Governmental Aerospace Programs
The Federal Aviation Administration, air mail, space programs and military aviation
The First U.S. Military Pilot
A hundred years ago today, the U.S. military got its first pilot. On October 26, 1909, Frederick E. Humphreys, a 26-year-old Lieutenant with the Army Signal Corps, soloed for the first time in a Wright Flyer at College Park, Maryland, under the watchful eye of no less an instructor than Wilbur Wrig...
October 26, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Are aft-facing airplane seats safer?
They may well be. But don't look for them anytime soon.
October 26, 2009 |
By Michael Klesius
Paradigms Lost
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. – Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince.In his famous book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn described two t...
October 23, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Amelia's Astronaut Connection
The grandson of Amelia Earhart's photographer will carry her scarf higher than she ever did—into orbit.
October 23, 2009 |
By Jill Michaels
Club Zvezda
When did cosmonauts get so hip?The current Russian residents of the International Space Station, Maksim Surayev and Roman Romanenko, are two of the loosest, laughing-est spacemen we've seen in a long time. Maybe it's because they just spent ten days in orbit with a clown.Whatever the reason, Suraye...
October 22, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Video: Space Station Flyover
On the day of the LCROSS lunar impact, a NASA ground camera normally used to track space shuttle launches caught this video of the International Space Station passing over the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Here's how to see the station for yourself, from your own backyard. (Video: NASA)
October 21, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Ares I-X, One Week and Counting
NASA has a new rocket on the launch pad for the first time in almost 30 years.The Ares I-X, the first test of the new Ares rocket design, is scheduled for October 27 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This first flight is meant to demonstrate control and staging of the Ares 1 crew launcher, ...
October 20, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
They're Relieved on Nibiru, Too
If you know children who are sick with worry about the supposed end of the world in 2012, here's the antidote: a six-page brief by NASA Ames Research Center astrobiologist David Morrison explaining why the whole Mayan calendar scare is a load of nonsense.The doomsday scenario, in case you hadn't he...
October 15, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Space Exploration Sets Sail on Lunar Water
Water is an extremely useful substance in space. The recent finding of water on the Moon has generated considerable comment in the space community; a quick search on Google using the phrase “lunar water” returns over 7.66 million hits. Lunar water’s significance lies not in its role as a medium f...
October 04, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Video: Airborne laser test
Boeing and the U.S. Air Force have been busy this summer testing the Advanced Tactical Laser, a high-power directed energy weapon mounted on a C-130H Hercules transport.In this August 30 test at New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range , the laser was fired at a target for the first time, with the fo...
October 02, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Steichen Sent Me
Led by famed fashion photographer Edward Steichen, a group of camera men captured the action of World War II naval aviation.
October 01, 2009 |
By Mark D. Faram
Gas stations in space
The debate over what kind of rocket to use for NASA's exploration program has become so clouded by politics and salesmanship that it's hard for outsiders to tell any more which approach would be best, or even if it's still possible to send people beyond Earth orbit. The Augustine commission says it...
September 29, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Robot airplane goes AWOL, gets shot down
Aerial warfare took another step into the robo-future on September 13 when a U.S. Air Force F-15E pilot was sent to destroy an out-of-control MQ-9 "Reaper" drone as it headed toward the Afghan border. It was the first time an errant Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) had to be shot down by a human pilot...
September 22, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Over the No-Fly Zone
Patrolling over northern Iraq in 2001 felt like driving through a small town with Hell's Angels.
September 22, 2009 |
By Randy Gordon
The "Jaws" of Cold War Fighters
From the company that brought you the P-51 Mustang, F-86 Sabre, and F-100 Super Sabre came the F-107, North American's entry in a 1950s Mach 2 fighter-nuclear bomber competition. Though it was based on the F-100 design, evident in the wings, aft fuselage, and tail section, something went seriously ...
September 21, 2009 |
By Pat Trenner
Son of Israeli Astronaut Dies
An F-16 crash has claimed the life of Lieutenant Assaf Ramon, the son of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart in 2003. One year after losing his father, Assad revealed his own astronaut aspirations. "I want to share my father's experiences, and to under...
September 14, 2009 |
By Pat Trenner
Devils’ Advocates
Some people go to Las Vegas to gamble, others to learn about Mars.
September 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Japan's new space truck
There's been a lot of fretting in space policy circles about the launch "gap" after the U.S. space shuttle retires, and how NASA will manage to ferry astronauts to the space station when it has no space vehicle of its own. Equally important is how cargo will be delivered. Now that six people are l...
September 11, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Last Breath
As NASA prepares to shut down a historic wind tunnel in Virginia, some hope for a stay of execution.
September 10, 2009 |
By Michael Klesius
I Aim at the Stars…but sometimes I only make viewgraphs
Over the long holiday weekend, Turner Classic Movies regaled us with a really obscure one – the 1960 biopic, I Aim at the Stars, starring Curd Jürgens. This movie is a biography of Wernher von Braun, the German rocket scientist who built the V-2 for Hitler and the Saturn V for America. Although n...
September 09, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
