NASA
Shuttle Program's Value: $12 Billion
This line from a recent NASA Inspector General report jumped out at me:
In addition to managing Shuttle funding challenges, the transition and retirement activities associated with the end of the Shuttle Program present one of the largest such efforts ever undertaken by NASA. The Shuttle Program is...
November 29, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
In the Age of Spaceplanes
Stories from the shuttle astronauts, in their own words.
November 18, 2010 |
By The Editors
Throttle Down
How Florida’s Space Coast is bracing for the end of the space shuttle program.
November 2010 |
By Tom Harpole
Case Closed
Mysteries solved, secrets revealed, and questions finally answered.
September 2010 |
By The Editors
The Force Is With Them
What changes the speed of spacecraft flying by Earth?
September 2010 |
By Sam Kean
A&S Interview: Story Musgrave
The veteran astronaut is the only person to fly on all five space shuttle orbiters.
August 2010 |
By Diane Tedeschi
The Most Well-Traveled Nobel in the Universe
On May 14, 2010, when the Space Shuttle Atlantis left for the International Space Station (ISS) on its 32nd and final flight, it carried some typical items on board: the Russian mini-research module (which provided a new docking port and storage space for the ISS), and a cargo carrier filled with s...
July 27, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Live From the Moon!
The picture may have been grainy, but it was some of the most riveting TV of the 1960s.
July 19, 2010 |
By Mary McKillop
Technology Seeding
There's a philosophical war going on in space policy circles these days, between those who believe that grand, ambitious missions drive invention (Apollo), and those who believe it's the other way around (DARPA).Honestly, I think either approach can work, given wise management. But NASA's new direc...
July 15, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
HAM the Astrochimp
Before humans could be sent into space, scientists needed to know if they could function in weightlessness. NASA had conducted tests with mice and a monkey, but then turned to chimpanzees, animals that could be trained to perform specific tasks.Enter HAM (an acronym derived from Holloman AeroMedica...
July 02, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Sightings: Cause for Reflection
Endeavour lights up the sky—and water—in Florida.
July 2010 |
By The Editors
Your Face in Space
With time running short for the space shuttle, NASA has come up with a way for the masses to journey with astronauts on the vehicle's two remaining voyages. Granted, it’s still impossible to actually hitch a ride to orbit, but you can upload and send a picture of yourself into space through NASA...
June 22, 2010 |
By Mary McKillop
Space Shuttle: The Time-Lapse Movie
A team of photographers captures Discovery's long journey to the launch pad.
May 17, 2010 |
By The Editors
Exit Strategy
NASA’s new launch abort system just passed a major test. But what booster and capsule will use it?
May 06, 2010 |
By Michael Klesius
Power of the Pen
Still picking yourself up off the floor after reading our recent post about the $152,000 that was paid at auction for Neil Armstrong's autograph, along with his famous "one small step" quote, written on a sheet of the Apollo 11 flight plan?Here's what Armstrong had to say in his 2005 biography by J...
April 26, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
240,000-mile Filing Extension
"Dear Mr. Taxman: I'm sorry I missed the deadline. I was, uh, hmm, in a spaceship flying to the moon?"On the evening of April 15, 2010, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's John H. Glenn lecture series honored four legendary men of Apollo 13 on the 40th anniversary of their hair-raising ...
April 16, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
