Since the beginning of American space exploration, only a handful of ships have had the honor of carrying humans. In a few days, Boeing’s Starliner will join this very exclusive club.
“In the history of American spaceflight, this will be only the sixth time that NASA astronauts will fly in a new spacecraft,” said Jim Free, associate administrator at NASA.
On this occasion, a brief look back at the evolution of these extraordinary vehicles.
– Mercury –
The first American space program intended to send humans into space, Mercury was born in 1958 when NASA was created.
This first vessel, already a cone-shaped capsule, was only designed for one person.
In May 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to go into space on board, during a flight of just over 15 minutes — about a month after the Russian Yuri Gagarin, the first man in the space.
The sixth and final manned mission of the Mercury program took place in 1963, two years later.
The film “Shadow Figures” (2016) shows in particular how the black mathematician Katherine Johnson contributed to making this program a success.
– Gemini –
The Gemini program, which was to prepare for missions to the Moon, flew ten manned missions – that is to say with a crew – in 1965 and 1966.
The capsule resembled that of Mercury, but larger: it could accommodate two people (hence the name Gemini). For the first time, it was equipped with an on-board computer and could change orbit.
The first spacewalk by an American took place during this program. Mooring maneuvers are also carried out.
– Apollo –
The Apollo program included 11 manned missions, six of which allowed 12 men to walk on the Moon, between 1969 and 1972.
Although legendary, it was also marked by tragedy: in 1967, during a ground test before the first mission, three astronauts died in a fire. The Apollo 13 mission, for its part, almost turned into a disaster after an in-flight explosion.
The ship’s command module, which housed the crew, could accommodate three astronauts.
“If you look inside Gemini, Mercury and Apollo, you see literally hundreds of switches and buttons”, when today the astronauts use screens, describes to AFP Erik Seedhouse, associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
– Spaceship –
Space Shuttle flights, five of which went into space, spanned from 1981 to 2011, with 135 missions.
Its main innovation is that it is, for the first time, reusable. It takes off vertically but lands on a runway like an airplane.
It is much larger than its predecessors, being used in particular to carry the elements used to build the International Space Station (ISS). She took up to eight people into space at once.
It also experienced two dramatic accidents: in 1986, the shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff, then in 2003, the shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entering the atmosphere. Each time, all seven passengers were killed.
– Dragon and Starliner –
After the end of the space shuttle in 2011, NASA astronauts used Russian Soyuz spacecraft to reach the ISS.
To once again ensure their transport from American soil, in 2014, NASA signed a contract with Boeing and SpaceX so that they would each build a vessel, aiming for a first mission in 2017.
SpaceX is developing the Dragon capsule and begins journeys in 2020, beating giant Boeing against all odds. Dozens of people have already flown with Dragon, both on NASA and private missions.
Today “almost all systems are automated”, astronauts “don’t have much to do” and travel is “much more comfortable”, points out Erik Seedhouse.
Like Dragon, Starliner must be reusable.
Despite the delays accumulated by Boeing, Steve Stich, senior official at NASA, underlined the exceptional nature of this new era: “We have had six (of these ships) in history, and two of them in four years , it’s really a great first.”
