Space History for August 5

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Race To Space
Someone will win the prize...
... but at what cost?
Visit RaceToSpaceProject.com to find out more!

1711
Born, Johan Lulofs, Dutch physicist, philosopher, astronomer, promoted Copernicus' heliocentric world view by translating important documents to Dutch
ref: translate.google.com

1858
A consortium led by Cyrus West Field completed the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It operated for less than a month, in large part due to improper operation.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1864
The spectrum of a comet was observed for the first time, by Giovanni Donati.
ref: www.britannica.com

1912
Born, Konrad Dannenberg, German missile propulsion expert during World War II, US German Rocket Team member after the war, Deputy Manager of NASA's Saturn program (1960), successfully developed the largest rocket ever built as of 2022 (Saturn V)
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1921
K. Reinmuth discovered asteroid #955 Alstede.

1930
Born, Neil A. Armstrong (at Wapakoneta, Ohio, USA), X-15 pilot, NASA astronaut (Gemini 8, Apollo 11; nearly 8d 14h total time in spaceflight), member of first crew to dock in space, first person to step onto the Moon (deceased)

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, NASA photo (1 July 1969)
Source: Wikipedia (www.jsc.nasa.gov unavailable August 2019)

Neil Alden Armstrong (5 August 1930 - 25 August 2012) was the first human in known recorded history to walk on the surface of another planetary body, stepping onto the surface of the Moon at 0256 GMT on 21 July 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission. He was also a member of the crew of the first spaceship to dock in space (Gemini 8), piloted 11 X-15 flights, and a test pilot with an extensive record before being selected as an astronaut in 1962.
ref: history.nasa.gov

1941
Born, Leonid Denisovich Kizim (at Krasny Liman, Donezk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR), General Colonel Soviet AF Reserve, Soviet cosmonaut (Salyut 6, Salyut 7, Mir 1; nearly 374d 18h total time in spaceflight) (deceased)

Cosmonaut Leonid Kizim
Source: Wikipedia

Leonid Denisovich Kizim (5 August 1941 - 14 June 2010) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on three space station missions: Salyut 6 (over 12.75 days), Salyut 7 (nearly 237 days), and Mir 1 (125 days). He was a member of the first crew to fly between two space stations in one mission, traveling in Soyuz T-15 between Mir and Salyut 7.

See also Wikipedia
ref: www.spacefacts.de

1961
United Technologies fired a segmented solid propellant rocket engine which developed over 200,000 pounds of thrust, and contained the single largest piece of propellant made in the US to date.

A segmented solid propellent Titan 3C rocket engine was fired 5 August 1961 by United Technology Corporation at Sunnyvale, California, generating over 200,000 pounds of thrust in an 80 second firing. Developed under NASA contract for the DynaSoar program, the center section of the engine contained over 55,000 pounds of propellant, the largest single piece manufactured to that date in the United States.
ref: www.hq.nasa.gov

1962
The first quasar identification by radio was made during a Lunar occultation of radio source 3C273. A faint star-like object with a jet and unusual emission lines in its spectra was photographed at the position.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1965
The first full duration ground test firing of the Saturn S-IC stage (the first stage of the Saturn V Moon rocket) was conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

Saturn S-IC stage static test firing, NASA photo
Source: NASA Saturn Illustrated Chronology

The Saturn V's first stage, the S-IC stage, made a "perfect" full duration static firing by burning for the programmed 2.5 minutes at its full 7.5 million pound (33,360 kilonewton) thrust in a test conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on 5 August 1965. The test model demonstrated its steering capability on command from the blockhouse after 100 seconds had elapsed. The test consumed 537,000 gallons (2.133 million liters) of kerosene and liquid oxygen.
ref: history.nasa.gov

1967 12:48:00 EDT (GMT -4:00:00)
NASA's Lunar Orbiter 5 went into orbit around the Moon.

Lunar Orbiter 5, the last of the Lunar Orbiter series, launched 1 August 1967, was designed to take additional Apollo and Surveyor landing site photographs, and to take broad survey images of unphotographed parts of the Moon's far side. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data, and was used to evaluate the Manned Space Flight Network tracking stations and Apollo Orbit Determination Program. The Deep Space Net Tracking Station at Woomera, Australia, acquired the spacecraft about 50 minutes after liftoff. Signals indicated that all systems were performing normally and that temperatures were within acceptable limits. The spacecraft was placed in a cislunar trajectory, and on 5 August 1967 was injected into an elliptical near polar Lunar orbit 194.5 km x 6023 km with an inclination of 85 degrees and a period of 8 hours 30 minutes. On 7 August, the perilune was lowered to 100 km, and on 9 August the orbit was lowered to 99 km x 1499 km with a 3 hour 11 minute period. The photographic portion of the mission ended on 18 August.

The spacecraft took its first photograph of the moon at 6 August 7:22 AM EDT. The spacecraft acquired photographic data from 6-18 August 1967, and readout occurred until 27 August 1967. A total of 633 high resolution and 211 medium resolution frames at resolution down to 2 meters were acquired, bringing the cumulative photographic coverage by the 5 Lunar Orbiters to 99% of the Moon's surface. Accurate data were acquired from all other experiments throughout the mission. The spacecraft was tracked until it impacted the Lunar surface on command at 2.79 degrees S latitude, 83 degrees W longitude (selenographic coordinates) on 31 January 1968.

The main bus of the Lunar Orbiter was approximately a truncated cone, 1.65 meters tall and 1.5 meters in diameter at the base. The spacecraft was comprised of three decks supported by trusses and an arch. The equipment deck at the base of the craft held the battery, transponder, flight progammer, inertial reference unit (IRU), Canopus star tracker, command decoder, multiplex encoder, traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA), and the photographic system. Four solar panels were mounted to extend out from this deck with a total span across of 3.72 meters. Also extending from the base of the spacecraft were a high gain antenna on a 1.32 meter boom, and a low gain antenna on a 2.08 meter boom. Above the equipment deck, the middle deck held the velocity control engine, propellant, oxidizer and pressurization tanks, Sun sensors, and micrometeoroid detectors. The third deck consisted of a heat shield to protect the spacecraft from firing the velocity control engine. The nozzle of the engine protruded through the center of the shield. Mounted on the perimeter of the top deck were four attitude control thrusters.

375 W of power was provided by the four solar arrays containing 10,856 n/p solar cells, which could directly run the spacecraft and also charge the 12 amp-hr nickel-cadmium battery. The batteries were used during the brief periods of occultation when no solar power was available. Propulsion for major maneuvers was provided by the gimballed velocity control engine, a hypergolic 100-pound-thrust Marquardt rocket motor. Three-axis stabilization and attitude control were provided by four one-lb nitrogen gas jets. Navigational knowledge was provided by five Sun sensors, a Canopus star sensor, and the IRU equipped with internal gyros. Communications were via a 10 W transmitter and the directional 1 meter diameter high gain antenna for transmission of photographs and a 0.5 W transmitter and omnidirectional low gain antenna for other communications. Both antennas operated in the S-band at 2295 MHz. Thermal control was maintained by a multilayer aluminized mylar and dacron thermal blanket which enshrouded the main bus, special paint, insulation, and small heaters.

The Lunar Orbiter program was managed by NASA Langley Research Center and consisted of building and launching 5 Lunar Orbiters which returned photography of 99% of the surface of the Moon (near and far side) 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 Apollo hardware would protect the astronauts from average and greater-than-average short term exposure to solar particle events. The use of 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 later Apollo flights.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1969 05:00:49 GMT
NASA's Mariner 7 flew by Mars at a distance of 3430 km (2131 mi) at its closest approach.

Mariner 7 was launched on a direct-ascent trajectory to Mars from Cape Kennedy Launch Complex 36A on an Atlas SLV-3C/Centaur (AC19, spacecraft 69-4) on 27 March 1969. On 8 April 1969 a midcourse correction was made by firing the hydrazine moter for 7.6 seconds. On 8 May Mariner 7 was put on gyro control to avoid attitude control problems which were affecting Mariner 6. On 31 July telemetry from Mariner 7 was suddenly lost and the spacecraft was commanded to switch to the low-gain antenna. It was later successfully switched back to the high-gain antenna. The anomaly is believed to have been caused by leaking gases, perhaps from a battery which later failed a few days before the Mars encounter.

Mariner 6 and 7 comprised a dual-spacecraft mission to Mars, the sixth and seventh missions in the Mariner series of spacecraft used for planetary exploration in the flyby mode. The primary objectives of the missions were to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars during close flybys to establish the basis for future investigations, particularly those relevant to the search for extraterrestrial life, and to demonstrate and develop technologies required for future Mars missions and other long-duration missions far from the Sun. Each spacecraft carried a wide- and narrow-angle television camera, an infrared spectroscope, an infrared radiometer, and an ultraviolet spectroscope. The spacecraft were oriented entirely to planetary data acquisition, and no data were obtained during the trip to Mars or beyond Mars.

At 09:32:33 UT on 2 August 1969 Mariner 7 began the far-encounter sequence involving imaging of Mars with the narrow angle camera. Over the next 57 hours, ending about 5 hours before closest approach, 93 images of Mars were taken and transmitted. The spacecraft was then reprogrammed as a result of analysis of Mariner 6 images. The new sequence called for the spacecraft to go further south than originally planned, take more near-encounter pictures, and collect more scientific data on the lighted side of Mars. Data from the dark side of Mars were to be transmitted directly back to Earth but there would be no room on the digital recorder for backup due to the added dayside data. At closest approach, 0500:49 UT on 5 August, Mariner 7 was 3430 km (2130 miles) above the Martian surface. Over this period, 33 near-encounter images were taken. About 19 minutes after the flyby, the spacecraft went behind Mars and emerged roughly 30 minutes later. X-band occultation data were taken during the entrance and exit phases. Science and imaging data were played back and transmitted over the next few days. The spacecraft was then returned to cruise mode which included engineering and communications tests, star photography TV tests, and UV scans of the Milky Way and an area containing comet 1969-B. Periodic tracking of the spacecraft in its heliocentric orbit was also done.

The total data return for Mariners 6 and 7 was 800 million bits. Mariner 6 returned 49 far encounter and 26 near encounter images of Mars, and Mariner 7 returned 93 far and 33 near encounter images. Close-ups from the near encounter phases covered 20% of the surface. The spacecraft instruments measured UV and IR emissions and radio refractivity of the Martian atmosphere. Images showed the surface of Mars to be very different from that of the Moon, in some contrast to the results from Mariner 4. The south polar cap was identified as being composed predominantly of carbon dioxide. Atmospheric surface pressure was estimated at between 6 and 7 mb. Radio science refined estimates of the mass, radius and shape of Mars.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1971
During the 39m Apollo 15-6 EVA, astronaut Alfred Worden made the first deep space EVA, retrieving film cartridges from the Service Module.

Apollo 15 was the fourth mission in which humans walked on the Lunar surface and returned to Earth: On 30 July 1971, Apollo 15 Commander David R. Scott and LM pilot James B. Irwin landed in the Hadley Rille/Apennines region of the Moon in the Lunar Module (LM) while the Command and Service Module (CSM), with CM pilot Alfred M. Worden, continued in Lunar orbit. During their stay on the Moon, the astronauts set up scientific experiments, took photographs, and collected Lunar samples. The LM took off from the Moon on 2 August, and the astronauts returned to Earth on 7 August.

Apollo 15 was launched on 26 July 1971 on Saturn V SA-510 from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The spacecraft was inserted into Earth orbit 11 minutes 44 seconds after liftoff, at 13:45:44 UT, and translunar injection took place at 16:30:03 UT. The CSM separated from the S-IVB stage at 16:56:24 UT, and docked with the LM at 17:07:49 UT, televised using an onboard color camera.

The S-IVB stage was released and sent into a Lunar impact trajectory, impact occurring on 29 July at 20:58:42.9 UT at 1.51 S, 11.81 W with a velocity of 2.58 km/s (5760 mph) at a 62 degree angle from the horizontal, 188 km (117 mi) northeast of the Apollo 14 landing site and 355 km (221 mi) northeast of the Apollo 12 site. The impact was detected by both the Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 seismometers, left on the moon in November 1969 and February 1971.

A short was discovered in the service propulsion system, and contingency procedures were developed for using the engine. A mid-course correction was performed on 27 July at 18:14:22 UT and another on 29 July at 15:05:15. During the translunar cruise, it was discovered that the LM range/range-rate exterior glass cover had broken and a small water leak had developed in the CM requiring repair and clean up, in part to avoid breathing in the glass shards. The Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) door was jettisoned at 15:40 UT on 29 July, and Lunar orbit insertion took place at 20:05:47 UT. The descent orbit maneuver was executed at 00:13:49 UT on 30 July.

Scott and Irwin entered the LM and the LM-CSM undocking maneuver was initiated at 17:48 UT, but undocking did not take place. Worden found a loose umbilical plug and reconnected it, allowing the LM to separate from the CSM at 18:13:30 UT. The LM fired its descent engine at 22:04:09 UT and landed at 22:16:29 UT on 30 July 1971 in the Mare Imbrium region at the foot of the Apennine mountain range at 26.1 N, 3.6 E, 600 meters 2000 ft) north-northwest of the proposed target. The CSM remained in a slightly elliptical orbit from which Worden performed scientific experiments.

About two hours after landing, following cabin depressurization, Scott performed a 33 minute 7 second standup EVA in the upper hatch of the LM, during which he described and photographed the landing site.

The first crew EVA on the Lunar surface began at 13:04 UT 31 July. The crew collected and stowed a contingency sample, unpacked the ALSEP and other experiments, and prepared the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) for operations. Some problems were encountered in the deployment and checkout of the LRV, used for the first time, but they were quickly resolved. The first EVA traverse was to the Apennine mountain front, after which the ALSEP was deployed and activated, and one probe of a Heat Flow experiment was emplaced. A second probe was not emplaced until EVA-2 because of drilling difficulties. The first EVA lasted 6 hours 32 minutes 42 seconds.

The second EVA began at 11:49 UT 1 August. The astronauts made a maintenance check on the LRV, then began the second planned traverse of the mission. On completion of the traverse, Scott and Irwin completed the placement of heat flow experiment probes, collected a core sample, and deployed the American flag. They then stowed the sample container and the film in the LM, completing a second EVA of 7 hours 12 minutes 14 seconds.

The third EVA began at 8:52 UT 2 August, included another traverse, and ended 4 hours 49 minutes 50 seconds later. After the final EVA, Scott performed a televised demonstration of a hammer and feather falling at the same rate in the Lunar vacuum.

The total Apollo 15 Lunar surface EVA time was 18 hours 34 minutes 46 seconds. During the three moonwalks, Scott and Irwin covered 27.9 km (17.3 mi), collected 76.8 kg (170 pounds) of rock and soil samples, took photographs, and set up the ALSEP and performed other scientific experiments. This was the first mission to employ the LRV, used to explore regions within 5 km (3 mi) of the LM landing site.

While the Lunar Module was on the Moon, Worden completed 34 Lunar orbits in the CSM, operating SIM experiments and cameras to obtain data concerning the Lunar surface and environment. The SIM equipment included a panoramic camera, gamma ray spectrometer, mapping camera, laser altimeter, and a mass spectrometer. X-ray spectrometer data indicated a richer abundance of aluminum in the highlands, especially on the far side, but greater concentrations of magnesium in the maria.

The LM ascent stage lifted off from the Moon at 17:11:22 UT on 2 August, televised for the first time, after 66 hours, 55 minutes on the Lunar surface. After the LM docked with the CSM at 19:09:47 UT, the Lunar samples, film, and other equipment were transferred from the LM to the CSM. The LM was jettisoned at 01:04:14 UT on 3 August, after a one orbit delay to ensure LM and CSM hatches were completely sealed. The LM impacted the Moon on 3 August 03:03:37.0 UT at 26.36 N, 0.25 E, 93 km west of the Apollo 15 ALSEP site, with an estimated impact velocity of 1.7 km/s (3800 mph) at an angle of ~3.2 degrees from horizontal. Its impact was recorded by the Apollo 12, Apollo 14, and Apollo 15 seismometers, left on the Moon during each of those missions.

Experiments were performed from orbit over the next day. After Apollo 15 executed an orbit-shaping maneuver, the scientific subsatellite was spring-launched from the SM SIM bay at 20:13:19 UT on 4 August into a 102.0 x 141.3 km (63.4 x 87.8 mi) Lunar orbit. The satellite measured interplanetary and Earth magnetic fields near the Moon, and carried charged-particle sensors and equipment to detect variations in Lunar gravity caused by mascons (mass concentrations).

Transearth injection began on the next orbit with a 2 minute, 21 second main engine burn at 21:22:45 UT. On 5 August, Worden carried out the first deep space EVA when he exited the CM and made three trips to the SIM bay at the rear of the SM to retrieve film cannisters and check the equipment. Total EVA time was 38 minutes, 12 seconds.

The CM separated from the SM at 20:18:00 UT on 7 August. During descent, one of the three main parachutes failed to open fully, resulting in a descent velocity of 35 km/hr (21.8 mph), 4.5 km/hr (2.8 mph) faster than planned, causing a hard but safe landing. Apollo 15 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 7 August 1971 at 20:45:53 UT (4:45:53 PM EDT) after a mission elapsed time of 295 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds (12 days 7 hours 12 minutes). The splashdown point was 26 deg 7 min N, 158 deg, 8 min W, 330 miles (530 km) north of Honolulu, Hawaii and 9.8 km (6.1 mi) from the recovery ship USS Okinawa. The astronauts were carried to the ship by helicopter, and the CM was retrieved and placed on board.

Performance of the spacecraft, the first of the Apollo J-series missions (long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than on previous flights), was excellent for most aspects of the mission. The primary mission goals of exploration of the Hadley-Appenine region, deployment of the ALSEP and other scientific experiments, collection of Lunar samples, surface photography, and photography and other scientific experiments from orbit, and engineering evaluation of new Apollo equipment, particularly the rover, were achieved. Scott, 39, was an Air Force Colonel on his third spaceflight (he'd flown previously on Gemini 8 and Apollo 9), Worden, 39, was an Air Force Major on his first spaceflight, and Irwin, 41, was an Air Force Lt. Colonel also on his first spaceflight.

The Apollo 15 command module "Endeavor" is on display at the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio.

See also the pages for the Apollo 15 Lunar Module /ALSEP and the Apollo 15 SIVB

The Apollo program included a large number of uncrewed test missions and 12 crewed missions: three Earth orbiting missions (Apollo 7, 9 and Apollo-Soyuz), two Lunar orbiting missions (Apollo 8 and 10), a Lunar swingby (Apollo 13), and six Moon landing missions (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17). Two astronauts from each of the six missions walked on the Moon (Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Charles Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young, Charles Duke, Gene Cernan, and Harrison Schmitt), the only humans to date (2014) to have set foot on another solar system body.
ref: www.nasa.gov
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1973 17:45:48 GMT
USSR launched the Mars 6 atmospheric probe, the first spacecraft to return data from Mars' atmosphere.

USSR Mars 6 probe
Source: NSSDCA Master Catalog

Mars 4, 5, 6, and 7 comprised an associated group of Soviet spacecraft launched towards Mars in July and August of 1973. The Mars 6 interplanetary station consisted of a flyby bus and an attached descent module. The descent module separated from the bus on reaching Mars and was designed to enter the Martian atmosphere and make in-situ studies of the Mars atmosphere and surface.

Mars 6 successfully lifted off 5 August 1973 into an intermediate Earth orbit on a Proton SL-12/D-1-e booster, then was launched into a Mars transfer trajectory. Total fueled launch mass of the lander and bus was 3260 kg. After one course correction burn on 13 August 1973, it reached Mars on 12 March 1974. The descent module separated from the bus at a distance of 48,000 km from Mars. The bus continued on into a heliocentric orbit after passing within 1600 km of Mars. The descent module entered the atmosphere at 09:05:53 UT at a speed of 5.6 km/s. The parachute opened at 09:08:32 UT after the module had slowed its speed to 600 m/s by aerobraking. During this time the craft was collecting data and transmitting it directly to the bus for immediate relay to Earth. Contact with the descent module was lost at 09:11:05 UT in "direct proximity to the surface", probably either when the retrorockets fired or when it hit the surface at an estimated 61 m/s. Mars 6 landed at 23.90 S, 19.42 W in the Margaritifer Sinus region of Mars. The landed mass was 635 kg. The descent module transmitted 224 seconds of data before transmissions ceased, the first data returned from the atmosphere of Mars. Unfortunately, much of the data were unreadable due to a flaw in a computer chip which led to degradation of the system during its journey to Mars.

The Mars 6 Descent Module carried a panoramic telephotometer to image the Martian surface around the lander, atmospheric temperature, pressure, density, and wind sensors, an accelerometer to measure atmospheric density during the descent, a mass spectrometer to estimate atmospheric composition, a radio altimeter, an activation analysis experiment to study soil composition, and mechanical properties soil sensors. The flyby module contained a telephotometer to image Mars, a Lyman alpha sensor to search for hydrogen in the upper atmosphere, a magnetometer, an ion trap and narrow angle electrostatic plasma sensor to study the solar wind and its interaction with Mars, solar cosmic ray sensors, micrometeorite sensors, and a French-supplied solar radiometer to measure solar long-wavelength radio emissions. It was also equipped to perform a radio occultation experiment to profile the atmosphere and ionosphere.

Data returned by the Mars 6 descent module allowed a profile of tropospheric structure from the base of the stratosphere at 25 km altitude at 150 K to the surface at 230 K and atmospheric density from 82 km to 12 km. A surface pressure of 6 mb and temperature of (230 K) -43 C were measured. Instruments also indicated "several times" more atmospheric water vapor than previously reported. The mass spectrometer data were stored on-board during the descent and scheduled to be transmitted after landing and were therefore lost. The current to the vacuum pump was transmitted as an engineering parameter, however, and a steep increase in current was found. It was hypothesized to indicate an inert gas which could not be removed by the pump, leading to an estimate of argon abundance in the atmosphere of 25% to 45%. (The actual value is now known to be about 1.6%.) The Mars 6 flyby bus performed a radio occultation experiment and the results, in concert with results from Mars 4 and 5 occultation measurements, showed the existence of a nightside ionosphere with a maximum electron density of 4600 per cubic cm at an altitude of 110 km and a near surface atmospheric pressure of 6.7 mbar.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1974
ESA's HEOS A2 probe re-entered the atmosphere.

HEOS 2, launched 31 January 1972, was a spin-stabilized spacecraft with a highly eccentric orbit whose apogee occurred at high latitude. Its primary scientific mission was the investigation of interplanetary space and the high-latitude magnetosphere and its boundary in the region around the northern neutral point. HEOS 2 provided new data on the sources and acceleration mechanisms of particles found in the trapped radiation belts and in the polar precipitation regions and auroral zones. It also monitored solar activity and cosmic radiation. The satellite carried a magnetometer and particle detectors which covered a broad range from thermal to cosmic-ray energies. The satellite had three antennas to study extreme low frequency (ELF) waves and carried a sensitive micrometeorite detector. The spacecraft functioned normally until it reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 5 August 1974.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1978
H. L. Giclas discovered asteroid #2118 Flagstaff.

1981
E. Bowell discovered asteroid #3402 Wisdom.

1981
Space Services, Inc attempted to launch its Percheron low cost orbital launch vehicle from Matagorda Island, but the vehicle exploded on the launch pad due to liquid oxygen tank overpressurization.

Space Services, Inc of Houston, Texas, attempted to launch its Percheron low cost orbital launch vehicle from Matagorda Island on 5 August 1981. However, failure of a liquid oxygen valve led to over-pressurization of the oxidizer tank, collapse of the liquid oxygen to kerosene tank bulkhead; intermixing of the propellants, and an on-pad explosion, without a lift-off. The vehicle was built by GCH, Inc (Gary C. Hudson), and featured a modular design using liquid oxygen-kerosene stages 18 meters long and 1.2 meters in diameter, with an engine producing 27,300 kgf of thrust. Following failure of this first test, the satellite launch project sank for lack of further investors and customers.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1983
Died, Bartholomeus J. "Bart" Bok, Dutch/American astronomer, married to American astronomer Priscilla Fairfield Bok with whom he studied and wrote about the Milky Way
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1983 09:20:00 GMT
USSR launched Cosmos 1487, a maneuverable Resurs high resolution photo surveillance satellite which returned a film capsule. It also performed Earth resource tasks, which were officially its primary duties.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1983 20:29:00 GMT
NASDA (National Space Development Agency of Japan) launched Sakura 2B from Tanegashima, for domestic satellite communications and development of commsat technology, which was positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 136 deg E 1983-1989, 128 deg E 1989-1990.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1987 06:37:00 GMT
China launched the FSW-0 No. 9 (PRC 20) Fanhui Shi Weixing recoverable satellite on a Chang Zheng 2C booster from Jiuquan which carried microgravity experiments. The return capsule was recovered on 10 August after five days in space.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1988 07:28:00 GMT
China launched the FSW-1 No. 2 (PRC 23) recoverable satellite on a Chang Zheng 2C (Long March) booster from Jiuquan with a German crystal growth experiment in its recoverable capsule. The experiment's results were marred by a hard landing.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1995 11:10:00 GMT
South Korea's Mugunghwa 1 (Koreasat 1) communications satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida into geosynchronous orbit.

South Korea's Mugunghwa 1 (Koreasat 1) communications satellite was launched 5 August 1995 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a Delta 7925 which suffered a first stage solid rocket motor (SRM) failure. It carried 15 Ku-band transponders to provide TV coverage for South Korea and other Asian countries. The satellite had to be boosted into geosynchronous orbit by the satellite's thrusters following the Delta failure that left the satellite in low Earth orbit. The unplanned use of satellite propellant in the launch cut the usable satellite lifetime by approximately 50 percent. Mugunghwa 1 was positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 116 deg E 1995-1999. As of 5 September 2001, it was at 47.22 deg E drifting 0.022 deg E per day.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1997 15:35:53 GMT
Russia launched Soyuz TM-26 from Baikonur for Mir Expedition EO-24.

Soyuz TM-26 was a Russian spacecraft which ferried cosmonauts and supplies to the Mir space station. It was launched on 5 August 1997 by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur cosmodrome as Mir Expedition EO-24. The main mission was to transport two specially trained cosmonauts, Anatoliy Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov, to repair or salvage the troubled space station. Soyuz TM-26 docked with Mir on 7 August under manual control. Over the next six months, the crew undertook seven internal and external spacewalks to repair the crippled space station. They repaired the power cable and harness/connectors in the severely damaged SPEKTR module and restored much of the lost power. They also repaired and replaced the oxygen generators in Mir. The hole(s) in the SPEKTR module which caused total depressurization of the station could not be located during their "space walk" inside that module. Repairing or replacing the segments of the solar panels on SPEKTR and sealing the hole(s) was delayed until later missions.

Solovyov and Vinogradov, together with French astronaut Eyharts (launched aboard Soyuz TM-27), undocked from the forward port on Mir at 05:52 GMT on 19 February 1998, fired their deorbit engines at 08:16 GMT, and landed in Kazakstan at 50 deg 11 N, 67 deg 31 E the same day.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

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