UMSF space history photo of the month |
UMSF space history photo of the month |
Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Jan 3 2008, 06:23 PM
Post
#1
|
Guests |
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. |
|
|
Mar 30 2008, 10:48 AM
Post
#2
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
There used to be a distinction between hard and soft landing and it's certainly valid. A "hard lander" is one that does a controlled crash landing and survives. Even at low speed, like the Venera 7 and 8 landing spheres. A "Soft lander" is one that does not need all-sides protection during landing.. it lands on footpads, like Surveyors, Apollo, Viking, Venera 9 through Vega 2, Hayabusa, NEAR, Huygens, and Phoenix. It's more than just a "landing you can walk away from". Not trivial.
Luna 9 was the first successful landing on the moon. It got the real prize for being first. Surveyor 1 was the first soft landing, a technical quibble, but not a trivial one. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 31st October 2024 - 11:47 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |