UMSF space history photo of the month Options

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Maybe we could make this a monthly item, in which we could look back at the history of Unmanned Space missions.
For January 2008 I've chosen an image showing the coverage of the Sun by early Pioneer 5-8 spacecraft.
Pioneer 5 to 8, or Pioneer V to VIII using the system of Roman numerals in vogue during the early 1960s for spacecraft designations, were directed towards the Sun along the earth's orbit to monitor solar activity. Pioneer V was launched on 11th March 1960 and provided the very first space weather report 4 to 8 hours before a solar storm hit the Earth.
Some of this Pioneer quartet, Pioneer 6-7-8 even provided updates on our Sun's activity during the early Apollo Moon landings in order to check the damaging potential of solar flares to affect the astronauts.

[nprev]

...could well be, Gladstoner! The early days of UMSF were (who'd've guessed?) very much like the early days of aviation.

Phil, thanks for that great Surveyor illustration...beautiful!!! One minor typo in your excellent synopsis, though; Surveyor 3 was visited by Apollo 12, not 14.

Conrad & Bean also removed some parts of the spacecraft and returned them to Earth to study the effects of two years of exposure to lunar conditions. One big surprise was the discovery of viable bacteria on these parts (Pseudomonas, I think), still living after two years on the Moon without protection.