Questions tagged [spaceflight]
Human exploration of space, whether by manned spacecraft or unmanned probes.
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Why did the Soviets not shoot down US spy satellites during the Cold War?
The USSR was not happy with unauthorised overflights, shooting down everything it could, from spy balloons to U-2s. Also, despite repeated US proposals, something like the Open Skies treaty was only ...
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Which state capital did the Apollo 11 command module NOT visit after it returned from the moon?
According to Wikipedia, after Apollo 11 returned from the Moon:
The command module Columbia went on a tour of the United States, visiting 49 state capitals, the District of Columbia, and Anchorage, ...
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Did Wernher von Braun ever have a position of authority over astronaut program or Moon landings?
I'm aware that Wernher von Braun was director of the Marshall Space Flight Center and as such focused on the development of launch vehicles, but the recent alternate history of the space race, For All ...
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Why did the Soviet Union out-pace the US during the space-race?
At the end of World War II, the US Government's Operation Paperclip plucked rocket scientists from Germany and brought them to the U.S. to work on military weapons. Most famous among these scientists ...
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What is the earliest mention of space travel?
What was the earliest mention in recorded history of travel through space? Admittedly, I am not really a history buff, but I am writing a scientific paper related to space travel, so I wanted to give ...
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How successful was the NDEA?
The National Defence Education Act (NDEA) was passed shortly after the Soviet launch of the satellite Sputnik I with the goal of remedying what the American government believed to be a gap in ...
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How many people watched the moon landings after Apollo 11?
I'm currently writing an essay on the history of Spaceflight. I remember hearing before that interest in the Apollo program waned after Apollo 11, that TV ratings of the moon missions gradually ...
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Did Yuri Gagarin really mention Anna Magnani in his flight in space?
This NYTimes article about the Italian actress Anna Magnani states:
Perhaps the best way to describe her effect on audiences is to quote from a documentary on the Italian actress by the Belgian film ...
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What were the international space arrangements and scientific purposes Eisenhower spoke of in October 1957?
Background: Explorer 1 was successfully launched into orbit by the US 1958-02-01 about four months after Sputnik 1 was successfully launched by the Soviet Union 1957-10-04, and Vanguard 1 wasn't ...
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Why was a civilian chosen over two military officers to be mission commander of Apollo 11?
Neil Armstrong was a civilian when he joined NASA's astronaut corps. He became the first civilian in space.
Buzz Aldrin was on active duty in the US Air Force during his astronaut training for NASA. ...
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Who was the first human to survive a vertical launched rocket flight?
In 1961 Yuri Gagarin flew a rocket and survived, parachuting safely back to earth.
According to Wikipedia, Lothar Sieber, a German pilot, tested a rocket in 1945 but died in the first test flight.
So ...
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Why did Jodrell Bank assist the Soviet Union to collect data from their spacecraft in the mid 1960's?
I've just listened to the short BBC News audio podcast clip How British academics spied on the superpowers:
Tim O’Brien from the Jodrell Bank radio telescope discusses 50 year old recordings which ...
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Have any astronauts or cosmonauts died in space?
When I lived on the Space Coast I overheard gossip that one or more cosmonauts died in space.
Is there any truth to this?
I’m not asking about deaths from those disasters like Challenger, Columbia, ...
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Who, if anyone, was the first astronaut to return to earth in a different vessel?
I assume, with the advent of the ISS, it is common for astronauts to return to earth in a different capsule to the one in which they first left the atmosphere. (I may be wrong) but who were the ...
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Did the Soviet military in fact fear that the Space Shuttle would be used as an orbital bomber? If so, why?
I have read on this blog (scroll down to section "what happened to make it fail) dedicated to failed cold war space projects that the Soviet leadership was deeply concerned about the STS, fearing that ...
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