What fiery crash ended the age of travel by airships?
A:
Crash of the Hindenburg. The German airship Hindenburg was the largest man-made object to fly. It first came into service in 1936 and offered luxury service for up to 72 passengers and 61 crew. There was only one drawback: its gas bags were filled with flammable hydrogen. The Hindenburg had made many trips to the United States and its landing at Lakehurst Naval Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937, was not unusual. But on approaching the mooring mast, it burst into flames. The inferno crashed to the ground, sending passengers and crew running and screaming. Many were severely burned; 35 passengers and crew died, as well as one member of the ground crew. Current theory—just the latest among many through the years—is that a spark caused by the electrostatic charge from a recent rainstorm lit up the airship like a torch. The accident brought the age of airship travel to an end.
The Hindenburg on fire, May 6, 1937.
What type of sandwich did astronaut John Young smuggle into his spacesuit on Gemini 3?
A:
Corned beef. In the mid-1960s the U.S. space program was hitting its stride, but NASA still erred on the side of caution. No extraneous items were permitted in space, especially nothing that might introduce particles that could clog controls or produce bacteria. Earth food was viewed as the ultimate hazard—it created crumbs, smells, and trash. So NASA put everything from applesauce to hot dogs into squeezable tubes. On March 23, 1965, Gemini astronaut John Young (b. 1930) challenged the food rules, by pulling a corned beef sandwich from the pocket of his flight suit and presenting it to Commander Gus Grissom. Apparently, astronaut Wally Schirra, who was not flying aboard Gemini that day, had purchased the contraband at a local deli and slipped it to Young before takeoff. NASA was not amused by their joke.
The infant son of what famous aviator was kidnapped and murdered?
A:
Charles Lindbergh. Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. was born on June 22, 1930. On March 1, 1932, Charles Jr. was taken from the Lindbergh’s home near Hopewell, New Jersey. The distraught aviator discovered a poorly spelled ransom note. When the media broke the story of the kidnapping, chaos ensued. People across the continent claimed to have seen the baby—but all the leads turned out to be false. Eventually a man claiming to know the kidnappers lured Lindbergh to a graveyard, where he paid the ransom for his son. No baby was delivered—Lindbergh had been duped. Tragically, Charles Jr. turned up—dead—72 days later.
Charles Lindbergh posed for this photograph five years before the kidnapping that electrified the nation.
How many times has the entire U.S. commercial fleet been grounded?
A:
Four. The first national grounding occurred on September 10, 1960, as part of Operation Sky Shield, a NORAD-run test of continental defenses against Soviet attack. The purpose of this massive military exercise was to determine if our air defenses—particularly at the U.S.-Canadian border—were penetrable. All U.S. flights were canceled again under Sky Shield II, on October 14–15, 1961, and for a third time on September 2, 1962. During Sky Shield, every commercial airliner and private airplane from the Arctic Circle to the Mexican border remained parked—voluntarily—for up to 12 hours. The fourth grounding followed the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. More than 4,000 flights were affected.
What space missions were “saved” using duct tape?
A:
Apollo 13 and Apollo 17. After an onboard explosion reduced most of the power to the spacecraft, the Apollo 13 astronauts had to move from the command module to the lunar module to conserve power for their return to Earth. However, toxic carbon dioxide was building up in the craft and unless it was stopped, the astronauts could not survive for long. The crew had lithium hydroxide filters to cleanse their spacecraft of carbon dioxide, but the backup square filters from the command module were not compatible with the round openings in the lunar module. The solution? Duct tape, a lot of it, along with plastic bags, plastic-coated cue cards, and hoses from the lunar spacesuits. During the Apollo 17 mission, astronaut Gene Cernan grazed the fender of the lunar rover with a hammer and the fender fell off. Without a fender, abrasive dust thrown up from the Moon’s surface could harm the rover’s hinges and joints and even the coat the astronauts’ space suits with dangerous heat-absorbing particles. Using four laminated maps and a roll of duct tape, Cernan managed to create a makeshift fender, and the rover was good to go for the rest of the mission.
After splashdown, the Apollo 13 Command Module is guided onboard the USS Iwo Jima, April 17, 1970.
What famous humorist was killed, along with aviator Wiley Post, on a 1935 flight in Alaska?
A:
Will Rogers. Born in 1879, Will Rogers worked as a ranch hand, vaudeville entertainer, Broadway performer, silent film actor, and popular syndicated columnist. By the mid-1930s he was a world-famous figure and considered an “American treasure,” both for his eclectic background and his common-man philosophy. Rogers was interested in aviation and often wrote about advancements in the industry. His 1935 flight to Alaska with famed aviator Wiley Post was a vacation, but would also further Post’s effort to search for a new mail route from the West Coast of the United States to Russia. On August 15, 1935, en route from Fairbanks to Point Barrow, they lost their bearings in foggy conditions and were forced to land in a lagoon. On takeoff, their engine failed and the plane plunged into the icy water. Both Post and Rogers were killed instantly.
Will Rogers (left) and Wiley Post (with eye patch) before taking off on their fateful August 1935 flight.
What president was accused of letting the Soviets get the upper hand in the Space Race?
A:
Dwight D. Eisenhower. The spectacle of the Soviet-launched satellite Sputnik in 1957 awed Americans—and worried them. Were the Soviets besting the Americans at science and space and ultimately winning the Cold War? One vocal critic of the Eisenhower administration was Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson of Texas. Johnson opened hearings, which concluded that America’s defense and space programs were underfunded and disorganized, squarely laying the blame for these shortcomings on the Republican administration. Shortly thereafter, the Eisenhower administration proceeded with the Project Vanguard satellite launch on December 6, 1957. Vanguard’s failure proved to be another setback, but the success of Explorer I in January 1958 finally brought the United States into the Space Age.
What two space shuttle orbiters were lost?
A:
Challenger in a launch accident and Columbia on re-entry. The destruction of Challenger, 73 seconds after liftoff, on January 28, 1986, was tragic. All seven crew members were lost, one of whom—Christa McAuliffe—would have been the first teacher in space. Inquiries into the accident revealed that a rubber O-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster, failed, allowing flame to burn through and impinge on the external tank, which then collapsed, releasing the propellants in an explosive burn. The orbiter broke free of the tank and boosters and then broke apart from aerodynamic forces. The accident led NASA to suspend shuttle flights for 32 months. Another orbiter and its crew were lost in 2003, when Columbia disintegrated during re-entry. Damage to Columbia’s thermal protection shield during launch fatally handicapped the vehicle’s ability to survive the searing heat of descent through the atmosphere.
Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff.
Who claimed to have made the first flight over the North Pole?
A:
U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard Byrd. Byrd (1888–1957) took up a challenge by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) to become the first to fly over the North Pole. Byrd set out in a Fokker F. VII piloted by Floyd Bennett on May 9, 1926. Sixteen hours later, he claimed to have accomplished the goal. The dejected Amundsen, who had been scheduled to depart for the Pole in May as well, accepted the loss, but made the flight (in the Norge, piloted by Umberto Nobile) anyway, just days later. Later questions arose as to whether Byrd actually reached the North Pole. Could his plane have made the journey in just 16 hours? Could his sextant readings have been inaccurate or fraudulently altered? Current belief is that Byrd never made it, and Amundsen is credited now with the first transpolar crossing by aircraft.
Who parachuted from a skyjacked Boeing 727 with $200,000 in ransom money?
A:
D. B. Cooper. On November 24, 1971, Cooper quietly informed a flight attendant on Northwest Flight 305 from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, that he had a bomb in his briefcase. The hijacker demanded $200,000 and four parachutes. When his first two requests were fulfilled in Seattle, Cooper released the 36 passengers and most of the crew but demanded that the pilot head toward Mexico and fly low and slow. Somewhere en route to Reno, Nevada, he jumped from the plane and disappeared into the night. So did the cash, except for $5,800, which was later found buried—deliberately or not—on the banks of the Columbia River back in Washington State. The true identity and whereabouts of Cooper—he purchased his ticket under the assumed name of Dan Cooper, which was misreported as D.B. Cooper, the moniker that stuck in the public imagination—continue to baffle the FBI. Many believe he could not have survived a parachute jump from a 727, but a body was never found.
What astronaut’s misadventure led to development of a urine collection system for astronauts?
A:
Alan Shepard’s. The first American to be launched into space was strapped into the Freedom 7 spacecraft waiting for the countdown. The flight was going to be a quick 15 minutes. But Shepard waited on the launch pad for hours and finally, well, he had to go to the bathroom. NASA had thought of almost every potential mishap but that one. Shepard asked Gordon Cooper in Mercury (Mission) Control if he could leave the craft to use the washroom, but that was out of the question, as the capsule would have to be opened. Mission Control gave him the OK to wet his spacesuit and although the urine shortcircuited some of the biomedical sensors, the mission continued and a much-relieved Shepard was shot into the record books. In future missions, astronauts were given a urine collection device.
Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard’s spacesuit doubled as a diaper for the first American in space.
What manufacturer of English luxury cars was killed while landing a Wright biplane in 1910?
A:
Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce. Rolls (1877–1910), the English car manufacturer, was killed in July 1910, when his Wright biplane broke up—perhaps as a result of a faulty tail piece recently added to the plane and not a part of the original Wright design—as he came in for a landing, sending the machine into the ground. Early planes were fragile. Structural failure was hard to overcome and often resulted in tragedy. Before his death, Rolls had tried to persuade his partner, Henry Royce (1863–1933), to enter the aviation business, but Royce preferred to focus on automobiles. During World War I, Royce reversed his position and began to manufacture airplane engines.
Which U.S. presidents “took flak,” or enemy aircraft fire, during World War II?
A:
George H. W. Bush and maybe Lyndon B. Johnson. Bush became a naval aviator at the age of 18 and received a Distinguished Flying Cross for service during World War II. On one bombing mission in the Pacific, his engine took flak and caught fire. Bush managed to hit his target and bail out. He flew 58 combat missions during the war. Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73) served as lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve and participated as an observer on several bomber missions in the South Pacific. He was awarded a Silver Star for gallantry in action after the enemy intercepted an aircraft in which he was a passenger. It is not clear if the aircraft was fired on. Although not a president, presidential candidate George McGovern also took flak in World War II. The B-24 pilot earned a Distinguished Flying Cross.
What pilot was shot down by a Soviet missile in 1960, sparking a diplomatic incident?
A:
Francis Gary Powers. On May 1, 1960, Powers, an American U-2 spy plane pilot, was shot down by a Soviet SA-2 missile over Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinburg). Powers survived the crash and was taken into custody by the Soviets who put him on trial for espionage. The incident caused an even greater rift in the already fragile relations between Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and intensified the Cold War between their nations. Powers served almost two years in Soviet prison before he was released in a prisoner exchange agreement. The CIA had used U-2s for surveillance since the mid-1950s.
Francis Gary Powers’s spare flight suit from his ill-fated flight over the Soviet Union.
What space disaster had been predicted in a memo by whistleblower Roger Boisjoly?
A:
Challenger accident. Challenger was scheduled to lift off on January 22, 1986. The launch was postponed several times due to bad weather, and finally, on January 28, all systems were “go,” although it was still unseasonably cold. Seventy-three seconds after lift-off, the shuttle rocket boosters, tank, and crew vehicle broke apart in an explosive fireball. The accident claimed the lives of all seven crewmembers. The cause of the accident was identified as a failure of a rubber O-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster. The Rogers Commission, which thoroughly investigated the disaster, determined that NASA had been under pressure to maintain its launch schedule and had neglected to make safety a priority. The commission called for a thorough safety review of the shuttle program. Shuttle flights were suspended until 1988. Roger Boisjoly, an engineer for Thiokol, the company that made the rocket boosters, had warned that cold could affect the performance of the booster seals and lead to loss of life. His memo was dated six months before that Challenger mission, and in the days leading up to the launch Boisjoly attempted to at least delay the flight, but his objections were overruled. After the accident his memo came to light, and he was both hailed and vilified as a whistleblower.
What defect in the Hubble Space Telescope brought negative publicity to NASA?
A:
A mirror defect. The Hubble Telescope was deployed in 1990 with high hopes. Because it was free of the Earth’s atmosphere, it would detect objects in the universe never seen clearly by ground-based telescopes. The first images, however, were fuzzy. The culprit turned out to be a mirror defect: it was polished and figured to slightly the wrong curve, differing by less than one twenty-fifth the width of a human hair from being correct. NASA was criticized for poor oversight and ridiculed for its ineptitude. Eventually a shuttle team was sent up with a new main camera and a corrective optics device. Hubble’s value to science improved, and it returned magnificent images that have aided our understanding of the nature of the universe.
The Structural Dynamic Test Vehicle for the Hubble Telescope was not designed for space, but was used by ground technicians and crew to practice procedures and repair tasks.
What spaceplane program was cancelled by Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara in 1963?
A:
X-20 Dyna-soar. Reconnaissance satellites were successfully developed for national security as early as the 1950s. In 1960 the military also hoped to develop a spaceplane for reconnaissance purposes. Called the X-20 Dyna-soar, the Air Force believed the craft would provide long-range bombardment and reconnaissance capability by flying at the edge of space. The plane would simply skip off the Earth’s atmosphere to reach targets anywhere around the globe. Work on the plane began in December 1961, but the project, which was vastly expensive, had no clear military mission, and it was scrapped in 1963 by Defense Secretary McNamara.
What new European aircraft provoked a contentious debate in the early 1970s?
A:
Concorde SST. While Great Britain and France were developing a joint plan for a sleek new aircraft called Concorde in the 1960s and early 1970s, the United States was considering a competitive SST that would be even bigger and faster. Americans, however, were not that enthusiastic. Opponents of the SST said the planes would produce more noise pollution due to sonic booms as well as harmful engine emissions. Citing environmental concerns, the federal government refused to back an American SST and also delayed granting landing rights for foreign SSTs. Air France and British Airways eventually began Concorde service to the United States in 1976. In 2003 high costs caught up with the Concorde and service was terminated.
Who was the first person to die in a powered aircraft?
A:
Lt. Thomas Selfridge. In 1907–8 the Wright brothers agreed to sell their airplanes to the U.S. Army Signal Corps, but the Army insisted that the machines pass performance trials. On September 17, 1908, Orville was taking a test run with Army Lt. Selfridge (1882–1908). After several turns, one of the aircraft’s propellers cracked, producing a chain of events that sent the machine crashing to the ground. Orville was lucky to escape with only a fractured thigh, broken ribs, and some scalp wounds, but Selfridge suffered a fractured skull and died. There was no safety mechanism to save him. He became the first fatality of the powered aircraft age.
What American hero died in an airliner accident that grounded every airplane of the type that crashed?
A:
Knute Rockne. The renowned Notre Dame football coach died in a plane crash in Kansas on March 31, 1931. Shortly after taking off on Transcontinental and Western Air Flight 599 from Kansas City, one of the Fokker F-10 Trimotor’s wood laminate wings separated in mid-air. The plane crashed into a wheat field, killing all eight people aboard. The “Rockne crash” caused major changes in airline safety: all Fokker Trimotors in the United States were immediately grounded; public interest in the crash forced the Department of Commerce to abandon its policy of keeping airline accidents a secret; and wood-framed aircraft were discredited, forcing airlines to design and produce all-metal planes.
What famous aviator was accused of being a Nazi sympathizer?
A:
Charles Lindbergh. By the mid-1930s, Lindbergh had endured constant scrutiny by the press and suffered personal tragedy. He and his wife looked for sanctuary in Europe. During the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin the Lindberghs were guests of Hermann Goering, then the Nazi aviation minister, later field marshal. They became enamored of German culture. In 1938 Lucky Lindy accepted the Service Cross of the German Eagle for his contributions to aviation. With reports about persecution of the Jews beginning to trickle back to the States, Lindbergh’s acceptance of this honor from Hitler’s regime cast him as a Nazi sympathizer. As war with Germany became inevitable, Lindbergh pressed the United States to remain neutral and often expressed what many felt to be anti-Semitic views. These actions tarnished his once-shining reputation as an American hero.
