Space Travel and Equipment

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Space Travel and Equipment
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Mercury Spacecraft

• Cone-shaped, one man capsule
• Measured 2 meters long, 1.9 meters in diameter,
  and a 5.8 meter escape tower was fastened to the
  cylinder of the capsule

http//www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/mercury
/mercury-spacecraft.htm
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Mercury Project

• It used 2 launch vehicles
• Redstone used for the suborbital flights
• Atlas used for the 4 orbital manned flights

http//www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/mercury
/mercury-spacecraft.htm
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Mercury Redstone Freeedom 7

• May 5, 1961
• Astronaut Alan B. Shepard
• First American into space
• Duration of flight 15min. 28 sec.

http//www.thespaceplace.com/history/mercury/mercu
ry03.html
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Mercury Friendship 7

• February 20, 1962
• First American spacecraft to orbit the Earth
• Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. manned the flight

http//www.thespaceplace.com/history/mercury/mercu
ry03.html
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John H. Glenn Jr. entering the capsule of
Mercury- Atlas 6 Friendship 7 spacecraft

• This capsule of the spacecraft is the only part
  that re-entered Earths atmosphere

http//www.apolloexplorer.co.uk/default.asp?libsrc
/photo/html/MA6/10073638.htm
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Mercury - Atlas 6 Friendship 7 spacecraft at
launch

• This entire spacecraft was present at launch
• Only a small portion of it returned to Earth

http//www.apolloexplorer.co.uk/default.asp?libsrc
/photo/html/MA6/10073643.htm
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Mercury Atlas 6 Friendship 7 retrieved from the
Atlantic Ocean waters after returning from
space.

• http//www.apolloexplorer.co.uk/default.asp?libsrc
  /photo/html/MA6/10073658.htm

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Gemini Project

• The spacecraft was an enlargement of the Mercury
  capsule
• Measured 5.8 meters long, 3 meters in diameter,
  and weighed 8,400 pounds
• New engineering simplified maintenance and made
  it more maneuverable for the pilots
• Each flight was designated by a Roman Numeral

http//science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/gemini/gemini-
spacecraft.txt
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Preparing for 1st Gemini Flight

• Gemini spacecraft in launch area prior to take off

John Young making final checks of spacecraft
during training.
http//images.jsc.nasa.gov/search/search.cgi
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Gemini spacecraft on launch pad

• March 23, 1965
• First manned flight in Gemini was by astronauts
  Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young

http//images.jsc.nasa.gov/luceneweb/fullimage.jsp
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Apollo Spacecraft

• It was a 3-part spacecraft
• 1) Command Module
• 2) Service Module (propulsion and support system)
• Together these 2 systems CSM
• 3) Lunar Module

http//www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/apollo/
apollo-spacecraft.htm
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Apollo Spacecraft

• The Lunar Module
• This module would take 2 crew members to the
  lunar surface and then return them to the CSM in
  lunar orbit.

http//www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/apollo/
apollo-spacecraft.htm
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Lunar Orbit Rendezvous

• A single rocket (powered in three stages) would
  fire a 3 part spacecraft into Earths orbit
• Once in Earths orbit the last stage of the
  rocket would fire and send the spacecraft into
  lunar orbit
• Once in the lunar orbit, two of the crew members
  would put on spacesuits and climb into the lunar
  module and take it to the lunar surface
• Then the lunar module would re-dock with the CSM
  while in orbit with the moon.

http//oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Rendezvous.html
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Apollo 11 Mission

• Goal To perform a manned lunar landing and get
  home safely
• The astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin
  Jr., and Michael Collins
• This mission put the first man on the moon

http//www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/apollo/
apollo-11/apollo-11.htm
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The Lunar ModuleThe Eagle has landed
This picture is from the Apollo 11 mission. It
was the first mission to put a man on the moon.
http//www.apolloexplorer.co.uk/hires/as11/53.htm
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That's one step for man, one giant leap for
mankind.Neil Armstrong( stepping on to the
Moon, July 31, 1969)
http//www.apolloexplorer.co.uk/hires/as11/45.htm
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Space Shuttle Flight Program

• It took 9 years to develop the space shuttle
• Most notable Feature Reusability

http//history.nasa.gov/sts1/
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How it works

• The shuttle has 3 liquid fueled engines
• An external tank
• 2 Solid Rocket Boosters
• _at_ an altitude of 31 miles the 2 boosters were
  separated from the shuttle and fell back to Earth
• After the shuttle entered Earths orbit the
  external tank also separated
• The space shuttle landed back on Earth like a
  regular aircraft

http//history.nasa.gov/sts1/pages/columbia.html
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First Space Shuttle Flight

• Shuttle Columbia
• April 12, 1981
• Circled the Earth in less than 2 hours
• Orbited Earth 36 times

http//history.nasa.gov/sts1/pages/columbia.html
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Columbia at Launch
http//images.jsc.nasa.gov/luceneweb/fullimage.jsp
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Columbia Landing
http//images.jsc.nasa.gov/luceneweb/fullimage.jsp