April 12th is famous for Two significant events in Space history.
The first record goes to the USSR on April 12th, 1961, when Colonel Yuri Gagarin flew into space. That seems commonplace now, but allow me to explain. Gagarin was born on a farm West of Moscow, on March 9th, 1934. Yuri joined the Russian Air Force in 1955 and graduated from the Soviet Air Force Academy with honors in 1957. He was selected for Cosmonaut training in 1959.
Gagarin was one of 20 men chosen for elite training from which the first cosmonauts would be chosen. Gagarin and the other prospective candidates were subjected to experiments designed to test physical and psychological endurance. Gagarin was only 5.2 inches which worked to his advantage as space in the Vostok cockpit was very small.
While Gagarin flew only one space mission, it was a critical and historic mission. Gagarin had found himself in the midst of the space race. The US and the USSR were in a heated competition to see who could put the first man into space. During the cold war era, it seemed crucial to both nations to show their superiority in the heavens. Rockets were tested and launched, dogs, monkeys, and other animals were sent into space to see what the effects of space would have on life. But the most significant achievement would be to put a man into orbit. This is what Yuri Gagarin trained for, and all his training came to fruition on April 12th, 1961. Gagarin lifted off in a Vostok 1 space ship in which he traveled at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour. He launched at 9:07 orbited once and landed. His orbit lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes, making him the Columbus of the Cosmos. This flight made him a global celebrity, and he toured widely to promote the Soviet Achievement.
Sadly, the Columbus of the Cosmos, the first man in space, Gagarin was involved in an accident during a routine training flight on March 27th, 1968. But he and his flight instructor died when his Mig-15 crashed. This Russian hero was cremated, and his ashes were buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square.
The Soviet’s success was a major blow to the US space industry. You see it had been planned for Alan Shepherd to launch early in 1961. But some problems had arisen with the Mercury-Redstone rocket for Shepherd’s mission on previous test flights, and the team, including Chief rocket designer, Wernher von Braun, wanted to work out all the kinks before they risked a human life.
The test flight took place on March 24th, 1961, pushing Shepherds flight back. It seems that the US Officials apparently did not know how close the Soviets were to launching a mere 3 weeks later. Had they known there might have been a greater sense of urgency. Shepherd launched less than a month later in Freedom 7 on May 5th, 1961. The Launch took off from the Kennedy space center. Freedom 7 reached suborbital space, lasting only 15 minutes before splashing down in the Atlantic 302 miles from the launch site. Though this was a great success for the US space industry, the Soviets had a greater victory by staying in space for 108 minutes. The US would not duplicate the Soviets feat until February 1962, when John Glenn, orbited the earth.
This success on the part of the Society could have demoralized the US. Instead, it set a fire under the Americans to get a man into space and to go a step further and beat the Russians to the moon. The first American success was on July 20th, 1969, when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.
Before the Apollo Moon, landing plans were already being designed for a Space Shuttle. The reason to develop a space shuttle was simple. The USA wanted a way to ferry crew and supplies, and roughly 20,000 pounds of supplies into space at that.
There were 4 original ideas to consider when designing the next era of spacecraft. What would it be used for? Here are the 4 major options that faced the National Aeronautics and Space Council (NASA),
1. A human mission to Mars
2. follow-on lunar program
3. A low earth orbital infrastructure program
4. Discontinuing manned space activities altogether.
It was decided that the next step would be to pursue the low earth orbital infrastructure option. Based on this information Lockheed Aircraft, McDonnell Douglas, Grumman, and North American Rockwell all offered their plans for a Space shuttle design. McDonnell Douglas’ idea was too expensive, Grumman though they had a great plan also had a hefty price tag. Lockheed’s shuttle was too complicated. But the plan submitted by North American Rockwell had the lowest cost and had the easiest design for ongoing maintenance. On July 26th, 1972 Rockwell was announced as the builder of the Space shuttle program.
The space shuttle was different from the previous spacecraft in many ways. Here are two of them.
1. A shuttle would be reusable
2. It would return to earth and land like an airplane
Now why all of that background information you might ask? I thought we were talking about April 12th? This is true! But this is important because it was on April 12th, 1981, on the 20th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s space flight, 20 years after man first traveled into space that a new kind of spacecraft lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center.
While Space shuttle Columbia was delivered to KSC in March of 1979, her maiden voyage beyond earths atmosphere did not come until April 12th, 1981.
With the successful maiden voyage, Columbia moved the USA into a new era of space travel. From 1981 till 2011 when, sadly, the Shuttle program came to a premature end, 833 crewmembers took part in 135 missions aboard Space Shuttles Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor. 135 missions that tested man, machine, and imagination.
I grew up during the era of the Shuttle. I am older than the baby of the shuttle fleet, Shuttle Endeavor. I remember as a child walking out to my front yard to watch, not just a rocket, but a space ship with a name carry men and women into orbit where they would build the international space station, launch satellites, repair Hubble, and so much more. I remember going out to the Space Center where I would walk inside the VAB, drive around the launch pad, stand next to the crawler, talk to an Astronaut (Jim Kelly) and be in awe of all that surrounded me. So for me, April 12th is a special day, a day that was part of my childhood, a part of my life that I will not soon forget!
FUN FACT – The space shuttle program was the 4th human space flight program carried out by Nasa. Others included Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.
To learn more about Space Exploration follow the links below.
To shuttle Atlantis, a Saturn 5 rocket and other even a launch in person visit Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex
To hear a podcast about Space Exploration visit Anchor
Or watch the podcast as a video on Youtube
Ant on the Move 