Rockets
A vehicle or craft propelled through air or space by exhaust from a rocket engine
Moon Rocket Engines Reach Space At Last
It only took 40 years, but engines originally designed for the Soviet N-1 moon rocket finally left Earth yesterday.
April 22, 2013 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Disaster at Xichang
An eyewitness speaks publicly for the first time about history’s worst launch accident.
February 2013 |
By Anatoly Zak
Redundancy Counts
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket keeps on chugging, despite an engine loss.
October 08, 2012 |
By Tony Reichhardt
750 Meters Later
Masten Space System's test vehicle, Xombie, took a nice ride this week.
August 16, 2012 |
By Heather Goss
What’s Under the Thames?
Almost 100 aircraft were lost in the river during World War II alone, and it's not certain how many are still to be recovered.
July 27, 2012 |
By Rebecca Maksel
London’s Armed Rooftops
As the world's athletes put on their game face, the British Army prepares for aerial attack.
July 24, 2012 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Hurry-Up Satellites
These Pentagon mavericks want to launch spacecraft within a week of taking the order. Wish them luck.
July 2012 |
By Todd Neff
DARPA and Boeing to Dream Up New Airborne Launcher
Wanted: an airborne system than can launch 100-pound satellites for under $1 million.
June 04, 2012 |
By Heather Goss
Student Rocketry Challenge Blasts Off
Winners take home big prizes (and compete to be the next generation of aerospace leadership) in the Team America Rocketry Challenge.
May 11, 2012 |
By Heather Goss
A Saturn V’s Final Journey: From Mildew to Museum
A new book recounts (sort of) the difficult restoration of a deteriorating Saturn V.
May 01, 2012 |
By Heather Goss
Is SpaceX changing the rocket equation?
1 visionary + 3 launchers + 1,500 employees = ?
January 2012 |
By Andrew Chaikin
The Candle Lighters
Alan Shepard was brave enough to ride the Mercury-Redstone rocket. These guys were brave enough to light it.
January 2012 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Where Were You?
In this 50th anniversary year of human spaceflight, we ask you to remember your own space milestones, and record where you were, and how you felt.
November 22, 2011 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Scratch One Spysat
An eyewitness recalls one of history's great rocket explosions.
October 26, 2011 |
By Pat Trenner
Europe to Launch First Soyuz from South America
When a Soyuz lifts off from French Guiana on Thursday, it will be the first one to launch outside of Russia or Kazakhstan in the rocket's 44-year history, and the first step in assembling Europe's new GPS system.
October 19, 2011 |
By Heather Goss
Department of “What Were They Thinking?”
Quick: What’s the strangest way to deliver mail that you can think of? By mule? On foot? By ship? By airplane? How about by missile? That’s right. More than one person thought delivering packages by rocket was an excellent idea. Our neighbor, the National Postal Museum, notes that Austria and Germany were the first countries [...]
July 01, 2011 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Congratulations Minotaur, Damn You
Wallops Island and I don’t get along. Twice in the last two years I’ve made the long drive from my home in ex-urban Washington D.C., hoping to finally see an orbital launch from this quaint and historic launch site on Virginia’s eastern shore. Twice I’ve come away empty-handed. It happened for the second time Tuesday [...]
June 30, 2011 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Something Rocketing in the State of Denmark
We’re still not sure whether to take the folks at Copenhagen Suborbitals seriously in their quest (eventually) to launch people into space. But they plan to test-launch their HEAT-1X rocket from the Baltic Sea tomorrow. The last attempt, in September, was ruined by a liquid oxygen valve failure. Now they’ve regrouped for another try, with [...]
June 02, 2011 |
By Tony Reichhardt
