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Space rendezvous

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	Topics Space rendezvous Topic Home A space rendezvous between two spacecraftSpacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle designed to operate beyond the surface of the Earth in outer space.... , often between a spacecraft and a space stationSpace station A space station is an artificial structure designed for humans to live in outer space.... , is an orbital maneuverOrbital maneuver An orbital maneuver is a change from one orbit to another, accomplished by applying thrust.... where the two arrive at the same orbitORBit ORBit is a CORBA compliant Object Request Broker.... , make the orbital velocities the same, and bring them together (an approach maneuver, taxiing maneuver); it may or may not include docking. Historic rendezvous On August 12, 1962 Vostok 3Vostok 3 Vostok 3 was a mission in the Soviet space program.... and Vostok 4Vostok 4 Vostok 4 was a mission in the Soviet space program.... were placed into nearby orbits and passed within several kilometers of each other, but did not have the orbital maneuvering capability to perform a space rendezvous. This was also the case on June 16, 1963 when Vostok 5Vostok 5 Like Vostoks 3 and 4, Vostok 5 and 6 were joint missions in the Soviet space program, and like the previous pair, came close... and Vostok 6Vostok 6 A joint flight with Vostok 5, Vostok 6 carried the first woman into space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.... were launched into nearby orbits. G. Salakhutdinov, in a Russian periodical from 1990, relates the following quote: "The group flight ... well, a day after the launch, the first craft was over BaykanurBaikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome, also called Tyuratam, is the world's oldest and largest operational space launch facility.... . If the second craft were launched now with great precision, then they would turn out to be next to each other in space. And that's what was done ... The craft turned out to be 5 kilometers from each other! Well, since, with all of the secrecy, we didn't tell the whole truth, the Western experts, who hadn't figured it out, thought that our Vostok was already equipped with orbital approach equipment. As they say, a sleight of hand isn't any kind of fraud. It was more like our competitors deceived themselves all by their lonesome. Of course, we didn't shatter their illusions." — First Deputy Chief Designer Vasily MishinVasily Mishin Vasily Pavlovich Mishin was a Soviet engineer and rocketry pioneer.... The first space rendezvous took place on December 15, 1965, when Gemini 6AGemini 6A Gemini 6A\|-!colspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FFDEAD"\|Mission insignia... maneuvered within 30 cm of the passive Gemini 7Gemini 7 Gemini 7\|-!colspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FFDEAD"\|Mission insignia... . Astronaut Wally SchirraWally Schirra Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts chosen for the Project Mercury, America's first eff... accomplished the task. The spacecraft were not equipped to dock and no physical contact took place. The first space rendezvous with docking took place on March 16, 1966, when Gemini 8Gemini 8 Overview Gemini 8\|-!colspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FFDEAD"\|Mission insignia... , under the command of Neil ArmstrongNeil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong is a former American astronaut, test pilot, and Naval Aviator who is widely known for being the first ... , rendezvoused and docked with the uncrewed Agena 8 target vehicleAgena Target Vehicle The Agena Target Vehicle was designed to develop and practice orbital rendezvous and docking in space, in preparation for th... . The Soviets carried out the first automated (and unmanned) space docking between Cosmos 186Cosmos 186 Cosmos 186 incorporated a Soyuz programme descent module for landing scientific instruments and test objects.... and Cosmos 188Cosmos 188 Cosmos 188 incorporated a Soyuz programme descent module for landing scientific instruments and test objects.... on 1967-10-30. Another kind of rendezvous occurred in 1969, when astronauts moonwalkedExtra-vehicular activity Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth and outside of his or her spacecraft.... from the lunar moduleApollo Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program to achieve the trans... of Apollo 12Apollo 12 Apollo 12 was the sixth manned mission in the Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon.... to the landing site of Surveyor 3Surveyor 3 Surveyor 3 was the third lander of the Surveyor program that explored the Moon.... , which had made a soft landing in 1967. Parts of the Surveyor were brought back. The first rendezvous of two spacecraft from different countries took place on June 17, 1975, when an Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soyuz spacecraft as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test ProjectApollo-Soyuz Test Project Apollo-Soyuz Test Project!colspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FFDEAD"\|Mission Insignia... . The first rendezvous and docking of three spacecraft took place when both Soyuz 26Soyuz 26 Soyuz 26 was a Soviet human spaceflight launched October 9, 1977.... and Soyuz 27Soyuz 27 Sorry, no overview for this topic were docked to the Salyut 6Salyut 6 Salyut 6 was a Soviet orbital station launched on September 29, 1977.... space station during January of 1978. Uses A frequent use of space rendezvous has been the transportation of crew and supplies to orbiting space stationSpace station A space station is an artificial structure designed for humans to live in outer space.... s. The first of these was the rendezvous and docking on 7 June 1971 of the ill-fated Soyuz 11Soyuz 11 Soyuz 11 was the second attempted and the first successful visit to the world's first space station, Salyut 1.... mission with the Salyut 1Salyut 1 Salyut 1 was the first Salyut space station, and the first Human-made space station of any kind.... station. In the past, human spaceflightHuman spaceflight Human spaceflight is space exploration with a human crew and possibly passengers, which is in contrast to robotic space prob... missions have made rendezvous with each of six SalyutSalyut The Salyut program was a series of space stations launched by the Soviet Union in the 1970s.... stations, with SkylabFacts About Skylab Skylab was the first space station the United States launched into orbit, and the second space station ever visited by a hum... , with MirMir style="margin-left: inherit; font-size: larger;" \| Mir... and with the International Space StationInternational Space Station Summary The International Space Station is a manned research space facility that is being assembled in orbit around the Earth.... (ISS). Currently both Soyuz spacecraftSoyuz spacecraft Soyuz is a series of spacecraft designed by Sergey Korolyov for the Soviet Union's space program.... and Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current manned... s are used to bring crew to the ISS. Robotic spacecraft are also used to rendezvous with and resupply space stations. SoyuzSoyuz spacecraft Soyuz is a series of spacecraft designed by Sergey Korolyov for the Soviet Union's space program.... and Progress spacecraftProgress spacecraft The Progress is a Russian expendable unmanned freighter spacecraft; it was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft, and is launche... have automatically docked with both Mir and the ISS using the Kurs docking systemKurs (docking system) Kurs is a radio telemetry system used by the Russian space program.... , while the Automated Transfer VehicleAutomated Transfer Vehicle The Automated Transfer Vehicle or ATV is a European Space Agency spacecraft designed to supply the International Space... has docked with ISS using a laser system. The robotic H-II Transfer VehicleFacts About H-II Transfer Vehicle The H-II Transfer Vehicle is an unmanned spacecraft on which the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA has been working ... , however, is planned to fly to a close rendezvous without docking, in order to allow the ISS's Canadarm2 to bring it into dock. Space rendezvous have been used for a variety of other purposes, including recent service missions to the Hubble Space TelescopeHubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope is a telescope in orbit around the Earth.... . Historically, for the missions of Project ApolloProject Apollo Project Apollo was a series of human spaceflight missions undertaken by the United States of America using the Apollo space... that landed astronauts on the MoonMoon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite.... , the ascent stage of the Apollo Lunar ModuleApollo Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program to achieve the trans... would rendezvous and dock with the Apollo Command/Service ModuleApollo Command/Service Module olspan="3" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="skyblue"\|North American Apollo CSM... in lunar orbit rendezvousLunar orbit rendezvous Overview Lunar Orbit Rendezvous was the method of flying to the moon used in the Apollo Missions, where a main ship would carry a fer... maneuvers. Also, the STS-49STS-49 STS-49 was the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour.... crew rendezvoused with and attached a rocket motor to the IntelsatIntelsat Intelsat, Ltd. is the worlds largest commercial satellite communications services provider.... VI (F-3) communications satelliteCommunications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purposes of telecommunications.... to allow it to make an orbital maneuverOrbital maneuver An orbital maneuver is a change from one orbit to another, accomplished by applying thrust.... . Possible future rendezvous may be made by a yet to be developed automated Hubble Robotic Vehicle (HRV), and by the CX-OLEV, which is being developed for rendezvous with a geosynchronous satelliteGeosynchronous satellite A geosynchronous satellite is a satellite whose orbital track on the Earth repeats regularly over points on the Earth over t... that has run out of fuel. The CX-OLEV would take over orbital stationkeepingOrbital stationkeeping In astrodynamics orbital stationkeeping is a term used to describe a particular set of orbital maneuvers used to keep a spac... and/or finally bring the satellite to a graveyard orbit, after which the CX-OLEV can possibly be reused for another satellite. Gradual transfer from the geostationary transfer orbitGeostationary transfer orbit A geostationary transfer orbit is a Hohmann transfer orbit around the Earth between a low Earth orbit and a geostationary or... to the geosynchronous orbitGeosynchronous orbit A geosynchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit that has the same orbital period as the sidereal rotation period of the Earth.... will take a number of months, using Hall effect thrusterFacts About Hall effect thruster A Hall effect thruster is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field in a plasma di... s. Alternatively the two spacecraft are already together, and just undock and dock in a different way: Soyuz spacecraft from one docking point to another on the ISS or Salyut in the Apollo spacecraftApollo spacecraft The Apollo spacecraft was designed as part of the Apollo Program, by the United States in the early 1960s to land men on the... , an hour or so after Trans Lunar InjectionFacts About Trans Lunar Injection Trans Lunar Injection is a term describing the propulsion maneuver used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory which will inter... of the sequence third stage of the Saturn VSaturn V The Saturn V was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs.... rocket/ LM inside LM adapter / CSM (in order from bottom to top at launch, also the order from back to front with respect to the current motion), with CSM manned, LM at this stage unmanned: the CSM separated, while the four upper panels of the LM adapter were disposed of the CSM turned 180 degrees (from engine backward, toward LM, to forward) the CSM connected to the LM while that was still connected to the third stage the CSM/LM combination then separated from the third stage Anti-satellite weaponAnti-satellite weapon Anti-satellite weapons are weapons designed to be used against artificial satellites.... s partly fall under the category of hostile rendezvous. do not use explosives or radiation, but just collideCollision Physical collision... . Methods The standard technique for rendezvous and docking is to dock an active vehicle with a passive target. This technique has been used successfully for the Gemini, Apollo, Apollo/Soyuz, Salyut, Skylab, Mir, and ISS programs. The active vehicle is first put on an intercept course with the target. The closure rate is then reduced by use of the active vehicle's reaction control systemReaction control system A reaction control system is a subsystem of a spacecraft.... . Docking typically occurs at a rate of to . Z-bar approach V-bar approach STS-104STS-104 STS-104 was a mission of the United States Space Shuttle Atlantis.... was the third Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current manned... mission to conduct a V-bar arrival at the International Space StationInternational Space Station The International Space Station is a manned research space facility that is being assembled in orbit around the Earth.... . R-bar approach Astrotech has proposed meeting ISS cargo needs with a vehicle which would approach the station, "using a traditional nadir R-bar approach." See also Androgynous Peripheral Attach SystemAndrogynous Peripheral Attach System The Androgynous Peripheral Attach System is a spacecraft docking mechanism used on the International Space Station.... Common Berthing MechanismCommon Berthing Mechanism The Common Berthing Mechanism is used to connect all non-Russian pressurized modules of the International Space Station.... Lunar orbit rendezvousLunar orbit rendezvous Lunar Orbit Rendezvous was the method of flying to the moon used in the Apollo Missions, where a main ship would carry a fer... Wally SchirraWally Schirra Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts chosen for the Project Mercury, America's first eff... External links Video of Space Shuttle Atlantis and Space Station Interactive Java applet that lets you attempt an orbital rendezvous