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2008 July 21 - Complete site update, revision, and new look. Eliminated picture galleries and incorporated them into articles. Deleted video section. Reorganized launch vehicles, stages, and engines so that single entries reflected all models and launch history of a given vehicle. Deleted minor missiles unrelated to main theme of history of rocketry and space travel. Completely revised V-2 article with most complete launch list available and reconciliation of production numbers. Added Google Earth high-resolution views of all launch sites and pads. Innumerable updates to launch vehicle and site information. 2008 January 15 - Updated and completely revised article with new information and images - 2007 November 11 - Ended Pausanias - Space Blog. 2007 November 7 - General site update. Added Sputnik vs Vanguard; Real Flying Saucers: Lenticular Spacecraft; Space Bomber (pdf); Saucer Patent (pdf); China updated; Horizon (pdf); RSA-4 SAF LV (pdf); ISS Status (zip); Space Videos (later deleted). 2007 May 13 - Updated and expanded - Never-Go Navaho and Man-In-Space-Soonest. General site update. 2006 May 25 - Complete site overhaul - new look - added seperate Photo Galleries. New source document links in each article, and added The CIA - What did the know and when did they know it? and Source data and documents.. Added Country indices. 2006 March 23 - Added Blackstar. 2006 February 14 - Added The Crew Exploration Vehicle - and the rejected competitors - revealed! 2006 January 6 - Added The Year in Space -In reviewing 2005, it is seen that the inflection point was reached... Updated chronology, related people, spacecraft, launch vehicle, launch site links. 2005 December 6 - Updated Women of Space . 2005 November 1 - Added Shenzhou 6:Mystery military mission? - Shenzhou competitors: - Tian Jiao 1 - Chang Cheng 1 - V-2 VTOHL - H-2 HTOHL and predecessor Shuguang 1 2005 September 23 - Started Pausanias - Space Blog. 2005 August 27 - Added: Manned Lunar Bases Voskhod 3 - never cancelled - but never flew! DSE-Alpha - buy a ticket around the moon LK-3 - a previously unknown lunar lander! The Kamanin Diaries complete synopses 2005 May 1 - Added All Manned Missions to Mars!. 2005 April 7 - Added German Diaspora!. 2005 March 15 - Added New space powers: Iran and - South Korea 2005 February 14 - Added Forgotten German Rocketry! The V-2 mysteries still remain -- its kin Raketenflugplatz -- Kummersdorf -- Peenemuende - Winkler -- Nebel -- Puellenberg -- Ley 2004 August 29 - Added The Hard Road to Space tragedies and near-tragedies in space exploration Spaced Out! and you need to laugh to handle it - Firsts in Space! who was first, highest, fastest? Book Recommendations! Updated and expanded: Orbital Launch Vehicle launch logs - ISS Flights updated with historical daily status reports - Chronology - Additional Russian and American space engineer and manager biographies - Astronaut Records and Statistics and Women of space... 2004 August 17 - Added Russian Surface-to-Air and Anti-Ballistic Missiles the forgotten projects, the failures and successes of fifty years of secret development! 2004 June 17 - Added SpaceShipOne and other X-Prize contestants - Melvill becomes the oldest person to pilot a spacecraft! 2004 May 23 - To Commemorate the Moon Race at T+35 Years...new revelations, unanswered questions... The Kamanin Diaries ... now complete synopses 1967-1971! L1 Launch Windows - the simple determinant of L1 manned circumlunar launch dates... The Real Moon Landing Hoax! - the Soviet Union tried to be first to the moon - and key facts are still being covered up 35 years later! The Podsadka Problem - what was the configuration of the still-secret spacecraft that provided an alternate way for the Soviets to beat the Americans to the moon? Why did the Soviet Union lose the Moon Race? - the reasons the Americans were first on the moon - in the words of the the Soviet officials in charge of the secret program... Moon Race! - ...the Americans vs the Russians, toe-to-toe...a side-by-side day-by-day chronology of the desperate struggle to be first on the moon! Key Soviet Meetings! - blow-by-blow narratives of the secret meetings where the decisions were made on how to meet the Apollo challenge! Chertok's Memoirs - ... the view from inside the technical and management belly of the Russian space program! Mars 5NM - Mars 5M - Voyager - NO-NONSENSE Mars robot missions launched by N1 or Saturn V superboosters! 2004 May 9 - Added New NASA Astronauts Named - but will they ever fly in space? 2004 February 24 - Added Kliper - Soyuz replacement announced! Updated Manned Orbiting Lab! - ... the US military's station in space - in 1971! 2003 December 7 - Added Nelson, Healey, and Chen Long join the ranks of the Phantom Cosmonauts - plus - Astronaut Group Details! 2003 November 24 - Added DYNA-SOAR!, Robo!, Bomi!, Brass Bell! - space bombers of the fifties! - SAINT!, SAINT II! - US ASATS! - Space Launching System - visionary launch vehicle concept of 1960 that would have given the US an EELV 40 years ago... massive updates to Manned Spaceflight and Chronology sections... updates to Astronaut Records and Statistics and Women of space... 2003 October 26 - Added Von Braun's rockets of the 1950's - New Details on New Generation Chinese LV's - V-2 launches from The Hague - Believing in 'Buck Rogers' - Chinese astronaut biographies - Yang Liwei - Zhai Zhigang - Nie Haisheng 2003 October 16 - Added the flight of Shenzhou 5 - Shenzhou Facts and Trivia - Shenzhou - Military Spacecraft? 2003 October 4 - Added Taming the Fire 2003 August 10 - Added Russian Ballistic Missiles - plus over 1,400 new entries - World Missiles, Sounding Rockets and Suborbital LVs, Sounding Rocket Launch Sites and Ballistic Missile Bases 2003 April 25 - Added Chinese Astronauts 2003 March 6 - Updated China's Space Programme...including the new Chang'e lunar probes, Chinese Space Laboratory, Shenzhou Circumlunar, KT-2 and KT-2A launch vehicles. Plus updates to Chinese Moon Base - 921-2 Station - 921-3 Shuttle - Updated Your Flight Has Been Cancelled..........unfortunately updated in the wake of the Columbia tragedy... 2003 February 5 - Added STS-107 article and philosophical articles: If the Sun Dies... - High Flight... - Stars My Destination... 2003 January 25 - Added National Intelligence Estimate of March 1967 and updated Chronology and Astronaut Statistics. 2002 August 27 - Added GNOM! - Air-breathing ICBM! - Road to the Stars! - Space Cadet - the dream of space that died - The Space Explorers, 2002 May 15 - Added Superguns - A Brief History of the HARP Project - China's project to put a man in space - by 1973! 2002 April 7 - Completely revised and updated Soviet space history entries, including the core Soviet Space History! article. 2002 March 15 - World scoop with the article The Soviet Union recovered an Apollo Capsule! 2002 February 14 - Completely revised and updated core article and all entries regarding the Chinese Space Program. Updated Your Flight Has Been Cancelled..........the greatest manned spaceflights that never were... 2002 January 25 - Added Phantom Cosmonauts. 2001 December 21 - Extensive new history of Almaz military space station programme. Moved to www.astronautix.com web site. 2001 March 12 - Large number of additional entries for Aerojet rocket engines. 3,991 new chronological entries, including entries for Goddard, Von Braun, Soviet decrees, Mercury, Gemini, Skylab, Cold War major events, dates and major events from spacecraft and launch vehicle narratives. Added major new entries and areas:
2000 December 28 - Updated chronology to October 16 2000. Added: Chinese Moon Base Plans! - plus - New Pix/Info: 921-2 Station - 921-3 Shuttle - Type E Lunar Booster 2000 October 6 - Added: Secret History of the Early Soviet Rockets! 2000 October 2 - Added: Comprehensive coverage of gun-launched space vehicles 2000 September 13 - Added: Untold story of South Africa's Ballistic Missile and Space Program
and Svobodniy
Summary of meeting of VPK Military-Industrial Commission in 1974 where fate of N1 was sealed and Energia-Buran begun.
1999 October 22 - Newly revealed details of Yangel's R-56 superbooster - the competitor to Korolev's N1 and Chelomei's UR-700. 1999 October 6 - Added the true configuration and program plan of Chelomei's LK-700 direct lunar landing spacecraft revealed. Chelomei's LK-700 direct lunar landing spacecraft Chelomei's UR-700 direct lunar landing booster 1999 July 15 - Added: In-depth history of design, development, flight test of the Soviet LK Lunar Lander 1999 June 16 - Added: MOOSE, FIRST, PARACONE, and other wild schemes for escaping from your disabled spacecraft.... 1999 June 10 - Added: - Why Space? - If the Sun Dies... - R-56 - Water-borne N1 Superbooster Alternative - New Maps of Secret Places: Baikonur - Plesetsk - Kapustin Yar - New Encyclopedia Volume: Rocket Propellants / Engine Selector - Robot Explorers of the Moon and Planets! - Over 400 New Photos, including new rare views of: The N1 - Project Aelita - LOK Orbiter - LK - Avdeyev to break spacefligh record! - Updated - Chronology - Statistics - US Copies Soviet Spaceplane! - HL-20 - HL-42 1999 April 29 - Dietrich Haeseler's comprehensive Data sheet of Russian and Ukrainian liquid rocket engines is added 1999 April 25 - Major updates: Detailed history of Soviet rocketplanes and spaceplanes Unprecedented detail on the design, develpment, and flight plans for the Buran space shuttle The Past, present and future of the Chinese manned space program A US Navy manned space interceptor of the early 1970's 1999 January 13 - New on the Encyclopedia Astronautica: The history of Soviet Lunar Bases and Lunar Landing Projects - completely updated - Learn about the L1, L2, L3, L4, L%, L3M, LEK, and many other previously unknown spacecraft: The N1 Story - Completely updated and massively expanded - learn about the N1 trade studies, N1 follow-on designs, N1 aerospike versions, and much more. Modified since I posted the draft here a few weeks ago. Check it out again! and TKS Station OS OP The Soviet GR-2 multi-warhead FOBS: N11GR Other recent additions: Full biorgraphies of all flown US astronauts - US astronauts Chinese manned spacecraft: Chinese manned spacecraft North Korean launch vehicle: North Korean launch vehicle Was the Soyuz design copied from the GE Apollo project proposal? GE Apollo Soviet manned Mars expeditions - new details: Soviet manned Mars expeditions 1998 September 3 - New updates: The story of Chelomei's Universal Rockets, including updated UR-200, UR-700, and Proton launch data: Chelomei's LK-1 and LK-700 manned lunar spacecraft: Also new and revised: Winged, Big, and other assorted Geminis: Lunar Gemini, including the 1967 Universal Lunar Rescue Vehicle: 1998 May 29 - Encylopedia Astronautica updated with major new articles on the Soyuz combat spacecraft variants and the Soviet ASAT program. 1998 May 6 - Encyclopedia Astronautica completely updated!
NEW!
=>Fully Referenced - Alphabetical Index - Graphics Index - 5,473 articles!
Updates on: 1997 October 27 - New additions: - Nova launch vehicles - a comprehensive survey - Enlarged essay on Lunar Gemini - Improved biographies/photos of US X-plane and MOL astronauts. 1997 September 14 - Retitled Encyclopedia Astronautica and new pages added on:
Russian Lunar Base Plans (DLB, Zvezda, LEK, etc...) 1997 August 18 - History of Russian Mars expeditions and nuclear propulsion efforts is added. 1997 July 20 - Major update to the Encyclopaedia of Spaceflight Major items of interest: Article on the N1, its predecessors and planned future developments -- N1 Details and photos of the Burya Mach 3 intercontinental cruise missile of the 1950's -- Burya Details on the NPO Energia manned lunar spacecraft for the planned moon bases of the 1950's and 1970's -- Energia manned lunar spacecraft Updated cosmonaut data, courtesy of Alexander Zheleznyakov Cosmonaut data Plus, updated data from FPSPACE 97 on the R-26, R-56, UR-200, and many other rockets and launch vehicles - Launch vehicles 1996 October 1 - Added Saturn and Titan launch vehicle family pages 1996 June 6 - Site moved to friends & partners server, as suggested by Dennis Newkirk and sponsored by Jennifer Green. Title was 'On-Line Encyclopaedia of Spaceflight'. Site expanded to include launch vehicle data, launch lists, and preliminary astronaut data. 1996 January 10 - The pages go on line as the 'Soviet Space Web Page'. The initial site consisted of a small number of pages on Soviet manned spacecraft and flights. Immediate positive response from the Internet and space history communities. Contact us with any corrections, additions, or comments. Conditions for use of drawings, pictures, or other materials from this site.. To contact astronauts or cosmonauts. © Mark Wade, 1997 - 2008 except where otherwise noted. |