Part 2! 🤩 BepiColombo’s Last Close-ups Of Earth During Flyby

this too shall past (to reveal to you an appreciation for things you never knew)

Orbiter Columbia OV-102 had a unique external feature the “SILTS” pod (Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing), it was located on the top of her vertical stabilizer. It was installed after STS-9 (1984) to acquire infrared and other thermal data on the vehicle’s environment. The instruments were removed after several missions but the pod remained.

11. Gemini 7 and Gemini 6A

(Combining these two, or else I wouldn’t be able to fit every manned flight into a 20 day countdown!)

Date: December 4-18, 1965 (Gemini 7: 13 days, 18 hours, 35 minutes, 1 second) and December 15-16, 1965 (Gemini 6A: 1 day, 1 hour, 51 minutes, 24 seconds)

Crew: Frank F. Borman II and James A. “Jim” Lovell, Jr. (Gemini 7) and Walter M. “Wally” Schirra, Jr. and Thomas P. Stafford

Mission Highlights: The original Gemini 6 flight was set to take place in October 1965, to rendezvous and dock with the unmanned Agena Target Vehicle (ATV). However, the ATV exploded shortly after launch on Oct. 25, leading to the cancellation of Gemini 6. The mission was altered to work with another Gemini flight flying later that year, and renamed Gemini 6A.

6A’s sister flight, Gemini 7, launched on December 4th, piloted by spaceflight rookies Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. The main objective of Gemini 7 was to complete a long-duration spaceflight, testing the effects of the longest spaceflight to date (two weeks) on the human body. Testing food rations, undergoing medical experiments, collecting bodily waste samples, and trying to get comfortable in the extremely tight quarters proved to be challenging at times.

Meanwhile on the ground, Gemini 6A suffered significant delays that pushed launch from December 12 to the 15th. Once reaching orbit, Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 commenced rendezvous. Over the next four hours, the two spacecraft came within a foot of each other. An earlier proposal had included a double-EVA in which Jim and Tom would switch spacecraft, but that plan was eventually rejected on several grounds. However, both crews were impressed with the navigational abilities of the Gemini spacecraft and precision of rendezvous.

The next morning, shortly before Gemini 6A’s reentry, Wally spotted an unidentified (and particularly festive) flying object “in a polar orbit” around the Earth… (which also led to the first musical performance broadcast from space)!

After Gemini 6A descended to Earth, recovered by the USS Wasp in the Atlantic, Jim and Frank were left with three days in space and quite a bit of boredom. Malfunctions frustrated the tired and cramped (and smelly) crew. At some point, one of the astronauts (Jimbo) lost his toothbrush, forcing them to share just one. The crew was very eager for reentry by December 18. When the crew was recovered by the USS Wasp nearly 14 days after launch, Jim and Frank announced their engagement to the frogmen!

Significance: Both the successful rendezvous and long-duration flight were significant accomplishments for the American space program, as both objectives were essential to a lunar mission. The stellar rendezvous allowed NASA to move forward with an attempted docking (we’ll see how that goes tomorrow…). Several lessons were learned by forcing two astronauts into a tin can together for two weeks, many of which helped to improve the experiences of future Gemini and Apollo crew members. And, of course, the lifelong friendship between two American heroes became even closer (er, maybe a little too close?)

From the film Ad Astra

Wait, two days? This happened on the 2nd of March 2019. https://youtu.be/2ZL0tbOZYhE

SpaceX Demo-1: ‘Go’ for Launch : Two days remain until the planned liftoff of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket—the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans. (via NASA)

Peripheral vision. Anna Lee Fisher prepares for the 14th mission in Space Shuttle history & the 2nd of Discovery, Nov 1984. Dr. Fisher spent 8 days in space during her career & also assisted in the development of the Canadarm & the design of spacesuits for women. Selected as an astronaut candidate in 1978, her other accomplishments include being a Doctor of Medicine & a Masters in Science graduate.

Mission Specialist Sally Ride sits in aft flight deck mission specialists seat of STS-7 Challenger during deorbit preparations.

Date: June 24, 1983

NASA ID: STS007-31-1603

Allow us to reintroduce someone … the name’s Perseverance. 

With this new name, our Mars 2020 rover has now come to life! Chosen by middle school student Alex Mather, Perseverance helps to remind ourselves that no matter what obstacles we face, whether it’s on the way to reaching our goals or on the way to Mars, we will push through. In Alex’s own words, ⁣⁣

“We are a species of explorers, and we will meet many setbacks on the way to Mars. However, we can persevere. We, not as a nation but as humans, will not give up. The human race will always persevere into the future.” ⁣

Welcome to the family.⁣ ❤️

⁣Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

The Shuttle Atlantis seen in silhouette during solar transit, May 12, 2009. Image by NASA/Thierry Legault.

(NASA)