The Space Exploration Secretary’s Challenge
This Challenge took place at our June 2016 Meeting
You may have noticed that all the Secretary’s Challenges in this year have been related to an anniversary. For our summer meeting came an idea from Chris Fry. Inspired by the new Space Quest set by Spin Master and Tim Peake’s mission to the International Space Station, the challenge was to be ‘Space Exploration’.
The idea was to build an original model reflecting man’s efforts to explore the solar system. This could be any launch vehicle system, spacecraft, space station, satellite, probe or rover — either based on a real or imaginary prototype.
There was an anniversary that tied in with this challenge. The first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data to Earth was the Soviet spacecraft Luna 9. This spacecraft landed on the moon in the Ocean of Storms on 3rd February 1966.
The second spacecraft to achieve lunar soft landing was the American spacecraft Surveyor 1. This landed on the moon on 2nd June 1966.