Space Rocket History Podcast

Once its antennas were deployed, Explorer 49 was the largest human-made object to orbit the Moon as

Launched in 1972 and weighing 258 kilograms (569 pounds), Pioneer 10 completed the first mission to

“The UK 4 (United Kingdom Research Satellite 4), a.k.a. Ariel 4, was a small observatory designed to

This is how Deputy Chief Designer for OKB-1, Boris Chertok described the launch of Mars 3. “The red

Mariner 8 and 9 were virtually identical and designed to continue the atmospheric studies begun by M

The Apollo 17 mission was the most productive and trouble-free piloted mission to the moon and repre

At 4:56 Houston time, Gene rested the tip of his left index finger on the yellow ignition button.  

“As we leave the Moon and Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and God willing, as we shall return,

“How can there be orange soil on the Moon?! (Pause) Jack, that is really orange.” Gene Cernan The po

Gene Cernan’s first words were “As I step off at the surface of Taurus-Littrow, I’d like to dedicate

Gene had a deadlock visual on the landing site. He knew exactly where he was, and the LM had become

For the next two days, Jack Schmitt would do a running account of Earth’s weather patterns. One Capc

At 12:33 A.M. Dec. 7th 1972, “the hold-down arms released and the mighty Saturn V stirred, balanced

By the time they reached the elevator, Cernan felt absolutely charmed, and was grinning from ear to

Flight director Gene Kranz wrote that Cernan was his favorite because of his carefree and jovial att

Harrison Schmitt played a key role in training Apollo crews to be geologic observers when they were

Apollo 17 would break several crewed spaceflight records: 1) longest moon mission duration: 12 days

On re-entry Casper hit the atmosphere at an altitude of about 400,000 feet above the earth and at a

The LM eventually crashed due to lunar gravity anomalies. Since Houston didn’t know exactly where it

It was the only time in their whole lunar stay that Charlie had a real moment of panic and thought h