50 years ago today...

[rodsky]

---

...Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to orbit around the earth.



I thought I'd celebrate this occasion by sharing a couple of videos I made, of a re-enactment of his flight, from launch in Baikonur, to orbit, to parachuting down near Saratov, Russia. I simulated the event using Orbiter, a free space flight simulator. I made these videos back in April of 2008.

Launch and orbit
YouTube - Vostok 1 flight using Orbiter

Re-entry into the Earth and landing in Russia
YouTube - Vostok 1 re-entry

Orbiter is pretty accurate in terms of Newtonian physics, to allow one to see how the spacecraft behaved in all phases of the flight. BTW I post processed the video and added the "Internationale" after the Vostok attains orbit.

Wikipedia entry on the actual flight here:

Vostok 1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

-RODION

[lomotel]

i still can't believe the computers (on-board Vostok 1) in this era can already handle the complexities of space flight

[rodsky]

i still can't believe the computers (on-board Vostok 1) in this era can already handle the complexities of space flight

Believe it or not, there were NO computers on board Vostok-1. On a spacecraft that was meant to be fully automatic (Yuri Gagarin was NOT permitted to touch the manual controls, because of the very risky possibility of putting the spacecraft off course due to the absence of an onboard computer), you don't really need a computer--what you simply need are navigation instruments, an "automatic guidance" device that is just basically a timer (i.e. it will perform specific tasks/functions at a predetermined time and predetermined length of time). The first true Russian guidance computer developed for a Russian spacecraft was called the Argon-11S, and was initially developed for the Russian attempt to land a man on the moon.

MIT - Computing in the Soviet Space Program

So prior to the Zond missions, all Russian spacecraft didn't have onboard computers. Truly a spectacular thing IMHO. One thing about Russian space tech is, even though it's relatively crude, it's pretty reliable--just compare the service record of the STS (Space Shuttle) vs. the Soyuz--mas daghan pa casualty ang Shuttle.

-RODION

[mariaClara]

waw.. how i wish.. makakita lang ko ug space shuttle.. hehe

[rodsky]

waw.. how i wish.. makakita lang ko ug space shuttle.. hehe

The last space shuttle flight will be September this year. After this flight, all remaining shuttles (Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavor) will be deactivated and put into storage, or worse, will be destroyed.

Bye bye to the shuttle.

Coincidentally, April 12 also marks the first flight of the Space Shuttle, on April 12, 1981.

-RODION

[cptn_star]

The last space shuttle flight will be September this year. After this flight, all remaining shuttles (Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavor) will be deactivated and put into storage, or worse, will be destroyed.

Bye bye to the shuttle.

Coincidentally, April 12 also marks the first flight of the Space Shuttle, on April 12, 1981.

-RODION

nindot unta sir rodz ihatag sa US nato ang usa ka shuttle...

[rodsky]

nindot unta sir rodz ihatag sa US nato ang usa ka shuttle...

And what will we do with it?

1. We don't have a launch site.

2. We don't have the aerospace infrastructure to maintain it

3. We don't have the skilled workers to maintain it

4. We don't have the money for its fuel

5. We don't have recovery ships for the SRBs

6. We don't have a world wide tracking network

Mao nga NASA is ditching it, because it's simply too expensive to keep maintaining and launching it.

-RODION

[lomotel]

panghambog lang gud nga naa tay SPACE SHUTTLE..just for the hick of it =)

[rodsky]

panghambog lang gud nga naa tay SPACE SHUTTLE..just for the hick of it =)

Our country is already a country of hambogs (i.e. our effing politicians), and we already have a "impang-hambog" trump card (Manny Paquiao), and you want yet another hambugation?

Yes, our politicians and Manny Pacquiao are basically like an aging Space Shuttle resting in an old hangar... "All dressed up and NOWHERE to go." Mao nga dili mo-asenso ang Pilipinas.

-RODION

[BackBeat]

Ka kuyaw kng disgrasya iyaha masabod ang controls.. (accidentally) nya ma off course.. unsa kaha buhaton sa ground control noh? na apil ba pd kaha sa training in case ana nga situation? Hehe hadloka..

OT:

rod, lisud lagi tong virtual world.. hehe emerald viewer ako gamit.. la pa kaau ko tabot.