Space History for November 11

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1675
Gottfried Leibniz employed integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of a function y=f(x).
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1877
J. C. Watson discovered asteroid #179 Klytaemnestra.

1906
A. Kopff discovered asteroid #621 Werdand.

1923
George Van Biesbroeck discovered asteroids #1027 Aesculapia and #1464 Armisticia.

1930
A patent was awarded to Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard for their invention, the Einstein Refrigerator, which has no moving parts and uses heat as its energy source.

The Einstein Refrigerator is a unique type of refrigerator co-invented in 1926 by Albert Einstein and his former student Leo Szilard. It is a single pressure absorption refrigerator. A prototype has shown the viability of the Einstein refrigeration cycle.

On 11 November 1930, patent number US1781541 was awarded to Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard. The patent covered a thermodynamic refrigeration cycle providing cooling with no moving parts, at a constant pressure, with only heat as an input. The refrigeration cycle uses ammonia (pressure equalizing fluid), butane (refrigerant), and water (absorbing fluid).
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1935 12:30:00 CST (GMT -6:00:00)
US Army Air Corps Captains Albert W. Stevens and Orvil A. Anderson set an altitude record of 72,395 feet (22.066 km) in the Explorer 2 balloon over South Dakota in a flight funded by members of the National Geographic Society.
ref: en.wikipedia.org

1946
Born, Vladimir Alekseyevich Soloviyov (at Moscow, Russian SFSR), Soviet cosmonaut (Salyut 7 EO 3, Mir 1; over 361d 22.75h total time in spaceflight)

Cosmonauts Kizim, Vladimir Soloviyov (middle) and Atkov on a USSR postage stamp (issued 25 June 1985)
Source: Wikipedia
ref: www.spacefacts.de

1953
Goethe Link Observatory discovered asteroid #3185.

1964
Purple Mountain Observatory discovered asteroid #3543.

1966 19:07:58 GMT
NASA launched Gemini 12 Target (Agena Target Vehicle 12, GATV-5001), an Agena booster used as a rendevous and docking target for Gemini 12.

Gemini 12 Agena Target Vehicle, tethered beyond Gemini 12's nose, NASA photo
Source: NSSDCA Master Catalog

The Gemini 12 Agena Target Vehicle (GATV-12) was launched from Cape Canaveral on 11 November 1966 into a near-circular 300 km orbit using an Atlas-Agena D rocket. During the target vehicle ascent manuever, 140 seconds after primary propulsion system initiation, a 30-psi drop occurred in thrust chamber pressure for 1 second, then returned to normal for the remaining 42 seconds of firing. The anomaly did not affect the GATV-12 orbit insertion, but uncertainties about the significance of the pressure drop caused the plan to use the primary propulsion system to lift the spacecraft into a higher orbit after docking with Gemini 12 to be cancelled. The Gemini 12 spacecraft, launched an hour and 40 minutes later, rendezvoused and docked with GATV-12 at 8:00 PM EST. Two phasing maneuvers using the GATV secondary propulsion system were accomplished to allow the spacecraft to rendezvous with the 12 November total eclipse visible over South America at about 9:20 AM EST. On 13 November, Buzz Aldrin began a two-hour EVA at 10:34 AM. After performing tasks on the Gemini 12 spacecraft, he moved to the target vehicle adapter area and carried out a series of tasks, including use of a torque wrench while tethered. He attached a 30 meter long tether stowed in the GATV adapter to the Gemini adapter bar. At 3:09 PM, Gemini 12 undocked from the GATV, moved to the end of the tether connecting the two vehicles, and began the tether experiment by moving in a cicular orbit about the GATV. The tether tended to remain slack, but the crew believed the two craft slowly attained gravity-gradient stabilization. The tether was released at 7:37 PM, GATV-12 was left in a 260 x 295 km orbit from which it decayed on 23 December 1966.

The Gemini Agena Target Vehicle was designed to be launched into Earth orbit prior to a Gemini mission and used for rendezvous and docking practice. The GATV had a docking cone at the forward end into which the nose of the Gemini spacecraft could be inserted and held with docking latches. The GATV was a 6 meter long cylinder with a diameter listed on NASA sites as 4.9 meters, a figure that is obviously erroneous because of the visible length-to-diameter ratio of the vehicle. (It is possible the NASA diameter may include the extended boom of the L-band antenna.) The primary and secondary propulsion systems were at the back end of the target vehicle with the attitude control gas tanks and the main propellant tanks. The docking cone was connected to the front end by shock absorbing dampers. Acquisition running lights and target vehicle status display indicators were situated on the front end. A 2.1 meter long retractable L-band boom antenna extended from the side of the cylinder near the front. Tracking and command of the GATV were also aided by a rendezvous beacon, two spiral L-band antennas, two tracking antennas (C-band and S-band), two VHF telemetry antennas, and a UHF command antenna. Micrometeoroid packages and other experiments could also be mounted on the GATV.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1966 20:46:33 GMT
NASA launched Gemini 12 with astronauts Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin aboard for a 4 day flight.

Gemini 12 prime crew walk up the ramp at Pad 19 during prelaunch countdown
NASA photo s66-59966, 11 Nov 1966
Source: NASA Image and Video Library

Gemini 12 was the tenth and final flight of the Gemini series, which bridged the Mercury and Apollo programs. This mission, carrying astronauts Jim Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, was scheduled to perform rendezvous and docking with the Agena target vehicle, to conduct three ExtraVehicular Activity (EVA) operations, to conduct a tethered stationkeeping exercise, to perform docked maneuvers using the Agena propulsion system to change orbit, and to demonstrate an automatic reentry. There were also 14 scientific, medical, and technological experiments on board.

Gemini 12 was launched from Complex 19 on 11 November 1966 at 3:46:33 PM EST (20:46:33.419 UT) and inserted into a 160.8 x 270.6 km Earth orbit at 3:52:40 PM EST. At 7:32 PM EST, rendezvous was achieved with the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle (GATV), which had been launched an hour and a half before Gemini 12. Docking with the GATV was accomplished 28 minutes later, at 4:14 Ground Elapsed Time (GET) on the third orbit, relying heavily on visual sightings due to problems with the onboard radar. During insertion of the GATV into orbit, an anomaly was noted in the primary propulsion system, so the plan to use the GATV to lift the docked spacecraft into a higher orbit was abandoned. Instead, two phasing maneuvers using the GATV secondary propulsion system were accomplished to allow the spacecraft to rendezvous with the 12 November total eclipse visible over South America at about 9:20 AM EST, with the crew taking pictures through the spacecraft windows.

The first standup EVA took place with the hatch opening at 11:15 AM EST (19:29 GET) on 12 November and Aldrin standing on his seat with his upper body out of the hatch. The EVA lasted 2 hours 29 minutes during which Aldrin mounted a camera to the side of the spacecraft and collected a micrometeorite experiment, with the hatch closing at 1:44 PM.

At 7:16 AM on 13 November, the crew reported little or no thrust was available from two of the maneuvering thrusters.

At 10:34 AM on 13 November (42:48 GET), the hatch was opened for the second EVA. Aldrin was outside the spacecraft at 10:38, attached to a 9 meter umbilical cord. He first worked in the hatch and nose area, and then moved along a handrail he had installed to the adapter section where he used foot restraints and tethers to position himself in front of a work panel mounted on the rear of the adaptor where he performed 17 relatively simple manual tasks. He then moved to the target vehicle adapter area and carried out another series of tasks, including use of a torque wrench while tethered. He attached a 30 meter long tether stowed in the GATV adapter to the Gemini adapter bar. About a dozen two-minute rest periods were scheduled during the EVA to prevent Aldrin from becoming overtaxed as happened to previous spacewalkers. Aldrin reentered the capsule at 12:33 PM and closed the hatch at 12:40 PM. All tasks were accomplished, and total EVA time was 2 hours 6 minutes.

At 3:09 PM Gemini 12 undocked from the GATV, moved to the end of the tether connecting the two vehicles, and began the tether experiment by moving in a circular orbit about the GATV. The tether tended to remain slack, but the crew believed the two craft slowly attained gravity-gradient stabilization. The tether was released at 7:37 PM. On 14 November the hatch was opened at 9:52 AM (66:06 GET) and Aldrin began the second standup EVA which included photography, additional experiments and jettison of unused equipment. The EVA ended after 55 minutes when the hatch was closed at 10:47 AM. Minor fuel cell and thruster problems were reported, but did not affect the remainder of the mission.

The automatically controlled reentry sequence began with retrofire at the end of revolution 59 on 15 November at 1:46:31 PM EST, 94 hours after liftoff. Splashdown occurred at 2:21:04 PM EST in the western Atlantic at 24.58 N, 69.95 W, 4.8 km from target point. The crew was picked up by helicopter and brought aboard the USS Wasp at 2:49 PM, and the spacecraft was picked up at 3:28 PM. Total mission elapsed time was 94:34:31. All primary mission goals were successfully accomplished except performance of maneuvers using the Agena propulsion system due to fluctuations in the system noticed by ground controllers. There were minor fuel cell and attitude control thruster problems during the mission. The successfully performed scientific experiments were (1) frog egg growth under zero-g, (2) synoptic terrain photography, (3) synoptic weather photography, (4) nuclear emulsions, (5) airglow horizon photography, (6) UV astronomical photography, and (7) dim sky photography. Two micrometeorite collection experiments, as well as three space phenomena photography experiments, were not fully completed.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1969
L. Chernykh discovered asteroid #2385 Mustel.

1971
J. Gibson and C. U. Cesco discovered asteroid #1920 Sarmiento.

1977
S. Barros discovered asteroid #2757 Crisser.

1980
Purple Mountain Observatory discovered asteroid #3139; Z. Vavrova discovered asteroid #2581 and #2706.

1982 07:19:00 EST (GMT -5:00:00)
NASA launched STS 5 (Columbia 5, Shuttle 5), the first flight of the shuttle with a commercial payload, which deployed Canada's ANIK C-3 and Satellite Business Systems' SBS-C commercial communications satellites.

The STS 5 launch on 11 November 1982 proceeded as scheduled with no delays.

STS 5, the first operational Shuttle mission, deployed two commercial communications satellites, ANIK C-3 for TELESAT Canada, and SBS-C for Satellite Business Systems. Each was equipped with a Payload Assist Module-D (PAM-D) solid rocket motor, which fired about 45 minutes after deployment, placing each satellite into a highly elliptical orbit. One Get Away Special and three Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiments were conducted. The first scheduled space walk in the Shuttle program was cancelled due to a space suit malfunction.

STS 5 ended 16 November 1982 when Columbia landed on revolution 82 on Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, California, with a rollout distance of 9,553 feet, and a rollout time of 63 seconds. Orbit altitude: 184 nautical miles. Orbit inclination: 28.5 degrees. The mission's duration was five days, two hours, 14 minutes, 26 seconds, traveling 2.1 million miles. Columbia was returned to the Kennedy Space Center 22 November 1982.

The flight crew for STS 5 was: Vance D. Brand, Commander; Robert F. Overmyer, Pilot; Joseph P. Allen, Mission Specialist; William B. Lenoir, Mission Specialist.
ref: www.nasa.gov

1994 07:22:00 GMT
Russia launched Progress M-25 to the Mir space station, carrying more than 2 tons of supplies and a Raduga capsule that was used to return about 150 kg of experimental results to the ground.
ref: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

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