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Space History for October 31
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1867
Died, William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, at one time owned the world's largest telescope, as a hobby
ref: en.wikipedia.org
1886
C. H. F. Peters discovered asteroid #261 Prymno.
1888
J. Palisa discovered asteroid #281 Lucretia.
1899
M. Wolf and A. Schwassmann discovered asteroid #449 Hamburga.
1900
M. Wolf discovered asteroid #463 Lola.
1902
The first telegraph cable across the Pacific Ocean was completed, the British Pacific cable between Australia and Vancouver Island.
ref: atlantic-cable.com
1913
A. Massinger discovered asteroid #770 Bali.
1920
W. Baade discovered asteroid #944 Hidalgo.
1923
K. Reinmuth discovered asteroid #1009 Sirene; M. Wolf discovered asteroid #1008 La Paz.
1930
Born, Michael Collins (at Rome, Italy), Major General USAF Reserve, NASA astronaut (Gemini 10, Apollo 11; over 11d 2h total time in spaceflight) (deceased)
Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, NASA photo (16 April 1969)
Source: NASA Image and Video Library
Michael Collins (born 31 October 1930) was an astronaut in the Gemini and Apollo space programs. On the Gemini 10 flight he and shipmate John Young set a new record for the highest flight, 475 miles above the Earth. Collins also walked in space on this mission.
Collins flew on the Apollo 11 mission, the first Lunar landing as the Command Module pilot who orbited the Moon while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked on the Lunar surface. He was described, at that time, as "the loneliest person on or off the planet."
ref: en.wikipedia.org
1967
NASA's Lunar Orbiter 4 satellite impacted the Moon on command at the end of its successful mission.
Lunar Orbiter 4, launched 4 May 1967, was designed to take advantage of the fact the three previous Lunar Orbiters had completed the required needs for Apollo mapping and site selection. It was given a more general objective, to "perform a broad systematic photographic survey of Lunar surface features in order to increase the scientific knowledge of their nature, origin, and processes, and to serve as a basis for selecting sites for more detailed scientific study by subsequent orbital and landing missions." It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data. The spacecraft was placed in a cislunar trajectory and injected into an elliptical near polar high Lunar orbit on 7 May 1967 for data acquisition. The orbit was 2706 km x 6111 km with an inclination of 85.5 degrees and a period of 12 hours.
After initial photography on 11 May 1967, problems started occurring with the camera's thermal door, which was not responding well to commands to open and close. Fear that the door could become stuck in the closed position, covering the camera lenses, led to a decision to leave the door open. This required extra attitude control manuevers on each orbit to prevent light leakage into the camera which would ruin the film. On 13 May it was discovered that light leakage was damaging some of the film, and the door was tested and partially closed. Some fogging of the lens was then suspected due to condensation resulting from the lower temperatures. Changes in the spacecraft's attitude raised the temperature of the camera and generally eliminated the fogging. Continuing problems with the readout drive mechanism starting and stopping beginning on 20 May resulted in a decision to terminate the photographic portion of the mission on 26 May. Despite problems with the readout drive, the entire film was read and transmitted. The spacecraft acquired photographic data from 11 May to 26 May 1967, and readout occurred through 1 June 1967. The orbit was then lowered to gather orbital data for the upcoming Lunar Orbiter 5 mission.
A total of 419 high resolution and 127 medium resolution frames were acquired covering 99% of the Moon's near side at resolutions from 58 meters to 134 meters. Accurate data were acquired from all other experiments throughout the mission. Radiation data showed increased dosages due to solar particle events producing low energy protons. The spacecraft was used for tracking purposes until it impacted the Lunar surface due to the natural decay of the orbit on 31 October 1967, between 22 and 30 degrees W longitude.
Results of the Lunar Orbiter Program
NASA's Lunar Orbiter program consisted of 5 Lunar Orbiters which returned photographs of 99% of the surface of the Moon (both the near and far sides) with resolution down to 1 meter. Altogether the Orbiters returned 2180 high resolution and 882 medium resolution frames. The micrometeoroid experiments recorded 22 impacts showing the average micrometeoroid flux near the Moon was about two orders of magnitude greater than in interplanetary space but slightly less than the near Earth environment. The radiation experiments confirmed that the design of the Apollo hardware would protect the astronauts from average and greater-than-average short term exposure to solar particle events. The use of the Lunar Orbiters for tracking to evaluate the Manned Space Flight Network tracking stations and Apollo Orbit Determination Program was successful, with three Lunar Orbiters (2, 3, and 5) being tracked simultaneously from August to October 1967. The Lunar Orbiters were all eventually commanded to crash on the Moon before their attitude control gas ran out so they would not present navigational or communications hazards to the later Apollo flights.
See also Wikipedia, Lunar Orbiter 4
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
1967 08:20:00 GMT
USSR's Cosmos 186 returned to Earth after completing the first automatic docking of spacecraft in orbit (with Cosmos 188, on 30 October).
USSR launched Cosmos 186 on 27 October 1967, which docked with Cosmos 188 on 30 October, the first automated rendezvous and docking of two spacecraft. The docking was timed to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the October Revolution, in lieu of a succession of manned space feats that all had to be cancelled due to schedule delays.
The two spacecraft achieved automatic rendezvous on the second attempt. Mutual search, approach, mooring, and docking were automatically performed. Capture was achieved, but hard docking and electric connections were unsuccessful due to misallignment of the spacecraft. After 3.5 hr of joint flight, the satellites parted on a command sent from the Earth and continued to orbit separately.
Cosmos 186 incorporated a reentry body (capsule) for landing scientific instruments and test objects. Its star tracker failed, and it had to make a high-G ballistic re-entry. The capsule was recovered on 31 October 1967 after a soft landing in a predetermined region of the USSR.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
1973 00:00:00 GMT
USSR launched Cosmos 605 (Bion 1) from Plesetsk to study the effects of space on living organisms (white rats, steppe turtles, insects, fungi), and test life support systems.
USSR launched Cosmos 605 (Bion 1) on 31 October 1973 to study the effects of space on living organisms, and test life support systems. The spacecraft was based on the Zenit reconnaissance satellite, and carried several dozen white rats, six boxes of steppe turtles, a mushroom bed, four beetles, and living bacterial spores. It provided data on the reaction of mammal, reptile, insect, fungal, and bacterial forms to prolonged weightlessness. The successful mission ended with capsule recovery on 22 November 1973.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
1975
Purple Mountain Observatory discovered asteroid #2505 Hebei.
1980
Harvard College discovered asteroid #3143.
1980 03:54:00 GMT
The US Navy launched Fltsatcom-4 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on an Atlas Centaur SLV-3D, which was positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 171 deg E beginning in 1981.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
1986
Died, Robert S. Mulliken, US chemist, physicist (Nobel 1966 "for his fundamental work concerning chemical bonds and the electronic structure of molecules by the molecular orbital method")
ref: www.nobelprize.org
1992
The Vatican formally rehabilitated Galileo Galilei (pardoned by Pope John Paul II), Galileo having been forced by the Inquisition in 1633 to recant his assertion that the Earth orbits the Sun.
ref: www.nytimes.com
2004
US astronaut Leroy Chiao became the first American astronaut to vote from space, submitting an electronic ballot from the ISS for the presidential election on November 2.
ref: www.nasa.gov
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