Aerospace
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Three Million Miles in Ten Days
Floating off to sleep, Earthgazing, making sure the capsule doesn't depressurize: all standard on a space vacation.
October 22, 2010 |
By Gregory Olsen
Magellans of the Air
On September 28, 1924, crowds cheered and sirens shrieked as the Army Service pilots known as "the Magellans of the Air" landed at Sand Point Field in Seattle, Washington, after completing the first round-the-world flight.They had set off on April 6, some six months earlier, determined to circumnav...
October 21, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
A Graphic Reminder of Cost
Two years ago, we ran a web article about a small band of software developers, model rocket builders, and anonymous NASA space shuttle engineers who were pitting a pair of alternative launch vehicle ideas against NASA's Ares rockets developed for the now-canceled Constellation program. These altern...
October 18, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
Top Gun 2.0?
The Hollywood grapevine and other gossip networks are all atwitter over the news that Paramount Pictures is reportedly in talks with producer Jerry "Blow It Up" Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott about a sequel to their 1986 movie, "Top Gun," which made a megastar of the Grumman F-14 (and some o...
October 15, 2010 |
By Pat Trenner
Red Bull Jump Takes Giant Step Backward
On Tuesday, the energy drink giant Red Bull said it was postponing its Stratos effort, in which Felix Baumgartener will try to break Joe Kittinger's 1960 free-fall record, until a lawsuit is settled. Courthouse News Service reported in April that Daniel Hogan was suing Red Bull for stealing his Spa...
October 14, 2010 |
By Pat Trenner
You've Got (Balloon) Mail
In September 1870, not long after the start of the Franco-Prussian War, the city of Paris was under siege by Prussian soldiers. By the 19th, the German army had blocked all communication into or out of the city. There was nothing worse, wrote French journalist Francisque Sarcey, than to "live cut o...
October 13, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
First Flight for VSS Enterprise
Virgin Galactic's suborbital spaceship, the VSS Enterprise, made its first piloted free flight and landing yesterday in Mojave, California. Pete Siebold was at the controls.
October 11, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Cornucopia of Data
With the chill of fall in the air it's that time of year when we're reminded of turning leaves, football, and the fact that the known universe looks like a Thanksgiving cornucopia.Cosmologists have come up with this graphic to convey how the universe formed, expanded, cooled, and, more recently (on...
October 08, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
The Authorized Version
NASA’s new authorization bill (S.3729) was passed by Congress before they cleared out of town and will soon be signed by the President, codifying into law the federal government’s formal abandonment of the Vision for Space Exploration. In its place is a mish-mosh of platitudes, entitlement program...
October 07, 2010 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Bon Voyage, Soyuz TMA-01M
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka are due to launch to the space station at 7:10 P.M., U.S. Eastern time today, from the Baikonur launch center in Kazakhstan. Fellow astronaut Ron Garan is at Baikonur with Kelly, providing live commentary via his...
October 07, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
A Walk Through the Solar System
Scale models of the planets are popping up in cities and parks all over the country.
October 05, 2010 |
By Mark Betancourt
Pushing His Buttons
Alex Spencer, curator of British aircraft and military flight materiél at the National Air and Space Museum, started his career some 20 years ago as a lowly intern. One morning, as he was riding the shuttle out to the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland, Maryl...
October 04, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Landing Like an Owl
This MIT researcher's work is cool enough—he's trying to develop a small UAV that can land on a perch like a bird.But this slow-mo video of an owl coming in for a landing is what really wowed me:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA6XSrM0V_0
September 30, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Look Ma! No Glasses!
A geologist uses topographic maps to measure slopes, depths, heights and the general shape of landforms. To aid in reconstructing the depositional and erosional history of a chosen landscape, the geologist needs to study the shape of features in the given area in quantitative detail in order to un...
September 29, 2010 |
By Paul D. Spudis
An Artistic Sendoff for the Shuttle's Last Tank
Space shuttle historian Dennis Jenkins took a poignant ride alongside the vehicle's last external tank on Monday as it completed its long journey to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. A NASA contract engineer with 30 years in the shuttle program, Jenkins also is the author of Space Shuttle...
September 29, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
Russian Animals in Space
Even if you don't understand Russian (and I don't) this TV Roskosmos mini-documentary on animals in space is worth watching. You'll see footage of the usual celebrities, including astro dogs Laika and Belka and Strelka. Laika's trainer Oleg Gazenko, a key figure in early space animal experiments wh...
September 28, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
UAVs for Congress
The bumper stickers available at the door read, "My other vehicle is unmanned."More and more, that's becoming true for a variety of government agencies—and not just the defense department—as was evident at the UAV Technology Fair held yesterday at the Rayburn House office building in Washington, D....
September 23, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
"Ah, Dr. Mach!"
On this day in 1953, 21-year-old North Korean pilot No Kum-Sok astonished the American flyers at Kimpo Air Base in South Korea by landing in the middle of their runway and surrendering—thus becoming the first MiG pilot to defect to the West.
In his fascinating 1996 book, A MiG-15 to Freedom, No (w...
September 21, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Swarming Over Switzerland
This looks like fun work.And the people on the SMAVNET Project think they set a record for the largest number of flying robots (10) deployed at a single time outdoors.
September 20, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
