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If I recall correctly, there were a couple of people (I don't remember if they were astronauts or cosmonauts) in orbit at the time of Starfish Prime, whose spac

by krylon 11y ago

If I recall correctly, there were a couple of people (I don't remember if they were astronauts or cosmonauts) in orbit at the time of Starfish Prime, whose space capsule passed through the radiation belt on its orbit. The space agency in question was pretty nervous about them getting fried as well, and was kind of upset they weren't informed ahead of time.

sandworm101 11y ago
I doubt it. The vanallen belts were predicted long ahead of time and were confirmed during the very first sat missions (explorer 1). They were known not to be dangerous, at least not in comparison to riding a rocket. The amount of dangerous radiation penetrating any spacecraft would be minimal in comparison to that constantly funneled into the belt from space. The vanallen belts are often mentioned by moon hoax people to suggest that manned spaceflight is impossible. Mr Van Allan has been interviewed several times to dispute this assertion.
- krylon 11y ago
  As far as I understand the issue, the Van Allen belts themselves were not the problem, but the high energy electrons released by the thermonuclear explosion, which got caught in the belt. (Apparently the amount of high energy particles released during a solar mass ejection far exceeds that released by any of the nuclear weapons set off during Operation Fishbowl, but I guess people knew a lot less about SMEs back then.) The only reference I can find right now is the Wikipedia article on "High altitude nuclear explosion", which says: "The radiation dose rate was at least 60 rads/day at four months after Starfish for a well-shielded satellite or manned capsule in a polar circular earth orbit, which caused NASA concern with regard to its manned space exploration programs." Which sounds quite a bit less dramatic than I remembered.
pvg 11y ago
I don't think there were any. Starfish Prime was on July 9th, 1962, with Mercury-Atlas 7 launching on May 24, 1962 and lasting 4 hours followed by Vostok 3 launching August 11th, same year. Take a look at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_spaceflights#Detailed_lists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_spaceflights#Det...
- krylon 11y ago
  You are right. Looks like my memory is not what it used to be.

by krylon 11y ago

sandworm101 11y ago

I doubt it. The vanallen belts were predicted long ahead of time and were confirmed during the very first sat missions (explorer 1). They were known not to be dangerous, at least not in comparison to riding a rocket. The amount of dangerous radiation penetrating any spacecraft would be minimal in comparison to that constantly funneled into the belt from space. The vanallen belts are often mentioned by moon hoax people to suggest that manned spaceflight is impossible. Mr Van Allan has been interviewed several times to dispute this assertion.

krylon 11y ago
As far as I understand the issue, the Van Allen belts themselves were not the problem, but the high energy electrons released by the thermonuclear explosion, which got caught in the belt. (Apparently the amount of high energy particles released during a solar mass ejection far exceeds that released by any of the nuclear weapons set off during Operation Fishbowl, but I guess people knew a lot less about SMEs back then.) The only reference I can find right now is the Wikipedia article on "High altitude nuclear explosion", which says: "The radiation dose rate was at least 60 rads/day at four months after Starfish for a well-shielded satellite or manned capsule in a polar circular earth orbit, which caused NASA concern with regard to its manned space exploration programs." Which sounds quite a bit less dramatic than I remembered.

pvg 11y ago

I don't think there were any. Starfish Prime was on July 9th, 1962, with Mercury-Atlas 7 launching on May 24, 1962 and lasting 4 hours followed by Vostok 3 launching August 11th, same year. Take a look at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_spaceflights#Detailed_lists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_spaceflights#Det...

krylon 11y ago
You are right. Looks like my memory is not what it used to be.