Questions tagged [spaceflight]
Human exploration of space, whether by manned spacecraft or unmanned probes.
32
questions
21
votes
8
answers
9k
views
Why did the Soviets not shoot down US spy satellites during the Cold War?
The USSR was not happy with unauthorised overflights, shooting down everything it could, from spy balloons to U-2s. Also, despite repeated US proposals, something like the Open Skies treaty was only ...
- 4,645
16
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Which state capital did the Apollo 11 command module NOT visit after it returned from the moon?
According to Wikipedia, after Apollo 11 returned from the Moon:
The command module Columbia went on a tour of the United States, visiting 49 state capitals, the District of Columbia, and Anchorage, ...
- 275
1
vote
0
answers
122
views
Did Wernher von Braun ever have a position of authority over astronaut program or Moon landings?
I'm aware that Wernher von Braun was director of the Marshall Space Flight Center and as such focused on the development of launch vehicles, but the recent alternate history of the space race, For All ...
- 1,026
35
votes
5
answers
8k
views
Why did the Soviet Union out-pace the US during the space-race?
At the end of World War II, the US Government's Operation Paperclip plucked rocket scientists from Germany and brought them to the U.S. to work on military weapons. Most famous among these scientists ...
- 473
27
votes
6
answers
5k
views
What is the earliest mention of space travel?
What was the earliest mention in recorded history of travel through space? Admittedly, I am not really a history buff, but I am writing a scientific paper related to space travel, so I wanted to give ...
- 381
3
votes
0
answers
99
views
How successful was the NDEA?
The National Defence Education Act (NDEA) was passed shortly after the Soviet launch of the satellite Sputnik I with the goal of remedying what the American government believed to be a gap in ...
2
votes
0
answers
227
views
How many people watched the moon landings after Apollo 11?
I'm currently writing an essay on the history of Spaceflight. I remember hearing before that interest in the Apollo program waned after Apollo 11, that TV ratings of the moon missions gradually ...
- 129
5
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Did Yuri Gagarin really mention Anna Magnani in his flight in space?
This NYTimes article about the Italian actress Anna Magnani states:
Perhaps the best way to describe her effect on audiences is to quote from a documentary on the Italian actress by the Belgian film ...
- 51
5
votes
1
answer
265
views
What were the international space arrangements and scientific purposes Eisenhower spoke of in October 1957?
Background: Explorer 1 was successfully launched into orbit by the US 1958-02-01 about four months after Sputnik 1 was successfully launched by the Soviet Union 1957-10-04, and Vanguard 1 wasn't ...
- 1,765
1
vote
0
answers
166
views
Why was a civilian chosen over two military officers to be mission commander of Apollo 11?
Neil Armstrong was a civilian when he joined NASA's astronaut corps. He became the first civilian in space.
Buzz Aldrin was on active duty in the US Air Force during his astronaut training for NASA. ...
- 139
10
votes
2
answers
314
views
Who was the first human to survive a vertical launched rocket flight?
In 1961 Yuri Gagarin flew a rocket and survived, parachuting safely back to earth.
According to Wikipedia, Lothar Sieber, a German pilot, tested a rocket in 1945 but died in the first test flight.
So ...
- 101
26
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Why did Jodrell Bank assist the Soviet Union to collect data from their spacecraft in the mid 1960's?
I've just listened to the short BBC News audio podcast clip How British academics spied on the superpowers:
Tim O’Brien from the Jodrell Bank radio telescope discusses 50 year old recordings which ...
- 1,765
59
votes
2
answers
15k
views
Have any astronauts or cosmonauts died in space?
When I lived on the Space Coast I overheard gossip that one or more cosmonauts died in space.
Is there any truth to this?
I’m not asking about deaths from those disasters like Challenger, Columbia, ...
- 715
34
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Who, if anyone, was the first astronaut to return to earth in a different vessel?
I assume, with the advent of the ISS, it is common for astronauts to return to earth in a different capsule to the one in which they first left the atmosphere. (I may be wrong) but who were the ...
- 1,070
4
votes
1
answer
893
views
Did the Soviet military in fact fear that the Space Shuttle would be used as an orbital bomber? If so, why?
I have read on this blog (scroll down to section "what happened to make it fail) dedicated to failed cold war space projects that the Soviet leadership was deeply concerned about the STS, fearing that ...
- 4,364
3
votes
1
answer
496
views
Were there commercials in the original broadcast of the moon landings, and how much did they go for?
I was pondering the future value of advertisements on the live broadcast of the inevitable eventual Mars landing, and it led me to wonder about this.
14
votes
2
answers
886
views
Who flew the T-38 "Missing Man" formation at the Challenger Memorial service at JSC, 31 January 1986?
President Ronald Reagan at Memorial Service for Challenger Crew.
Photo courtesy of NASA
On January 31, 1986 I attended the memorial service at Johnson Space Center for the STS-51-L Challenger crew. I ...
- 6,167
4
votes
1
answer
503
views
How did the Apollo-Soyuz test project affect the relationship between the USSR and USA during the cold war?
Did the Apollo-Soyuz test project really impact the relationship of the the USA and USSR politically? And if so, in what way?
- 51
1
vote
1
answer
175
views
How did the development in education impact the curiosity and creativity in German society pre and post WWI? [closed]
I am currently researching this question; I know that the educational system focused more on science and math after the war which could have allowed for more curiosity and creativity in scientific ...
- 27
15
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What did Yuri Gagarin do while waiting for his ride?
So I found out from a post on skeptics:SE that when Yuri Gagarin landed from being the first human in space during the Vostok 1 mission, he parachuted down and landed in the Soviet Union near the ...
- 7,450
15
votes
3
answers
13k
views
Did Yuri Gagarin really hear a ticking sound during his journey into outer space?
In the movie, Another Earth, Rhoda told John that Yuri Gagarin heard a ticking sound during his journey into outer space. He couldn't find the source, and eventually came to love that ticking sound.
...
- 171
5
votes
1
answer
4k
views
What is the altitude record for manned unpressurised balloon flight without oxygen?
On 5th September 1862 James Glaisher, a meteorologist, and Henry Coxwell, a balloonist, ascended to about seven miles, and came close to dying from frostbite and asphyxiation, in an open wicker basket,...
- 613
15
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How widespread was the notion that space travel was impossible prior to the successful launch of Sputnik 1?
Prior to the successful launch of Sputnik 1, there were some who believed that space travel was impossible. I would like to know how widespread this notion was, particularly "in scientific and ...
- 4,082
1
vote
3
answers
470
views
What did the technologies of von Braun and other members of the Third Reich contribute to America's lead in the race to moon against Russia?
Wernher von Braun was lead constructor/technologist for the Apollo missions, and provided his knowledge about rocket science, which he used/learned during WW2 when constructing the V2 (along with some ...
- 127
14
votes
2
answers
735
views
How were the Venera Probe missions received/presented in the Western world during the space race?
I can find barely any historical documentation on this subject.
If you know anything about its development, please chip in as well.
I'm writing a paper on the missions and putting them into ...
- 149
11
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Did the USSR invite other astronauts of Apollo 11 besides Armstrong?
Sometime after the return of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong visited the USSR. I wonder why he was alone? Weren't the other astronauts invited or they refused to visit? Was it because Armstrong was an ...
- 32.4k
37
votes
4
answers
16k
views
What was the internal Soviet reaction to the moon landing?
The Soviet Union was a famously restrictive place when it came to news and ideological spin, and obviously their attitude toward the United States was less than supportive and warm. The Space Race ...
- 7,632
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Who was the first Russian in space (not Soviet)?
I know Yuri Gagarin was the first Soviet, and man, in space. Who was the first Russian (not Soviet) in space?
- 239
10
votes
2
answers
2k
views
When did we figure out that Venus was too hot for humans?
Today it's well known that the surface of Venus is incredibly hot, over 800 °F (427 ºC). Depictions of Venus in fiction, however, used to portray it as something close to Earth temperatures, ...
- 10.4k
11
votes
2
answers
550
views
Before 1961, what did they think would happen to people in weightlessness?
Reading up on the beginnings of human spaceflight, I came across this line on Wikipedia:
[Vostok 1] was flown in an automatic mode as a precaution; medical science at that time did not know what ...
- 10.4k
15
votes
2
answers
4k
views
How much did Pan Am tickets to the moon cost?
I was searching online, and find a lot of references about the Pan Am moon tickets.
I'm curious how much they were going to cost though. I saw somewhere that said there was no down-payment... just ...
- 655
15
votes
4
answers
2k
views
What role did the space race play in reducing the nuclear threat during the 1960s?
Today I visited again the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, a space flight history museum, and noticed for the first time the claim that part of John F. Kennedy's motivation for pushing for a ...
- 1,088