Space History for September 7

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1829
Born, August Kekule von Stradonitz, discovered the structure of the benzene ring, one of the most prominent chemists in Europe from the 1850s until his death
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1868
J. C. Watson discovered asteroid #103 Hera.

1889
Born, Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer, founder and director of KLM
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1896
M. Wolf discovered asteroids #418 Alemannia, #419 Aurelia, #420 Bertholda and #421 Zahringia.

1902
M. Wolf discovered asteroid #493 Griseldis.

1907
A. Kopff discovered asteroid #644 Cosima.

1914
Born, James Van Allen, US physicist, space scientist, discovered the Van Allen radiation belts, instrumental in establishing the field of magnetospheric research in space
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1920
K. Reinmuth discovered asteroid #935 Clivia.

1921
K. Reinmuth discovered asteroid #957 Camelia.

1924
V. Albitzkij discovered asteroid #1034 Mozartia.

1931
K. Reinmuth discovered asteroid #1198 Atlantis.

1934
C. Jackson discovered asteroid #1327 Namaqua; K. Reinmuth discovered asteroids #1335 Demoulina, #1669 Dagmar, #1742 Schaifers, #2057 Rosemary, #2664 Everhart and #3289.

1936
Benjamin, the last surviving member of the thylacine species (Tasmanian Tiger) died alone in his cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania, locked out of his sleeping quarters in cold weather.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1939
Born, Stanley David Griggs (at Portland, Oregon, USA), Rear Admiral USNR, NASA astronaut (STS 51-D; nearly 7 days in spaceflight) (deceased)

Astronaut S. David Griggs, NASA photo
Source: Wikipedia (www.jsc.nasa.gov unavailable September 2019)
ref: www.nasa.gov

1942
Y. Vaisala discovered asteroids #2292 Seili and #3223.

1947
E. L. Johnson discovered asteroid #1585 Union.

1948
H. L. Giclas discovered asteroid #3382.

1956
During X-2 Flight 19, the 12th (rocket) powered Bell X-2 flight, USAF Capt. Iven C. Kincheloe set an unofficial altitude record for manned flight at Edwards AFB, Calif., piloting the aircraft to height 126,283 ft (38.491 km) with a top speed of Mach 1.7.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1956
Goethe Link Observatory discovered asteroids #2160 Spitzer and #2165 Young.

1958 10:33:00 GMT
Black Knight 1 was launched to a new record altitude of 564 km from Woomera, Australia, Great Britain's first rocket to reach space.
ref: www.nielspapermodels.com

1959
Goethe Link Observatory discovered asteroid #2466 Golson.

1962
Goethe Link Observatory discovered asteroid #1766 Slipher, #1767 Lampland, #1827 Atkinson, #2110 Moore-Sitterly, #2624 Samitchell, #2751 Campbell and #3180.

1966
P. Wild discovered asteroid #1748 Mauderli.

1967 22:04:00 GMT
NASA launched Biosatellite 2 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, which returned a biological capsule to Earth after 45 hours in orbit.

NASA launched Biosatellite 2 on 7 September 1967. The scientific payload, consisting of 13 select biology and radiation experiments, was exposed to microgravity during 45 hours of Earth orbital flight. Experimental biology packages on the spacecraft contained a variety of specimens, including insects, frog eggs, microorganisms and plants. The planned three day mission was recalled early because of the threat of a tropical storm in the recovery area, and because of a communication problem between the spacecraft and the tracking systems. The primary objective of the Biosatellite II mission was to determine if organisms were more or less sensitive to ionizing radiation in a microgravity environment than on Earth. To study this question, an artificial source of radiation was supplied to a group of experiments mounted in the forward part of the spacecraft.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1971
USSR Luna 18 entered orbit around the Moon.

Luna 18 was launched 2 September 1971, a month after the spacecraft's designer, Babakhin, had died at age 56. It was placed in an Earth parking orbit after launch, before being put on a translunar trajectory. On 7 September 1971, Luna 18 entered Lunar orbit, using a new method of navigation in Lunar orbit and for landing. The spacecraft completed 85 communications sessions and 54 Lunar orbits before it was sent towards the Lunar surface by use of braking rockets, in an attempted Lunar soil return mission, on 11 September 1971. It crashed while attempting to soft land, impacting the Moon in rugged mountainous terrain near Mare Fecunditatis at Latitude 3.57 (3 deg 34 min) N, Longitude 50.50 (56 deg 30 min) E (selenographic coordinates). Signals ceased at the moment of impact.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1972
A. R. Klemola discovered asteroid #2202 Pele.

1977
N. Chernykh discovered asteroid #3544; P. Wild discovered asteroid #2229 Mezzarco.

1980
E. Bowell discovered asteroids #2598 Merlin, #2878 Panacea and #3351 Smith; N. Chernykh discovered asteroids #2869 Nepryadva and #3444.

1981
L. G. Karachkina discovered asteroid #3620.

1985
H. Debehogne discovered asteroid #3458.

1988
Died, Erich Kaschig, German rocket test engineer, member of the US German Rocket Team after the World War II, worked the remainder of his life with the rocket team at Fort Bliss, White Stands and Huntsville

Erich Kaschig (11 February 1906 - 7 September 1988) was born in Breslau, Germany. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Breslau Technical College in 1928, and started working in Kummersdorf in 1937, acting as the subforeman for combustion chamber production and testing from 1938 to 1939. He became the foreman for testing and firing at Peenemunde after test facilities had been set up there.

Kaschig was part of the team that surrendered to the American forces after World War II, arriving at Fort Bliss 16 November 1945. He worked there until the team moved to Redstone Arsenal in 1950. After working for the Army for ten years, he transferred to NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center. He was the Chief of the Tower Test Section of the systems Test branch of the Test Division at MSFC in 1961, and retired from NASA in 1966.

Kaschig remained in Huntsville for the rest of his life after retiring from NASA.
ref: www.astronautix.com

1988
The crippled Soviet Soyuz TM-5 orbiter landed safely with 2 cosmonauts aboard.

USSR launched Soyuz TM-5 on 7 June 1988, transporting to the Mir orbital station a Soviet/Bulgarian crew comprised of cosmonauts A. Y. Solovyev, V. P. Savinykh and A. P. Aleksandrov (Bulgaria), to conduct joint research and experiments with cosmonauts V. G. Titov and M. K. Manarov. It initially entered an interim orbit 343 x 282 km, then maneuvered to Mir's 355 x 349 km orbit. Soyuz TM-5 docked 15:57 GMT 9 June to Mir's aft port, and was moved to the forward port on 18 June.

Soyuz TM-5 undocked from Mir at 22:55 GMT 5 September 1988, and jettisoned the Orbital Module at 23:35 GMT. The planned landing at 02:15 6 September failed due to confusion of the infrared horizon sensors. The repeat retrofire attempt one orbit later resulted only in a partial burn. The crew had to spend a tense 24 hours in the cramped Descent Module (the Orbital Module having already been jettisoned before the retrofire burn) before making a last chance to deorbit. Finally Lyakhov and Afghani cosmonaut Mohmand (Soyuz TM-6) returned safely to Earth, and landed 00:50 GMT 7 September 1988, 160 km SE of Dzhezkazgan.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1990 11:59:00 GMT
USSR launched the Resurs F-9 landsat from Plesetsk, which also carried a German microgravity experiment, to investigate natural resources in the interest of the USSR national economy, for solution of ecology problems, and for international cooperation.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1991
Died, John H. Lawrence, American physicist and physician best known for pioneering the field of nuclear medicine, examined the effect of neutron radiation on fabric
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1992
During the 5h 8m Mir EO-12-2 EVA, Mir cosmonauts Solovyov and Avdeyev continued the installation of the VDU thruster pod on the Sofora tower while the ground stations of independent Ukraine suspended service, severely limiting communications with TsUP.
ref: www.spacefacts.de

1993
Died, Dmitri Alekseyevich Polukhin, Russian engineer, Chief Designer and General Director of the Salyut design bureau (1973-1993), led development of the Proton booster, responsible for design of 5 Mir modules (Kvant, Kvant 2, Kristall, Spektr, Priroda)
ref: books.google.com

1995 11:09:00 EDT (GMT -4:00:00)
NASA launched STS 69 (Endeavour 9, 71st Shuttle mission), carrying the SPARTAN 201-03 and WSF-2 experiment platforms to orbit.

The launch of STS 69 was originally set for 5 August, but postponed indefinitely to allow further review of solid rocket motor nozzle joint hardware from the two previous missions, STS 70 and STS 71. An inspection team was formed to assess the significance of a gas path in nozzle internal joint number 3, extending from the insulation in the motor chamber to, but not past, the primary O-ring seal. The team concluded the nozzle joint design was sound and that gas paths were being created when Room Temperature Vulcanizing (RTV) insulation material was applied. Small air pockets were forming in the thermal insulation that could later become pathways for hot gas during motor operation. Attention then focused on developing procedures to allow Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) inspection of the insulation at the pad, and a new launch date of 31 August was set. Nozzle joint insulation of boosters assigned to missions STS 73 and STS 74 was also repaired at KSC, but that work did not impact the launch schedule. The 31 August launch try was scrubbed about five and a half hours before liftoff due to failure of one of the orbiter's three fuel cells. Fuel cell No. 2 indicated higher than allowable temperatures during activation as the countdown proceeded. The fuel cell was removed and replaced. The liftoff on 7 September was preceded by a smooth countdown.

STS 69 marked the first time two different payloads were deployed and retrieved during same mission. It also featured an extravehicular activity to practice for International Space Station activities, and to evaluate space suit design modifications.

First of the two primary payloads, Spartan 201-03, was deployed on flight day two. This was third Spartan 201 mission in a planned series of four. Its primary objective was to study the outer atmosphere of the Sun and its transition into the solar wind that constantly flows past Earth. Timing of the Spartan 201-03 flight was intended to coincide with the passage of the Ulysses spacecraft over the Sun's north polar region to expand the range of data being collected about the origins of the solar wind. The Spartan 201-03 configuration featured two scientific instruments, the Ultraviolet Coronal Spectrometer (UVCS) and the White Light Coronagraph (WLC). UVCS measured characteristics of light emitted by neutral hydrogen atoms in the solar corona, the outermost portion of the sun's atmosphere from which the solar wind evolves. The WLC imaged the changing shape and form of the corona.

Concerns arose about the performance of the two instruments when Spartan was retrieved after about two days of data-gathering. As the orbiter approached the free-flying spacecraft, it was rotating slowly, and located in a different attitude than expected for retrieval. However, later analysis confirmed UVCS and WLC operated smoothly, with WLC obtaining good data over 95 percent of the planned observing sequence and UVCS preliminary data found to be excellent. Analysis was under way to determine why Spartan behaved as it did prior to retrieval.

The second primary payload, Wake Shield Facility-2 (WSF-2), was deployed on flight day five, and became first spacecraft to maneuver itself away from the orbiter, rather than other way around, by firing a small cold gas nitrogen thruster to maneuver away from Endeavour. WSF-2 was the second in planned series of four flights. WSF is a 12 foot (3.7 meter) diameter stainless steel disk designed to generate an ultravacuum environment in space within which to grow thin films for next generation advanced electronics.

Seven thin film growth runs were planned, but after three successful growths, WSF-2 placed itself in safe mode. Mission planners decided to extend the WSF-2 flying time by about 24 hours to allow all seven thin film growths to be performed. However, as preparations began to resume operations after a 20-hour hiatus, payload controllers on the ground could not trigger the flow of the thin film material and the WSF-2 was once again shut down. Film growth activities resumed after a six-hour cool-down of the WSF-2 instruments, and when spacecraft was retrieved on flight day eight, four successful thin film growth runs had been completed.

WSF-2 was unberthed and hung over the side of Endeavour's cargo bay one final time for the Charging Hazards and Wake Studies (CHAWS) experiment, an Air Force sponsored experiment to collect data on the buildup of electrical fields around an orbiting space vehicle.

On flight day ten, Voss and Gernhardt conducted a six hour, 46 minute spacewalk, completing the final primary objective of STS 69. They evaluated thermal improvements made to their extravehicular activity suits and reported they remained comfortable, and also tested a variety of tools and techniques that may be used in assembly of International Space Station.

Additional payloads flown on STS 69 were: International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH-1), to measure and monitor long-term variations in magnitude of absolute extreme ultraviolet flux coming from the Sun; Solar Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (SEH), to accurately measure solar flux in the extreme ultraviolet region of the solar spectrum; Consortium for Materials Development in Space Complex Autonomous Payload (CONCAP IV-3), the third flight of an experiment that studies the growth of organic nonlinear optical crystals and thin films; Shuttle GLO experiment (GLO-3) to study the luminous shroud observed by astronauts on pervious Shuttle missions; Ultraviolet Spectrograph Telescope for Astronomical Research (UVSTAR), a pair of telescopes that measure extreme ultraviolet and far ultraviolet emissions and complemented SEH described above; Capillary Pumped Loop/Get Away Special Bridge Assembly (CAPL-2/GBA) consisting of the CAPL-2 Hitchhiker payload, the Thermal Energy Storage-2 (TES-2) payload in a GAS container, as well as four other GAS experiments on a single cross-bay structure.

In-cabin payloads included Space Tissue Loss/National Institutes of Health-Cells (STL-NIH-C); Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus-7 (CGBA); Biological Research in Canister (BRIC); Electrolysis Performance Improvement Concept Study (EPICS) and Commercial MDA ITA Experiments (CMIX-4).

STS 69 was also the second flight of a "dog crew," a flight crew tradition that began on STS 53, on which both Walker and Voss flew. As the Dog Crew II, each STS 69 astronaut adopted a dogtag or nickname: Walker was Red Dog; Cockrell was Cujo; Voss, Dog Face; Newman, Pluto; and Gernhardt, Under Dog.

STS 69 ended on 18 September 1995 when Endeavour landed on revolution 171 on Runway 33, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on the first opportunity at KSC. Rollout distance: 10,230 feet (3,118 meters). Rollout time: 56 seconds. Orbit altitude: 190 nautical miles. Orbit inclination: 28.4 degrees. Mission duration: ten days, 20 hours, 28 minutes, 56 seconds. Miles traveled: 4.5 million.

The flight crew for STS 69 was: David M. Walker, Commander; Kenneth D. Cockrell, Pilot; James S. Voss, Payload Commander; James H. Newman, Mission Specialist 2; Michael L. Gernhardt, Mission Specialist 3.
ref: www.nasa.gov

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