Top Ten Posts of 2023

Now that we are at the end of 2023, it is time to look back at this year’s material published on Drew Ex Machina and see which of the new essays I posted during this site’s seventh year online, along with earlier published material, proved to be most popular to my readers. In addition to satisfying my curiosity, this exercise is an attempt to figure out what kinds of articles my readers prefer so that I can focus my attention on similar topics over the coming months when possible. What follows is a review of the Top Ten most popular articles on this site during 2023 based on a raw tally of their page views. If you are interested in checking out any of these articles for yourself, they can be accessed by clicking on the titles or the feature images in the reviews that follow.

A view of LM-1 being prepared for the unmanned Apollo 5 mission. (NASA)

#10 Apollo 5: The First Flight of the Lunar Module

This past year saw the 55^th anniversary celebrations of many key Apollo missions as NASA and its contractors worked hard to land on the Moon before the end of 1969. One of these important missions was the unmanned flight of Apollo 5 which tested the Lunar Module in space for the first time. The #10 most popular article during 2023 was a detailed account of this largely forgotten mission and the problems it encountered. Despite these issues, the flight was deemed a success bringing NASA one step closer to the goal of reaching the Moon.

A view of Apollo 4 at LC-39A prior to its launch. (NASA)

#9 Apollo 4: The First Flight of the Saturn V

With the recent launches of a new generation of Moon rockets, there has been renewed interest in the Saturn V flown over a half a century ago. On November 9, 1967 Apollo 4 lifted off from Pad A of Launch Complex 39 for the first unmanned test flight of the Saturn V – the world’s largest rocket which would be used to send Apollo missions to the Moon. The #9 most popular article on Drew Ex Machina for 2023 took a close look at this historic mission. Unlike earlier test flights of large rockets, the decision had been made four years earlier that this first Saturn V test flight would be an all-up test with three live stages in an effort to speed the program’s schedule and help constrain costs. Fortunately, the gamble paid off with a fully successful mission ending 8 hours and 37 minutes after launch with the splashdown of the Apollo 4 Command Module in the Pacific Ocean.

A view of NASA astronaut Ed White during his historic EVA on June 3, 1965 during the Gemini 4 mission. (NASA/JSC)

#8 Ed White’s EVA Photos from NASA’s Gemini 4 Mission

The most memorable accomplishment of the Gemini 4 mission flown in June 1965 was the first American EVA performed by a NASA astronaut, Ed White. All of the iconic images seen over the last six decades are either selected stills chosen from the 16mm movie footage of the event or a handful of photographs taken by Jim McDivitt from inside the spacecraft cabin using a handheld camera. Not widely seen are the images Ed White took during his historic EVA. The #8 ranked on Drew Ex Machina for 2023 shares those largely unseen photographs presenting a unique perspective of this historical event.

Here we see NASA astronaut Ron Evans with the crescent Earth visible in the distance during his deep space EVA of December 17, 1972. (JSC/NASA)

#7 A History of Deep Space EVAs

With NASA and its partners preparing to return to the Moon, it is inevitable that deep space EVAs will be performed during the course of these new missions of exploration. This likely explains the increased attention in the deep space EVAs performed during the last three Apollo mission to the Moon as part of the more ambitious J-series. The #7 most popular article on Drew Ex Machina for 2023 took a detailed look at the deep space EVAs of Apollo 15, 16, and 17 which were meant to retrieve photographic film containing detailed mapping images and other data of the lunar surface while Apollo was in orbit around the Moon.

A view of Pete Conrad standing next to the long-silent Surveyor 3 unmanned lunar lander during the Apollo 12 mission’s second EVA on November 20, 1969. (NASA)

#6 The Apollo 12 Visit to Surveyor 3: A Preview of Space Archaeology

With the impending return of humans to the Moon, there has been growing calls to revisit some of the earlier lunar landing sites. However, this desire is hardly new. During their second EVA on the lunar surface on November 20, 1969, NASA astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad and Alan Bean visited the long silent Surveyor 3 robotic spacecraft 2½ years after it had landed on Oceanus Procellarum. One of the objectives of the Apollo 12 mission was to demonstrate the ability to make precision landings and Surveyor 3 presented an unambiguous target to gauge success. The Apollo 12 LM, Intrepid, came down just 155 meters from Surveyor 3 on November 19 allowing the crew to visit the robotic lander and return samples of its components for analysis back on Earth. The #6 most popular article on Drew Ex Machina for 2023 took a in depth look at the Apollo 12 crew’s visit to Surveyor 3 giving us a foretaste of future visits to historical lunar landing sites.

An artist’s depiction of the newly discovered TOI-700e. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Robert Hurt)

#5 Habitable Planet Reality Check: TOI-700e Discovered by NASA’s TESS Mission

On January 10, 2023, a team of scientists led by Emily Gilbert (a post-doc fellow at JPL) announced the latest exoplanetary discovery from NASA’s ongoing Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission: An Earth-size exoplanet, designated TOI-700e, orbiting inside an optimistic definition of the habitable zone (HZ). This is the fourth exoplanet discovered orbiting the red dwarf called TOI-700 (with the discovery of the earlier trio announced three years earlier – see “Habitable Planet Reality Check: TOI-700d Discovered by NASA’s TESS Mission“) and the second found orbiting in this system’s HZ after TOI-700d. The #5 ranked post on Drew Ex Machina takes a detailed look at the case for the potential habitability of TOI-700e as well as the future prospects for studying this and the other planets in this system.

A portion of one of the color panoramas returned from the surface of Venus by Venera 13 on March 1, 1982. (Don Mitchell)

#4 First Pictures: Color Views of the Surface of Venus from Venera 13 – March 1, 1982

With the approval of new missions to Venus by NASA and ESA, interest in the classic missions to our sister planets has increased. On March 1, 1982, the Soviet Venera 13 lander touched down on the surface of Venus. While the seventh successful landing on our sister planet by the Soviet Union, the highly instrumented Venera 13 was the first to return color images from the hellish Venusian surface. The #4 rated post on Drew Ex Machina took a closer look at how these first of their kind images were acquired.

Apollo 6 shown during its ascent as debris is seen coming off of its spacecraft launch adapter (SLA). (NASA)

#3 Apollo 6: The Saturn V that Almost Failed

Space enthusiasts fondly remember the Saturn V rocket which sent nine Apollo crews to the Moon including a dozen astronauts who actually landed on the lunar surface between July 1969 and December 1972. Retired after thirteen flights when it launched NASA’s Skylab space station into Earth orbit on May 14, 1973, it is frequently claimed that the Saturn V had a perfect flight record – an unequaled achievement for what was the largest launch vehicle of its day. While it is certainly true that no Saturn V suffered a catastrophic failure, which resulted in the total loss of a mission, NASA’s famous Moon rocket did experience its share of problems. With the ongoing issues with the first test flights of the Starship heavy lift launch vehicle built by SpaceX, there has been growing interest in this flight of the Apollo-Saturn V designated Apollo 6. Launched on April 4, 1968, the second Saturn V to fly experienced more than its share of problems during its flight culminating with the failure of the S-IVB third stage to reignite to send the spacecraft on a simulated trajectory to the Moon. Fortunately, the causes of the failures were quickly assessed, and fixes confidently identified eliminating the need for a third unmanned test flight of the Saturn V and keeping NASA’s schedule on track to land on the Moon before the end of 1969.

This is a view of Gemini 7 which was launched on a two-week mission on December 4, 1965 with NASA astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell on board.  (NASA)

#2 Gemini 7: Two Weeks in the Front Seat of a Volkswagen

With the recent passing of former NASA astronaut, Frank Borman, there has been renewed interest in his space missions. In December 1965, NASA astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell spent a fortnight in orbit on board Gemini 7 under conditions which were described by the press at the time as like spending two weeks in the front seat of a Volkswagen Beetle. The #2 most popular article on Drew Ex Machina for 2023 took a detailed look at the Gemini 7 mission which set a space endurance record which would stand for almost five years.

An artist’s depiction of a Pioneer Venus probe on the surface of Venus. (NASA)

#1 NASA’s Unintentional Venus Lander

Forty-five years ago in December 1978, the planet Venus was the target of a veritable armada of American and Soviet spacecraft hoping to learn more about our mysterious sister planet. Included in the fleet were a pair of Soviet Venera landers and a quartet of entry probes carried by NASA’s Pioneer-Venus 1 spacecraft. While they were not expected to survive the impact after transmitting about an hour’s worth of atmospheric data during their long descent, one of these hardy probes lucked out and not only survived landing on December 9, 1978, but transmitted data from the surface of Venus for a record-setting 67 minutes. The most popular post for 2023 took a close look at the Pioneer-Venus multiprobe mission and its Day Probe which became NASA’s first (unintentional) Venus lander mission – a feat NASA hopes to repeat with its DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) atmospheric probe which should reach our sister planet within a decade.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 78,000 people from around the globe who have taken time in 2023 to read these Top Ten as well as the other 366 essays on Drew Ex Machina. The many comments and feedback on this site as well as in other forums have also been greatly appreciated. I intend to continue posting interesting essays on space-related topics during 2024 and hope that all of you continue reading and enjoying them.

Happy New Year!   Drew LePage