery on ascending as well as descending passes over the northern hemisphere.
| KH-8 6 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 Jun 20 | 1615 | Launch by Titan IIIB Agena D | V SLC4W |
| 1620 | Agena burn | ||
| 1625 | Agena MECO | ||
| 89.0 127 x 325 x 111.4 | |||
| 1967 Jun 20 | 2312 | 89.19 129 x 339 x 111.4 | |
| 1967 Jun 22 | 1518 | 88.99 128 x 320 x 111.4 | |
| 1967 Jun 22 | 1700? | Rev 32 orbit raise | |
| 1967 Jun 26 | 0150 | 89.22 133 x 338 x 111.4 | |
| 1967 Jun 28 | Rev 98 orbit tweak | ||
| 1967 Jun 30 | 2310? | SRV deorbit | |
| 2350? | SRV recovered? | ||
| 1967 Jun 30 | 2141? | SRV recovered rev 164 | |
| 1967 Jun 30 | 2315? | Deboost rev 165 | |
| 1967 Jun 30 | Reentered after 10d | ||
1964-078C
The next 3MV launch was a new Mars flyby variant, 3MV-4 No. 2 (or 3MV-4A No. 2?), the first 3MV aimed towards Mars. It was named Zond-2 once on an interplanetary trajectory. Zond-2 suffered a partial power failure after orbit insertion (a solar panel failed to deploy). It transmitted until May 1965. The probe flew 1500 km from Mars in Aug 1965.
| Zond-2 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 Nov 30 | 1325 | Launch by 8K78 | KB |
| 1330? | Blok-A sep | ||
| 1330? | Blok-I burn | ||
| 1334? | Blok-I sep | ||
| 1425? | BOZ burn | ||
| 1426? | Blok-L burn | ||
| 1430? | Blok-L sep | ||
| 1965 May 5 | End of transmissions | ||
| 1965 Aug 6 | Mars encounter, 1500 km | ||
1991-040A
The next mission for Columbia was the first Spacelab Life Sciences mission. STS-40 took off on 1991 Jun 5. Launch was successful, but after payload bay door opening video of loose thermal blankets and minor damage to the payload bay door seal at the rear of the Orbiter caused some concern. Eventually analysts concluded that the loose material wasn't a problem.
A 1 hour 25 min launch delay curtailed the first day's experiments on cardiovascular and metabolic measurements. Human vestibular experiments began on Jun 7, and continued on Jun 8 with use of the rotating chair and on Jun 11 with the rotating dome apparatus. Jun 12 saw some Earth observations.
Columbia returned to Earth on Jun 14. Because of a concern about the payload bay door seal, the port door was closed first, at 1125, and the seal was observed from the Spacelab module. The starboard door was closed 25 minutes later.
| STS-40 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 Feb 9 | Processing | OPF/1 | |
| 1991 Apr 26 | Rollover | VAB/3 | |
| 1991 Apr 26 | ET mate | VAB/3 | |
| 1991 May 2 | Rollout | LC39B | |
| 1991 Jun 5 | 1324:51 | Launch | LC39B |
| 1326:55 | SRB sep | ||
| 1333:21 | MECO | 88.22? 76 x 287 x 39.0 | |
| 1333:40 | ET Sep | ||
| 1407:09 | OMS 2 2:04 60m/s | 90.30 279 x 298 x 39.0 | |
| 1409:13 | OMS 2 CO | ||
| 1500 | PLBD open | ||
| 1991 Jun 7 | 90.27 278 x 296 x 39.0 | ||
| 1991 Jun 11 | 90.22 278 x 292 x 39.0 | ||
| 1991 Jun 12 | 0300 | 90.18 277 x 289 x 39.0 | |
| 1991 Jun 14 | 1125 | PLBD port door close | 90.16 276 x 288 x 39.0 |
| 1149 | PLBD stbd door close | ||
| 1437:36 | OMS DO (2:50) 87m/s | ||
| 1440:26 | OMS DO CO | 87.21 -15 x 287 x 39.0 | |
| 1507:49 | Entry | ||
| 1521 | 66 km alt | ||
| 1539:11 | Landing | RW22 EAFB | |
| 1539:26 | NGTD | ||
| 1540:02 | Wheels stop | ||
| 1991 Jun 19 | 1430 | SCA takeoff | EAFB |
| 1725 | SCA landing | Biggs AAF TX | |
| 1991 Jun 20 | 1200 | SCA takeoff | Biggs AAF TX |
| 1250 | SCA landing | Kelly AFB TX | |
| 1355 | SCA takeoff | Kelly AFB TX | |
| 1640 | SCA landing | Columbus AFB MS | |
| 1991 Jun 21 | 1125 | SCA takeoff | Columbus AFB MS |
| 1450 | SCA landing | KSC SLF | |
| Major Mod | OPF/2 | ||
| 1991 Aug 7 | Major Mod | OPF/3 | |
| 1991 Aug 9 | 1700 | SCA takeoff | KSC |
| 2045 | SCA landing | MacDill AFB | |
| 1991 Aug 12 | 1430 | SCA takeoff | MacDill AFB |
| 1615 | SCA landing | Kelly AFB TX | |
| 1991 Aug 13 | 1020 | SCA takeoff | Kelly AFB TX |
| 1525 | SCA landing | Palmdale, CA | |
| 1991 Aug 14 | Major Mod at Rockwell | Palmdale | |
| 1992 Feb 5 | Complete Mod | Palmdale | |
| 1992 Feb 9 | 1245 | SCA takeoff | Palmdale |
| 1710 | SCA landing | Ellington Field, TX | |
| 2105 | SCA takeoff | Ellington Fld, TX | |
| 2330 | SCA landing | KSC | |
| 1992 Feb 10 | 0600 | Processing for STS-50 | OPF |
1986-F01
Challenger's last mission began at 1638:00 on 1986 Jan 28. A rubber O-ring seal failed in the aft field joint of the right hand solid rocket booster. The seal failure developed into a hole in the SRB casing, with a tongue of flame playing on the External Tank. The rear attach point joining the SRB to the tank failed 12 seconds after the burnthrough, and the SRB pivoted outward, its nose coming inward and colliding with the nose of the ET. Telemetry from the Shuttle ceased with the words "Uh-oh" from the crew. Disintegration of the External Tank and ignition of its hydrogen fuel created a pressure wave which blew the Orbiter apart. Three minutes after the failure, the crew cabin hit the Atlantic at 3200 km/h. Much of the debris was recovered from the ocean floor and stored at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The SRBs, flying free and relatively intact, were destroyed in flight by the Range Safety Officer. It would be two and a half years before the next Shuttle flight.
The 51-L flight would have entered an initial 100 x 352 km orbit following the OMS-1 burn. ET impact would have been in the Indian Ocean at 80E 28S.
| 51-L | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 Dec 16 | VAB/3 | ||
| 1985 Dec 22 | Rollout | LC39B | |
| 1986 Jan 28 | 1638:00 | Launch | LC39A |
| 1639:00 | RH SRB burnthrough | ||
| 1639:12 | Rear attach point failure | ||
| 1639:13 | RH SRB impacts nose of ET | ||
| 1639 | ET LH2 tank deflagration | ||
| 1639 | Orbiter disintegration | ||
| 1639 | STS stack breakup, 15.5 km alt. | ||
| 1640:26 | Debris apogee, 37 km? | ||
| 1642:46 | Crew cabin and debris impact Atlantic | ||
