Jump to content

65 Years Ago: Pioneer 4 Reaches for the Moon


NASA

Recommended Posts

  • Publishers

On March 3, 1959, the United States launched Pioneer 4 with the goal of photographing the Moon during a close flyby. As part of the International Geophysical Year that ran from July 1, 1957, to Dec. 31, 1958, the United States planned to send five probes to study the Moon. The first three planned to orbit the Moon, while the last two simpler probes planned to photograph it during flybys. After NASA opened for business in October 1958, the new space agency inherited the Pioneer program from the Advanced Research Projects Agency, a branch of the Department of Defense established earlier in 1958 as part of America’s initiative to respond to early Soviet space accomplishments. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, part of the U.S. Army until transferred to NASA in December 1958, built the two Pioneer lunar flyby spacecraft. While the first four missions did not succeed in reaching their target, Pioneer 4 became the first American spacecraft to flyby the Moon and enter solar orbit.

A replica of the Pioneer 1 spacecraft Liftoff of Pioneer 1, the first satellite launched by NASA
Left: A replica of the Pioneer 1 spacecraft. Image credit: courtesy National Air and Space Museum.  Right:  Liftoff of Pioneer 1, the first satellite launched by NASA.

The first Pioneer launch attempt on August 17, 1958, ended in failure 77 seconds after liftoff when the Thor-Able booster exploded. Engineers identified and corrected the problem with the rocket and on Oct. 11, Pioneer 1, weighing 84 pounds, thundered off from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 17A. The launch took place just 10 days after NASA officially opened for business. Liftoff seemed to go well, but tracking soon showed that the spacecraft was traveling more slowly than expected and was also off course.  Relatively minor errors in the first stage’s performance were compounded by other issues with the second stage, making it clear that Pioneer 1 would not achieve its primary goal of entering orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft did reach a then-record altitude of 70,770 miles about 21 hours after launch before beginning its fall back to Earth. It burned up on reentry over the Pacific Ocean 43 hours after liftoff. The probe’s instruments confirmed the existence of the Van Allen radiation belts discovered by Explorer 1 earlier in the year. The third and final lunar orbiter attempt, Pioneer 2 on November 8, met with less success. The rocket’s first and second stages performed well, but the third stage failed to ignite. Pioneer 2 could not achieve orbital velocity and only reached a peak altitude of 960 miles before falling back to Earth after a brief 42-minute flight.

Juno rocket developer Wernher von Braun, left, Pioneer project engineer John R. Casani, and project scientist James A. Van Allen inspect the instruments in the Pioneer 4 spacecraft Kurt H. Debus, left, and von Braun in the blockhouse for the Pioneer 4 launch Launch of Pioneer 4, the first American spacecraft to flyby the Moon and enter solar orbit
Left: Juno rocket developer Wernher von Braun, left, Pioneer project engineer John R. Casani, and project scientist James A. Van Allen inspect the instruments in the Pioneer 4 spacecraft. Image credit: courtesy LIFE Magazine. Middle: Kurt H. Debus, left, and von Braun in the blockhouse for the Pioneer 4 launch. Right: Launch of Pioneer 4, the first American spacecraft to flyby the Moon and enter solar orbit.

The two lunar flyby missions came next, each carrying a radiation counter and photographic equipment. The 13-pound Pioneer 3 took off on Dec. 6. The Juno-II rocket’s first stage engine cut off early, and the probe could not reach its destination, falling back to Earth 38 hours after launch. Despite this problem, Pioneer 3 returned significant radiation data and discovered a second outer Van Allen belt encircling the Earth. The second attempt on March 3, 1959, met with more success as Pioneer 4 became the first American spacecraft to reach Earth escape velocity. The Juno-II’s second stage burned for an extra few seconds, resulting in Pioneer 4 passing at 36,650 miles of the Moon’s surface 41 hours after launch. At that distance, instead of the planned 5,000 miles, the spacecraft could not achieve its objective of photographing the Moon. Pioneer 4 then went on to become the first American spacecraft to enter solar orbit, a feat the Soviet Luna 1 accomplished two months earlier. Pioneer 4 returned radiation data for 82 hours, out to 409,000 miles, nearly twice the Earth-Moon distance, until its batteries died.

Pioneer 4’s trajectory to the Moon and beyond The Deep Space Station-11, also known as Pioneer Station, in 1958
Left: Pioneer 4’s trajectory to the Moon and beyond. Right: The Deep Space Station-11, also known as Pioneer Station, in 1958.

Although these early Pioneer lunar probes met with limited mission success, the program marked the first use of the 26-meter antenna and tracking station at Goldstone, California. This antenna, completed in 1958 and known as Deep Space Station 11 (DSS-11), was the first component of what eventually became the NASA Deep Space Network. Although called Pioneer Station, DSS-11 not only followed these early spacecraft, starting with Pioneer 3, but later monitored the Ranger, Surveyor, and Lunar Orbiter robotic precursor missions and tracked the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle to the Moon’s surface on July 20, 1969, and the other Apollo lunar missions as well. It also tracked Mariner, Viking, and Voyager missions to the planets before its decommissioning in 1978.

Watch a video about Pioneer 4:  https://youtu.be/mM4U78sFYpQ

View the full article

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By NASA
      In October 1604, a new star appeared in the sky, puzzling astronomers of the day. First observed on Oct. 9, German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) began his observations on Oct. 17 and tracked the new star for over a year. During that time, it brightened to magnitude -2.5, outshining Jupiter, and for several weeks remained visible in the daytime. Publication of his detailed observations in 1606 led astronomers to call the star Kepler’s Supernova, today formally designated as supernova SN 1604. Astronomers of the day did not know what caused the star’s sudden appearance and eventual disappearance, but the phenomenon helped shape European cosmology toward the heliocentric model proposed by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus half a century earlier. Today, astronomers designate SN 1604 as a Type Ia supernova, resulting from the explosion of a white dwarf star, and use ground-based and space-based telescopes to study its remnants.

      Left: Portrait of Johannes Kepler by August Köhler. Middle: Kepler’s book about his observations of the 1604 supernova open to the page depicting the location of the new star. Right: Closeup of Kepler’s illustration of the location of the new star, designated N, in the constellation Ophiuchus near the right foot of the serpent-bearer.
      Italian astronomer Lodovico delle Colombo first observed the supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus on Oct. 9. Kepler, then working in Prague, heard rumors of the new star but did not observe it until Oct. 17. He continued to monitor the star for over a year, inspired by the earlier work of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe’s observations of a similar phenomenon, the 1572 supernova. The new star quickly brightened to magnitude -2.5, outshining Jupiter, and for three weeks could be seen in the daytime before finally fading into obscurity in March 1606. Kepler could only make naked eye observations, since Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei didn’t turn his newly invented telescope to the skies for another four years after SN 1604 faded from view.
      Later in 1606, Kepler summarized his observations in his book De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii (On the New Star in Ophiuchus’ Foot), published in Prague. SN 1604 is believed to be about 20,000 light years away, near the edge of a dark nebula complex. Kepler and his contemporaries observed not only the last known supernova to occur in the Milky Way Galaxy but also the last supernova visible to the naked eye until 1987. That one, Supernova 1987A, appeared in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

      A Type Ia supernova results from a white dwarf drawing in material from a nearby red giant star, the additional mass leading to a runaway thermonuclear explosion.
      Astronomers today understand that what Kepler and others believed as the birth of a new star actually represented the violent death of a star. Astronomers today classify supernovas according to their characteristics, and SN 1604 belongs to the group known as Type Ia supernovas, typically found in binary star systems composed of a white dwarf and a red giant. The gravitation force of the white dwarf draws in material from its larger less dense companion until it reaches a critical mass, around 1.4 times the mass of our Sun. At that point, a runaway thermonuclear chain reaction begins, causing a release of tremendous amounts of energy, including light, that we see as a sudden brightening of an otherwise dim star.

      Images of Kepler’s supernova remnants in different portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Left: X-ray image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Middle: Visible image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Right: Infrared image from the Spitzer Space Telescope.
      Supernova explosions leave remnants behind and those of SN 1604 remain visible today. Ground-based and space-based instruments using different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum study these remnants to gain a better understanding of their origins. The remnants of SN 1604 emit energy most strongly in the radio and X-ray parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. In recent years, astronomers have used Type Ia supernovas to determine the rate of expansion of the universe. Because Type Ia supernovas all occur in stars of about 1.4 solar masses, they give out about the same amount of light. This makes them useful as distance indicators – if one Type Ia supernova is dimmer than another one, it is further away by an amount that astronomers can calculate. Based on this information, astronomers believe that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, possibly caused by the presence of a mysterious substance called dark energy.
      Events in world history in 1604:
      January 1 – First performance of William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.
      March 22 – Karl IX begins his rule as King of Sweden.
      August 5 – Sokolluzade Mehmed Pasha becomes the new Ottoman Grand Vizier in Constantinople.
      August 18 – England and Spain sign the Treaty of London, ending their 20-year war.
      September 1 – Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Sikhism’s religious text, is installed at Hamandir Sahib in Amritsar, India.
      October 4 – Emperor of Ethiopia Za Dengel is killed in battle with the forces of Za Sellase, who restores his cousin Yaqob to the throne.
      November 1 – First performance of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello.
      December 29 – A magnitude 8.1 earthquake shakes the Taiwan Strait causing significant damage.
      Explore More
      13 min read 40 Years Ago: STS-41G – A Flight of Many Firsts and Records
      Article 2 days ago 12 min read 30 Years Ago: STS-68 The Second Space Radar Lab Mission
      Article 1 week ago 15 min read 55 Years Ago: Celebrations for Apollo 11 Continue as Apollo 12 Prepares to Revisit the Moon
      Article 3 weeks ago View the full article
    • By European Space Agency
      A camera destined for the Moon became part of the astronauts’ toolkit during ESA’s latest PANGAEA geology training in Lanzarote, Spain.
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      The 13th flight of the space shuttle program and the sixth of Challenger, STS-41G holds many distinctions. As the first mission focused almost entirely on studying the Earth, it deployed a satellite, employed multiple instruments, cameras, and crew observations to accomplish those goals. The STS-41G crew set several firsts, most notably as the first seven-member space crew. Other milestones included the first astronaut to make a fourth shuttle flight, the first and only astronaut to fly on Challenger three times and on back-to-back missions on any orbiter, the first crew to include two women, the first American woman to make two spaceflights, the first American woman to conduct a spacewalk, and the first Canadian and the first Australian-born American to make spaceflights.

      Left: The STS-41G crew patch. Right: The STS-41G crew of Jon A. McBride, front row left, Sally K. Ride, Kathryn D. Sullivan, and David C. Leestma; Paul D. Scully-Power, back row left, Robert L. Crippen, and Marc Garneau of Canada.
      In November 1983, NASA named the five-person crew for STS-41G, formerly known as STS-17, then planned as a 10-day mission aboard Columbia in August 1984. When assigned to STS-41G, Commander Robert L. Crippen had already completed two missions, STS-1 and STS-7, and planned to command STS-41C in April 1984. On STS-41G, he made a record-setting fourth flight on a space shuttle, and as it turned out the first and only person to fly aboard Challenger three times, including back-to-back missions. Pilot Jon A. McBride, and mission specialists Kathryn D. Sullivan from the Class of 1978 and, David C. Leestma from the Class of 1980, made their first flights into space. Mission specialist Sally K. Ride made her second flight, and holds the distinction as the first American woman to return to space, having flown with Crippen on STS-7. The flight marked the first time that two women, Ride and Sullivan, flew in space at the same time. In addition, Sullivan holds the honor as the first American woman to conduct a spacewalk and made her second flight and holds the distinction as the first American woman to return to space, having flown with Crippen on STS-7. The flight marked the first time that two women, Ride and Sullivan, flew in space at the same time. In addition, Sullivan holds the honor as the first American woman to conduct a spacewalk, and Leestma as the first of the astronaut Class of 1980 to make a spaceflight.
      Columbia’s refurbishment following STS-9 ran behind schedule and could not meet the August launch date, so NASA switched STS-41G to the roomier and lighter weight Challenger. This enabled adding crew members to the flight. In February 1984, NASA and the Canadian government agreed to fly a Canadian on an upcoming mission in recognition for that country’s major contribution to the shuttle program, the Remote Manipulator System (RMS), or robotic arm. In March, Canada named Marc Garneau as the prime crewmember with Robert B. Thirsk as his backup. NASA first assigned Garneau to STS-51A, but with the switch to Challenger transferred him to the STS-41G crew. On June 1, NASA added Australian-born and naturalized U.S. citizen Paul D. Scully-Power, an oceanographer with the Naval Research Laboratory who had trained shuttle crews in recognizing ocean phenomena from space, to the mission rounding out the seven-person crew, the largest flown to that time. Scully-Power has the distinction as the first person to launch into space sporting a beard.

      Left: Space shuttle Challenger returns to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft following the STS-41C mission. Middle: The Earth Resources Budget Satellite during processing at KSC for STS-41G. Right: Technicians at KSC process the Shuttle Imaging Radar-B for the STS-41G mission.
      The STS 41G mission carried a suite of instruments to study the Earth. The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS), managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, contained three instruments, including the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment-2 (SAGE-2), to measure solar and thermal radiation of the Earth to better understand global climate changes. NASA’s Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications sponsored a cargo bay-mounted payload (OSTA-3) consisting of four instruments. The Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B), managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and an updated version of SIR-A flown on STS-2, used synthetic aperture radar to support investigations in diverse disciplines such as archaeology, geology, cartography, oceanography, and vegetation studies. Making its first flight into space, the 900-pound Large Format Camera (LFC) took images of selected Earth targets on 9-by-18-inch film with 70-foot resolution. The Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites (MAPS) experiment provided information about industrial pollutants in the atmosphere. The Feature Identification and Location Experiment (FILE) contained two television cameras to improve the efficiency of future remote sensing equipment. In an orbit inclined 57 degrees to the Equator, the instruments aboard Challenger could observe more than 75% of the Earth’s surface. 
      The Orbital Refueling System (ORS), managed by NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while not directly an Earth observation payload, assessed the feasibility of on-orbit refueling of the Landsat-4 remote sensing satellite, then under consideration as a mission in 1987, as well as Department of Defense satellites not designed for on-orbit refueling. In the demonstration, the astronauts remotely controlled the transfer of hydrazine, a highly toxic fuel, between two tanks mounted in the payload bay. During a spacewalk, two crew members simulated connecting the refueling system to a satellite and later tested the connection with another remotely controlled fuel transfer. Rounding out the payload activities, the large format IMAX camera made its third trip into space, with footage used to produce the film “The Dream is Alive.”

      Four views of the rollout of space shuttle Challenger for STS-41G. Left: From inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Middle left: From Firing Room 2 of the Launch Control Center (LCC). Middle right: From the crawlerway, with the LCC and the VAB in the background. Right: From atop the VAB.

      Left: The STS-41G astronauts answer reporters’ questions at Launch Pad 39A during the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. Right: The STS-41G crew leaves crew quarters and prepares to board the Astrovan for the ride to Launch Pad 39A for liftoff.
      Following the STS-41C mission, Challenger returned to KSC from Edwards Air Force Base in California on April 18. Workers in KSC’s Orbiter Processing Facility refurbished the orbiter and changed out its payloads. Rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) took place on Sept. 8 and after workers stacked Challenger with its External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters, they rolled it out of the VAB to Launch Pad 39A on Sept. 13. Just two days later, engineers completed the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, a final dress rehearsal before the actual countdown and launch, with the astronaut crew participating as on launch day. They returned to KSC on Oct. 2 to prepare for the launch three days later.

      Left: Liftoff of space shuttle Challenger on the STS-41G mission. Middle: Distant view of Challenger as it rises through the predawn skies. Right: The Earth Resources Budget Satellite just before the Remote Manipulator System released it.
      Space shuttle Challenger roared off Launch Pad 39A at 7:03 a.m. EDT, 15 minutes before sunrise, on Oct. 5, 1984, to begin the STS-41G mission. The launch took place just 30 days after the landing of the previous mission, STS-41D. That record-breaking turnaround time between shuttle flights did not last long, as the launch of Discovery on STS-51A just 26 days after Challenger’s landing set a new record on Nov. 8.
      Eight and a half minutes after liftoff, Challenger and its seven-member crew reached space and shortly thereafter settled into a 218-mile-high orbit, ideal for the deployment of the 5,087-pound ERBS. The crew noted that a 40-inch strip of Flexible Reusable Surface Insulation (FRSI) had come loose from Challenger’s right-hand Orbiter Maneuvering System (OMS) pod, presumably lost during launch. Mission Control determined that this would not have any impact during reentry. Ride grappled the ERBS with the shuttle’s RMS but when she commanded the satellite to deploy its solar arrays, nothing happened. Mission Control surmised that the hinges on the arrays had frozen, and after Ride oriented the satellite into direct sunlight and shook it slightly on the end of the arm, the panels deployed. She released ERBS about two and a half hours late and McBride fired Challenger’s steering jets to pull away from the satellite. Its onboard thrusters boosted ERBS into its operational 380-mile-high orbit. With an expected two-year lifetime, it actually operated until October 14, 2005, returning data about how the Earth’s atmosphere absorbs and re-radiates the Sun’s energy, contributing significant information about global climate change.

      Left: The SIR-B panel opens in Challenger’s payload bay. Right: Jon A. McBride with the IMAX large format camera in the middeck. 
      Near the end of their first day in space, the astronauts opened the panels of the SIR-B antenna and activated it, also deploying the Ku-band antenna that Challenger used to communicate with the Tracking and Data Relay System (TDRS) satellite. The SIR-B required a working Ku-band antenna to downlink the large volume of data it collected, although it could store a limited amount on onboard tape recorders. But after about two minutes, the data stream to the ground stopped. One of the two motors that steered the Ku antenna failed and it could no longer point to the TDRS satellite. Mission Control devised a workaround to fix the Ku antenna in one position and steer the orbiter to point it to the TDRS satellite and downlink the stored data to the ground. Challenger carried sufficient fuel for all the maneuvering, but the extra time for the attitude changes resulted in achieving only about 40% of the planned data takes. The discovery of the 3,000-year-old lost city of Udar in the desert of Oman resulted from SIR-B data, one of many interesting findings from the mission.

      Left: The shuttle’s Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System or robotic arm closes the SIR-B panel. Middle: The patch for Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau’s mission. Right: Spiral eddies in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
      During the second mission day, the astronauts lowered Challenger’s orbit to an intermediate altitude of 151 miles. Flight rules required that the SIR-B antenna be stowed for such maneuvers but the latches to clamp the antenna closed failed to activate. Ride used the RMS to nudge the antenna panel closed. From the orbiter’s flight deck, Leestma successfully completed the first ORS remote-controlled hydrazine fuel transfer. Garneau began working on his ten CANEX investigations related to medical, atmospheric, climatic, materials and robotic sciences while Scully-Power initiated his oceanographic observations. Despite greater than expected global cloud cover, he successfully photographed spiral eddies in the world’s oceans, particularly notable in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

      Left: Mission Specialists Kathryn D. Sullivan, left, and Sally K. Ride on Challenger’s flight deck. Right: Payload Specialists Marc Garneau and Paul D. Scully-Power working on a Canadian experiment in Challenger’s middeck.
      The third day saw the crew lower Challenger’s orbit to 140 miles, the optimal altitude for SIR-B and the other Earth observing instruments. For the next few days, all the experiments continued recording their data, including Garneau’s CANEX and Scully-Power’s oceanography studies. Leestma completed several scheduled ORS fuel transfers prior to the spacewalk. Preparations for that activity began on flight day 6 with the crew lowering the cabin pressure inside Challenger from the normal sea level 14.7 pounds per square inch (psi) to 10.2 psi. The lower pressure prevented the buildup of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstreams of the two spacewalkers, Leestma and Sullivan, that could result in the development of the bends. The two verified the readiness of their spacesuits.

      Left: David C. Leestma, left with red stripes on his suit, and Kathryn D. Sullivan during their spacewalk. Middle: Leestma, left, and Sullivan working on the Orbital Refueling System during the spacewalk. Right: Sullivan, left, and Leestma peer into Challenger’s flight deck during the spacewalk.
      On flight day 7, Leestma and Sullivan, assisted by McBride, donned their spacesuits and began their spacewalk. After gathering their tools, the two translated down to the rear of the cargo bay to the ORS station. With Sullivan documenting and assisting with the activity, Leestma installed the valve assembly into the simulated Landsat propulsion plumbing. After completing the ORS objectives, Leestma and Sullivan proceeded back toward the airlock, stopping first at the Ku antenna where Sullivan secured it in place. They returned inside after a spacewalk that lasted 3 hours and 29 minutes, and the crew brought Challenger’s cabin pressure back up to 14.7 psi.

      STS-41G crew Earth observation photographs. Left: Hurricane Josephine in the Atlantic Ocean. Middle: The Strait of Gibraltar. Right: Karachi, Pakistan, and the mouth of the Indus River.

      False color image of Montreal generated from SIR-B data.

      Left: Traditional inflight photo of the STS-41G crew on Challenger’s flight deck. Right: Robert L. Crippen with the orange glow generated outside Challenger during reentry.

      Left: Kathryn D. Sullivan photograph of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida during Challenger’s approach, minutes before touchdown. Middle: Space shuttle Challenger moments before touchdown at N KSC at the end of the STS-41G mission. Right: The crew of STS-41G descends from Challenger after completing a highly successful mission.
      During their final full day in space, Challenger’s crew tidied the cabin for reentry and completed the final SIR-B and other Earth observations. On Oct. 13, the astronauts closed the payload bay doors and fired the OMS engines over Australia to begin the descent back to Earth. Because of the mission’s 57-degree inclination, the reentry path took Challenger and its crew over the eastern United States, another Shuttle first. Crippen guided the orbiter to a smooth landing at KSC, completing a flight of 8 days, 5 hours, and 24 minutes, the longest mission of Challenger’s short career. The crew had traveled nearly 3.3 million miles and completed 133 orbits around the Earth.

      Left: Missing insulation from Challenger’s right hand Orbiter Maneuvering System pod as seen after landing. Middle: Missing tile from the underside of Challenger’s left wing. Right: Damage to tiles on Challenger’s left wing.
      As noted above, on the mission’s first day in space the crew described a missing strip of FRSI from the right-hand OMS pod. Engineers noted additional damage to Challenger’s Thermal Protection System (TPS) after the landing, including several tiles on the underside the vehicle’s left wing damaged and one tile missing entirely, presumably lost during reentry. Engineers determined that the water proofing used throughout the TPS that allowed debonding of the tiles as the culprit for the missing tile. To correct the problem, workers removed and replaced over 4,000 tiles, adding a new water proofing agent to preclude the recurrence of the problem on future missions.
      Read recollections of the STS-41G mission by Crippen, McBride, Sullivan, Ride, and Leestma in their oral histories with the JSC History Office. Enjoy the crew’s narration of a video about the STS-41G mission.
      Explore More
      12 min read 30 Years Ago: STS-68 The Second Space Radar Lab Mission
      Article 1 week ago 15 min read 55 Years Ago: Celebrations for Apollo 11 Continue as Apollo 12 Prepares to Revisit the Moon
      Article 3 weeks ago 8 min read 65 Years Ago: First Powered Flight of the X-15 Hypersonic Rocket Plane 
      Article 3 weeks ago View the full article
    • By Space Force
      The U.S. Space Force celebrates its fifth year of existence securing the nation’s interest in, from and to space.
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      An artist’s concept of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech Lee esta nota de prensa en español aquí.
      NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for Europa Clipper, the agency’s mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. NASA is targeting launch at 12:31 p.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 10, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
      Beyond Earth, Jupiter’s moon Europa is considered one of the solar system’s most promising potentially habitable environments. After an approximately 1.8-billion-mile journey, Europa Clipper will enter orbit around Jupiter in April 2030, where the spacecraft will conduct a detailed survey of Europa to determine whether the icy world could have conditions suitable for life. Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission. It carries a suite of nine instruments along with a gravity experiment that will investigate an ocean beneath Europa’s surface, which scientists believe contains twice as much liquid water as Earth’s oceans.
      For a schedule of live events and the platforms they’ll stream on, visit:
      https://go.nasa.gov/europaclipperlive
      The deadline for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch has passed. NASA’s media credentialing policy is available online. For questions about media accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.
      NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
      Tuesday, Oct. 8
      1 p.m. – In-person, one-on-one interviews, open to media credentialed for this launch.
      3:30 p.m. – NASA’s Europa Clipper science briefing with the following participants:
      Gina DiBraccio, acting director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters Robert Pappalardo, project scientist, Europa Clipper, NASA JPL Haje Korth, deputy project scientist, Europa Clipper, Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) Cynthia Phillips, project staff scientist, Europa Clipper, NASA JPL Coverage of the science news conference will stream live on NASA+ and the agency’s website, Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
      Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the NASA Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
      Wednesday, Oct. 9
      2 p.m. – NASA Social panel at NASA Kennedy with the following participants:
      Kate Calvin, chief scientist and senior climate advisor, NASA Headquarters Caley Burke, Flight Design Analyst, NASA’s Launch Services Program Erin Leonard, project staff scientist, Europa Clipper, NASA JPL Juan Pablo León, systems testbed engineer, Europa Clipper, NASA JPL Elizabeth Turtle, principal investigator, Europa Imaging System instrument, Europa Clipper, APL The panel will stream live on NASA Kennedy’s YouTube, X, and Facebook accounts. Members of the public may ask questions online by posting to the YouTube, X, and Facebook live streams or using #AskNASA.
      3:30 p.m. – NASA’s Europa Clipper prelaunch news conference (following completion of the Launch Readiness Review), with the following participants:
      NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free Sandra Connelly, deputy associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Tim Dunn, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program Julianna Scheiman, director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX Jordan Evans, project manager, Europa Clipper, NASA JPL Mike McAleenan, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Space Force Coverage of the prelaunch news conference will stream live on NASA+, the agency’s website, the NASA app, and YouTube.
      Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the NASA Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
      5:30 p.m. – NASA’s Europa Clipper rollout show. Coverage will stream live on NASA+, the agency’s website, the NASA app, and YouTube.
      Thursday, Oct. 10
      11:30 a.m. – NASA launch coverage in English begins on NASA+ and the agency’s website.
      11:30 a.m. – NASA launch coverage in Spanish begins on NASA+, the agency’s website and NASA’s Spanish YouTube channel.
      12:31 p.m. – Launch
      Audio Only Coverage
      Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240 or -7135. On launch day, “mission audio,” countdown activities without NASA+ media launch commentary, is carried on 321-867-7135.
      Live Video Coverage Prior to Launch
      NASA will provide a live video feed of Launch Complex 39A approximately 18 hours prior to the planned liftoff of the mission on the NASA Kennedy newsroom YouTube channel. The feed will be uninterrupted until the launch broadcast begins on NASA+.
      NASA Website Launch Coverage
      Launch day coverage of the mission will be available on the agency’s website. Coverage will include links to live streaming and blog updates beginning no earlier than 10 a.m., Oct. 10, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff.
      Follow countdown coverage on the Europa Clipper blog. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468.
      Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov o Messod Bendayan: messod.c.bendayan@nasa.gov
      Attend the Launch Virtually
      Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. NASA’s virtual guest program for this mission also includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the NASA virtual guest passport following launch.
      Watch, Engage on Social Media
      Let people know you’re following the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtags #EuropaClipper and #NASASocial. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts:
      X: @NASA, @EuropaClipper, @NASASolarSystem, @NASAJPL, @NASAKennedy, @NASA_LSP 
      Facebook: NASA, NASA’s Europa Clipper, NASA’s JPL, NASA’s Launch Services Program
      Instagram: @NASA, @nasasolarsystem, @NASAKennedy, @NASAJPL
      For more information about the mission, visit:
      https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper
      -end-
      Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
      Headquarters, Washington
      202-358-1600
      karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser.nasa.gov  
      Leejay Lockhart
      Kennedy Space Center, Florida
      321-747-8310
      leejay.lockhart@nasa.gov
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Oct 03, 2024 LocationKennedy Space Center Related Terms
      Europa Clipper Europa Jupiter Jupiter Moons Missions View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...