In Space Lists No 16 we detailed the production and launch history of the German A-4 (V-2) missile. This time the same type of study has been made for the V-1 missile, where even higher numbers are involved. It is not intended as a technical study of the weapon, although one day we will do that, but it is again an attempt to rationalise the numbers involved. It still seems strange that the definitive tally often used for the history of the V-1 offensive is a report completed at the end of August 1944, and not the situation reports made after March 1945 when the bombardment ended. This article attempts to correct that picture.
Much more up to date, we have a list of all the Delta-Clipper launches from the 1990s, with some details of each flight, right up to the final crash-and-burn event of 31st July 1996.
Two new sections are started in this issue of Space Lists, the first is an attempt to begin the documentation of the American rocket and missile programs. This will certainly eventually run to hundreds of pages, so we have decided to split the subject alphabetically, and in true Space Lists style we have started with the letter “E”! This is because it is of a convenient size to get started, and avoids the inevitable “A” spreading through half an issue - but it will be done. The other new section is called ‘Rocketry of the 1920s’ and it gives brief details of the pioneering rocketry conducted, mainly in Germany and America, in an important period of experimentation. The 1930s will be covered in future issues, so that we fill the gap eventually from Tsiolkovsky to the present day. Kibalchich, Congreve, Tipoo Sultan, Kai Fung Fu and the others will not be forgotten either. The Ruggieri Brothers are covered in this issue.
The Space Diary for 1970 is up-dated in this issue. After its first appearance in Space Lists No 8, the number of entries has more than doubled. The other Space Diary in this issue is that for 1995 in the first of the most recent decade’s years. Also in this issue is a list of all the WAC-CORPORAL launches including the dummy trials firings, often omitted from other lists.
Up until 1962 it was very difficult to find out anything about missile developments in the Soviet Union. The release of such pictures as that shown (right) only made things more confusing. Western governments sometimes had access to brief glimpses of missiles from reconnaissance aircraft photography, and these sights often led to a paranoia of interpretation. The latter section of this issue gives an insight into the wild claims being made for Soviet missiles in the 1950s and early 1960s.
The regular military parades in Moscow in May and November each year began to give a more reasonable view of developments from the late 1950s, but some sources ended up even more confused.
It would be impossible to cover the full technical details of a super-power’s missiles in one edition of Space Lists, so this study is meant as an identification tool, and contains perhaps more photos than any previous edition of this journal. Almost without exception the sources for these pictures have been Tass, Novosti and Sovfoto, the main Soviet news agencies over the period involved.
Previous articles on Soviet missiles and launch vehicles can be found by using the index at the back of all issues of Space Lists.
With this issue of Space Lists, we continue with our Lunar Exploration series, and have covered the LUNAR-ORBITER photographic probes of the 1960s. An addition to the British theme of Space Lists Nos 14 and 19 is an article on the UK deployment of the American THOR-IRBM in the late-1950s/early 1960s at the height of the Cold War.
There is just one Space & Missile Diary this time, that for 1985, then two major US Missile programmes covered, the short-range PERSHING missile, whose deployment in Europe in the 1980s, in its Mark-II version, played a part in ending the Cold War. The other missile is the SNARK long-range cruise missile, which was actually deployed for several months before its many weaknesses and obsolescence was fully recognised.
We have a new series of articles starting with this issue, that of Manned Spaceflight. Despite X-15 flights above the height of “space” we will be concentrating on the traditional view of space flights and begin with the story of Yuri Gagarin’s VOSTOK-1, and in future issues will cover successive, deliberate manned missions.
Continuing on from the Classic Rocketry of the 1920s, the 1930s have been split into two parts, and here we present 1930-1934. Right up to date there are the satellite launches for the year 2002, and we continue with our Guide to US Space and Missile Projects, this time for the letter I. Finally, there is a complete and proper index provided as a guide to the previous subjects dealt with in Space Lists since number 1.
We begin this issue of Space Lists with a complete crew list for Space Shuttle launches from 1998 to the beginning of 2003, a total of 24 launches to add to the previous listing in Space Lists No5, bringing the total number of flights to 112. The most recent Shuttle launch, that of STS-107, ended with the destruction of ‘Columbia’ during re-entry on 1st February 2003. The exact cause of this event will have to wait until the NASA enquiry is completed.
The second article for this issue is also a continuation of a previous list, that for Satellite Launch Failures, which continues from Space Lists No13, and deals with incidents for 2000 to 2002.
The letter covered for this issue in the series of American Space & Missile Projects is “B”, and is the biggest section dealt with so far. This deals with several aerospace companies, proposals from the 1950s to use low-flying rocket planes to over-fly the Soviet Union before all those ideas were replaced with the CORONA/DISCOVERER reconnaissance satellites, and many projects both well known and some still quite obscure.
We continue with Classic Rocketry of the 1930s, with the second part of that decade, where rocket research in several parts of the world show the inevitable preparation for War.
Also included in this issue is a Rocket and Space Diary, for 1953, which despite being fifty years ago, shows the first launch of a Soviet SCUD missile, the accelerating AEROBEE launch programme, some early British missile launches and British Nuclear testing dates!
Finally, there is an extensive listing of all the flights of the X-1 rocket-plane of the 1940s and 1950s. All the different types of X-1 are covered up until the final version, the X-1E, which completed the programme in 1958.
For this special edition of Space Lists, we are covering Satellite Names. They have been arranged alphabetically to make a search easier for a particular satellite or space-probe. The lists contains 1369 entries with country of origin, and a brief description. Sometimes the name of a satellite is an acronym so the key to that is given. It is quite clear that sometimes the acronym is arrived at first, then descriptive words are added to make a clumsy spacecraft name.
Between 1957 and the end of 2002, there have been 4246 successful launches to satellite orbit, and since 1960 multiple launches of satellites have taken place. So-called “piggyback” launches began in 1961, where spare launch vehicle capacity has enabled small payloads to be added for the launch. The idea of multiple orbiting of small payloads has gained such importance in the 1990s that some launches carried nothing but small satellites, perhaps up to ten at a time.
For completeness, space probes have been included, because some are placed in Earth orbit before being sent out into the solar system. The few probes that are sent on direct-ascent trajectories are still satellites, but not of our planet.
Multiple satellite programmes, such as INTELSAT for instance, are given one line entry, despite there having been over 60 launches in this series.
The picture section contains 390 photographs of satellites to show a representative number of configurations, and for these thanks are due to PR Departments, Agencies, News Services and Line Facilities, typified by the Press & Publicity department of SSTL, Guildford for the help in depicting their small satellite range.
For this issue of Space Lists we have the first major contribution from a reader, Lionel Butcher of the UK, with his article “Escape Velocity Missions”. This list details all successful and attempted space flights to escape from the Earth’s gravity field domination. It includes all the lunar and planetary missions together with the solar orbit spaceflights and begins with the “AEROBEE-pellets” of 1957.
Another major missile project is detailed in an article on SKYBOLT, an American air to surface ballistic missile which Britain was interested in acquiring before they decided on buying POLARIS missiles at one of the deepest points of the “Cold War”.
The Space and Missile Diary for 1986 is followed by the next selected letter of the American Space and Missile Projects list, this time “D” is listed.
Part-2 of the Manned Spaceflight Log is included for this issue, and this time Alan Shepard’s MERCURY flight is detailed, which was America’s response to the Soviet Union’s VOSTOK-1 flight just three weeks before.
This issue of Space Lists begins with another addition to the history of British space and rocketry. This details liquid propellant rocket engines to complement the details of British solid motors presented in Space Lists No 19.
Next is the Space & Missile Diary for 1989 which continues the years which we will be covering back to the 1940s. The next story for our record of Manned Spaceflight is that of Virgil "Guss" Grissom in the second MERCURY flight. Although previously explained, we are dealing with dedicated spaceflights, as the X-15 rocket plane was not built to make spaceflights.
We are continuing with our documentation of the US rocket and missile projects, and this time the letter "J" is covered. It includes two of the biggest weapons projects of recent times, the JDAM and JSOW, together with the JUPITER and JUNO rockets, and much more. An early Space & Missile diary is presented, that for 1947, which includes many flights of the captured V-2 missile and the beginnings of the AEROBEE sounding rocket programme.
Finally, the history of the NIKE-ZEUS is presented. This early anti-ballistic missile was the first to intercept Intercontinental range Ballistic Missiles, a task which the American Ground-based Missile Defence (GMD) system is repeating today.
For this issue of Space Lists there are a number of different subjects covered. After the decommissioning of the TITAN-2 ICBM force, fourteen were refurbished for use as satellite launch vehicles. Thirteen of these were launched between 1988 and 2003, while the last was set aside for exhibition in a museum. We begin with a list of those 13 launches.
There are two Space Diaries, for the years 1982 and 1992, and in addition there is the 2003 list of satellite launches for that year.
Lionel Butcher has made a wonderful contribution to this issue with a summary of the Soviet Manned Space Programme between 1955 and 1974, which details the various spacecraft launches associated with their manned programme.
Continuing on previous themes we have another addition to the American Guide to Rocket and Space Projects, with this issue covering the letter F. Also included in this issue is the fourth in our series of manned space flight stories, and this time VOSTOK-2 is detailed.
Finally we have a list of all THOR-ABLESTAR launches of the early 1960s. Produced at the same time as the AGENA upper stage, the ABLESTAR was the first upper stage to be re-started in space by the USA. More interestingly the ABLESTAR stage had twice the mass-ratio than the more extensively-used AGENA vehicle.
This issues of Space Lists is a special edition covering the history of French Rockets and Missiles. The author is renowned French space historian Jean-Jacques Serra, who has carefully assembled an impressive list of French rockets beginning in the 1930s with the Louis Damblanc research. Many familiar rockets and missiles are detailed, as well as many that most of us have not heard of before.
Additional sections cover both rocket engines and rocket motors, which help to explain the performance of the rockets in the two chronology sections. A useful guide to acronyms and key words is also given.
Finally, all the DIAMANT satellite launches are detailed, which took place between 1965 and 1975.
Photo credits; The photographs used in this edition of Space Lists are credited to corporate brochures, publicity material and private collections.
For this thirtieth edition of Space Lists, we have several articles which continue stories started in previous issues. Launches of the SATURN-1B rocket are told with all the unmanned and manned flights up to the final ASTP mission in 1975. The SATURN-1 launches were given in Space Lists No 5.
Next is the Space and Missile Diary for 1988, and we have two lists kindly provided by Lionel Butcher. The first details all space probe flights to the planet Mars, while the second lists all manned spaceflight accidents.
Continuing on from the Special French issue (No 29), and also compiled by Jean-Jacques Serra, is a list of 500 French sounding rocket launches in chronological order between 1950 and 1979.
In Space Lists No 10 we detailed all ATLAS launches in just ten pages. Since then more data has been found and the list is being re-worked to contain much more detail. Here we give ATLAS launches from 1957 to partway through 1962, the first 173 launches with extra information.
Another letter - K - is covered in our Guide to American Missile and Space Projects. It contains a satellite launcher project and several anti-missile related systems.
We have covered the early US launcher, THOR-ABLE before, but this time the list has been re-done with much more detail than previously.
Finally there is a Summary of the V-1 missile attack on the UK, based on the government statement made to the press on 7th September 1944, which explains the fight against the two different launchers involved.