March 25, 2013 - Smart Saturn
Smart Saturn Fifty years ago this week, this Saturn I rocket made a suborbital flight and proved it was smart enough to overcome a potentially catastrophic in-flight anomaly. The SA-4 mission was a milestone in the Apollo program because it was the final test of a single-stage Saturn launch vehicle. In addition, flight engineers put the first stage (seen here building up thrust on the launch pad prior to liftoff) through its most critical test to date, intentionally shutting down one of its eight engines one hundred seconds after launch to simulate an in-flight engine failure. The vehicle responded quickly, redirecting fuel to the remaining functioning engines and adjusting their burn time to make up for the lost thrust. Such an emergency procedure actually had to be employed during the Apollo 13 launch.
Image credit: NASA
Weekly Calendar
March 25-31, 2013
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 25
Passover begins at sunset
1655: Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan, moon of Saturn
1996: Comet Hyakutake closest approach to Earth
2000: IMAGE spacecraft launched
2014: Soyuz TMA-12M launched carrying ISS Expedition 39/40 crew
Tuesday 26
2009: Soyuz TMA-14 launched carrying ISS Expedition 19/20 crew
Wednesday 27
Full Moon 5:27 AM ET
1969: Mariner 7 launched
1972: Venera 8 launched
1989: Contact lost with Phobos 2
1999: First Sea Launch mission
Thursday 28
Venus in superior conjunction
Spica 0.005° south of Moon
1802: Heinrich Olbers discovers asteroid Pallas
1963: Fourth Saturn C-1 rocket (SA-4) launched
2013: Soyuz TMA-08M launched carrying ISS Expedition 35/36 crew
Friday 29
Good Friday
Saturn 3° north of Moon
1807: Heinrich Olbers discovers Vesta
1974: Mariner 10 first Mercury flyby
1989: Starfire 1 launched
2006: ISS Expedition 13 crew launched
Saturday 30
Sunday 31
Easter Sunday
Moon at perigee
Mercury at greatest elongation (28° W)
1962: NASA approves final design of Gemini spacecraft
1982: Kvant module launched to Mir space station
1997: Pioneer 10 mission officially ends