#thisweeksf the maiden launch of a Titan IIID from Vandenberg carrying the first KH-9 Hexagon optical imaging satellite, OPS-8709 @orbitalpodcast

#thisweeksf @orbitalpodcast Command of the @Space_Station was handed over from Expedition 27 Commander Dimitri Kondratyev to Expedition 28 Commander Andrew Borisenko.

#thisweeksf @orbitalpodcast The launch of a Delta II 7920 carrying Gravity Probe B, which aimed to test two unverified predictions of general relativity by measuring the spin of four gyroscopes on the satellite.

#ThisWeeksf is the Jules Verne ATV that was launched March 9, 2008. It was named after the famous French author. The clue referenced his book 20,000 leagues under the sea. The first European vehicle to conduct fully automated rendezvous with ISS. esa.int/Enabling_Suppo…

#thisweeksf @orbitalpodcast March 9th, 2008. The Jules Verne ATV launches to the International Space Station on an Ariane 5ES from ELA-3, Guiana Space Centre, performing the maiden flight of both the ATV and Ariane 5ES variant of the Ariane 5.

#thisweeksf @orbitalpodcast the launch of ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) suborbital lifting body spaceplane. Launched on a Vega from French Guiana, the spacecraft reached an apogee of 412km before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere and descending under parachute.

#thisweeksf @orbitalpodcast Feb 11, ESA launched the intermediate experimental vehicle, a suborbital unscrewed space plane. Very cool mission, definitely looks penguiny.

#thisweeksf @orbitalpodcast the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-C which deployed USA-8, a Magnum/Orion satellite for the U.S. Department of Defence.

#thisweeksf Launch of STS-51C on January 24, 1985. The mission deployed a NRO sigint satellite, part of the Magnum/Orion program. Ken Mattingly was the commander of the mission and was also the CMP on Apollo 16 which include the LEM named ‘Orion’.

@orbitalpodcast I ran the video of #thisweeksf through some stabilization (240p, already overcompressed) to counter the camera being on an arm. Less violent looking than the original, but still plenty movement!

@orbitalpodcast Apollo 5 did the "fire in the hole" test by igniting the Ascent Engine while still docked to the Descent Stage. This is how launches from the moon would occur, so it was important to test! Manned missions would do it with "Abort Stage" button. #thisweeksf

@orbitalpodcast #thisweeksf the flight of Apollo 5, with the fire in the hole test of could the LM assent stage fire while still connected to the decent stage.

@orbitalpodcast #thisweeksf Tacoma Narrows at Mach 25 - guessing this is PlanetSpace suing NASA for choosing SpaceX & Orbital over them for the ISS cargo contract. Complete shot in the dark here, this was a tricky one 😅

@orbitalpodcast #thisweeksf in 1970 the Venera 7 space probe landed on Venus, making it the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on another planet and the first to transmit data back to Earth from there.

@orbitalpodcast The flight of EFT-1, Orion's first trip to space #Thisweeksf