Space Flight

Shuttle Replica Departs Kennedy for Ocean Voyage to Houston on a Barge – Enterprise is Next

May 24, 2012

A high fidelity replica of a NASA Space Shuttle orbiter has set off today, May 24, on an ocean going voyage by barge for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. This trip by the Shuttle replica gives a taste of what’s to come for the upcoming barge journey by Space Shuttle Enterprise around the [...]

Read the full article →

SpaceX Dragon Spies Earth

May 23, 2012

All systems are functioning nominally aboard the Earth orbiting Dragon cargo carrier launched yesterday, May 22, atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX has released the picture above of the Earth as seen by a thermal imager that Dragon will use in its upcoming approach to the International Space Station.

Read the full article →

Spectacular SpaceX Launch Opens Historic New Era in Spaceflight

May 22, 2012

Following this morning’s (May 22) spectacular nighttime blastoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, human exploration of the cosmos embarked on a radical new course that will never be the same again. The long awaited liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 3:44 a.m. lit up the Florida Space Coast for miles around as [...]

Read the full article →

Repaired SpaceX Rocket Set for 2nd Blastoff Try on May 22

May 21, 2012

SpaceX engineers have successfully replaced a faulty valve in a first stage engine that triggered a launch abort on May 19 and that now clears the way for a second launch attempt of the firms Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft in the overnight hours early on Tuesday, May 22. Litfoff of the Falcon 9/Dragon [...]

Read the full article →

Why Are Astronauts Weightless in Space?

May 21, 2012

Most of our regular readers understand why astronauts and objects appear to float around on the International Space Station, but there are some misconceptions and preconceived notions out there on this topic that aren’t true and don’t represent a very good understanding of physics! This video provides an entertaining look at some of the ideas [...]

Read the full article →

SpaceX Engineers Race to Repair Engines for May 22 Launch

May 20, 2012

Today’s (May 19) historic launch of the first ever privately developed rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS) was very surprisingly aborted at the last second when an engine glitch forced a dramatic shutdown of the Falcon 9 rockets 1st stage firing already in progress and as the NASA launch commentator was in the [...]

Read the full article →

On The Hunt For High-Altitude Microorganisms

May 20, 2012

The United States Rocket Academy has announced an open call for entries in its High Altitude Astrobiology Challenge, a citizen science project that will attempt to collect samples of microbes that may be lurking in Earth’s atmosphere at the edge of space.

Read the full article →

SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Poised at Pad to Open New Space Era

May 19, 2012

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is now poised at the launch pad and set to open a completely new era in spaceflight. Hopes are sky high that Saturday mornings Falcon 9 launch represents the dawn of the commercial era in spaceflight akin to the startup of the commercial airline industry early in the 20th Century [...]

Read the full article →

What Will Happen During Tomorrow’s SpaceX Launch:

May 18, 2012

With less than a day left before SpaceX’s historic launch of the first commercial vehicle to the ISS, slated for 4:55 am EDT on Saturday, May 19, here’s a video of what will happen once the Falcon lifts off. (Part of me really wishes that they’ll be pumping out some dramatic music when it launches!)

Read the full article →

SpaceX says All Systems GO for Historic May 19 Blast Off to ISS

May 18, 2012

In less than 48 hours, SpaceX is primed to make history and launch the first ever commercial rocket and spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday morning on May 19. Following today’s Launch Readiness Review (LRR), SpaceX was just given the official “GO” from NASA to proceed with the blastoff of the Falcon [...]

Read the full article →

New Crew Arrives at Space Station

May 17, 2012

The crew aboard the International Space Station is now back to a compliment of six. New Expedition 31 crew members Gennady Padalka, Joe Acaba and Sergei Revin docked and have now been welcomed on board the ISS after the hatches opened Thursday at 08:10 UTC (4:10 a.m. EDT). They docked to the Poisk module at [...]

Read the full article →

Rocket Man Elton John Sings Greetings to the ISS

May 15, 2012

Sir Elton John sent a special message to the ‘rocket men’ on board the International Space Station by singing his classic song “Rocket Man.” The video was recorded on April 17, 40 years to the day after his single Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time) was released around the [...]

Read the full article →

Expedition 31 Blasts Off!

May 15, 2012

After a six-week delay, the crew of Expedition 31 successfully launched aboard a Soyuz TMA-04M rocket on Tuesday, May 15 at 0301 GMT (11:01 p.m. EDT May 14) from Russia’s historic Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in the steppes of Kazakhstan. The rocket will deliver NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin to [...]

Read the full article →

Former Astronaut Criticizes NASA’s Current Course

May 14, 2012

Former NASA astronaut Story Musgrave is neither happy nor excited about the current state of the space administration or about the commercial COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) program. He’s not happy, and he’s not afraid to say so. “The whole thing is chaos and a cop out. The whole thing is a Washington failure,” Musgrave [...]

Read the full article →

Endeavour Unplugged – Last Picture Show from the Flight Deck of a Living Space Shuttle Orbiter

May 12, 2012

At 9:58 a.m. this morning (Friday May 11), technicians unplugged Space Shuttle Endeavour marking the final power down of NASA’s last powered orbiter and termination of all power flowing to the flight deck. Today, Endeavour was euthanized. The flight deck went dark for the last time as Endeavour is being prepped inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 [...]

Read the full article →

Engineer Thinks We Could Build a Real Starship Enterprise in 20 Years

May 11, 2012

In Star Trek lore, the first Constitution Class Starship Enterprise will be built by the year 2245. But today, an engineer has proposed — and outlined in meticulous detail – building a full-sized, ion-powered version of the Enterprise complete with 1G of gravity on board, and says it could be done with current technology, within [...]

Read the full article →

SpaceX Dragon Launch Slides to May 19

May 8, 2012

SpaceX has announced that the upcoming launch of the firms Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft on the commercial COTS 2 mission has been postponed to a new target date of no earlier than May 19 with a backup launch date of May 22. On May 19, the Falcon 9 rocket would lift off on its [...]

Read the full article →

The View From Freedom 7

May 5, 2012

51 years ago today, on May 5, 1961, NASA launched the Mercury-Redstone 3 rocket carrying Alan B. Shepard, Jr. aboard the Freedom 7 capsule. Shepard successfully became America’s first man in space, making a brief but historic suborbital test flight that propelled American astronauts into the space race of the 1960s. The video above is [...]

Read the full article →

Chaos and Education at 120,000 feet for Camilla the Rubber Chicken

May 1, 2012

In my travels, I’ve had the pleasure of regularly meeting up with Camilla the Rubber Chicken, the social media maven and mascot for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. But lately I’ve been seeing here virtually everywhere — on television, splashed across all sorts of websites, and even in my local newspaper. What Camilla does is try [...]

Read the full article →

SpaceX Falcon 9 Set for Critical Engine Test Firing on Monday, April 30

April 30, 2012

On Monday, April 30, SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies) is all set to conduct a critical static engine test fire of the Falcon 9 rocket at the firm’s launch pad on Cape Canaveral, Florida. If all goes well, SpaceX and NASA are targeting a May 7 liftoff of the rocket and Dragon spacecraft at 9:38 AM, [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries