Space Programs
NASA, Soviet and Russian space programs and the International Space Station
Would More Money Improve NASA?
How much should we spend on America’s space program? Does NASA’s budget need an infusion of billions of dollars? The way these questions are answered gives some indication of why one believes we have a space program, what it should be doing and whether money is the key needed to unlock the barrie...
July 08, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
What the astronauts really said
Apollo "onboard voice" recordings captured the moon astronauts' conversations -- cussing and all -- when no one else was listening.
July 07, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
If you had been Neil Armstrong....
...what would you have said as you stepped onto the lunar surface in 1969? The folks at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics in England want your suggestions (but only if you live in the U.K., sorry). They'll choose the five best recorded messages, turn them into radio signals, and bounce them ...
July 06, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
"Did SO!"
Roger Launius, a senior curator in the National Air and Space Museum’s Space History Division, recently gave a talk near the Museum’s newly restored Lunar Module called “Apollo and the So-Called Moon Landing Hoax” (allow pause for an eye-roll). He drew quite a crowd, including many museum employees...
July 03, 2009 |
By Pat Trenner
One-way moon trips and other desperate measures
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
NASA's Giant Cinematic Leap
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
Where the Wild Things Are
We’re about to get a peek at the solar system’s
final frontier.
July 2009 |
By Guy Gugliotta
Nine new astronauts, and not a loser in the bunch
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
First, Nail Down the Mission
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
The 50 most interesting places on the moon
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
Apollo’s Army
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
Human spaceflight review gets underway
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
The 500th person in space
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
The second age of lunar exploration is about to begin
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
Mash up your own NASA photos
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
In praise of space monkeys (and tortoises)
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
Putting the "I" in ISS
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
"Amiable Strangers"
Three distinct personalities, one goal: reach the moon.
May 21, 2009 |
By Michael Klesius
Voices from the Moon
What it was like, in the astronauts’ own words. Excerpts from a new book by Andrew Chaikin.
May 20, 2009 |
By Andrew Chaikin with Victoria Kohl
NASA needs direction? Call Norm Augustine!
Norman Augustine, that perennial blue-ribbon panelist, just accepted the easiest gig of his career—or the hardest. He's been asked by the White House to review NASA's plans for human space exploration, to help chart a "vigorous and sustainable" path forward. If Augustine wanted, he could just dust ...
May 08, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
