Jul 03

Space Rocket History #69 – Zond 3, Venera 3, and Asterix

The Zond program was one of two lunar exploration programs conducted by the Soviet Union to investigate the Moon and its vicinity. The program began in 1964 and ended in 1979. The early Zond’s 1-3 were originally designed for planetary exploration, while the latter Zonds (4-8) were sent on circum lunar flights. Additionally, the latter Zond vehicles were of a totally different in design. They were in fact automated versions of the manned Soyuz spacecraft…

Zond 3

Zond 3

Far Side of the Moon

Far Side of the Moon

Venera 3

Venera 3

Asterix

Asterix

Diament

Diamant

By Dave.

By Dave.

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Oct 31

Space Rocket History #36 – Mariner 2 and Relay 1

During the summer of 1962 final preparations were underway for the first U.S. attempt to reach another planet.  The planet was Venus, Earth’s closest planetary neighbor.  This first flight would be accomplished by the JPL built Mariner 2 spacecraft…

Diagram_of_Mariner_1_or_2_with_Atlas-Angena_launch_vehicle

Diagram of Mariner

Mainer 2 Launch

Mainer 2 Launch

Mariner 2

Mariner 2

Rose Parade Float

Rose Parade Float

space rocket history pic34

By Dave

Relay 1

Relay 1

Oct 03

Space Rocket History #32 – Ranger-4, Ariel-1, and Telstar-1

As part of the pre-Apollo preparations, NASA created the Ranger series of missions to take high-quality pictures of the Moon and transmit them back to Earth in real time…

Ranger 4

Ranger 4

Ranger 4

Ranger 4

Ranger 4 Launch

Ranger 4 Launch

Ariel 1

Ariel 1

Ariel 1 Launch

Ariel 1 Launch

Telstar 1

Telstar 1

Telstar Engineers

Telstar Engineers

Goonhilly

Goonhilly

By Dave

By Dave