Idaho Skies Transcript for November 22nd and 23rd.

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for November 22nd and 23rd. We’re your hosts, Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
On our last show, we mentioned that the moon was first visited by spacecraft in 1959 and Saturn was first visited in 1979.

RACHEL
The first spacecraft to visit the moon was Luna 1, a Soviet spacecraft.

PAUL
Luna 1 was humanity’s eighth attempt to send a spacecraft to the moon.

RACHEL
The previous seven either didn’t reach space because the booster rocket exploded...

PAUL
...or because the booster stage performed so poorly that the spacecraft just arced up and then crashed back into Earth’s atmosphere.

RACHEL
Luna 1 was not a completely successful mission, however.

PAUL
That’s right; Soviets engineers intended it to impact the moon.

RACHEL
And instead, it missed the moon by 3,700 miles, or by a distance greater than the moon’s diameter.

PAUL
Saturn on the other hand, had a completely successful first visit.

RACHEL
It was by the American spacecraft Pioneer 11 on September 1st, 1979.

PAUL
Pioneer 11 was the second spacecraft to visit Jupiter and the second to escape the solar system.

RACHEL
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent Pioneer 11 to Saturn as a trail blazer.

PAUL
Because it was unknown if the soon to arrive Voyager 1 would survive its passage around Saturn.

RACHEL
So after passing Jupiter, Pioneer 11  was send on a trajectory to closely approach Saturn.

PAUL
Pioneer 11 flew past Saturn at a distance of 12,500 miles and it survived.

RACHEL
And that successful encounter gave mission controllers confidence that Voyager 1 would fly past Saturn safely.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 22nd and 23rd of November.

RACHEL
Be sure to follow us on Twitter at Idaho Skies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps.

For Idaho Skies this is Rachel...

PAUL
...and Paul.

RACHEL
Dark skies and bright stars.