SuomiKaataa2

Buran program is also known under VKK - air spaceship and it was Soviet and later Russian reusable spacecraft program which started in 1974 and was canceled in 1993. Buran was also name of Orbiter K1, unmanned spaceflight in 1988, which was the only Soviet reusable spacecraft ever launched into space. It was generally opponent of the US Space Shuttle. Even Orbiter K1 was successfully recovered, it was never used again. It was crashed in the collapsing of the hangar in Kazakhstan on May 12, 2002. Maintenance, launches and landings of Buran vehicles occurred in Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan. Note: Let's skip the part why the objective of the program. I do not want to come into politics and since the program ended 25 years ago, I hope it is not needed anymore.  The original ideas about reusable come back to 1950s. There was not clear project, and it was not continuous idea all the time. The program itself started in 1970s as a response to the US Space Shuttle. Soviet's en...

Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster  @ SuomiKaataa Solid rocket boosters part of the space shuttle stage provided the biggest thrust during the first two minutes of the flight up to the height about 45 km. After they burned out, they were jettisoned. About 75 seconds after SRB separation from the space shuttle it reached the altitude about 67 km and parachutes were deployed and impacted the Atlantic ocean in 226 km range. After that they were recovered, they were examined, and used again.  Except one parachute malfunction and Challenger disaster all were safely recovered.   Solid rocket boosters separation The meaning of solid rocket booster includes the entire rocket assembly, such as rocket motor, recovery parachutes, electronic instrumentation, separation rockets, safety destruct system and thrust vector motor.  Each booster was attached to the external tank of the space shuttle. Each booster was also attached to the mobile launcher pl...

Saturn V was US expendable rocket used by NASA between the years 1967 and 1973. The three stage super heavy lift launch vehicle was developed to support the Apollo program (see articles Apollo program , The Space Race, all together ), and later it launch also Skylab, the first US space station. The Saturn V was launched 13 times, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Saturn V remains the only launch vehicle which carried manned crews to the outer space, beyond the Earth orbit. All together 15 vehicles ready to fly were built, from which was 13 used for launch. 3 vehicles were used for testing purposes. Apollo 17: The last one Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph. Saturn V's design originated from the Jupiter series rockets. The C-1 was developed into the Saturn I and C-2 rocket dropped out due to C-3 design. C-3 was planned as a part of Earth orbit rendezvous ( EOR ), but even bigger C-4 crossed the plans. C-4 ...

Titan is US family of expendable rockets in use between years 1959 and 2005. Totally it was launched 368 rockets, including all the manned Gemini project flights.  Titan was part of the US intercontinental ballistic missile, Titan was used to launch probes out to the Solar system. The HGM-25A Titan I was the first rocket version used between years 1962 and 1965. It was first as a backup ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) in case that Atlas would be delayed. It was 2 stage rocket powered by RP-1 and liquid oxygen.   The Titan II uses modified version of the LR-87 engine, that used combination of nitrogen tetroxide for its oxidizer and Aerozine 50 (50/50 mix of hydrazine and UDMH=unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine) for its fuel instead of the liquid oxygen and RP-1 used in the Titan I.  All together 12 Titan II Gemini launch vehicles were launched, including 2 unmanned tests and 10 manned flights with two-man crews.  Launch of Gemini 11 on Titan...

Atlas is a family of US missiles and space launch vehicles. The original Atlas was designed in late 1950s to be used as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It was a liquid propellant rocket burning liquid oxygen and RP-1 fuel in 3 engines configured in parallel staging design. In parallel staging several small first stages are strapped into the main stage and they are all ignited. After the smaller ones are burnt out they are discarded and main rocket continues burning and the payload is carried atop the main stage into the orbit. This design was used also for the Space Shuttle . In 1962 and 1963, Atlas boosters launched the first US astronauts to Earth orbit within Mercury program (remember 2 manned Redstone sub-orbital flights). Atlas II model was launched 63 times (1991-2004), Atlas III was launched 6 times (2000-2005), and Atlas V is still in service planned until 2020. Recently InSight (see article InSight Mars Lander ) was launched on Atlas V-401 rocket on May 5, ...

Redstone rocket was developed in Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, USA. The Redstone family of rockets consisted of number of ballistic missiles, sounding rockets, and expendable launch vehicles used in 1950s and 1960s.  The first rocket was PGM-11 Redstone , from which all farther variations were derived. The first launched in 1953 was short range surface to surface ballistic missile in active use from 1958 until 1964.   Redstone No. CC-56, Cape Canaveral, Florida, 17 September 1958: Surface to surface missile Redstone was directly upgraded from the German V-2 rocket , developed mostly by German rocket engineers brought to US after the World War II.  Jupiter-A was the first variant of Redstone, used mostly to test parts which was later used for medium range ballistic missile.  Jupiter-C was a sounding rocket developed from Jupiter-A used for 3 suborbital spaceflights in 1956 and 1957. I was used as test for reentry vehicles later used on the PGM...