Andrew Chaikin Archives - Universe Today

13 MORE Things That Saved Apollo 13, part 9: Avoiding Gimbal Lock

24 Apr , 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

It was an unlikely case, having an Apollo command ship disabled thousands of miles from Earth. But during the Apollo 9 mission, the crew had actually conducted a test of firing the Lunar Module’s engines while it was docked to the Command Module. It turned out to be fortuitous to have considered such a situation, […]

3-D Views of Humanity’s First Spacewalk, 50 Years Ago Today

18 Mar , 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

On March 18, 1965 Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk in history, floating outside his Voskhod 2 capsule. Leonov made the walk when he was just 30 years old, and later wrote that he felt “like a seagull with its wings outstretched, soaring high above the Earth.” His spacewalk lasted just 12 minutes […]

The Night Mars Was Closest to Earth

6 Mar , 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Editor’s note: On August 27, 2003 Mars was closer to Earth than at any time in human history. Author Andrew Chaikin asked Universe Today to tell the story of how he was fortunate enough to enjoy the event with Don Parker, a “superb planetary photographer and wonderful guy,” Chaikin wrote. “I first met Don, a […]

Video: Carolyn Porco Discusses Her Life at Saturn

21 Apr , 2014 by Nancy Atkinson

Space historian Andrew Chaikin sat down with planetary scientist Carolyn Porco, and she discusses how her career has ended up focusing on the Saturn system. I love how Porco relates how even she has been “blown away” by some of the imagery sent back by the missions — just like the rest of us! — […]

See the Apollo 8 “Earthrise” in a Whole New Way

20 Dec , 2013 by Nancy Atkinson

One of the most famous images from the history of spaceflight is the picture taken by the crew of Apollo 8 of the “Earthrise” — the first color picture of taken of Earth as it became visible as the spacecraft came from behind the farside of the Moon. The photo was taken 45 years ago […]

Neil Armstrong Didn’t Lie About First Words on the Moon, Historian Says

4 Jan , 2013 by Nancy Atkinson

A small controversy has erupted over Neil Armstrong’s first words as he stepped on the Moon’s surface and how he came to say them. Armstrong had always admitted that while he had been thinking about what to say during his first steps for quite some time before the Apollo 11 mission, he didn’t actually decide […]

Apollo’s Final Footsteps, 40 years later

14 Dec , 2012 by Nancy Atkinson

Will there come a time when we on Earth can look up at the Moon and know that people are living there permanently? 40 years ago today, humans left the Moon for the last time during our visits during the Apollo program. Author Andrew Chaikin has been creating a series of videos on why space […]

40 Years After Apollo, the Moon Still Beckons

5 Dec , 2012 by Nancy Atkinson

40 years ago this week, the final Apollo mission, Apollo 17, launched to the Moon. In this new video produced by author Andrew Chaikin, geologist Paul Spudis of the Lunar and Planetary Institute explains why the Moon still beckons, “not just to visit, not just put a footprint there, but to go and understand it, […]

A Call to Action: We Must Explore

10 May , 2012 by Nancy Atkinson Video

Our friend Andrew Chaikin is passionate about space exploration and like many, is concerned about the budget cuts that threaten to starve NASA’s planetary science program. He has created this new video as a call to action for those of us in the US to contact our representatives, and anyone around the world to make […]

Was the Apollo Program an Anomaly?

25 Jan , 2011 by Nancy Atkinson

[/caption] How often have you heard (or thought) the sentiment that all NASA really needs is a President who will issue a bold challenge for the space agency, like Kennedy did in 1961, initiating the Apollo program to the Moon? Can we ever expect to witness such a call to action again? “It is very […]

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