sic itur ad astra

The replacement of fins on the Apollo Soyuz Test Project S1B launch vehicle continued at KSC today. The decision to replace all of the fins was made when small hairline stress corrosion cracks were discovered in holddown fittings. Replacement of the fins is not expected to delay move of the launch vehicle to the launch pad on March 24. ASTP, the joint U.S./USSR space mission is scheduled for mid-July.

The stacking of the launch vehicle for the Apollo Soyuz Test Project was completed today with the addition of the Command and Service Modules. The vehicle for the mid-July joint U.S./USSR space mission is scheduled to be moved to the launch pad on March 24 [1975 - ed].

President Dwight D. Eisenhower visits Cape Kennedy.

Dramatically reflected by the waters of the extensive lagoonal sysem adjacent to Launch Pad A, the Space Shuttle, the world’s first reusable space vehicle, is lighted by spotlights and the setting sun on the evening prior to Flight Readiness Firing of the orbiter Columbia’s main engines. The 20-second firing was a milestone procedure in flight preparation of the world’s first reusable space vehicle.

The Apollo 11 prime crew poses for a photograph during a walk-through egress test. The hands-on test is in preparation for the first manned lunar landing mission scheduled for liftoff in July [1969 - ed]

The Space Shuttle Columbia (left), slated for mission STS-35, is rolled past the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its way to Pad 39A. Atlantis, slated for mission STS-38, is parked in front of bay three of the Vehicle Assembly Building following its rollback from Pad 39A for repairs to the liquid hydrogen lines. First motion of Atlantis from the pad was at 10:14 p.m. August 8 [1990 - ed]. It arrived at the VAB at 4 a.m. August 9. First motion of Coumbia leaving the VAB for the pad was at 5:47 a.m. Columbia is due to arrive at the pad at noon August 9. Once Columbia is hard down at the pad, Atlantis will be moved into the VAB for destack operations. When Columbia reaches the pad, its payload bay doors will be opened and servicing of the ASTRO-1 payload will begin. Also, portions of the Shuttle interface verification test not completed in the VAB will be conducted.

Kennedy Space Center Director Forrest McCartney and his wife, Ruth, cut a “Welcome to KSC” cake, with the assistance of NKMA member Susan Hilding, at the NASA Kennedy Management Association meeting.

Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong (front) and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. walk across the mobile launcher to enter their Apollo 11 spacecraft. Along with them is Joe Schmidt, a suit technician from Johnson Space Center. Not shown is the third member of the crew, astronaut Michael Collins. Liftoff of Apollo 11 is scheduled at 9:32 a.m. EDT from Pad 39A, which will begin man’s first lunar landing mission.

The American Flag heralds the flight of Apollo 11, man’s first lunar landing mission. This double exposure was made with a 1,000 mm lens. The photograph was taken from Cape Kennedy, adjacent to Kennedy Space Center, where Apollo 11 lifted off from pad 39A at 9:32 a.m. EDT. This image was imposed upon the image of hte flag, filmed a day earlier. In the photo, the rocket at an alititude of about 5,000 feet. A band of super-cold propellants seems to circle the rocket near its center. The effect is caused by the difference in temperature between the propellants and the atmosphere.

The Space Shuttle Columbia, (STS-1) stands poised for its maiden flight into space from Launch Pad A, Complex 39, following retraction of the Rotating Service Structure (RSS)

At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the space shuttle mock-up, dubbed Pathfinder, makes its trek from the turn basin to the Vehicle Assembly Building on April 5, 1978. The mock-up, constructed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., possessed the general dimensions, weight and balance of a real space shuttle. It was shipped to Kennedy by barge and then used to fit-check the work platforms of the Mate-Demate Device, orbiter processing facilities and Vehicle Assembly Building, as well as support ground crew training. It also was used to rehearse post-landing procedures at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility. After being on display at the “Great Space Shuttle Exposition” in Tokyo from June 1983 to August 1984, the mock-up returned to Marshall and now is on permanent display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center near Huntsville

The Pioneer 11 spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral forty years ago, on April 5, 1973. Pioneer 11’s path through Saturn’s outer rings took it within 21,000 km of the planet, where it discovered two new moons (almost smacking into one of them in September 1979) and a new “F” ring. The spacecraft also discovered and charted the magnetosphere, magnetic field and mapped the general structure of Saturn’s interior. The spacecraft’s instruments measured the heat radiation from Saturn’s interior and found that its planet-sized moon, Titan, was too cold to support life.

This image from Pioneer 11 shows Saturn and its moon Titan. The irregularities in ring silhouette and shadow are due to technical anomalies in the preliminary data later corrected. At the time this image was taken, Pioneer was 2,846,000 km (1,768,422 miles) from Saturn.

This view shows the launch pad that Explorer 1 launched from in 1958.

The Mercury monument, honoring the original seven astronauts, is shown here at sunrise at Pad 14

Pad 39A [under construction]

[Taken July 1964 - ed]