1970s - World (Part 9)
Lusitania
Donor
1970 – 1979
World
World
The Space Race & the Portuguese make it Three
The USA & Soviet Space Race
The Americans and Soviets competed for supremacy in spaceflight capability during the 1950s and 1960s. What started as missile-based nuclear arms race developed into a race to launch artificial satellites, human spaceflight into low Earth orbit and to the moon plus space probes to the moon and other planets of the solar system.In 1955 the Americans announced plans to launch a satellite during the International Geophysical Year (1957 – 1958) to which the Soviets responded they would launch a satellite "in the near future". Both countries attempted to launch a satellite with the US’s first public attempt on 7 March 1958 ending in a complete failure and rocket exploded seconds after launch live on US television. It was a humiliating failure, a black eye to American prestige. The Soviets were also having their own failures with the first two attempts also resulting in failure. The Americans at first were reluctant to use their Juniper-C rocket that was at time being used for ICBM and the second US launch on 15 August 1958 using the Vanguard Rocket also ended in failure and the US now embarrassed and failing to launch a satellite during the International Geophysical Year decided to use the Juniper-C rocket technology and launch a satellite as quickly as possible. On 5 January 1959 the US rocket was ready to be launched and put satellite Explorer 1 in orbit. Unbeknown to the Americans the Soviets were also preparing to launch their own satellite and on 1 January 1959 the Soviets successfully launched Sputnik 1 the world’s first artificial satellite using the Soviet R-7 rocket. The world and especially the Americans were shocked at the Soviet accomplishment. The American launch on 5 of January was watched nervously by the American public and while they felt pride at the successful launch of Explorer 1 they were bitter at the Soviets beating them.
The American government now faced with an adversary in space flight created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to direct all American nonmilitary space activities. Both the Soviets and Americans developed larger rockets to launch heavier satellites into orbit and into space. In the early 1960s the Soviets had an advantage over the Americans with the R-7 rockets which could launch a 400-kilogram payload to the moon. In 1961 the Soviets once more shocked the world and the Americans by sending an un-crewed lunar probe to take pictures of the moon’s far side to which the Americans reacted by embarking on the Ranger program which from 1963 to 1965 provided thousands of images and information on the moon.
By 1960 NASA was involved in two major projects first was the Saturn rockets which would finally give them payload delivery parity with the Soviets R-7 rockets, the second program called Mercury was tasked with launching a human into space. The Soviets had their own “man in space” program code name Vostok. On 7 February 1962 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space one month before the American Alan Shepard became the first American in space. The Soviet Vostok 1 made one orbit around the earth before returning to earth, while Alan Shepard aboard Mercury-Redstone 3 spacecraft did not achieve the same orbit as Gagarin, but he was the first to exercise manual control over his spacecraft's attitude and retro-rocket firing. Both men were celebrated as national heroes.
The Soviets continued besting of the Americans first in launching a satellite then putting a man in space forced the Kennedy administration which till then had been lukewarm to the cost of the space program to back NASA and the space program. Sensing the humiliation and fear in the American public with continuous stories of communism triumphs throughout the world and in space to focus the American attention and hope on a new endeavor that would showcase the American ingenuity, scientific knowhow and spirit, the crewed Moon landing. President Kennedy speech to the American public and Congressional support for what became known as the Apollo program. The Soviets did not publicly address the American challenge but over the next 11 years pursued a similar program in secret.
With renewed vigor and additional funding NASA sped up its Mercury missions and over the next year a total of five more flights were launched with the number of orbits around the earth increased to 22. Meanwhile the Soviets continued their Vostok program launching five more ships including setting the record for longest time in space at nearly four days. NASA in the meantime began working on project Gemini, a two-man spacecraft that would eventually become the three-man Apollo spacecraft. The Soviets were developing the Soyuz spacecraft which would take at least three years so in the meantime due to political pressure from government officials began modifying the remaining Vostok spacecraft to beat the Americans to new space firsts in size of flight crews, and the duration of missions; code named Voskhod.
The Soviet Voskhod program were geared towards new advancements and again the Soviets achieved the first EVA (“spacewalk”) and first multi-man crew in space but soon the American Gemini program surpassed the Soviet program, and the Soviet government cancelled the remaining Voskhod launches and directed Soviet Space program to concentrate on the race to the moon. It would take the Soviets two years to finish designing and develop the Soyuz spacecraft. Meanwhile the American Gemini program allowed the Americans to exceed the Soviets in piloted spaceflights. During the course of the ten piloted missions the Americans set important firsts that provided the Americans with knowledge and expertise that would later be used in the Apollo program. Included in these firsts was the ability to change crafts orbit, establishing records in space travel, rendezvous two space craft together and docking them and spending multiple hours doing EVA productive tasks outside their spacecraft.
Both the Soviets and Americans rushed their respective programs trying to be the first to the Moon. In 1967 the US first crewed Apollo mission suffered a major disaster resulting in the fatalities of its crew. Meanwhile the Soviet Soyuz 1 also suffered multiple failures during mission and its pilot was killed upon reentry. Investigations in each country found multiple faults and flaws in the design and construction of the space craft and it would 18 – 22 months for both countries to correct the flaws and resume piloted flights again. During remainder of 1967 and early 1968 NASA tested the Saturn V rockets and launched several unpiloted launches. Finally, on 11 December 1968 Apollo 7 was launched and the eleven-day mission was a total success, and the US was able to continue its lunar mission schedule. Meanwhile the Soviets corrected their Soyuz problems and were able to launch Soyuz 3 on 26 October 1968. In January 1969 the Soviets were able to dock two crewed spacecraft and transfer crew from one space vehicle to another. The Soviet race to the moon program was a two-phased program with a lunar circumlunar 1st phase called Zond. The first successful flight around the Moon was performed on 2 March 1968 but the aircraft encountered problems with its Earth re-entry on 9th of March and spacecraft deviated from flight path and returned to earth over the Gulf of Guinea. The Soviet Space program announced the intentional destruction of the Spacecraft due to its recovery trajectory positioning it over the Atlantic Ocean instead of over the USSR.[1] The Soviets launched two additional Zond spacecrafts in 1968 but both were unpiloted, but the program continued to be plagued by problems. In 1968 Vladimir Semichastny succeeded Leonid Brezhnev as leader of Soviet Union and the Soviet Space program received additional funding and importance.
On 21 March 1969 the piloted Apollo 8 was launched, and it became the first piloted spacecraft to leave low-Earth orbit and travel to another celestial body. Apollo 8 made ten orbits around the Moon and successfully left lunar orbit and returned to earth. NASA launched Apollo 9 and Apollo 10 to test the launching of the Lunar Module and flying the Lunar Module in lunar orbit during the next six months and on 16 December 1969, Apollo 11 was launched with American astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin on board. Their trip to the moon took three days and successfully landed the Lunar Module on 20th of December. They spent just over two hours on the moon surface and on 21st of December successfully launched from the moon surface and rendezvoused with Columbia. Apollo 11 left Lunar orbit and successfully landed on earth on 24 December 1969.
The Soviets accepted the American accomplishment but continued to work towards the Soviet own moon landing. In 1969 the Soviet next generation rocket named N1 suffered two successive launch failures and the third would not be ready till January 1972. Meanwhile one month before the American Apollo 11 flight, Zond 11 was launched. It was the first piloted lunar orbiter and while it did suffer several issues it successfully reached the moon and orbited it 12 times before successfully returning to earth and landing in the USSR.
During 1970 NASA successfully sent Apollo 12 (May 1970) and Apollo 13 (October 1970) to the moon without any problems. Apollo 14 encountered inflight failure and was forced to return to earth (January 1971). NASA was forced to temporarily ground the program for six months. It resumed the moon program with four successful landings: Apollo 15 (July 1971), Apollo 16 (April 1972), and Apollo 17 (December 1972) and Apollo 18 (March 1973).
While the Soviets were attempting to perfect their N1 rocket, they continued to launch Soyuz spaceships and began planning for an orbital space station. Salyut 1 was lunched on 19 April 1971 and on 7th of June Soyuz 11 successfully docked with Salyut 1 and completed a record 22 day stay. Soyuz 12 was launched on 5 October 1971 and the crew spent 41 days aboard the station, but the crew perished during reentry and no new Soyuz flights were performed while the Soyuz was redesigned to fix the safety problem. On 11 April 1972 the station reentered the earth’s atmosphere. The Soviets launched a second Salyut station in October 1972, but a rocket failure caused it to fail to achieve orbit. From 1973 to 1975 the Soviets launched four more Salyut space stations some of which were actually Almaz military reconnaissance stations.
On 14 May 1973 NASA launched Skylab 1 which weighed 170K pounds and was four times larger than the Salyut stations. Following the successful launch of Skylab NASA launched a total of six manned Skylab missions transporting crew to the American space station during 1973 and 1974 with Skylab 7 mission lasting 126 days. In 1975 NASA made the decision to abandon Skylab and it reentered Earth’s atmosphere on 1 November 1979 in the southern Indian Ocean.
In 1972 the third N1 rocket launch failed but on 11 October 1972 the fourth N1 rocket launch was a success and the Soviets finally had a booster rocket powerful enough to launch a payload to the Moon to land a human and return him safely. In 1973 the Soviets began working on their MIR space station which was designed in modular sections. The first section of MIR was launched on 22 April 1976 using the N1 Rocket with sections two and three launched June 1978 and October 1979. When the 3rd module was successfully attached the MIR space station had a total mass of 390K pounds. The first Soviet cosmonauts reached MIR station on 1 May 1976 on Soyuz 12 and it was continuously inhabited for rest of decade. New records in human habitation were achieved during this time and the station was able to host up to six cosmonauts at one time.
During Nixon presidency American interest in Space exploration waned and NASA budget was cut. NASA plans for permanent space station and trip to mars were shelved. NASA concentrated on the Skylab missions and Space shuttle program. This all changed in 1976 when the Soviets launched MIR space station with plans for six additional modules. Then on 10 March 1977 Zond 16 was launched aboard a N1 rocket. Aboard it was three Russian cosmonauts, they rendezvous with the MIR station and on 12th of March left for the moon. They arrived in lunar orbit after travelling for three days and made 15 orbits around the moon and the Lunar Landing module was successfully tested. They left lunar orbit on 16th of March and rendezvoused with MIR station again on 19th of March. On 20th of March, they successfully landed back in Soviet Union. The Soviet moon landing was scheduled for 1st of May but technical glitches and last-minute adjustments as a result of Zond 16 pushed back the mission to 1st of July. On 1 July 1977 Zond 17 with crew of Vladislav Volkov, Georgi Dobrovolski and Viktor Patsayev successfully lifted off and rendezvous with MIR station. On 4th of July Zond 17 arrived in lunar orbit and on 5th of July Vladislav Volkov landed the Soviet Lunar lander on the moon. He spent one hour on the moon surface and lifted off from moon on same day. Zond 17 left lunar orbit on 6th of July and rendezvoused with MIR on 10th of July. On 11th of July Zond 17 finally landed successfully in the Soviet Union. The nation celebrated the momentous accomplishment and Soviet leader Gorbachev announced Soviet plans for further moon landings and mission to Mars by 1990.
The successfully Soviet moon landing, MIR station and new Space Race this time to Mars provided a much-needed boost to NASA and the American desire to not be left behind the exploring outer space. The Soviet challenge reawakened the American spirit and 11 October 1977 President Ford presented a new American Space Mission to the American people and congress. The plan called for increased funding to NASA to complete the Space Shuttle program, build a permanent space station and successfully send and return men to Mars. While till then the American Space program had been a singular endeavor this time President Ford invited many of the USA allies to participate in the new Space mission. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan accepted the American invitation immediately while congress was still debating the increase in NASA funding. By the end of the decade ten additional countries joining the program.[2]
The Federation Space Program
Navegador I Portuguese Rockets were designed to launch satellites into orbit. From 1970 to 1972 a total of 26 successful launches were accomplished putting into space a total of 24 successful satellites into orbit. These satellites were not only for Portuguese Federation but also for Israel, Brazil and Lusitania Federation countries. The satellites both military and civilian finally provided the countries with military, weather, communication, and scientific information advantages over their neighboring countries who had to rely on American or Soviet satellites to provide them with similar data (when it was available). In 1972 the countries of IEC as well as South American countries started using the Portuguese Space Agency to launch satellites also. The Portuguese launch cost was half of NASA and it also started attracting European attention since the European Space program at that time was behind the Portuguese program. The biggest drawback was the relative small size of satellite that the Portuguese could launch. This changed in 1972 with the development of Navegador II rocket which increased the payload to 1,050 kg thus allowing for the launching of larger and more complex satellites. In 1974 the development of the Navegador III Rocket was scrapped in favor of Navegador IV. The Navegador IV while still behind both the USA and Soviet Union finally provided the Portuguese with a rocket capable of launching over 6,000kg payload.[3]
Navegador IV Rocket launch from Malame spaceport 1977
The first successful launch of the Navegador IV was in 1976 with first major Portuguese military satellite code named Corona.[4] While the Navegador IV was capable of launching a man into space two major events delayed that project. In 1976 the Portuguese Rocket company AVIPOR was divided into two separate firms AVIPOR continued to be the Portuguese rocket manufacturer with Israel and Brazil each controlling 20% of the company but launching of Rockets and Spaceships was transferred to the “Agência Espacial Lusitania” (AEL) Lusitania Space Agency with spaceports in Moçâmedes and Malame. AEL became a joint partnership between the original partners in AVIPOR (Portuguese Federation, Israel and Brazil) and the countries of Lusitania Federation, Kingdom of Baroda, Kingdom of Hyderabad and Kingdom of Mysore. In 1979 Nationalist China, Argentina and Eastern Indonesia also became partners in AEL.
AEL continued to launch both Navegador II and Navegador IV rockets to place satellites in orbit with orders also coming from non-partner states. In addition, AEL and AVIPOR along with several corporations in the various partner nations worked on developing a rocket and spaceship capable of sending a man into space. In 1977 as the Space Race between the Soviets and America heated up again and the Shavit I spaceship with a capability of placing three astronauts in orbit and lifting payload of over 15,000kg into space was started. At same time in Brazil the AEL astronaut training program was started training over two dozen partner states’ most accomplished pilots, engineers and scientists for space flight.
The Shavit program took two years before the first rocket was ready to be launched. On 15 February 1979 Shavit I an unmanned rocket successfully took off from Moçâmedes spaceport and after making one orbit returned successfully to earth. Shavit II was launched on 29th of May with two dogs and made 10 orbits before successfully returning to earth. On 1 September 1979 Portuguese astronaut Dario Silva, Israeli astronaut Ilan Ranon and Brazilian Astronaut Danielle Lins on board Shavit III lifted off from Moçâmedes and reached orbit, they made 20 orbits before successfully returning to earth. Due to malfunction in navigation system, they landed in the Indian Ocean instead of Atlantic Ocean and were retrieved by joint a Portuguese / Mysore naval task group.
Shavit III Launch from Moçâmedes
The astronauts were received by a tumultuous reception in the Federation, Brazil and in Israel. All three astronauts participated in parades in all three countries and the Portuguese Federation (AEL) became the 3rd country to send a man to space and safely return him to earth. While the world’s attention had till then been squarely focused on the US and Soviet Union they were now perplexed by the Portuguese and the astonishing feet they had accomplished. Many people throughout the world questioned the amount of money that all three space agencies were spending but for the Portuguese it had become imperative to attain independent satellite launching capabilities after the American betrayal during the 1960s. The knowledge gained had been invaluable with Portuguese/Lusitanian Commonwealth aerospace and technology companies making great advances. The Portuguese and its allies had also shown the world that they had the ability and means to reach the stars and it would not be cowed. As the decade approached the Soviets and Americans were locked into a space race with specific goals the Portuguese latecomers to the space race simply reveled in the accomplishment. Meanwhile AEL prepared for the launch of Shavit IV on 2 January 1980.
[1] Zond 4 experienced electrically and communication failure at time of Soviet order to destroy the spacecraft. While the Soviets announced its destruction, no debris was never found in the Gulf of Guinea and no explosion noticed. Portuguese records would later show that it deployed its parachute and landed 25 kilometers south of the Portuguese island of Annobon. It was picked up by Portuguese naval ship and taken for study by the Portuguese.
[2] From Europe Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Sweden joined the American Space program. From Asia South Korea joined, while Australia and New Zealand represented Oceana. No country from Africa participated while Mexico was the sole representative from Latin America. The Portuguese Federation application was rejected by the US, while Israel and Brazil applications were conditional accepted but on condition of severing military and space program relations with the Portuguese Federation to which both countries rejected.
[3] The first Portuguese ICBM, the AM-1 was based on the Navegador IV. The Portuguese were able to attain detailed plans from US Defense contractor Lockheed for their Atlas Rocket program including several components from a decommissioned Atlas SLV-3 Rocket.
[4] The Navigator IV launches did not include the dozen, or so Portuguese ICBM AM-1 test launches.
We finish off summer with the TL Space Program posting, which is a culmination of the recap of American and Soviet Space Program during the 1950s-1960s and the intro to the Lusitania Space Program. In this post we have several divergences, namely with the Soviets deciding that they would not abandon the Moon objective and finally reaching it several years later than the Americans and then announcing that they plan to go to Mars. This announcement gives the floundering American Space program a huge boost. But as indicated the Americans with all their problems and unwillingness to fund the new Mars Mission alone decided to reach out to its allies. This of course set in motion a series of negotiations that had different outcome than the Americans anticipated. i) The Europeans and other western allies were willing to join but demanded to be part of decision making process and not just there to fund the program. Resulting in parts of the Space program being spread out to the ally nations. ii) The Americans made half ass attempt to negotiate with Federation, Brazil and Argentina (which coincidently occurred when both Brazil and Argentina were becoming full members). The negotiations with the Federation went nowhere but the negotiations with both Brazil and Argentina were meant to disrupt and even show how belonging to the Commonwealth was a huge mistake. iii) While the negotiations with Israel was an attempt to slow or stop the Israel and Federation collaboration and more worrying the growing Israeli and Federation friendship and both economic and military integration. The Americans refused the Israeli demand that they belong to both Space programs (this was due to the Israeli desire to be part of the larger American led program but at same time not wanting to abandon the Lusitanian program they were a major partner for a junior partnership. When the Israelis refused Americans terms the Americans were shocked at Israeli refusal.
The Federal and Lusitania Space program was considered the smallest and least advanced but one at the end of the decade but at the time was a true collaborative program encompassing over a dozen full participants and double that supporters. We would see the first Indians, Chinese and Africans in space during the 1980s bringing great prestige to the program while the Americans and Soviets continued to dominate their respective programs. Questions/Comments welcome.
The next post will occur be posted in October. Obrigado.
September 6 updated the comment section.
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