Editors' Picks
Printed in Space
If your star tracker breaks on the way to the moon, just hit Command P.
Area 51: Origins
America’s once-secret air base had humble beginnings.
Need for Speed
Airplanes with a mission: Fly faster.
The Invention of Flight
Inventors, dreamers, daredevils, charlatans: Aviation's early years had them all.
Vietnam Memoir
Stories from the war that shaped a generation.
Page 14 of 45
Part I: Operational Considerations The current controversy over the direction of our national space program has many dimensions but most of the discourse has focused on the means (government vs. commercial launch vehicles) not the ends (destinations and activities). Near-Earth objects (NEO, i.e., asteroids) became the next destination for human exploration as an alternative to [...]
August 31, 2011
| By Paul D. Spudis
Here’s some more creative space photography from Ron Garan, who’s currently on board the International Space Station. Garan and several other astronauts have teamed up for the Fragile Oasis project, to share the perspective of Earth that they see from orbit. This time-lapse sequence is apparently a sneak peek at a longer version. The Peter [...]
August 30, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
The four orbiters are already taken, but thousands more shuttle-related items are still available—at no cost.
August 29, 2011
| By Mark Betancourt
According to computer modeling by NASA’s QuakeSim project, Tuesday’s 5.8-magnitude earthquake in central Virginia moved the city of Washington D.C. a whopping 0.02 inches “to the northwest and downward.” The small town of Mineral, near the quake’s epicenter, shifted about 2.8 inches.
August 25, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
Got 3-D glasses? Then watch this. According to the European Space Agency, it’s the first live 3-D video ever streamed from space. NASA astronaut Ron Garan is both star and director, and he’s using ESA’s new Erasmus Recording Binocular (ERB-2) camera inside the European Columbus module. ESA plans to start up a 3-D channel on [...]
August 24, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
These days, with so many satellite sensors looking down constantly from orbit, and so many ways to slice their data, it’s hard to remember that hurricanes used to arrive without much warning. Hurricane Irene is currently bearing down on the Turks and Caicos Islands, and may hit the east coast of the United States by [...]
August 23, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
A recent paper suggests that early in the history of the Solar System, two sub-moons collided to create Earth’s present-day Moon. Several people have asked for my opinion on this new concept, so I will examine how this result was obtained, along with some general remarks on the nature of modern scientific research. Over 25 [...]
August 18, 2011
| By Paul D. Spudis
A high-schooler champions science in America.
September 2011
| By Robert Yowell
Can a spacecraft hop its way to winning the Google Lunar X prize?
September 2011
| By Michael Belfiore
Three legendary astronauts—Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell, and Gene Cernan—were in Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday, meeting with American service men and women as well as young Afghan Air Force trainees. From the NATO press release: “This is the best day of my life!” said Lt. Fatama Abteen, one of a small handful of female Afghan Air Force [...]
August 17, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
Yuri Gagarin, incredibly, didn’t carry a camera on the world’s first spaceflight. Neither did Alan Shepard nor Gus Grissom, whose 15-minute suborbital shots followed Gagarin’s April 1961 launch by three weeks and three months, respectively. The American astronauts were photographed during their missions, but only by automated cameras mounted in the Mercury capsule. So it [...]
August 05, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
The next pilots to fly a U.S. spacecraft may work for a private company.
August 05, 2011
| By Paul Hoversten
Over the years, spacecraft have seen plenty of dried-up riverbeds on Mars, along with rocks that formed in watery environments eons ago. No question about it, the Red Planet used to be wet. NASA can stop sending press announcements about water in the Martian past. We got it. Now scientists are reporting something much more [...]
August 04, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
The flood of new data from the Moon continues to enlighten and puzzle lunar scientists. Members of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team have noticed an unusual landform on the far side of the Moon that was as unexpected as it might be significant. We’ve known for many years that early in its history, the [...]
August 03, 2011
| By Paul D. Spudis
Scientists unveiled the first full closeup of the asteroid Vesta today. The picture, stitched together from frames taken by the Dawn spacecraft from a distance of 3,200 miles on July 24, shows mysterious parallel grooves around the asteroid’s middle, which may have formed when Vesta contracted, then expanded after a giant impact early in its [...]
August 01, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
Recently deceased John H. Marburger, former Science Advisor to President George W. Bush and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, had a long and distinguished career as a scientist, an administrator and public servant. I knew him through his advocacy and involvement in the development of the Vision for Space [...]
July 30, 2011
| By Paul D. Spudis
The shuttle has retired, but the astronauts haven’t.
July 26, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
The space shuttle has been well eulogized in recent weeks, and we’ve already said our own farewells in print and on the web. So no need for another Grand Tribute. Still….I can’t resist a couple of parting thoughts on this final day of the 30-year shuttle program. The safety of the shuttle can be debated, [...]
July 21, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
I learn something new about the astronaut business on every mission. During their spacewalk last week, space station residents Mike Fossum and Ron Garan did some whistling while they were inside the Quest airlock in their spacesuits, waiting for the pressure to drop before heading outside. I’ve queued this video up to the whistling sequence, [...]
July 20, 2011
| By Tony Reichhardt
Today is the 42nd anniversary of man’s landing on the Moon. The first step on the Moon – the step that “divided history” to use the words of the time – and the planting of the American flag there seems like a lifetime ago. As a matter of fact, it was. Tomorrow, the Space Shuttle [...]
July 19, 2011
| By Paul D. Spudis
Advertisement
Follow Us
 | ||||||
|
|
 |
 |
| ||
Air & Space Videos
|
Flightseeing on Mount McKinleyA very close look at the mountaintops around North America’s highest peak. |
|
A New Way to NavigateGPS systems help pilots fly through rugged Alaskan terrain. |
|
X-47B Carrier LaunchAn unpiloted combat aircraft takes off from an aircraft carrier for the first time. |
|
SpaceShipTwo Fires UpVirgin Galactic sends its edge-of-space ship past Mach 1. |
|
How to Bag an AsteroidNASA's plan to retrieve an asteroid and bring it (close to) home. |
View All Videos » |
|
Need to Know
|
Why do NASA launch times depend on lighting conditions?It's all about the solar beta angle. |
Air & Space Interview
|
Bobby BraunNASA's outgoing Chief Technologist talks about what's in the R&D pipeline |
In the Magazine
