Nick's Lists: Top 10 Moments in the History of Spaceflight (5-1)

Before I start, I am sending out a proposal to anyone who cares to listen.  As part of my Nick's Lists series, I have included the honorable mentions as part of the second post.  Do you like it this way?  Please vote in the comments section (or on Facebook)

A. Leave as is (HM's as part of the 5-1 post)
B. Add HM's as part of 10-6 post
C. Make HM's a completely separate post.

As I try to make Caputo's Corner (and Nick's Lists) more user friendly, your feedback is essential, so please take some time to vote in this (highly unscientific) poll.  Thanks. 

In our last edition of Nick's Lists, we took a look at the first 5 of the top 10 moments in the history of spaceflight.  Today we look at the top 5, but of course, we must always start with the HM's.  These were important missions and achieved important milestones, but they were not quite seminal, and did not radically shape the future of space research.  However, they are interesting in their own right.  Let's take a look. 

HM's
-Atlantis links up with Mir 27 June to 7 July 1995 (linkup occured on 29 June)
As we mentioned yesterday, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project made events like this possible, so as significant as it was (the first linking of a US Space Shuttle with a Russian space station), it does not make the top 10.  Also interesting about this mission was the first ever exchange of international space travelers.  Astronaut Norman Thagard had launched with the Russians to the space station, stayed in space for 3 months, then returned to Earth aboard Atlantis.

-Discovery Returns to Flight-26 July 2005 and 29 September 1998
These don't make the list because they were both inevitable.  However, they were significant in more of a symbolic fashion as they proved to the rest of the world that American ingenuity in the face of catastrophe does not waver.  The astronauts who perished in both the Challenger and Columbia accidents would have had it no other way.  The 2nd RTF mission in 2005 was especially unique in that it involved the first ever in-flight repair of a Space Shuttle.  Astronaut Charles Camarda performed a special EVA (that's a spacewalk for those of you not versed in NASA lingo) where he removed a lose connecting tile from the underside of the Shuttle that might have been damaged by a foam strike on the ascent.  The Shuttle returned home safely. 

-Voyager 1 and 2-Launched 5 September 1977 and 20 August 1977
These two little gadgets have given us some of the best images of the outer reaches of the Solar System.  Voyager 1 explored Jupiter and Saturn and Voyager 2 explored both of those as well as Uranus and Neptune.  Sometimes I feel like scientists don't give themselves enough credit, as both of these things (powered by solar) have exceeded their design life by 20 years.  They continue to amaze as they move farther and farther into space, now doing studies of the Kuiper Belt and the outer ice rocks of the Solar System.  Subsequent missions have done more detailed research into the outer planets.  Cassini-Huygens in 2004 comes to mind and the work it did with Saturn and its moon Titan, but the Voyager probes were the true pioneers.  This past December, scientists at JPL noted that the extent of solar wind on the probes has been reduced to essentiall zero and other interstellar winds are starting to direct the motion of the probes. 

-Apollo 17 7 December to 19 December 1972
This was the last scheduled moon mission.  The Apollo Project was originally supposed to go through a 20th mission, but budget cuts at NASA forced the program to end at the 17th.  NASA knew about this prior to Apollo 15, so to compensate for the lack of 3 missions, they essentially crammed 6 missions worth of work into 3.  Apollo 15, 16, and 17 all allowed astronauts to walk the moon longer than any previous Apollo mission had.  Apollo 15 also introduced the rover.  Apollo 17 was not necessarily special in this regard, but it makes the list as (for the moment) it is the last of its kind.  Astronaut Gene Cernan's last word on the moon were a pledge to return in peace.  How soon that will happen is anybody's guess.

-John Glenn orbits the earth-20 February 1962
3 times a matter of fact.  As the Americans continued to play the game of astronomical chicken with the USSR, John Glenn's flight was essentially telling the Soviets "anything you can do we can do better."  This mission served as a very important stepping stone (moreso really than Alan Shepard's suborbital flight) toward the Gemini Program and the Apollo Project after that.  He retired from NASA in 1965 to pursue a career in politics in Ohio, then returned to space in 1988 aboard STS 95.  Both times he flew, he received a ticker tape parade in honor of his accomplishments.

Alright, all you astrogeeks.  Here it comes: the top 5 Moments in the History of Spaceflight!  Are these your top 5 as well?

5) Apollo 13-11 April to 17 April 1970

The "successful failure."  This is the mission that Hollywood decided to make a movie about, not that other one.  Why?  Nobody landed on the moon.  The Service Module was destroyed, and the crew nearly perished.  Hollywood made a movie about this because of the compelling story, but at the same time demonstrated human ingenuity and thinking on their feet in the most packed of pressure packed scenarios.  How do you fit a square peg into a round hole (the captions are I think in Russian in this clip)?  I have no idea, but NASA engineers in Houston had mere hours to figure that out, or the crew would have asphyxiated from CO2 poisoning.  Sure enough, their makeshift "filter" is now on display in the Smithsonian.  What you saw were very smart, but very nervous men keeping their cool, and solving problem after problem...far more than Jack Swigert could have imagined when he uttered his famous line "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here."  Apollo 13 is a testament to what the human mind can really do when you push it to the limit. 


4) Vostok 1 (Yuri Gagarin)-12 April 1961



Vostok 1 on blastoff

 In the early part of the Space Race, the Russians were leaving the Americans in the dust.   This included Yuri Gagarin becoming the first human to escape the pull of Earth's gravity, complete one full orbit, and return safely to Earth.  The Americans were originally planning on launching a suborbital flight prior to the end of 1960, but technical issues and poor weather concerns kept perpetually pushing the launch date back until May of 1961.  Therefore, the Russians won this battle in the Space Race.  If you're keeping score, the Russians had a 3-0 lead on the Americans: first artificial satellite (see below), first live organism in space (space dog Laika), and first man in space (Gagarin).  Events like this one gave the president at the time (JFK) enough of an impetus to fire his first true salvo in the Space Race.  However, he wanted to make sure that Shepard's flight was successful so that we could have accomplished something.  As soon as that happened, the next item on our countdown happened. 

3) JFK Moon Speech-25 May 1961

"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. We propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed, until certain which is superior. We propose additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned explorations--explorations which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation will never overlook: the survival of the man who first makes this daring flight. But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon--if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there."-John F. Kennedy-25 May 1961



John Kennedy speaks to Congress

 This was a political speech more than anything else.  National morale was taking a hit, so JFK attempted to do a little bit to boost it.  This speech was a first step.  The Bay of Pigs disaster had happened.  The Soviets were running away and hiding with the Space Race.  The USA had just completed Alan Shepard's suborbital flight, so he had something with which to work.  I don't know if even he was confident that his goal of landing on the moon before 1970 could be realized.  However, he realized very astutely that he needed to make this speech because he knew people would be listening.  In order to win the Cold War, he knew he needed the backing of the people, and by giving them quasi-realistic expectations that we would land on the moon and return (as well as the funding to do it), he would get that boost the country so desperately needed.  NASA also stood notice.  They were about to receive millions of dollars in funding...and they were given a clear goal as to how to use it.  This speech vaulted the Mercury Program forward, and the Gemini Program after that. 

2) Sputnik-4 October 1957


Sputnik replica on display at the National
Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC



The original "bucket of bolts" that started it all.  As a satellite, the original Sputnik was pretty useless.  All it did was essentially beep (a signal that could be picked up by amateur radio).  However, the dawn of the Space Age had officially begun.  It had proven that the Soviets had the technology necessary to launch objects such as Sputnik into orbit.  If the Soviets had that technology, what else could they launch?  The big fear back then (as was the case throughout the duration of the Cold War), was that the launch capabilities would be used to fire nuclear missiles at the United States.  In 1957, the US Space Program had not even been established.  NASA wasn't even NASA, it was NACA (the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics).  NACA had by 1957 conducted successful experiments with the X-15 airplane, which had reached the upper extents of Earth's atmosphere, proving that reaching space was in fact possible.  However, future experiments did not get off the ground until the passing of the National Space Act in 1958, providing funding for the newly born NASA.  What started with a little beeping sphere with whiskers eventually worked all the way up to.......

1) Apollo 11 Lands on Mare Tranquilitatis-20 July 1969



Buzz Aldrin, as photographed by Neil Armstrong.
You can see his reflection in the visor.



What can you possibly say about this event?  No other achievement in human history even comes close to what we accomplished on this date.  We invented the wheel.  We flew a plane.  We drove a car.  WE WALKED ON THE MOON!!!!!!  People remember exactly where they were the moment the Eagle landed, and the moment Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first historic steps on a heavenly body other than Earth.  The quotes from the day have stood the test of time. 

"Houston, Tranquility Base here.  The Eagle has landed." 

At first, Mission Control didn't exactly know what to think when they heard Armstrong say those words.  The lunar module was running dangerously low on fuel at touchdown (only about 25 seconds left).  The crew received several navigation alarms on the final descent.   They had even overshot their planned landing field by several miles.  Yet, they landed safely, checked out the status of the ship, and surely enough found out that they could take back off and meet up with Michael Collins in the command module Columbia.  Therefore, after about 5 hours of sleep (which the astronauts did not use because quite frankly...they couldn't) and an accellerated EVA preparation...at 10:56 PM Eastern Time (9:56 in Houston)...

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"

NASA had mounted a special leg mounted camera to watch Armstrong descend the ladder of the lunar module and touch the lunar surface.  It had been predetermined long before the mission that Armstrong (as mission commander) would get to come out of the module first and Aldrin (the lunar module pilot) would come out second.   Millions watched around the world.  The crew conducted several science experiments, including a lunar seismograph, collected nearly 50 pounds of moon rocks, and planted an American flag.  The two astronauts stayed on the surface for a grand total of about 24 hours.  

Watch the landing of the Eagle here.

Watch Neil Armstrong step off the LEM ladder here.

Walter Cronkite gives a retrospective as a journalist on that day here.

The descent stage, flag, and experiments remains on the moon (and those of the 5 other Apollo missions that landed on the moon), as well as other man made objects that either crashed there or landed safely to conduct experiments before losing power.  To this day, no other achievement in science, engineering, or anything else has come close to matching the amazing success that was Apollo 11.  Maybe one day we will make it back there, perhaps even farther.  However, until that day comes, we will still have the memories (and experiments) that the Apollo Project left in our care. 

Before I conclude this post, I feel like one more thing must be addressed, albeit very briefly.  There are several unfortunate individuals out there who believe that the moon landings were mere hoaxes.  They believe that NASA and the US government spent billions of dollars to essentially fake a moon landing in order to win the Space Race and because the Soviets had no means of proving it.  They cite the Van Allen radiation belts as being an impossible obstacle to overcome.  Well, I'm sorry.  These claims are pure bogus.  To help understand how these myths were debunked, I turn to everybody's favorite scientific debunkers... the MYTHBUSTERS!  There are several myth purported by the conspiracy theorists that were debunked by the Mythbusters.  Please take a look at their work all over Youtube. 

I'm sorry, I get goosebumps any time I talk about the moon landings, so I apologize if that last item ran a bit long, but hey?  You know you loved it.  Stay tuned for more episodes of Nick's Lists.