Constellation

The Big Dipper Like You’ve Never Seen It Before!

May 16, 2012

All right, it may look just like any other picture you’ve ever seen of the Big Dipper. Maybe even a little less impressive, in fact. But, unlike any other picture, this one was taken from 290 million km away by NASA’s Juno spacecraft en route to Jupiter, part of a test of its Junocam instrument! [...]

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China Unveils High Resolution Global Moon Map

February 8, 2012

Chinese scientists have assembled the highest resolution map ever created of the entire Moon and unveiled a series of global Moon images on Monday, Feb. 6. The composite Lunar maps were created from over 700 individual images captured by China’s Chang’e-2 spacecraft and released by the country’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for [...]

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Night Sky Guide: January 2012

December 30, 2011

January brings us striking views of the night skies! You’ll be able to see well known constellations during the long hours of darkness in the Northern hemisphere, with crisp cold skies. This is an ideal time to get out and look at the wonders of the night sky as there is so much to see [...]

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Revolutionary Air-Launched Commercial Rocket to Orbit Announced by Microsoft Billionaire Paul Allen

December 14, 2011

A mega quartet of luminaries led by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen and legendary aerospace designer Burt Rutan have joined forces to create a revolutionary new approach to space travel. This new privately funded venture entails the development of a mammoth air-launched space transportation system that aims to dramatically cut the high costs and risks [...]

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Orion Spacecraft to Launch in 2014

November 11, 2011

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla – NASA has announced its intention to launch an unmanned flight of the Orion Spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle – by 2014. This flight test will be added to the contract that the space agency has with aerospace firm Lockheed Martin. The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew [...]

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Aerojet: Small Space Firm Has Big Space History

October 27, 2011

When it comes to space flight pedigrees, few companies have one that can compare to Aerojet’s. The California-based company has a resume on space operations that is as lengthy as it is impressive. Universe Today sat down with Julie Van Kleeck – the firm’s vice-president of space and launch systems business unit.

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Book Review: The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane

October 10, 2011

The space shuttle program is over. The orbiters are being decommissioned, stripped of the components that allowed them to travel in space. For those that followed the program, those that wished they did and those with only a passing interest in what the program accomplished a new book has been produced covering the entirety of [...]

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What are the experts saying about SLS?

September 22, 2011

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla – NASA’s recent unveiling of what its Space Launch System or SLS would look like created a buzz in the aerospace industry. Some experts in this field have weighed in on what they thought of the design, the politics and the time involved in producing the space agency’s next heavy-left launch vehicle.

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ATK and Astrium’s Liberty Launcher Added to NASA’s Commercial Crewed Roster

September 13, 2011

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla – Liberty has wings. That is to say that the launch vehicle proposed by Alliant Techsystems or ATK as they are more commonly known has been given the green light by NASA – albeit unfunded – as part of a Space Act Agreement. The announcement was made at the Kennedy Space Center [...]

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Hoping Forward At The End Of The Shuttle Era

July 22, 2011

CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. — The last space shuttle mission, STS-135, ended with the landing of the shuttle Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility at 5:57 a.m. EDT. The air was thick with both humidity and mosquitoes. It was also a day thick with loss. The United States, for the foreseeable future, has lost [...]

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Return of the Capsule

July 14, 2011

CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. – As Florida’s Space Coast braces for the end of the shuttle program this month, signs of life after shuttle are starting to emerge. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) returned the Dragon Spacecraft that launched this past December to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Dragon however, was not alone. Two more capsules, [...]

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NASA’s Next Crew Vehicle Will be Based on Orion

May 24, 2011

NASA has made a decision on their next crew vehicle, and now have plans to develop a “new” spacecraft called the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced today that the system will be based on designs originally planned for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle which was being built to return humans to [...]

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Lockheed Accelerates Orion to Achieve 2013 launch and potential 2016 Manned Lunar Flyby

April 26, 2011

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER – Despite utilizing just half the work force originally planned and cutting back further on the original test program, Lockheed Martin is now accelerating the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) launch schedule and aiming to achieve an Earth orbital flight by 2013 and a human crewed flight as early as 2016. The [...]

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NASA Budget Uncertainties Will Continue Well into 2011

December 22, 2010

A temporary spending measure signed by President Obama on December 22 means NASA and other government agencies will stay at 2010 funding levels until March 4, 2011. This means, according to Jeff Foust at Space Politics, that among other items, the prohibition in the FY10 appropriations bill that prevents NASA from terminating any Constellation programs [...]

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Numerous Companies Propose Possible ‘Space Taxis’

December 20, 2010

Once, the field had only had few entries, but now there are several companies vying to send American astronauts into orbit. With NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program, or CCDev 2, and the encouragement of commercial space firms to produce their own vehicles, the number of potential ‘space-taxis’ has swelled, with virtually every established and up-and-coming [...]

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How Many Astronauts Does NASA Need?

December 7, 2010

CAPE CANAVERAL – When we think of NASA, the first thing that most Americans picture is the men and women of the astronaut corps. It turns out that the White House has been thinking about them as well – as maybe something that might need to be cut down. The Obama administration has requested a [...]

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Lockheed Martin Wants to Launch Orion Spacecraft – on a Delta IV Heavy

December 1, 2010

After the announcement of the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) one of the proposals to reduce the space flight ‘gap’ between the shuttle program and the Constellation Program was to attach the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) to a Delta IV Heavy rocket. With all the political wrangling this simple solution appeared lost – or so [...]

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“Space Factory of the Future” Preparing for Orion Spacecraft for Flight

September 24, 2010

Lockheed Martin has been working overtime to get the Orion spacecraft ready for its first mission, which officials say could be as early as 2013, depending on Congress’ final decision for NASA’s future and budget. Tools and procedures are being checked out to see that they work as advertised for both the spacecraft as well [...]

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A Conversation with Apollo’s Jim Lovell, part 1: NASA’s Future

September 23, 2010

Springfield, Illinois is a quiet, historic town that clings fervently to its association with Abraham Lincoln. If you want Civil War era history and desire to know anything about Lincoln, you can find it in Springfield, especially at the outstanding new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Musuem. So, it’s not often that an astronaut shows [...]

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NASA & ATK Turn Sand to Glass With DM-2 Test

September 2, 2010

The deserts of Promontory, Utah came alive with fire as NASA and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) tested the Development Motor-2 (DM-2). The five-segment, first-stage of the Ares rocket was activated at 9:27 a.m. MDT on Aug. 31. The still morning air surrendered its silence to the sound of unleashed technological thunder. The surrounding countryside was [...]

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