Editors' Picks
Area 51: Origins
America’s once-secret air base had humble beginnings.
Need for Speed
Airplanes with a mission: Fly faster.
Beyond the Moon
It’s not a place, exactly. But it could be NASA’s next destination.
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 33 of 45
Space historian Matthew Hersch writes in:
It is difficult to imagine it now, but in 1967, Americans and Soviets were literally dying to get to the moon. That year, three American astronauts lost their lives in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire, and a Soviet cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov, died when the ree...
July 02, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
You want to rediscover the vibe of 1969? Then rediscover the 1970 film Moonwalk One. With shots of camping, idling, beer-drinking middle America on hand in Florida to witness the launch of Apollo 11, interspersed with images of VIPs like Johnny Carson at the Kennedy Space Center, a box-jawed Wernhe...
July 01, 2009
| By Mike Klesius
NASA's newly named Astronaut Class of 2009 had better be a patient lot, because they probably won't reach orbit anytime soon. But they can look forward to walking on the moon if and when we return there sometime in the 2020s. And even if we don't, it must be pretty satisfying to be one of only nine...
June 30, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
The new Augustine Commission met for the first time last week (June 17). The one-day agenda was filled with presentations on rocket-building, including reviews of NASA’s current efforts along those lines, followed by briefings on a number of possible alternatives. Suddenly, the space blogosphere ...
June 25, 2009
| By Paul D. Spudis
In the March 2008 issue, we published "High Fashion," which chronicled the state of the art in orbital couture, including "a dress that looked like a giant upside-down shredded coffee filter." Last Saturday, high over Florida, bride Erin Finnegan, wearing Eri Matsui's zero-G wedding gown, exchange...
June 22, 2009
| By Pat Trenner
Now that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is enroute to the moon (it arrives Tuesday) we might ask where it will point its high-resolution cameras when observations get underway. In fact, scientists have been thinking about that for years; last week they met in Tempe, Arizona, to discuss LRO target...
June 19, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
It took 400,000 people, working under extreme pressure, to reach the moon in 1969. Like any army, they suffered casualties.
June 18, 2009
| By The Editors
The most important review of NASA space policy since the Columbia accident investigation kicks off today with its first public hearing. Watch it live on NASA Television.
June 17, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
Next month, when space shuttle Endeavour arrives in orbit to begin its 16-day space station construction mission (Note: The launch has been postponed to July 11), Chris Cassidy might feel more than the usual satisfaction. On his first shuttle flight, the former Navy SEAL, who wasn't even born when ...
June 12, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
Despite what you've read, NASA doesn't really have a moon program. Not yet. But it will as of next Thursday. That's the day the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled to launch on a year-long (at least) mission to send back our best pictures of the moon since astronauts stopped visiting there a ...
June 12, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
Bill Elkins has been outfitting astronauts since before NASA was born.
June 10, 2009
| By Michael Klesius
At 2:25 this afternoon, Eastern time, Japan's Kaguya lunar orbiter will smash into the moon, its maneuvering fuel nearly spent and its two-year mission ended. I'll miss it. Kaguya has been the most media-friendly of the new lunar missions launched to date, returning beautiful, elegant photos and mo...
June 10, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
Last time, I outlined some of the basic principles of lunar resource utilization. The Moon is our nearest source of material resources in space and learning how to extract what we need from the Moon is a key skill in our expansion into the Solar System.All this is very well and good, but how do we...
June 05, 2009
| By Paul D. Spudis
Am I the only one vacationing on the ground this year?This guy is traveling to the space station on what he calls a "Poetic Social Mission." He's the Canadian billionaire who started Cirque du Soleil.These two are getting married on one of Zero-G's weightless flights. Here's their website. They're ...
June 04, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
While the resources of space have the potential to revolutionize spaceflight—giving us a much wider range of activities than are now possible, including habitation of other planetary bodies—discussions on various internet forums show that there is a lot of confusion and lack of knowledge about spac...
May 30, 2009
| By Paul D. Spudis
Over at the Flickr photo sharing site, they've found a creative new use for all those zillions of photos NASA posts on the web for free.The NASA Remix Project invites people to grab their favorite images of planets, rockets, and astronauts, and turn them into something more artistic. Or fanciful. ...
May 29, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
Fifty years ago today, the monkeys Able and Baker were placed inside the nose cone of a missile and launched to an altitude of 360 miles, on a suborbital flight that lasted just 16 minutes.They weren't the first creatures sent into space (that honor goes to fruit flies, in 1947), nor even the first...
May 28, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
More than a decade after construction began, the International Space Station is about to get its first full-size crew.A Soyuz spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Kazakhstan tomorrow with three people onboard—Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, European astronaut Frank De Winne, and Canadian ast...
May 26, 2009
| By Tony Reichhardt
A National Air and Space Museum astronomer picks some of his favorite images from the storied telescope.
May 22, 2009
| By Rebecca Maksel
Three distinct personalities, one goal: reach the moon.
May 21, 2009
| By Michael Klesius
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