Space Rocket History Podcast

The VENERA 7 lander was the hardiest of the Soviet Venus probes yet built. Its creators wanted the v

Luna 16 was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a sample of lunar soil to Earth a

“Three brave astronauts are alive and on Earth because of the mission operations teams’ dedication,

“During blackout every team member does his own soul searching, reviewing the decisions and the data

To Kranz and his team, this crew was special. They just could not lose them.  Failure was not an opt

Three hours before dawn, Gene Kranz’ White Team took its place next to Windler’s Maroon Team control

While the Mercury 7 were fulfilling their roles as symbols of space exploration, Korolev was once ag

As If there were not enough problems, Houston still had not completed the command module power up ch

From beneath the Lunar Modules floor there was a thud, then a hiss, then another thump that vibrated

Swigert counted down five, four, three, two, one.” Lovell pressed the big red engine button set in t

In the White House, President Nixon was very concerned for the Apollo 13 crew. Since Apollo 8’s succ

At the manned spacecraft center in Houston, Don Arabian was in Building 45 when battery number two i

There was now cause for optimism in Mission Control. At the TELMU station, where the Lunar Module’s

Mariner 4’s primary objective was to conduct closeup scientific observations of Mars and to transmit

In a healthy spacecraft, the CO2 meter should climb no higher than 2 or 3 millimeters of mercury. Wh

In the satellite room of the carrier Iwo Jima, the communications man sat back and removed his heads

Lovell’s disappointment with Kranz’s decision to not run another star check was quickly becoming aca

“They’re all coming out,” Swigert said, straining for a glimpse through Lovell’s window.  “You said

According to the profiles Bill Peters and his electrical specialists calculated, it was possible to

“The first burn, Griffin explained, would be a long one. Pushing the descent throttle all the way to