Phobos, the inner moon of Mars, as imaged by the Viking 1 orbiter. Viking images of Deimos, Mars's outer moon, can be found at the bottom of this post. Image credit: NASA.In June 1972, NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) in Hampton, Virginia, contracted with Martin Marietta Corporation to look at using spacecraft based on the planned Viking Mars Lander and Orbiter designs to explore the martian ..read more

The Nomad Explorer Very Long Traverse Vehicle (VLTV) with its "power cart" in the background (right). A cable links the cart's nuclear reactor to the VLTV. Note the "periscope" viewing window (below Earth at upper left), robotic arm, and EVA Bell (lower center) Image credit: Madhu ThangaveluNorth America and Europe combined have fewer square kilometers of surface area than the Moon: 36.8 million ..read more

Cislunar abort: the crew of Apollo 13 on the deck of the aircraft carrier Iwo Jima after their safe return to Earth. Pictured are Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise (left), Commander Jim Lovell, and Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert. Image credit: NASA.On 13 April 1970, an oxygen tank exploded in the Apollo 13 Command and Service Module Odyssey, badly damaging the spacecraft 200,000 miles from Earth ..read more

The Project Hyreus mission emblem. Image credit: University of Washington Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.In Greek mythology Hyreus (pronounced "HY-ree-us") is Orion's father. Students in the University of Washington (UW) Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics had a different take on this obscure figure, however. The end of the Cold War and efforts to rein in a galloping U.S ..read more

A recovered ROOST booster is towed back to its seaside home base for refurbishment and relaunch. The recovery fleet and cable arrangements in this painting differ from those described in the December 1962 primary source report for this post. Image credit: Don Charles/Douglas Aircraft Company via San Diego Air & Space Museum.Douglas Aircraft Company's 1962 Reusable One-stage Orbital Space Truck ..read more

Leaving home: Earth as viewed from the Apollo 4 spacecraft on 9 November 1967. Image credit: NASA.It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. (With apologies to Charles Dickens.)For NASA, the year 1967 began with the promise of a bold start for the Apollo Applications Program (AAP), NASA's planned successor to the Apollo lunar program, which would see space station missions in low-Earth ..read more

Periodically I spend some time reviewing articles, scripts, posts, and books I liked writing and think about why I liked writing them. It's a process that takes some time and when applied to the blog shapes future posts, but it doesn't generally produce a really obvious result; that is, I doubt that anyone would be able to tell that I do this just by reading what I write.Until now, that is. It ..read more

Scary ride: second stage and crew cabin of the Bellcomm minimum Mars Excursion Module (MEM) ascent vehicle. The unpressurized cabin would have included few displays and minimal communications. Image credit: Bellcomm/NASA.The NASA Planetary Joint Action Group (JAG) saw the addition of the Mars Surface Sample Returner (MSSR) probe to the piloted Mars/Venus flyby mission scenarios it studied in 1966 ..read more

The Tharsis hemisphere of Mars. The four large volcanoes are marked by clouds and the western half of Valles Marineris is visible at right. Image credit: NASA.In 1977-1978, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Mars Program studied a low-cost "minimum" Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission as a potential follow-on to the Viking missions. Late in 1978, JPL Mars Program engineers called upon the ..read more

Robotic flyby: encapsulated in a streamlined shroud, the Mars-bound Mariner IV spacecraft awaits launch from Florida atop an Atlas-Agena rocket. Image credit: NASA.The piloted Mars/Venus flyby concept — the hallmark of which was a Sun-centered trajectory intersecting one or more planets and beginning and ending at Earth — was first proposed by Gaetano Crocco in 1956, at a time when robotic probes ..read more