astronautix.com | August 15 |
Tsien Hsue-shen, father of Chinese rocketry and spaceflight, leaves China on a Boxer Rebellion Scholarship to study at MIT. References: 31 .
Launched 11:00 local time. Reached 6.5 km. Carried cosmic radiation experiments for Palmer Physics Lab, Princeton University.
Ziese resumed flight with the final version of the 346, the 346-3.
Payload, instruments, left and right animal containers all recovered. Smoke container failed. Carried dogs. References: 283 , 344 .
William Bridgeman flew the D-558-II Skyrocket to 79,494 feet, highest altitude attained by a human being to date. References: 17 .
First stand tests of production 8D51 engines began on 15 August 1952.
Von Braun report 'A Minimum Satellite Vehicle Based on Components Available from Developments of the Army Ordnance Corps' in response to June Pentagon meeting proposes $ 100,000 to launch satellite by Redstone. References: 86 .
NACA flight 14. Pilot check. Nose landing gear failed on landing, minor damage. References: 49 , 97 .
A section devoted to the spacecraft was formed on 15 August 1958. Konstantin Feoktistov was one of the leading enthusiasts in this effort.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency ARPA provided the Army Ordnance Missile Command (AOMC) with authority and initial funding to develop the Juno V (later named Saturn launch vehicle. ARPA Order 14 described the project: "Initiate a development program to provide a large space vehicle booster of approximately 1.5 million pounds of thrust based on a cluster of available rocket engines. The immediate goal of this program is to demonstrate a full-scale captive dynamic firing by the end of calendar year 1959." Within AOMC, the Juno V project was assigned to the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal Huntsville, Ala. References: 17 , 27 .
The astronauts began their initial centrifuge training at the Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory. During the first part of the month Space Task Group personnel had installed and checked out Mercury spacecraft simulation equipment at the Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory in preparation for the astronaut centrifuge training program. References: 483 .
NASA announced selection of Plasmadyne Corp. for contract negotiations on a 1-kilowatt electric arc jet rocket engine. References: 17 .
At first the launch vehicle was simply to consist of 4 two-stage UR-200 rockets lashed together, the first and second stages working in parallel in clusters. A third stage would be modified from the UR-200 second stage. However study of this configuration, which included manufacturing of a dynamic test article, indicated that the payload capacity could not meet the military’s requirements. References: 273 .
U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, marking official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia
Jettisoned KRT-10 antenna from rear docking port. References: 66 .
Ferry flight, shuttle carrier aircraft/Enterprise (OV-101), Ogden to Vandenberg AFB (2 hours, 20 minutes) References: 15 .
First launch from Jingyu test site. References: 87 .
The OK-KS Buran systems test stand was built at NPO Energia to conduct tests not possible on other stands. These included electrical layout, pneumo-hydraulic tests in abort conditions, EMI tests, failure mode response, telemetry, interface with the launch vehicle, software systems test. The test series was completed in March 1984. 77% of the tests of the OK were automated, compared with only 5% for the Soyuz-TM.
Following the decision to make the first flight of Energia without a Buran orbiter, in August-September 1986 further UKSS tests of Energia were conducted. These used a dummy payload and solid rocket motors to simulate loads from the booster rockets.
Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation. References: 1 , 2 , 6 .
Unmanned resupply vessel to Mir. Delivered cables for rewiring operations and equipment for Soyuz TM-11 Japanese journalist flight. Docked with Mir on 17 Aug 1990 05:26:13 GMT. Undocked on 17 Sep 1990 12:42:43 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 20 Sep 1990 11:42:49 GMT. Total free-flight time 5.02 days. Total docked time 31.30 days. References: 1 , 2 , 6 , 275 .
Also carried US TOMS instrument. Gathering of hydrometeorological data; testing of data-gathering and measuring equipment, of optical and mechanical television and radiometric scanning apparatus, of instruments for geophysical research and of methods for the remote sensing of the atmosph ere and the Earth's surface for various branches of the USSR economy and science; charting the state of the ozone layer, using American TOMS equipment. References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 115 .
First launch from Space Launch Complex 6 involved the Lockheed Launch Vehicle I (LLV-1), carrying the commercial satellite GEMSTAR. References: 88 .
Global Electronic Messaging Satellite;. References: 5 .