Beyond_Earth-_A_Chronicle_of_Deep_Space_Exploration_1958-2016.pdf - Page 2

What Kind of Information Have I Included?

In terms of the mission descriptions, I have kept the focus on dynamic mission events (course corrections, orbital insertion, reentry, landing, equipment deployment, etc.) rather than mission planning or scientific results, although in many cases I have included brief summaries of both. But I do not make any claim to comprehensiveness in terms of the scientific outcomes of the missions. This monograph is more about what happened rather than what was discovered. In the interest of space, the mission descriptions have been kept relatively short, filled with detail, and to the point.

Conflicting Information

There are many, many areas where different sources have supplied different information, especially for some early Soviet probes launched between 1960 and 1965. The precise instrument complement of these probes (1M, 1V, 2MV, and 3MV series) is not known very well because in many cases, scientific instruments that were meant for the spacecraft were removed before launch. I have listed all the originally slated instruments meant for those vehicles even if they were later removed before launch. Undoubtedly, there are mistakes and inconsistencies in the lists presented here but I have made every effort to be as accurate as possible.

A Note About Terminology

Mission Designations

I have made every attempt to use the names of spacecraft and missions that were contemporaneous to the time of the mission and assigned by the agency or organization implementing the missions.

In the 1960s, NASA routinely used Roman numerals for missions (Mariner IV, Mariner V, etc.) in their official documentation, but these were discontinued in the 1970s. Readers will note that I have used this convention for all missions until and including 1970 but after that switched to Latin numbers (Mariner 9, Mariner 10, etc.). This division is somewhat arbitrary but was necessary not to confuse readers.

The practice of giving spacecraft "official" names is complicated by the fact that beginning with the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and until the late 1980s, the Soviet Union never announced or acknowledged a mission if it failed to reach Earth orbit. In addition, for those lunar and planetary probes that did reach Earth orbit but failed to leave it, the Soviets adopted two strategies:

between 1960 and 1963, the Soviets simply never admitted their existence and made no announcement; and
beginning November 1963, the Soviet media began to give these stranded-in-Earth-orbit spacecraft "Kosmos" numbers. So, the deep space vehicle launched on 11 November 1963 that reached Earth orbit but failed to leave for deep space was simply given the "next" Kosmos number, in this case "21." By giving it such a nondescript name ("Kosmos 21"), Soviet officials sought to draw attention away from such failures. This practice was followed well into the late 1980s.

For both of these three types of missions, I have used the following convention: [Program, Spacecraft design designation, serial number] OR Kosmos number [Program]

I do not use terms such as "Marsnik 1" or "Mars 1960A" (listed in the National Space Science Data Center, for example, to denote the spacecraft launched on 10 October 1960). Since the Soviets never used such names, it would be entirely inaccurate to ascribe such designations. Such fictitious names (such as "Sputnik 27") unfortunately proliferate online but are Western inventions.

Launch Sites

For Soviet and Russian launch sites, the following conventions apply: "Site A / B" implies that the probe was launched from Site A, Launch Unit B

Mission Goals

There are good reasons not to use terms such as "flyby" or "flight" since spacecraft do not fly. As one of the reviewers for this manuscript pointed out, these terms are remnants of the era of aeronautics. As such, more appropriate terms would be "swingby" (instead of "flyby") and "mission" (instead of "flight"). However, because terms such as "flyby" and "flight" are still widely used by many space agencies globally, this manuscript has retained their use, despite their imprecise nature.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank all at the NASA History Division who were patient with me throughout this process, particularly Chief Historian Bill Barry and Steve Garber. A special note of gratitude to Roger Launius who conceived the original project in 1999.

A very special note of thanks to Ariel Waldman for kindly providing the source image for the cover of this publication.

For help with the manuscript itself, I need to acknowledge the comments and criticisms of Jason Callahan, Dwayne Day, Chris Gamble, Marc Rayman, and Randii Wessen. Their comments were immensely helpful to this project and made this a much better manuscript than I alone could have made it. I would also like to thank Don Mitchell, Sven Grahn, and Timothy Varfolomeyev for sharing images from their collection. Also, a note of gratitude to Jonathan McDowell for sharing his insights. Despite the help of all these individuals, any mistakes are, however, mine.

Thanks also go to the Communications Support Service Center (CSSC) team of talented professionals who brought this project from manuscript to finished publication. J. Andrew Cooke carefully copyedited the detailed text, Michele Ostovar did an expert job laying out the design and creating the e-book version, Kristin Harley performed the exacting job of creating the index, and printing specialist Tun Hla oversaw the production of the traditional hard copies. Supervisor Maxine Aldred helped by overseeing all of this CSSC production work.

Firsts in the History of Deep Space Exploration

Absolute Firsts

First attempt to launch a probe into deep space: USA / Able 1 [Pioneer 0] / 17 August 1958
First probe to reach escape velocity: USSR / Soviet Space Rocket [Luna 1] / 2 January 1959
First spacecraft to impact on another celestial body: USSR / Second Soviet Space Rocket [Luna 2] / 14 September 1959 (Moon)
First successful planetary mission: USA / Mariner II / 14 December 1962 (Venus)
First spacecraft to impact another planet: USSR / Venera 3 / 1 March 1966 (Venus)
First spacecraft to make a survivable landing on a celestial body: USSR / Luna 9 / 3 February 1966 (Moon)
First spacecraft to orbit a celestial body other than Earth or the Sun: USSR / Luna 10 / 2 April 1966 (Moon)
First successful planetary atmospheric entry probe: USSR / Venera 4 / 18 October 1967 (Venus)
First liftoff from another celestial body: USA / Surveyor VI / 17 November 1967 (Moon)
First transmission from the surface of another planet: USSR / Venera 7 / 15 December 1970 (Venus)
First robotic spacecraft to recover and return samples from another celestial body: USSR / Luna 16 / 12–21 September 1970 (Moon)
First wheeled vehicle on another celestial body: USSR / Lunokhod 1 / 17 November 1970 (Moon)
First spacecraft to fly through the asteroid belts: USA / Pioneer 10 / out in February 1973
First spacecraft to use gravity assist to change its interplanetary trajectory: USA / Mariner 10 / 5 February 1974 (at Venus)
First spacecraft to fly past multiple planets: USA / Mariner 10 / 5 February 1974 (Venus) and 29 March 1974 (Mercury)
First spacecraft to transmit photos from the surface of another planet: USSR / Venera 10 / 22 October 1975 (Venus)
First spacecraft to orbit a libration point: USA / ISEE-3 / 20 November 1978 (Sun-Earth L1)
First spacecraft to fly past a comet: USA / ISEE-3 / 11 September 1985 (Comet Giacobini-Zinner)
First spacecraft to use Earth for a gravity assist: ESA / Giotto / 2 July 1990
First spacecraft to use aerobraking to reduce velocity: Japan / Hiten / 19 March 1991
First spacecraft to fly past an asteroid: USA / Galileo / 26 October 1991 (951 Gaspra)
First wheeled vehicle on a planet: USA / Sojourner / 5 July 1997 (Mars)
First spacecraft to use ion propulsion as primary propulsion in deep space: USA / Deep Space 1 / 24 November 1998
First spacecraft to orbit an asteroid: USA / NEAR Shoemaker / 14 February 2000 (433 Eros)
First spacecraft to land on an asteroid: USA / NEAR Shoemaker / 12 February 2001 (433 Eros)
First spacecraft to return extraterrestrial material from beyond lunar orbit: USA / Genesis / Returned 8 September 2004
First spacecraft to use a solar sail as primary propulsion in deep space: Japan / IKAROS / 9 July 2010
First spacecraft to orbit a body in the main asteroid belt: USA / Dawn / 16 July 2011 (4 Vesta)
First spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet: USA / Dawn / 7 March 2015 (1 Ceres)

The Moon

First lunar probe attempt: USA / Able 1 [Pioneer 0] / 17 August 1958
First spacecraft to impact the Moon: USSR / Second Soviet Space Rocket [Luna 2] / 14 September 1959
First spacecraft to fly by the Moon: USSR / Automatic Interplanetary Station [Luna 3] / 6 October 1959
First to photograph farside of the Moon: USSR / Automatic Interplanetary Station [Luna 3] / 6 October 1959
First survivable landing on the Moon: USSR / Luna 9 / 3 February 1966
First soft-landing on the Moon: USA / Surveyor I / 2 June 1966
First spacecraft to orbit the Moon: USSR / Luna 10 / 2 April 1966
First liftoff from the Moon: USA / Surveyor VI / 17 November 1967
First successful circumlunar mission: USSR / Zond 6 / 14–21 September 1968
First robotic return of soil sample from the Moon: USSR / Luna 16 / 12–21 September 1970
First wheeled vehicle on Moon: USSR / Lunokhod 1 / 17 November 1970

The Sun

First probe into heliocentric orbit: USSR / Soviet Space Rocket / 2 January 1959
First spacecraft to view the poles of the Sun: ESA / Ulysses / September 2000 to January 2001

Mercury

First spacecraft to fly by Mercury: USA / Mariner 10 / 29 March 1974
First spacecraft to orbit Mercury: USA / MESSENGER / 18 March 2011

Venus

First attempt to send a spacecraft to Venus: USSR / Heavy Satellite / 4 February 1961
First spacecraft to successfully fly past Venus: USA / Mariner II / 14 December 1962
First spacecraft to impact Venus: USSR / Venera 3 / 1 March 1966
First successful atmospheric entry into Venus: USSR / Venera 4 / 18 October 1967
First soft-landing and return of surface data from Venus: USSR / Venera 7 / 15 December 1970
First surface photos of Venus: USSR / Venera 10 / 22 October 1975
First spacecraft to orbit Venus: USSR / Venera 10 / 22 October 1975
First spacecraft to image the entire surface of Venus: USA / Magellan / 1990–1994

Mars

First Mars probe attempt: USSR / [Mars, 1M no. 1] / 10 October 1960
First successful mission to Mars: USA / Mariner IV / Launched 15 July 1965
First spacecraft to orbit Mars: USA / Mariner 9 / 14 November 1971
First spacecraft to impact Mars: USSR / Mars 2 / 27 November 1971
First successful soft-landing on the Martian surface: USA / Viking 1 / 20 July 1976
First wheeled vehicle on Mars: USA / Sojourner / 5 July 1997

Jupiter

First spacecraft to fly by Jupiter: USA / Pioneer 10 / 4 December 1973
First atmospheric entry into Jupiter: USA / Galileo Probe / 7 December 1995
First spacecraft to orbit Jupiter: USA / Galileo Orbiter / 8 December 1995
First spacecraft to carry out detailed investigations of Jupiter’s interior: USA / Juno / 2016–present

Saturn

First spacecraft to fly by Saturn: USA / Pioneer 11 / 1 September 1979
First spacecraft to orbit Saturn: USA / Cassini / 1 July 2004
First spacecraft to soft-land on Titan: ESA / Huygens / 14 January 2005

Uranus

First spacecraft to fly by Uranus: USA / Voyager 2 / 24 January 1986

Neptune

First spacecraft to fly by Neptune: USA / Voyager 2 / 25 August 1989

Pluto

First spacecraft to fly by Pluto: USA / New Horizons / 14 July 2015

Comets

First spacecraft to fly past a comet: USA / ISEE-3 / 11 September 1985 (Comet 21P/ Giacobini-Zinner)
First spacecraft to enter the coma of a comet: USA / Deep Space 1 / 22 September 2001 (Comet 19P/Borrelly)
First spacecraft to impact a comet: USA / Deep Impact / 4 July 2005 (Comet 9P/ Tempel)
First spacecraft to return material from a comet: USA / Stardust / Returned 15 January 2006 (Comet 81P/Wild)
First spacecraft to orbit a cometary nucleus: ESA / Rosetta / 10 September 2014 (Comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko)
First spacecraft to land on a comet: ESA / Philae / 12 November 2014 (Comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko)

Dwarf Planets

First spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet: USA / Dawn / March 7, 2015 (1 Ceres)

Asteroids

First spacecraft to fly past an asteroid: USA / Galileo / 26 October 1991 (951 Gaspra)
First spacecraft to orbit an asteroid: USA / NEAR Shoemaker / 14 February 2000 (433 Eros)
First spacecraft to land on an asteroid: USA / NEAR Shoemaker / 13 February 2001 (433 Eros)
First spacecraft to return material from an asteroid: Japan / Hayabusa / 13 June 2010 (25143 Hideo Itokawa)
First spacecraft to orbit an asteroid in the main asteroid belt: USA / Dawn / 16 July 2011 (4 Vesta)

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