AirSpaceMag-Space Exploration

Earth-Moon: A Watery “Double-Planet”

Tue, 14 May 2013 03:10:26 GMT

New work on lunar samples reveal a shared source for water in the deep interior of both Earth and Moon.

Chris Hadfield’s Space Oddity

Mon, 13 May 2013 01:19:37 GMT

Somebody had to do it.

Crowdsourcing Mars

Thu, 09 May 2013 05:27:06 GMT

Space exploration and the limits of charity.

The Last Shuttle Flight

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 05:00:00 GMT

On board Atlantis, the closing of an era.

What the astronauts really said

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:06:42 GMT

Apollo "onboard voice" recordings captured the moon astronauts' conversations -- cussing and all -- when no one else was listening.

Document Deep Dive: Harry Truman’s Adorable Love “List” to His Wife, Bess

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 04:15:47 GMT

As a celebration of 38 years of marriage, the former president shared his memories, both fond and bittersweet, from each anniversary

Europe’s (Really) Cool Telescope Ends Operations

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:52:34 GMT

The Herschel Space Telescope closes its eye after the last of its coolant evaporated this week.

Thin Crust Moon

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:23:13 GMT

New data from NASA's GRAIL mission suggest that the crust of the Moon is thinner than we had thought. Is this idea consistent with the geological evidence?

Moon Rocket Engines Reach Space At Last

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:36:07 GMT

It only took 40 years, but engines originally designed for the Soviet N-1 moon rocket finally left Earth yesterday.

Kepler’s New Planets: Is Anybody Home?

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 07:15:08 GMT

SETI researchers have already listened in for alien transmissions.

Five Reasons to Like NASA’s Asteroid Retrieval Mission

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:53:15 GMT

So it's not the Moon or Mars. Get over it.

The Great Asteroid Grab

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 03:05:41 GMT

Instead of astronauts going to the rock, the rock will come to them.

A Brief Tour of Time (and Navigation)

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:30:41 GMT

A new exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum tells us where we are, and how to get where we're going next.

The Mystery of Shackleton Crater

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 03:08:10 GMT

New information about the interior of the crater Shackleton at the south pole of the Moon sheds some light -- and even more heat -- on the vexing questions remaining about water on the Moon.

NASA’s Frequent Flier

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:32:43 GMT

After logging nearly 1,400 hours in orbit, Jerry Ross reflects on spaceflight past and future.

Beyond the Moon

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

It’s not a place, exactly. But it could be NASA’s next destination.

From Beyond

Mon, 10 May 2010 09:43:17 GMT

A new exhibition of awe-inspiring photos from the first 50 years of planetary exploration.

Special Delivery

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:27:24 GMT

The team that landed Curiosity on Mars takes home a trophy.

Earth’s Mirror

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Landsat shows us the home planet, warts and all.

The Galileo Project

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

Why Europe wants its own satellite navigation program.

That Sounds Familiar

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:20:49 GMT

New data from Mars suggest that it may have been hospitable to life in the past. Haven't we heard this before?

20130227 Flares

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:13:04 GMT

Flares light up the sky from a C-130 Hercules, part of the 107th Airlift Wing. As the U.S. Air Force explains, "A flare is an aerial infrared countermeasure to counter and infrared homing, heat seeking, surface-to air or air-to-air missile."

HTW: Laser Guide Stars

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:23:07 GMT

Adaptive optics and lasers are giving ground-based telescopes better-than-Hubble views.

What To Do in an Asteroid Emergency

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 09:24:19 GMT

A U.N. action team gets serious about protecting the planet from space rocks.

Geological sampling and planetary exploration

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 06:31:21 GMT

Samples from other worlds provide some key information on planetary evolution and history but are they the only way to obtain such knowledge?

In The Museum: A Tale of Two Satellites

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:00:00 GMT

An artifact returns to service after being on display for eight years.

Fireball!

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:16:54 GMT

Nothing gets your attention quite like a meteor screaming in at 40 miles a second.

Vermin of the Skies - Don Yeomans Q&A

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:00:28 GMT

The JPL scientist in charge of tracking incoming asteroids tells us if we should be worried.

Crater Face

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:19:11 GMT

If we could see all the holes gouged in the Earth by asteroids, we'd run screaming for cover.

Gratitude for the Backyard Astronomer

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 07:12:55 GMT

An annual award recognizes amateurs for finding rocks in the sky.

Geological mapping of another world

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 06:39:56 GMT

Thanks to geologic mapping, we understood the story of the Moon well before we actually went there.

Reconstruction

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 02:39:40 GMT

After the Columbia accident, seeing the crew cabin of the destroyed shuttle was an emotional experience for many NASA astronauts.

The Inquisitive Astronaut

Wed, 23 May 2012 04:20:55 GMT

Don Pettit turns his curiosity—and his camera—loose on board the International Space Station.

Astronaut Stories: The World’s First Spaceplane

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 02:00:00 GMT

Shuttle crews from the 1980s recall how their new vehicle took some getting used to.

The Next 10 Americans in Space

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:00:00 GMT

The shuttle has retired, but the astronauts haven’t.

Poster Boys (and Girls)

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 07:27:32 GMT

Astronauts show a lighter side in their unofficial crew posters.

Top Ten Shuttle Memories

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 06:04:14 GMT

Highlights from America's longest-lived space program.

D’oh! 10 Goofs in Space

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:28:09 GMT

There are some situations even astronauts can't train for.

Can the Pentagon Unbundle Its Behemoth Space Systems?

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 05:02:23 GMT

Support for "disaggregation" of military satellites is getting louder.

In the Zero-G Cockpit

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:26:18 GMT

As the pilot of a 727 that simulates weightlessness, John Benisch is always searching for that perfect parabola.

Spin Doctors

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:22:21 GMT

For that satellite dish on your roof and the phone calls you make to Japan, you can thank Harold Rosen.

10 Billion Miles From Home

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:00:00 GMT

More than 35 years into their mission, our farthest-flung spacecraft are not finished yet.

Into The Great Unknown

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:00:00 GMT

The Voyagers begin the first real star trek.

Live From the Moon!

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:16:36 GMT

The picture may have been grainy, but it was some of the most riveting TV of the 1960s.

Son of Transhab

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:48:41 GMT

NASA buys back its own technology for inflatable space modules.

Mr. B’s Big Plan

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:43:19 GMT

Robert Bigelow has put two mini-space stations in orbit. Now comes the hard part.

The Best of Bean

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:33:25 GMT

A collection of otherworldly paintings goes on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

Swimming Lessons

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:03:40 GMT

Astronauts had to swim before they could walk.

Trial by Water

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:55:32 GMT

NASA tests the seaworthiness of its new moonship.

The Artist and the Astronauts

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:08:34 GMT

As the first lunar explorers prepared to launch, artist Paul Calle was in the room, quietly sketching away.

Voices from the Moon

Tue, 19 May 2009 07:17:54 GMT

What it was like, in the astronauts’ own words. Excerpts from a new book by Andrew Chaikin.

NASA Art on Tour

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:16:12 GMT

A traveling exhibit from the space agency's right brain.

Hubble Favorites

Fri, 22 May 2009 03:59:07 GMT

A National Air and Space Museum astronomer picks some of his favorite images from the storied telescope.

The Shuttle in a Different Light

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:47:35 GMT

The space shuttle glows in photographs taken by one of its own technicians.

The Red Album

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:31:26 GMT

Mars’ foremost photographers pick their favorite images of their favorite planet.

Weightless Workouts

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:38:58 GMT

A new fitness machine on the space station brings astronaut exercise into the 21st century

"Amiable Strangers"

Thu, 21 May 2009 07:18:00 GMT

Three distinct personalities, one goal: reach the moon.

Stratomouse!

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:05:33 GMT

In the 1950s, balloons carried live mice to near-space to study how the trip might affect astronauts.

Rocks on the Move

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:35:48 GMT

Is this the best asteroid visualization yet?

Hugh L. Dryden and the American Space Program

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 10:39:27 GMT

Congress has proposed that the name of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center be re-named to honor Neil Armstrong. Should it?

The Luna 1 Hoax Hoax

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:37:24 GMT

How the world's first lunar mission got mired in cold war conspiracy theories.

How Are Places On The Moon Named?

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 03:09:56 GMT

The rules for naming features on the Moon are simple, but not always logical.

A Note From Ho Chi Minh

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 08:24:20 GMT

In 1968, in the midst of war, Apollo 8 offered a glimmer of hope and humanity.

The Real Reasons We Explore Space

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:53:33 GMT

Ambition, curiosity, and a reason the NASA Administrator admits has nothing to do with economic benefit.

The First Planetary Explorers

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 12:04:30 GMT

Fifty years ago today, a JPL team overcame the odds and pulled off the first visit to another planet.

The Lunar Surface – What Lies Beneath

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:36:46 GMT

Gravity data from NASA's GRAIL mission show that deeply buried bodies of igneous rock in the crust can be detected from orbit.

The Overview Effect

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 09:59:42 GMT

A new film about the perspective that comes with seeing Earth from afar.

Gorgeous Victorian 4BR 2.5BA, Priced To Ship to Mars ASAP!

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 05:45:13 GMT

A realty company wondered what it might cost to launch your house to Mars.

Reflecting on the Ice of Mercury and the Moon

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 04:05:56 GMT

Recent data from the planet Mercury indicates that water ice is found near its poles. What does this mean for the Moon?

Lunar History For Sale

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 04:26:11 GMT

A 16th-century telescope, Lunar Orbiter mission documents, early views of deep space, and more go on auction this week.

“Life Out There”

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 06:19:53 GMT

The Library of Congress’s first resident astrobiologist takes inspiration from both Carl Sagan and Jerry Garcia.

NASA’s Road to the Future

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 08:34:09 GMT

A new interactive graphic highlights the space agency's plans.

Technical Readiness

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 10:32:13 GMT

Using the material and energy resources of space could be a major game-changer for spaceflight. So why haven't we ever done it?

Asteroid Watch

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 05:00:00 GMT

A team of NASA alums is building a spacecraft to protect Earth - and you can help.

Moments & Milestones: Splat!

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 05:00:00 GMT

The Ranger series of space probes finally succeeded — on the seventh try.

Ocean of Storms, Oceans of Argument

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 07:19:29 GMT

A new paper claims mineral evidence for the largest basin on the Moon -- is it true?

Fly-Powered Planes and Other Oddities

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 06:25:59 GMT

Oddball items at the National Air and Space Museum.

Water from the Sun

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:37:11 GMT

What is the ultimate source of the water found at the poles of the Moon? A new study of some lunar soil samples suggests a surprising answer.

Once in a Blue Moon

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 03:17:33 GMT

What color is the Moon? The answer is not as straightforward as you might think.

Redundancy Counts

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 02:13:32 GMT

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket keeps on chugging, despite an engine loss.

Of Turtles and Men

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 02:25:33 GMT

If the Mercury astronauts seemed obsessed with bathroom humor, maybe it was because of their doctors.

Ohio’s Space Shuttle

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 05:23:40 GMT

It never went to space, but the astronauts spent many hundreds of hours inside the CCT-1.

Portrait of a Breakup

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:47:31 GMT

First-time views from inside a re-entering spacecraft.

Hit-and-Run Science

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 04:39:05 GMT

Two new and very different scientific studies may revise our understanding of the Giant Impact that supposedly created the Moon.

A&S Interview: William Barry

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 04:12:25 GMT

NASA's Chief Historian.

The 2012 Drought, As Seen From Space

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 02:35:18 GMT

NASA's GRACE satellites have been watching our groundwater disappear.

Pint-Size Sky Watchers

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 06:00:00 GMT

While monster telescopes get the attention, the little guys quietly — and cheaply — rack up cosmic finds.

Printed in Space

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 06:00:00 GMT

If your star tracker breaks on the way to the moon, just hit Command P.

Hollywood’s Spacesuits

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 06:55:50 GMT

A sci-fi historian’s guide to movie spacesuits, from wacky to realistic.

Kounotori’s End

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:47:37 GMT

A Japanese camera will try to catch first-time pictures of a satellite's breakup.

Free Enterprise and “New Space”

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 02:54:10 GMT

Is "New Space" free enterprise?

Anyone Need a Hubble Telescope?

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 07:12:14 GMT

NASA puzzles over what to do with a rare gift.

Flights & Fancy - Interoffice Launch - Sept12

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 09:00:00 GMT

How do a bunch of bored aerospace engineers kill time? Shoot down rubber-band ornithopters, of course.

Passing of an Era

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:55:45 GMT

Neil Armstrong will always be remembered for his "one small step" but his contributions to spaceflight are numerous.

A Cheap Date

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 08:03:26 GMT

Determining rock ages remotely would create new possibilities for planetary science.

750 Meters Later

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 09:32:43 GMT

Masten Space System's test vehicle, Xombie, took a nice ride this week.

The Astronaut Question

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 09:00:00 GMT

How long will humans remain better than robots at exploration?

I Was There: "The Tremendous Potential of Rocketry"

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 09:00:00 GMT

Jimmy Doolittle remembers the birth of the U.S. space program.

Mars Journal

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

From the people who know Mars best, a collection of close encounters.

Scooping the Soviets

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 06:40:54 GMT

The radio telescope at England's Jodrell Bank Observatory got the news scoop of the century in the early days of the space race.

Survival Training, Cosmonaut Style

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 12:13:12 GMT

New cosmonauts brush up on their wilderness skills in Kazakhstan.

Awaiting Curiosity’s Fate

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 08:30:00 GMT

As the rover rocketed down to the Martian surface, the team at JPL could only wait and hope.

Occupy Mars

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

Adventures in Martian science and imagination.

A Tale of Two Mars Cameras

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 08:40:18 GMT

Director James Cameron's 3D camera may have been bumped from the Curiosity Mars lander. But MARDI will give us first-time color views of the descent.

Newt Space

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 09:27:29 GMT

Does the history of two early pioneers of aviation offer an analogy for spaceflight?

What’s Under the Thames?

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:01:22 GMT

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.

Kavli Meets Kuiper

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:29:01 GMT

Two decades later, three scientists are rewarded for discovering a new body of objects in our solar system.

Good Luck, From Space

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:53:40 GMT

Astronauts and satellites get to watch the Games from Olympian heights.

Department of Flying Saucers

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Nick Pope, formerly with the UK's Ministry of Defence, warns that space aliens will be drawn to the Olympic's Closing Ceremonies. Read more about the UK's UFO program—which ran from 1959 to 2009—here.

London’s Armed Rooftops

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:19:12 GMT

As the world's athletes put on their game face, the British Army prepares for aerial attack.

Single Room, Earth View

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 10:27:11 GMT

America's first woman in space describes the beauty of Earth from orbit.

The Tale of Falcon 1

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 12:42:01 GMT

The development of SpaceX's Falcon 1 is a story of promise -- and partial fulfillment.

Bubble Bubble – Swirl and Trouble

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 05:21:26 GMT

Localized bubbles of high magnetic intensity may explain some enigmatic lunar surface features

If Spirit Had Gone to Disney World

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

For all its traveling, NASA's last Mars rover only covered about the same ground as a familiar theme park.

Why Mars?

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

How stories, real and invented, keep pulling us back.

Mars Mike

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

An elder statesman of space exploration wants pieces of Mars brought here.

First Neighborhood on Mars

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

The creator of The Sims imagines us on the Red Planet.

Invaders From Earth

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

Will any of these robots win a trip to Mars?

Emissary

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

Never send a man to do a robot's mission.

Above and Beyond: Solar System Detective

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

As a planetary geologist, I search for clues to what happened on faraway worlds.

Viewport: New Studies of an Ancient World

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

As a planetary geologist, I search for clues to what happened on faraway worlds.

Next Train to Space

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 10:18:12 GMT

The next three residents of the International Space Station are due to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:40 pm U.S. Eastern time on Saturday.

Telstar Turns 50

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 05:05:37 GMT

The world's first transatlantic TV broadcast included a quip from President Kennedy and folk dancing in Quebec.

Failure to Launch, Failure to Lead

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 02:47:03 GMT

The Space Exploration Initiative and the Vision for Space Exploration -- two proposals, two failures. Why?

The Flight of Shenzhou-9

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 09:06:22 GMT

China's first manned space station mission comes to a successful end.

An Ocean on Titan

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 08:55:12 GMT

One of the solar system's most interesting places just got even more interesting.

Going Home

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:29:47 GMT

How do you spend your last day in space?

Birth of a New Moon

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 03:35:03 GMT

The start of another lunar cycle, as viewed from Space Station.

An Astronaut’s Guide to Space Etiquette

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:47:54 GMT

How to be civilized on the space frontier, Chapter 6: Having company for dinner.

Carrying the Load

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 07:22:03 GMT

The harness we wear to run on a treadmill in space is sort of like a backpack. But the engineering is way more complicated.

A Slice of Time Pie

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 04:53:19 GMT

On Space Station every hour is accounted for, and hardly a minute is wasted. Here's how my day is divided.

Warm Regards

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 08:16:10 GMT

A Space Station group portrait, taken in thermal infrared.

From Us to You

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 08:15:10 GMT

Here's what we left inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule before we closed the hatch last month.

China and the Moon

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 09:37:25 GMT

What are China's intentions for the Moon?

Beating Stray Light

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 05:41:22 GMT

If you want good pictures in space, make it as dark as you can.

Downey Will Display Shuttle Mock-Up

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 07:45:45 GMT

The Southern California birthplace of the space shuttle is going to spit-shine and welcome visitors to see a piece of nearly forgotten aerospace history.

Chesley Bonestell and the Landscape of the Moon

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 01:21:52 GMT

The purpose of art is to soothe the soul, but sometimes it can predict future realities with uncanny precision.

There’s One More Shuttle That Needs a Home

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 09:05:17 GMT

Inside a warehouse in Downey, California, a one-winged space shuttle sits underneath a blanket of Tyvek sheeting.

Last Day on Earth

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 03:47:28 GMT

What would you do? A poem.

Perpetual Sun

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:37:36 GMT

As you can see in this video, right now we are in a phase of continuous twilight.

Bradbury Meets the Astronauts

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 06:24:34 GMT

They were bound for the moon, but he had already been to Mars.

Everyone’s Gone To The Moon

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 07:07:49 GMT

Our international space partners want to go to the Moon. Why don't we? Well, maybe we do.

Who discovered water on the Moon?

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:42:02 GMT

A recent news story claims that water was found in lunar soil over 30 years ago, but the finding was ignored. True?

Transit of Venus, Then and Now

Tue, 29 May 2012 05:35:49 GMT

When you drive to your local observatory to witness the Transit of Venus on Tuesday, spare a thought for the men who sought to witness the spectacle in 1761.

DARPA and Boeing to Dream Up New Airborne Launcher

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 03:23:58 GMT

Wanted: an airborne system than can launch 100-pound satellites for under $1 million.

What’s Next for New Space

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 06:45:29 GMT

With Dragon showing the way, it's about to get busy in the commercial spaceflight arena.

Homemade Ice Sheets

Wed, 30 May 2012 06:59:07 GMT

Are ice crystals different in microgravity? I had a look.

This Ain’t No Shuttle Launch

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:54:08 GMT

Passing the baton at Cape Canaveral.

The Beast

Mon, 21 May 2012 08:16:31 GMT

Weightlifting in weightlessness is now my favorite oxymoron.

Viewport - Champion of the Fleet

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Discovery takes a victory lap before settling in at the National Air and Space Museum.

Satellite In a Week

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:00:00 GMT

These Pentagon mavericks want to launch spacecraft within a week of taking the order. Wish them luck.

Orbiter Autopsies

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:00:00 GMT

What NASA will learn from dissecting Atlantis, Discovery, and Endeavour

Kudos for Cassini

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:08:29 GMT

The U.S./European Saturn mission takes home a trophy.

1 visionary + 3 launchers + 1,500 employees = ?

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:00:00 GMT

1 visionary + 3 launchers + 1,500 employees = ?

What Makes a Mission Name?

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:09:38 GMT

If you want to know what crew I'm on, be prepared for a long conversation.

The Flight of the Dragon

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:22:29 GMT

If things go according to plan Saturday, the world will witness SpaceX launch its first Dragon cargo supply mission to the International Space Station.

My Address in Space

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:40:14 GMT

Maybe its time Space Station had its own zip code.

Student Rocketry Challenge Blasts Off

Fri, 11 May 2012 04:17:01 GMT

Winners take home big prizes (and compete to be the next generation of aerospace leadership) in the Team America Rocketry Challenge.

Embrace Me

Fri, 11 May 2012 03:35:15 GMT

A poem about returning to Earth.

The Latest Destination for Human Spaceflight

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:32:06 GMT

Humans to Venus? The latest proposed destination for human space missions illustrates the essential hollowness of the current direction of our civil space program.

The Path of Exploration

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:47:33 GMT

The meaning of the word "exploration" changed about a hundred years ago. We should recover its full, original meaning, which included not only discovery but exploitation and wealth creation.

Annus Horribilis: Space in 2011

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:15:33 GMT

A review of the year in space. It's not pretty.

China’s Long March to the Moon

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:27:43 GMT

China plans to send humans to the Moon. Why we should care.

Everybody has won and all must have prizes

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:13:06 GMT

Prizes for specific accomplishments have been proposed as the solution to the problem of a moribund space program. Are they?

Double the Space Budget?

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:58:14 GMT

Neil Tyson wants to double NASA's budget. Would that solve the problem with America's space program?

How the Mars Community Shot Itself in the Foot

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:16:22 GMT

Ask for a lot and perhaps get a little. But ask for too much and you may end up with nothing.

Can We Repurpose Space Assets?

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:02:10 GMT

A lost Russian communications satellite has the potential to teach us about operations on the Moon.

Legacy of a Space Titan

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:45:07 GMT

Wernher von Braun was born one hundred years ago, but his blueprint for space exploration still has relevance today.

Analogy for Space: Aviation or Seafaring?

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:41:32 GMT

Is space travel more like aviation or sea faring? It depends on your mission.

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers*

Tue, 01 May 2012 05:49:14 GMT

The legal status and ownership of resources harvested from space are unclear. How does such uncertainty affect our plans to exploit them?

Toe Koozies

Fri, 04 May 2012 04:52:23 GMT

The zero-gravity equivalent to flip-flops.

Water + ZZ Top – Gravity =

Tue, 08 May 2012 05:10:21 GMT

Playing with sound waves and a drop of water in microgravity.

Space History Items Bring $1 Million

Thu, 03 May 2012 07:18:58 GMT

To buy a piece of space history, you need plenty of cash.

The Tyranny (and Power) of Rocket Travel

Wed, 02 May 2012 01:03:53 GMT

The energy now stored in my body is seven times greater than what would be in an 80- kilogram pile of TNT.

A Saturn V’s Final Journey: From Mildew to Museum

Tue, 01 May 2012 06:40:32 GMT

A new book recounts (sort of) the difficult restoration of a deteriorating Saturn V.

Satellite Smashers

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:45:59 GMT

Space-faring nations: Clean up low Earth orbit or you're grounded.

Hit the Books and Work on Your Car!

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 05:50:25 GMT

When something breaks on a spacecraft, you have to get your hands dirty.

Space Shuttle 1981-2011

Tue, 17 May 2011 07:09:31 GMT

Thirty years of adventure and exploration.

Helen of Earth

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 03:16:31 GMT

A poem.

Discovery Joins the National Air and Space Museum

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:43:32 GMT

Two space shuttles parked nose-to-nose today; one leaving its museum home and the other ready to take its place.

Flashes of Reality

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:22:12 GMT

In space I see things that are not there.

Shuttlenauts

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 07:00:00 GMT

The faces of the Space Shuttle Era.

I Wonder Why

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:14:13 GMT

On the frontier, you can once again see the world through the eyes of a child.

Thursday Night is Yuri’s Night

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 06:48:57 GMT

How will you celebrate human spaceflight on April 12?

One in a Billion

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 03:16:37 GMT

What a rare privilege it is to be in orbit.

Our Fancy Coffee Machine

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 05:33:46 GMT

When it comes to recycling water, space station astronauts are on the frontier.

A Flashing Success

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 03:55:42 GMT

A group of San Antonio astronomers shine a light visible from orbit.

Blood and Treasure

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:25:59 GMT

And a high-tech box to store it in.

Mar Del Fuego

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 07:05:52 GMT

The bright lights of oil platforms appear as sparkling constellations off the coast of South America.

On the Trails of Stars

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:48:38 GMT

Long-exposure astrophotos taken from orbit can produce unexpected patterns.

Cargo Ship

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:13:56 GMT

Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle, caught on camera as it approaches the Space Station.

Seven Faces of Dr. Don

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 06:42:20 GMT

Reflections in the Cupola window.

Space Is My Mistress

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:28:57 GMT

...and she beckons my return. A poem.

A Needed Boost

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:29:36 GMT

A European cargo vehicle gives the Space Station a lift.

More About That Flash

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:56:36 GMT

It's okay to shine a laser at the space station, but not at airplanes.

Lake Vostok, Europa, and Washington

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 05:35:33 GMT

Cool new concept for a Europa lander! Wish we could afford it.

Buzz Lightyear’s New Home

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 06:08:02 GMT

A well-traveled toy enters the Smithsonian collection.

A Scientific Dispute

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:27:04 GMT

A scientific dust-up, featuring raw data and bare knuckles. Who and what should we believe?

Volcanism in Far Places

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:48:44 GMT

The Planetary Science Institute has released a new geological map of Jupiter's moon Io, integrating information taken by the Voyager and Galileo spacecraft.

Viewport: Cold War and Conversation

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:00:00 GMT

The Planetary Science Institute has released a new geological map of Jupiter's moon Io, integrating information taken by the Voyager and Galileo spacecraft.

Rockets Over the East Coast

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 03:44:58 GMT

NASA is getting ready to launch a barrage of rockets that should be visible along the U.S. Eastern seaboard.

Earth Photography: It’s Harder Than It Looks

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:42:06 GMT

If you need more than a few seconds to spot your target, the moment is lost.

Weird Water on GJ1214b

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:53:36 GMT

Astronomers learn more about a hot, watery, exotic "super-Earth."

Leonardo’s Closet

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:45:19 GMT

The PMM is part storage closet, part trash can, and a good place to reflect and recharge.

Jelly on Both Sides

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:47:07 GMT

In space, you can't beat the odds, but you can make a better sandwich.

Light Launch

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:27:37 GMT

Europe has a brand new rocket.

Cataclysmic Conundrum

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:06:13 GMT

Is there a way to determine if the Moon underwent an impact cataclysm 3.9 billion years ago? Samples from an old basin may tell us.

Scaling the Universe

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:33:44 GMT

The Known Universe is a 21st-century upgrade to our visualization of the sheer size of things.

Dance of the Droplets

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:39:45 GMT

Weird physics on the space station.

Moonset in Space

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:29:25 GMT

Here's something you can only see in Earth orbit.

A Lab for Science, and for Thinking

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:59:05 GMT

Shifts in thought and perspective, some seemingly minor, happen when you observe the commonplace in a new and unfamiliar setting.

Clickable Space Exploration

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:30:17 GMT

A handy interactive map shows what lies ahead in space over the next decade.

Extraterrestrial Outfitter

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:00:00 GMT

If you're planning an off-world vacation, there's only one name to call: Eric Anderson

Whisker Cleaning Time

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:07:52 GMT

How do you clean out your electric razor in zero-G? Carefully.

The World Through a Looking Glass

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:16:48 GMT

From orbit, the more you know about our planet, the more you can see.

Shhh, We’re Hunting Asteroids

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:21:43 GMT

DARPA's Space Surveillance Telescope is seeking out potentially Earth-threatening asteroids.

Sunstorm? Been There, Done That

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:20:54 GMT

Solar tantrums of 1859, 1921, and 1989.

Flights and Fancy: Fred vs. Skylab

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:00:00 GMT

A welcome-home party for what was left of a space station.

The Eye of Issyk Kul

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:07:56 GMT

Sometimes it looks as though the Earth is watching us.

The Smell of Space

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:53:23 GMT

There is one, surprisingly—but you can't sense it directly.

The World's Highest Laboratory

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:00:00 GMT

The space station's finished. Now what?

Perpetual Twilight

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:27:48 GMT

The atmosphere on edge glows with a vibrant electric blue. Did van Gogh paint this scene?

Lost Chopstick

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:58:49 GMT

Velcro helps us keep things from floating away at dinner time. Or so I thought.

Mass Map

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:00:57 GMT

Scientists offer a mesmerizing visual of the matter that makes up, well, everything.

Grand Views of the Grand Canyon

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:47:42 GMT

Sometimes your brain can play little tricks. Under some lighting conditions the Grand Canyon does not look like a canyon at all.

Forced Smile

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:33:49 GMT

How was your trip? Don't ask.

What’s a Soyuz Launch Like?

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:49:26 GMT

For spaceships, there is no business class.

About Those Space Joyrides…

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:17:34 GMT

The first suborbital tourists will spend up to $200,000 for a few precious minutes of weightlessness. How many minutes will they get?

Dreams, Dragons, and Space Debris

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:31:27 GMT

The ISS astronauts talk about their mission so far, and what's ahead.

Musk’s One-in-a-Million Proposition

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:00:08 GMT

The SpaceX founder talks Martian real estate.

Space 2012: What’s Ahead

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 04:18:08 GMT

Twelve things to watch for in space next year—if the world doesn’t end.

Gone for the Season

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:46:19 GMT

On past missions, I've missed two Thanksgivings, Christmas, New Years, birthdays, anniversaries, a science fair, school plays, recitals, and Valentine’s Day.

Please Don’t Squeeze the Astronaut

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:00:23 GMT

Exercising proper space etiquette, it is best not to give the newly arrived too strong a hug.

Godspeed to Earth

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 01:03:22 GMT

From my perspective, I will soon be sitting in my rocket watching everyone on Earth move off into the frontier.

Baikonur Graffiti

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:26:24 GMT

Writing on the wall has been going on since humans lived in caves. Should I trace the outline of my hand? Should I draw a mastodon? Maybe a rocket.

The Pieces Come Together

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:51:08 GMT

Tomorrow we walk to our rocket and climb the stairway that leads into space.

Me and My Spacesuit

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:14:22 GMT

I have a symbiotic relationship with my spacesuit. I take care of it, and it takes care of me in return.

Six Months Turns to Ten

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:40:02 GMT

There’s more to a Space Station mission than just the time in orbit.

A One-Way Ticket

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:11:35 GMT

Now there is no way home, at least by the usual route. Only up—into the frontier.

The Road to Space

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:18:58 GMT

Spaceflight training is in many ways more demanding than the Space Station mission itself. But it's the next best thing to actually flying.

What Makes an Explorer?

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:14:00 GMT

As space technology advances, we will reach the point where we started in the Stone Age: Exploration with no more justification than individual curiosity.

Doomed Blob of Gas Headed for Black Hole

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:40:27 GMT

Astronomers will get to watch a black hole devour material for the first time, as a gas cloud barrels towards the center of the Milky Way.

Destination: Moon or Asteroid? Part III: Resource Utilization Considerations

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:05:43 GMT

Part III: Resource Utilization Considerations In Part I and Part II of this series, I examined some of the operational and scientific issues associated with a human mission to a near Earth asteroid (NEO) and contrasted them with the simpler operations and greater scientific return of a mission to the Moon. To continue the discussion [...]

It’s a gas, man!

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 03:45:17 GMT

Newly recognized "hollows" on the planet Mercury help to inform us about the origin, history and processes associated with some unusual landforms on the Moon.

SETI Plugs the Phone Back In

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:01:19 GMT

The Allen Telescope Array is back online.

The Candle Lighters

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:00:00 GMT

Alan Shepard was brave enough to ride the Mercury-Redstone rocket. These guys were brave enough to light it.

Is This the First In-Space Portrait?

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:00:37 GMT

A photo of astronaut Ed White, taken aboard Gemini IV, may be the first photo of an astronaut taken by another inside a spacecraft.

Where Were You?

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:59:00 GMT

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.

Slopes, Streaks and Flows

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 04:04:45 GMT

Dark streaks occur on slopes on both the Moon and Mars, although interpretations about their origins may differ. The Moon offers us some insight into how these features can form on all of the terrestrial planets.

Certified Safe

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:31:04 GMT

Planning to operate a taxi service for NASA astronauts? Here’s what’s required.

Earth Views, The Remix

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 06:01:21 GMT

Because we can't get enough of this stuff.

Viewport: Longer Strides

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:00:00 GMT

Because we can't get enough of this stuff.

The Second-Moon Theory

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:00:00 GMT

Is Earth's moon the product of a big splat as well as a big whack?

Undock, Redock

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:30:56 GMT

China takes another step forward in space station operations.

The Other Moon Landings

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:19:19 GMT

The Soviets lost the moon race but won a dram of glory with the first robotic craft to roam another world.

SpaceShipTwo: The Story So Far

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:09:15 GMT

Progress on the path to suborbital tourism.

A Universe Throttling Up

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:57:22 GMT

Astrophysicist Adam Riess talks about his Nobel-winning discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.

Shenzhou 8 Docks In Orbit

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 01:21:51 GMT

China succeeds on its first space rendezvous and docking mission.

Ronald Greeley: A Gentleman and a Scholar

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 02:16:03 GMT

Some scientists are both great researchers and fine human beings. Ron Greeley was one of them.

On the Orbiting of Species

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:00:00 GMT

NASA animal research practices have come a long way since the days of Able and Baker.

Scratch One Spysat

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 07:57:56 GMT

An eyewitness recalls one of history's great rocket explosions.

Following the Race to the Moon

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:50:03 GMT

In their efforts to "ignite a new era of lunar exploration," the Google Lunar X Prize wants competitors to reach out through social media so the rest of us can follow along.

Replicators Have Arrived

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 05:26:29 GMT

Three-dimensional printing technology can be used in conjunction with the material and energy resources of the Moon to build new space faring capabilities.

Europe to Launch First Soyuz from South America

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:30:15 GMT

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.

X-37 Still Aloft, May Look to Carry Astronauts

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 07:44:10 GMT

While the "secret-ish" X-37 space plane continues to perform well at over 200 days in orbit, Boeing finally talks details, including a possible human-rated version.

Three Minutes = Three Years

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:19:37 GMT

Cue the Lawrence of Arabia theme. Actually, I prefer the soundtrack that the Mars Exploration Rover team used for this time-lapse video showing Opportunity’s 13-mile trek from Victoria crater to Endeavour crater.

The Art in Science

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 03:34:23 GMT

Oscar Wilde once noted that aestheticism is the search for the secret of life. So what better place to turn the lens of aestheticism than images of our universe?

As Titan Turns

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:36:08 GMT

What draws me to Titan is the mystery. After 50 years of robotic exploration most other objects in the solar system have given up their secrets, at least to a first order.

“Smithsonian’s Stars” at the Museum

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 08:26:27 GMT

Volcanic activity on the moon, traveling to asteroids, and crashing galaxies are a few of the topics covered in free lectures at the National Air & Space Museum.

Is it Real, or is it IMAX?

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 05:25:41 GMT

When the [Virginia] earthquake struck on August 23, it unnerved most of the staff and visitors at the National Air and Space Museum —except patrons in the IMAX® theaters.

Inside Shenzhou Central

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 01:23:03 GMT

A rare visit to China's astronaut training center.

China’s Next Step: A “Heavenly Palace”

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 01:39:18 GMT

With China building its own space station, a veteran U.S. astronaut says it’s time for NASA and its partners to extend an invitation.

Great Hero Yang

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:33:26 GMT

In 2003, China's first astronaut stepped out of his space capsule and into the limelight.

First Steps

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:28:12 GMT

Chinese astronauts are preparing for their first spacewalk. What's in store for them?

STS-116: The Inside Guide

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:29:41 GMT

A tip sheet for following this week's space shuttle mission.

Space Exploration

Thu, 29 May 2008 03:10:30 GMT

A tip sheet for following this week's space shuttle mission.

Let’s Argue About The Right Things

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 08:29:40 GMT

We seem to be in one of those periods in which basic reasons for doing what we do as a nation are called into question.

The Taikonauts’ Sons

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:36:27 GMT

Pretty much all of the Chinese high school students who attended Space Camp last month were exceptional, but two of the 16-year-olds stood out even in select company.

A&S Interview: Bobby Braun

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 07:26:54 GMT

NASA's outgoing technology guru talks about what's in the agency's R&D pipeline.

Brave Archivist Rifles Through Clinton’s Stuff, Rewarded

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 09:00:12 GMT

Among the list of things one expects to find while sifting through former President Bill Clinton's stuff, a lost moon rock might be low on the list.

The Astronauts’ Ride

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 02:47:53 GMT

Strange days for NASA's astronauts. Their numbers are down—from a peak of 150 in 2000 to just over 60 today. And they just lost their main vehicle, the space shuttle. [...]

The Unusual Suspects

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:58:24 GMT

Moon hoax believers contend that NASA’s Apollo lunar landings were elaborately orchestrated lies, and that men never walked on the moon. Apollo 18, a film that opened this month, proposes the opposite: that NASA launched a manned lunar mission the public has no knowledge of—until now. The Apollo program was canceled in 1970, and the [...]

Flights & Fancy: What Would You Send to Orbit?

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:00:00 GMT

Mementoes in an astronaut's luggage.

Viewport: From the Director

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:00:00 GMT

Something New Under the Sun

In the Museum: The People’s Observatory

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:00:00 GMT

Bringing telescopes where the people are.

A New Angle on a Space Shuttle Launch

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 07:58:25 GMT

What's a better way to get a new view of a space shuttle launch than using a "whole-sky lens"?

Destination: Moon or Asteroid? Part I: Operational Considerations

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 02:13:33 GMT

Part I: Operational Considerations The current controversy over the direction of our national space program has many dimensions but most of the discourse has focused on the means (government vs. commercial launch vehicles) not the ends (destinations and activities). Near-Earth objects (NEO, i.e., asteroids) became the next destination for human exploration as an alternative to [...]

Destination: Moon or Asteroid? Part II: Scientific Considerations

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:00:40 GMT

Part II: Scientific Considerations In my last post, I examined some of the operational considerations associated with a human mission to a near Earth asteroid and how it contrasted with the simpler, easier operations of lunar return. Here, I want to consider what we might do at this destination by focusing on the scientific activities [...]

Pirates Ready to Board the Space Station

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 01:09:04 GMT

Ahoy there, Matey! Lately it seems that everywhere you turn, there’s a pirate. There are pirate-themed children’s books: Do Pirates Take Baths? and Pirates Don’t Change Diapers (honey, they don’t even change socks). There’s “International Talk Like a Pirate Day” on September 19, founded by Cap’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket. Your car can sport a [...]

Time Lapse From Orbit

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 01:46:57 GMT

Here’s some more creative space photography from Ron Garan, who’s currently on board the International Space Station. Garan and several other astronauts have teamed up for the Fragile Oasis project, to share the perspective of Earth that they see from orbit. This time-lapse sequence is apparently a sneak peek at a longer version. The Peter [...]

Free Shuttle Artifacts!

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:00:00 GMT

The four orbiters are already taken, but thousands more shuttle-related items are still available—at no cost.

Washington Shifts to the Left

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 05:10:35 GMT

According to computer modeling by NASA’s QuakeSim project, Tuesday’s 5.8-magnitude earthquake in central Virginia moved the city of Washington D.C. a whopping 0.02 inches “to the northwest and downward.” The small town of Mineral, near the quake’s epicenter, shifted about 2.8 inches.

Live 3-D From Space

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 02:29:03 GMT

Got 3-D glasses? Then watch this. According to the European Space Agency, it’s the first live 3-D video ever streamed from space. NASA astronaut Ron Garan is both star and director, and he’s using ESA’s new Erasmus Recording Binocular (ERB-2) camera inside the European Columbus module. ESA plans to start up a 3-D channel on [...]

Storm Coming

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 02:39:31 GMT

These days, with so many satellite sensors looking down constantly from orbit, and so many ways to slice their data, it’s hard to remember that hurricanes used to arrive without much warning. Hurricane Irene is currently bearing down on the Turks and Caicos Islands, and may hit the east coast of the United States by [...]

Splat! Two Moons over Miami?

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:56:06 GMT

A recent paper suggests that early in the history of the Solar System, two sub-moons collided to create Earth’s present-day Moon. Several people have asked for my opinion on this new concept, so I will examine how this result was obtained, along with some general remarks on the nature of modern scientific research. Over 25 [...]

Leaping Lunar Landers!

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:00:00 GMT

Can a spacecraft hop its way to winning the Google Lunar X prize?

Above and Beyond: Tully’s Astronarium

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:00:00 GMT

A high-schooler champions science in America.

Apollo in Afghanistan

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 02:19:11 GMT

Three legendary astronauts—Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell, and Gene Cernan—were in Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday, meeting with American service men and women as well as young Afghan Air Force trainees. From the NATO press release: “This is the best day of my life!” said Lt. Fatama Abteen, one of a small handful of female Afghan Air Force [...]

The First Photographer in Space

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 08:02:55 GMT

Yuri Gagarin, incredibly, didn’t carry a camera on the world’s first spaceflight. Neither did Alan Shepard nor Gus Grissom, whose 15-minute suborbital shots followed Gagarin’s April 1961 launch by three weeks and three months, respectively. The American astronauts were photographed during their missions, but only by automated cameras mounted in the Mercury capsule. So it [...]

Water (Really!) on Mars

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:09:23 GMT

Over the years, spacecraft have seen plenty of dried-up riverbeds on Mars, along with rocks that formed in watery environments eons ago. No question about it, the Red Planet used to be wet. NASA can stop sending press announcements about water in the Martian past. We got it. Now scientists are reporting something much more [...]

One Small Step for Boeing

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 03:00:00 GMT

The next pilots to fly a U.S. spacecraft may work for a private company.

Boeing's New Spaceship

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:06:14 GMT

The aerospace giant teams up with the world’s only space tourism agency to ferry passengers to orbit.

Circling the Moon

Tue, 17 May 2011 07:01:55 GMT

In a new autobiography, an Apollo 15 pilot tells what it was like to fly solo.

Mr. Inside

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 06:00:00 GMT

George Abbey had more influence on human spaceflight than almost anyone in history, but few outside the field know his name.

Visions Don’t Pass Away – A Tribute to John Marburger

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 04:52:04 GMT

Recently deceased John H. Marburger, former Science Advisor to President George W. Bush and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, had a long and distinguished career as a scientist, an administrator and public servant. I knew him through his advocacy and involvement in the development of the Vision for Space [...]

Exotic volcanoes on the Moon

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:39:50 GMT

The flood of new data from the Moon continues to enlighten and puzzle lunar scientists. Members of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team have noticed an unusual landform on the far side of the Moon that was as unexpected as it might be significant. We’ve known for many years that early in its history, the [...]

As the Asteroid Turns

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 08:38:41 GMT

Scientists unveiled the first full closeup of the asteroid Vesta today. The picture, stitched together from frames taken by the Dawn spacecraft from a distance of 3,200 miles on July 24, shows mysterious parallel grooves around the asteroid’s middle, which may have formed when Vesta contracted, then expanded after a giant impact early in its [...]

Goodbye, Shuttle

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 04:49:50 GMT

The space shuttle has been well eulogized in recent weeks, and we’ve already said our own farewells in print and on the web. So no need for another Grand Tribute. Still….I can’t resist a couple of parting thoughts on this final day of the 30-year shuttle program. The safety of the shuttle can be debated, [...]

Whistling in the Airlock

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 03:37:55 GMT

I learn something new about the astronaut business on every mission. During their spacewalk last week, space station residents Mike Fossum and Ron Garan did some whistling while they were inside the Quest airlock in their spacesuits, waiting for the pressure to drop before heading outside. I’ve queued this video up to the whistling sequence, [...]

Faded Flags on the Moon

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 04:03:05 GMT

Today is the 42nd anniversary of man’s landing on the Moon. The first step on the Moon – the step that “divided history” to use the words of the time – and the planting of the American flag there seems like a lifetime ago. As a matter of fact, it was. Tomorrow, the Space Shuttle [...]

Scalpers Charge Big for Shuttle Launch Tickets

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 03:22:44 GMT

One thing that’s sure to rise at Cape Canaveral over the next 24 hours—beside space shuttle Atlantis, which is due to lift off on Friday morning if the weather cooperates—is the price of a ticket to view the launch. Up to a million pairs of eyes are predicted to be on hand for the shuttle’s [...]

In the Museum: My Vostok Is Bigger Than Your Mercury

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 06:00:00 GMT

Launching two very different capsules—and a space race.

The Astronaut’s Life

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 05:28:15 GMT

“How does it feel to be part of history?” some reporter asked the STS-135 astronauts during an onboard press conference this afternoon. Well, some days probably feel more historic than others. Yesterday, for example, space station astronaut Ron Garan was on a spacewalk (above), wrestling a refrigerator-size piece of hardware into the shuttle cargo bay [...]

Spaceport at the Top of the World

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 06:00:00 GMT

How an ore-mining town in Sweden sees a new identity over the horizon.

The Last to Fly

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:02:02 GMT

A few observations about the STS-135 shuttle astronauts, the last people to fly the 30-year-old spaceplane into orbit. By accident or design, the crew comes from a mixed military background, with one each from the Navy (commander Chris Ferguson), Marines (pilot Doug Hurley), and Air Force (mission specialist Rex Walheim). The other MS, Sandy Magnus, [...]

End of an Era

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 04:34:12 GMT

The space shuttle’s final liftoff. Still hard to write those words.

Department of “What Were They Thinking?”

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 09:16:27 GMT

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 [...]

Congratulations Minotaur, Damn You

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:52:57 GMT

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 [...]

NASA Shifts Into Neutral

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 08:04:33 GMT

By moving forward on their mission to convert the U.S. fleet of Space Shuttles into museum pieces, the administration has shifted NASA into neutral. America’s multi-billion dollar investment in the International Space Station (ISS) and our access to space is in jeopardy. As a result of the termination of the Shuttle program, we have no [...]

Closer

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 02:30:33 GMT

The Dawn spacecraft continues to close in on Vesta, one of the last unexplored objects of appreciable size between here and Pluto. Dawn is expected to go into orbit around the asteroid on July 16. This is how Vesta looked in the navigation camera view as of June 20, when Dawn was 117,000 miles away. [...]

Wrapping Up a Mars Rover

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 04:10:03 GMT

How do you pack a $2.5 billion Mars rover for shipment? Here’s how. This time-lapse video, covering a period of five days, shows the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory being prepared for shipment from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to its launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The journey, scheduled for later this month, will be partly [...]

Midwinter

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:25:21 GMT

“Now is the winter of our discontent” – Richard III, Act 1, scene 1 There is a good piece in today’s Telegraph UK by David Robson of a fateful one-hundredth anniversary – the Midwinter Dinner — June 22, 1911 held in Robert Falcon Scott’s Ross Island hut. A year earlier, Scott and the crew of [...]

Destination: Asteroid

Tue, 17 May 2011 07:01:10 GMT

After four years of spiraling out from Earth, the Dawn spacecraft closes in on its first target.

Shuttle Notes: A Papal Visit, and a Photo-Op

Mon, 23 May 2011 04:17:57 GMT

In this time of endings for the space shuttle, there are still a few firsts left. On Saturday morning, Pope Benedict XVI made the first ever papal “visit” (via video link) to astronauts in orbit. In many ways it was an extraordinary conversation, ranging from the future of space exploration to condolences (to Paolo Nespoli [...]

So Long, Spirit

Wed, 25 May 2011 01:56:59 GMT

Last night NASA made one last attempt to contact the Spirit Mars rover, which got stuck in the sand two years ago and hadn’t been heard from since March 22. Nobody expected a response after 1200 previous unanswered messages, and sure enough, there was no answer from Mars. So, with the chances of success “practically [...]

Water Bears and Star(c)hips

Thu, 26 May 2011 04:54:55 GMT

A few random thoughts on Day 11 of Endeavour‘s last flight: Tomorrow STS-134 astronaut Mike Fincke will become the U.S. record holder for time spent in space, eclipsing chief astronaut Peggy Whitson’s 377-day mark. Not bad for a guy who once washed out of Air Force fighter pilot training. “My arms weren’t golden enough to [...]

NASA Art Returns to Washington

Fri, 27 May 2011 01:17:13 GMT

Since 1963, hundreds of artists (and musicians, poets—even one fashion designer) have interpreted NASA’s aeronautic and space projects. The artists were given carte blanche to create what they wanted, in any medium, on any subject. In celebration of NASA’s 50th anniversary in 2008, more than 70 diverse artworks from the program began touring the country [...]

Holy Flaming APUs!

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:58:33 GMT

This video of Endeavour‘s picture-perfect landing at 2:35 a.m. today offers a little surprise, even for some veteran shuttle watchers. Can you guess what we’re referring to? If you guessed the flickering light at the base of the vertical tail, you’re spot on. And if you stuck with the video to the 1:20 mark, the [...]

Something Rocketing in the State of Denmark

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 04:19:17 GMT

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 [...]

Bon Voyage, Soyuz TMA-02M

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:02:45 GMT

Not a day goes by without some TV news reporter asking an astronaut or NASA official, “How do you feel now that Americans will have to rely on the Russians to get to orbit?” Folks, we’ve been doing that for 16 years. Tomorrow the Soyuz TMA-02M is scheduled to blast off from Kazakhstan, bound for [...]

Shuttle and ISS, Together Again for the First Time

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 08:26:00 GMT

Maybe the most amazing thing about this photo is that it took 12 years of docked operations before someone got a picture of the space shuttle attached to the International Space Station. But here it is. Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli captured this view on May 23 from the departing Soyuz spacecraft. Click on the photo [...]

Rosetta: Target Ho!

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 08:38:22 GMT

The last time we looked in on the European comet-chaser Rosetta, the spacecraft was still years away from its destination. Well, it’s still years away—three to be precise. And it just went into hibernation. But before going to sleep, Rosetta took this first, very long-distance picture of its target: comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Not much to look [...]

Mr. Moonbase

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:47:05 GMT

We don’t generally give shout-outs to fellow bloggers, but in this case it’s deserved: Paul Spudis, who writes the “Once and Future Moon” blog on this site, recently won the National Space Society’s Space Pioneer Award for finding what may be a way out of the doldrums that currently afflict U.S. space policy. That isn’t [...]

From “One Small Step” to Settlement

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 04:12:56 GMT

At the recent International Space Development Conference in Huntsville, Augustine committee member and CEO of XCOR Aerospace Jeff Greason gave a talk on the goals of human spaceflight. While he discussed many things that I agree with (in particular, making the use of off-planet resources a high priority), one idea in particular stood out. Greason [...]

Retro Rocketeers

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:19:15 GMT

If a capsule was good enough to get a crew to the moon, these old-timers say, it's good enough to get a crew back to Earth.

Ground Effect

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 01:21:57 GMT

Landing a shuttle while re-adapting to gravity can be disorienting. Now there's a way to simulate it on the ground.

Our Favorite Martians

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:08:33 GMT

For the scientists and engineers who drive the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, Mars exploration is personal.

Presidential Pronouncements on Space: Some 50th Anniversary Thoughts

Tue, 24 May 2011 11:55:26 GMT

Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s special address to Congress – a request for supplemental appropriation for a variety of projects but most famously remembered for the announcement of his Man-Moon-Decade goal of Project Apollo. That event, cited by space advocates and excerpted in space and history documentaries, is remembered as [...]

Scenes From the Shuttle: Greetings!

Thu, 19 May 2011 03:07:24 GMT

With just one space shuttle flight left to go, every milestone on the current STS-134 mission is poignant for the astronauts and other folks who work on the program, and for those of us who’ve been watching them for a long time. Here’s a scene we’ll see only once more: A shuttle full of astronauts [...]

Young Visitors Inspire Old Scientist

Sat, 14 May 2011 07:53:42 GMT

A perennial hand-wringing topic among policy geeks is America’s decline in math and science proficiency. This sentiment has been expressed the entire 30 years I’ve worked on space science and exploration – new generations don’t care about space, can’t do math and science, can’t think properly and ...

Who's short-sighted?

Wed, 04 May 2011 04:57:29 GMT

Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan recently voiced his doubts and concerns over the future of the human spaceflight program, while former Lockheed-Martin CEO Norman Augustine reflected on the current state of our space “vision” and/or the possible lack thereof. I found these perspectives by two gia...

“Embrace the end of human spaceflight!”

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:20:22 GMT

"let us sit upon the ground. And tell sad stories of the death of kings” – Richard II, Act III, Scene 2 The nearly simultaneous 50th anniversary of the beginning of human spaceflight and the forthcoming end of the Space Shuttle program has philosophical members of the chattering classes making the...

A Rationale for Cislunar Space

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:27:20 GMT

At a recent workshop on lunar return, a critical part of the discussion focused on the need for a statement of purpose – a value proposition for the Moon. Over the years I’ve attempted to distill my rationale for lunar return (my “elevator speech” if you will) into a clearly stated and persuasive ...

You Can’t Always Get What You Want (but if you try some time, you might find … you get what you need)

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:52:50 GMT

A plan for a human mission to a near Earth object (NEO; an asteroid), designed by engineers from Georgia Tech and the National Institute for Aerospace (GT/NIA), was recently posted online. Keying in on lowering program total costs, this architecture eliminates the need for a new heavy lift launch ...

The Moon’s Role in Climate Science

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:13:49 GMT

A recent article about the role of global magnetic fields in the loss of planetary volatiles caught my attention. The article addresses planetary climate issues as they relate to Earth, Mars and Venus, but what struck me was this statement: We don't have a direct record of the sun's history, but a...

Volcanic Shields of the Moon

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 07:19:10 GMT

Come home with your shield, or on it – Spartan women to their husbands, marching off to war.From the giant Olympus Mons shield on Mars (600 kilometers across and 27 km high) to the large volcanoes of Venus, shield-building was thought to be a common expression of volcanism on all rocky Solar Syste...

Discarding Shuttle: The Hidden Cost

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 11:25:12 GMT

On February 15, 2011 a symposium entitled “U.S. Human Spaceflight: Continuity and Stability” was held at Rice University’s James A. Baker Institute of Public Policy. Organized by George Abbey, the resident space expert at the Baker Institute, one might have suspected that it would be Shuttle-centr...

Vision statements for non-Visionaries

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 07:56:24 GMT

A seemingly trivial event has revealed some schadenfreude about NASA, along with a lot of irritation. Apparently (as is their wont) the fertile minds running our national space agency decided that the time has come (once again) for a new and improved vision statement – out with the old and in with...

Journey to the Center of the Moon

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:26:01 GMT

A recently published science paper presented results of a re-analysis of seismic (moonquake) data sent to the Earth from a network emplaced by the Apollo astronauts 40 years ago. The scientists processing the old data found that the Moon may have more than a simple core – it may have a layered, pa...

HEFT, Lies and Videotape

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 09:13:46 GMT

A real comedy of errors and misunderstandings collided this week between the new NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and the agency’s Human Exploration Framework Team (HEFT) Congressionally mandated 90-day report (their initial findings on how to implement agency direction). Though flush with the usua...

Regolith, The “Other” Lunar Resource

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 06:28:16 GMT

In civil engineering, one of the most important material resources on Earth is “construction aggregate” – the sand, gravel and cement building materials that make up the infrastructure of modern industrial life. Aggregate is easily one of the biggest, most valuable economic resources of all mined ...

Can we afford to return to the Moon?

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 02:05:28 GMT

We are almost at the end of a year that has seen major changes in our space program. We have in hand a report from a “blue ribbon” Presidential committee that concluded that Project Constellation, the architecture NASA had chosen to implement the Vision for Space Exploration, was not affordable at...

New Light on the Lunar Poles

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 04:24:50 GMT

A new image released this week by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Team shows the lighting conditions of the south pole of the Moon. This new data supports the conclusions of many previous studies that areas exist on the Moon that are illuminated by the sun for more than one-half the lunar ...

A Founding Father of Lunar Science

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 03:44:15 GMT

I learned that a titan of lunar science passed away last month. Dr. Ralph Belknap Baldwin (1912-2010) was a rare specimen – a gentleman scholar, businessman and pioneering student of the Moon. Beyond the impact of his books and papers, he influenced space history in several profound ways.Baldwin,...

Keeping an eye on NASA

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 06:38:24 GMT

Credible rumor has it that NASA has initiated a “lessons learned” postmortem of Project Constellation in order to camouflage their failure to implement the 2004 Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) and to justify their new direction. I had originally intended to expand on the agency’s postmortem pur...

Permafrost, Snow Cones and Fairy Castles

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 03:12:23 GMT

Although the discovery of ice on the Moon comes from a wide variety of different measurements, they are all “remote sensing.” We have not yet landed near these deposits and examined them up close. Thus, we do not know the physical nature of lunar polar ice. Having spent the last couple of weeks ...

Can NASA Get Its Groove Back?

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 03:31:56 GMT

Remember when space exploration was “groovy” and excitement about seeing humans explore the Solar System within our lifetimes was palpable? What happened to NASA and America’s dream to boldly go? The pathway that assured us that space exploration is cool, amazing and pushes excellence has disap...

Strange Lunar Brew

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:05:45 GMT

A year ago, the LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission team announced the detection of water in the impact plume produced after the Centaur separated from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and crashed into the Moon. We now have more detailed information on the water a...

Look Ma! No Glasses!

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:48:00 GMT

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...

The Authorized Version

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:54:10 GMT

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...

Building bridges

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 03:44:59 GMT

The camera aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, currently about to begin its second year of mapping the Moon, continues to reveal new and fascinating details of the geology of the Moon. A recent featured image at the LROC web site shows what appears to be a “natural bridge” on th...

The Moon: Creating Capability in Space and Getting Value for our Money

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:03:03 GMT

Of all the possible destinations in space, the Moon offers the proximity, accessibility, and materials necessary to learn how to use what we find in space to create new capabilities. Harvesting the resources of the Moon will allow us to make what we need in space, rather than carrying it with us f...

The Incredible Shrinking Moon

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 06:06:06 GMT

Back in the 1970’s Paleolithic age of lunar studies, scientists were busy using images of the Moon in an attempt to understand lunar processes and history. In the rugged ancient cratered uplands of the Moon, they saw something curious. Many small scarps dotted the highlands and were visible in o...

Nobody knows ….. how dry I am

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:58:58 GMT

The never-ending saga of water on the Moon continues apace. In the latest revelation, it is now claimed that the Moon is indeed “dry” after all and never had much water (this new finding is only in regard to endogenous lunar water contained inside the Moon, not to water that has been or is being ...

NASA’s New Mission and the Cult of Management

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 10:33:50 GMT

During a recent interview on Al Jazeera television, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden outlined NASA’s new priorities. His remarks became headlines as the previously ignored story about the redirection of the space agency toward international diplomatic outreach and global climate change research f...

The Moon, Asteroids, and Space Resources

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:48:04 GMT

By abandoning the Moon, the administration’s proposed space policy has left the space community with a huge question mark over the important issue of learning how to harvest and use space resources. Clearly if we don’t go to the Moon with people or machines, there is no way to use the abundant wat...

Searching for the Moon’s Mantle

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:02:16 GMT

We’ve studied and examined the Apollo samples of the lunar maria (pronounced MAR-ee-uh) for thirty years but despite the thorough search of these collections, we have never found a sample of the deep mantle from which these lavas were formed. How might such a deeply seated rock find its way to the...

Malice, Mischief and Misconceptions

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 11:01:55 GMT

The space community has fractured since the disastrous roll out of NASA’s “new direction.” Preceding the administration’s budget announcement, endless delays and rampant speculation about administrators, rockets, and program design and direction kept people guessing. The current trench warfare is...

American Heroes

Fri, 28 May 2010 06:50:05 GMT

Memorial Day weekend is upon us, so thoughts of heroes and remembering them are foremost in my mind. As a kid growing up in the Sixties, I saw a lot of change in our country. There was upheaval and tension here at home and around the world but the U.S. space program was a shining light that inspir...

A Wetter Moon Impacts Understanding of Lunar Origin

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 11:23:05 GMT

Is there water on the Moon?We know now that the answer to that question is a resounding Yes! As information continues to emerge from a wide range of studies, it’s evident that we’ve just begun to understand the process of the creation, movement and history of water on the Moon and its prevalence.A...

Using the Earth to study the Moon

Sat, 15 May 2010 04:54:30 GMT

Last week, the Science Team of the Mini-RF imaging radar experiment aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, met in Flagstaff, Arizona. We were there to conduct field studies of some interesting lunar analogs that occur in this area. Scientists study the planets through a variety of ...

It’s the Space Economy, Stupid!

Fri, 21 May 2010 06:34:34 GMT

Those of us in favor of human lunar return have been called “dinosaurs” because, as it’s being told, we want to repeat what this nation already did 40 years ago. If that were our mission objective, such a characterization might be valid. But who really is the dinosaur?At a recent Senate hearing, ...

The Four Flavors of Lunar Water

Sun, 02 May 2010 12:22:06 GMT

The Moon is constantly bombarded by the solid debris of the Solar System. Comets, asteroids and interplanetary dust, all containing varying amounts of water, have pounded the lunar surface for billions of years. Yet until recently, the Moon was considered to be barren and bone-dry. Rock and soil...

To Do The Heavy Lifting

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 05:49:28 GMT

A recent talking points memo by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) seeks to clarify some aspects of the new direction in regards to the cancelled Project Constellation. Touted by some as “compromise,” it asserts that NASA will develop and build a new “Orion lite” crew vehicle whose...

“We’ve been there before. Buzz has been there.”

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:09:49 GMT

During a carefully staged appearance at Kennedy Space Center yesterday, President Barack Obama rolled out his plans for the U. S. space program. Although there weren’t many surprises (the White House Office of Science and Technology, under the direction of John P. Holdren, had released a fact shee...

Value for Cost: The Determinate Path

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:36:56 GMT

The report of the Augustine committee analyzes America’s space program through a very narrow prism. Much of their report argues that the existing program of record (more specifically, the Ares I and V launch system) is not affordable, a fact already apparent to most observers. Thus, the committee...

NASA Lost its Way

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 06:19:39 GMT

As we survey the wreckage and ruin of yet another NASA “return to the Moon” program, the inevitable “what went wrong?” arguments play out. We’re in a much different place today than we were when Apollo 11 reached the Moon (and each year there are fewer of us alive who witnessed it). To some of us...

Stuck in Transit – Unchaining Ourselves From the Rocket Equation

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:33:38 GMT

Last fall, after much anticipation, the Augustine Committee presented us with their assessment of the future of space exploration. Its basic conclusion was that at currently envisioned budgets, the Program of Record (a.k.a. ESAS, Project Constellation) would not get us back to the Moon before many...

Ice at the north pole of the Moon

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:20:21 GMT

Last year, India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter spent eight months mapping the surface of the Moon. I had the honor of being the Principal Investigator of an experiment on that mission, the Mini-SAR imaging radar. The purpose of this experiment is to map and characterize the deposits within perman...

Talismanic Thinking

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:22:21 GMT

Wild claims are being tossed about regarding the future U.S. space program. Recipes for success are touted and e-mailed around – concepts based more on wishful thinking than on solid science and engineering. My friend Rand Simberg refers to those who would replicate anew the means we devised to g...

Confusing the Means and the Ends

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:33:10 GMT

The release of the proposed NASA budget and new “direction” has led to an intense “cage fight” in the blogosphere over who has the best rocket and the best architecture. Many “New Space” advocates are ecstatic, viewing the cancellation of the Constellation program as vindication of their view that...

A Lunar Visionary

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:27:20 GMT

My good friend Klaus Heiss is resting in the hospital after recently suffering a stoke. Klaus is not widely known or familiar to many in the space community, but over the years, he has had a major impact on our national space program – a major player in both the Shuttle program and in helping to p...

Vision Impaired

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:10:35 GMT

The release of the new proposed budget for NASA has unleashed a blizzard of news articles and commentary. The administration proposes to terminate Constellation, the agency effort to design and build a new space transportation system to carry people to low Earth orbit and beyond. In its place, th...

Have We Forgotten What Exploration Means?

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:39:32 GMT

Yet again, the U.S. space program is in the slough of despond, whereby previous assumptions are questioned, the current path is discarded, the program is re-directed, and luminous enthusiasm heralds the new direction…And then it all tapers off to nothing.As long as we are navel-gazing during this p...

Robotic Sample Return and Interpreting Lunar History: The Importance of Getting it Right

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:02:22 GMT

Deciphering the cratering history of the Moon is an important scientific problem. My previous post discussed early lunar cratering history, the apparent impact “cataclysm” 3.8 billion years ago, its significance to Earth’s early history and how remaining questions might be resolved by collecting a...

Beyond LEO - Flexible Path Revisited

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:10:38 GMT

In an interesting post at Vision Restoration, “Ray” tackles the desultory Flexible Path (FP) architecture of the Augustine committee, which calls for human missions to low gravity destinations and delays missions to the lunar and martian surface. The problems he finds with FP are similar to points...

Arguing about Human Space Exploration

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:13:46 GMT

Hot rumor has it that, like Christmas, the Obama Administration’s response to the Augustine Committee Report, Seeking a Human Space Program Worthy of a Great Nation, is imminent. Much excitement is discernible in the space blogosphere that a major change is at hand.The Augustine Committee report c...

Cataclysmic Events on the Moon

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 10:54:29 GMT

NASA recently announced that it has down-selected three New Frontiers mission concepts for additional study. One of these missions, Moonrise, proposes to return rock and soil samples from the floor of the largest impact crater on the Moon, the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, centered on the souther...

Another Moon-forming collision?

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:57:41 GMT

A recent discovery from the Spitzer Space Telescope may yield new insight into the origin of our own Moon. Although this discovery was in the news some time ago, the advent of the Augustine report and the LCROSS mission results have eclipsed it.The Spitzer Telescope found evidence for a planetary ...

A Rainbow on the Moon

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:28:35 GMT

Five weeks ago a crater from the LCROSS impact formed on the Moon. The pre-impact build-up had been sensational, but the actual event was largely invisible to observers on Earth. It was a different story on the Moon. The slowly growing impact ejecta curtain threw water ice particles and vapor far...

Thanksgiving on the Moon: A Lunar Feast

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:26:59 GMT

We often hear the Moon described as a lifeless desert, a barren rock in space where nothing can survive. Although the Moon is certainly different from the Earth, it is hardly barren. From the 1970’s through the 1990’s (largely before we knew about the presence of water and other volatiles in the ...

Caves on the Moon?

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:50:52 GMT

The science team of the Japanese Kaguya mission have just published a paper claiming to have found an opening to a cave on the Moon. Such a discovery is a potentially important development for future lunar habitation. Lava tubes are large caves created during the volcanic eruption of a very fluid...

Paradigms Lost

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:58:06 GMT

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...

Space Exploration Sets Sail on Lunar Water

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:50:01 GMT

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...

Water, water everywhere….

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:15:42 GMT

The extreme dryness of the Moon is established scientific dogma. The study of Apollo rock and soil samples pretty much had convinced scientists that the Moon has no water. Because its surface is in a vacuum and experiences extreme temperature swings at the equator (from -150° to 100° C), the Moon ...

Scientists vs. The Icy Commander

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:04:48 GMT

In 1961, Alan B. Shepard’s successful 15-minute sub-orbital hop gave President Kennedy the high cover needed to announce a reach for the Moon, “by the end of this decade.” America’s spirit was lifted and Alan Shepard became a national hero, getting ticker tape parades and White House receptions. T...

I Aim at the Stars…but sometimes I only make viewgraphs

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:19:49 GMT

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...

Two Views of The Vision

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:05:43 GMT

Last week, the Augustine Commission held another public meeting in Washington DC and Dr. John Marburger testified. For those just joining our story in progress, Marburger was President Bush’s Science Advisor and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House between...

Can You Legally Own a Piece of the Moon?

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:12:00 GMT

Mr. Ian Sheffield of Edinburgh Scotland is miffed. He claims to have not one, but two dust samples of the Moon—one from the Apollo 11 mission and another from the Apollo 15 mission. He explains that he bought these lunar samples “from a dealer” about 3 years ago. The article does not indicate how ...

Next Step or No Step

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:24:40 GMT

The Moon versus Mars controversy has reared its ugly head yet again. For the newcomers, this is the perennial “debate” among space buffs about what the next destination in space should be. I do not mean to suggest that all possibilities are encompassed by these two options; it just seems that mos...

Space Program vs. Space Commerce

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:01:25 GMT

“Your job is not to envision the future, but to enable it.” – Antoine de St. ExuperyOriginally, I had not planned to write anything for the blog today; the web is already inundated with retrospective-, perspective-, nostalgia-laden, crying-in-my-beer pieces on today’s 40th anniversary of the Apollo...

First, Nail Down the Mission

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:56:29 GMT

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 ...

Would More Money Improve NASA?

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:53:15 GMT

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...

Can we be “resourceful” on the Moon? (Part 1)

Sat, 30 May 2009 04:39:31 GMT

While the resources of space have the potential to revolutionize spaceflight—giving us a much wider range of activities than are now possible, including habitation of other planetary bodies—discussions on various internet forums show that there is a lot of confusion and lack of knowledge about spac...

Lunar Resources (Part 2): Changing our approach to spaceflight

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:04:55 GMT

Last time, I outlined some of the basic principles of lunar resource utilization. The Moon is our nearest source of material resources in space and learning how to extract what we need from the Moon is a key skill in our expansion into the Solar System.All this is very well and good, but how do we...

What the Augustine Committee Didn’t Know in 1990

Fri, 15 May 2009 02:12:40 GMT

A newly formed commission led by Norman Augustine will review NASA’s human spaceflight program with the aim of determining if we are on the “right track.” This is familiar territory for Augustine, who led the 1990 Advisory Committee on the Future of the US Space Program. Now, 19 years later, it m...

The Deadly Dust of the Moon

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:00:49 GMT

Lunar dust sticks to everything! It’s electrically charged! It causes silicosis – astronauts on the Moon will get “black lung” disease, just like coal miners on Earth! It’s so abrasive that under its obnoxious influence, moving parts slowly grind to a halt! We can’t possibly cope with it! So m...

Return to the Moon: Outpost or sorties?

Tue, 05 May 2009 10:39:53 GMT

Recently, the acting Administrator of NASA testified before Congress on his agency’s implementation of our National Space Policy, previously known as the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). In the question and answer period, he made a rather startling statement to the effect NASA was still trying ...

Those were the days….

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:15:42 GMT

An item caught my eye this morning as I scanned the space news of the day. A famous aerospace facility, the TRW Capistrano Test Site in southern California is closing. The closure of a space facility is hardly news. In fact, such a headline could have been written any time over the last 20 years...

Mini-SAR nears completion of its first mapping cycle

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:26:15 GMT

The Mini-SAR imaging radar aboard the Indian Chandryaan-1 spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon has been sending back some amazing images for the last couple of months. We are nearing the end of our first radar mapping season (which occurs when the sun illumination conditions on the Moon are unfa...

moon vs. Moon: A Study in Arrant Pedantry

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:08:37 GMT

When you write, do you capitalize the word “Moon?” And by this, I mean Earth’s Moon, Luna, the natural satellite of our home planet. Well, believe it or not, some of the longest, most vociferous, and yes – the dumbest – arguments I’ve ever had were over this issue.In the preface of my book, The O...

Of Science and Cathedral-Building

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 03:25:35 GMT

The Daily Planet, my new companion blog here at Air & Space magazine, highlights a speech recently given by my good friend Dr. Neil Tyson at the Space Foundation breakfast. Noted is Neil’s oft-mentioned concept that historically, three drivers are responsible for societies or nations undertaki...

Human spaceflight: What Value to Science? (Pt. 2)

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:36:23 GMT

The discussion at Space Politics got me thinking about the scientific value of human spaceflight. Although there are many reasons for humans to go into space, I also believe that humans bring unique and non-duplicative skills to scientific exploration as well.Last time, I discussed how the capabil...

Another Strategic Plan Misfires

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:50:21 GMT

There seems to be no end of new “strategic plans” designed to “save” our nation’s space program from the purgatory of mediocrity. The latest entry into the strategic planning sweepstakes comes from the Baker Institute at Rice University. Originally, I had planned to say nothing about this report,...

Human spaceflight: What Value to Science? (Pt. 1)

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:44:20 GMT

There is a brief but vociferous debate about the value of human spaceflight over at Space Politics, under a discussion of the new NASA proposed budget. An often expressed opinion is that in general, humans contribute little to the scientific exploration of space. Indeed, my scientific colleagues ...

The Strange Story of Lunar Magnetism

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 11:40:39 GMT

We’ve known since the beginning of the space age that the Moon has no global magnetic field. Before we returned samples from the Moon, this was thought to be well understood – compared to Earth, the Moon is a small body (1% the mass) and it rotates very slowly (almost 30 times slower). The large ...

What Apollo was …. and wasn’t

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:37:20 GMT

Miles O’Brien, late of CNN, recently wrote a column reflecting on the accomplishment of the Apollo program and the space program since then. He believes that Apollo was a great leap forward in space, a capability and step from which we then walked away. O’Brien asks why the country has turned its...

Space Goals – One more time

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:40:13 GMT

It would appear that we are in the midst of yet another attempt to define the goals and objectives of our national space program. This time, the National Academy of Sciences is conducting a study on the Rationale and Goals of the U. S. Civil Space Program. After completion, this study will no dou...

Radar mapping the Moon

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:25:54 GMT

The first images obtained by the Mini-SAR radar instrument aboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, currently orbiting the Moon, were released yesterday. Although the spacecraft arrived last November, we are only now getting ready to map the poles of the Moon. The data released are test images...

Forty years ago, three men left for the Moon

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 01:51:01 GMT

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of the Apollo 8 mission, America's first human mission to the Moon and by any measure, still a remarkable achievement. It’s difficult from our position so many years later to appreciate what a bold, giant leap this mission was, in some ways even gr...

Moon water – again

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:58:31 GMT

The question, “Is there water on the Moon?” is still with us. Although water is not stable on the lunar surface in vacuum, the poles of the Moon contain deep craters whose floors are in permanent shadow. These dark areas are extremely cold – only about 50º above absolute zero. If a water molecul...

The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) and Project Constellation

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:09:57 GMT

There’s a huge hubbub in the press revolving around alleged “obstructionism” at NASA toward the Presidential Transition team. As this rather overwrought piece at the Orlando Sentinel has been posted and commented upon endlessly at several web sites, I do not propose to rehash it. Instead, I want ...

Another “Roadmap”

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:02:55 GMT

Considerable buzz was generated in space circles last week when The Planetary Society, the keepers of Carl Sagan’s flame, released a report that recommended a re-orientation of the Vision for Space Exploration. This report was based in part on the results of an invitation-only workshop held at Sta...

A Decade of the International Space Station

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:47:15 GMT

The Space Shuttle Endeavour safely landed at Edwards yesterday, completing a highly successful 16-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which celebrated a decade of continuous operation last week. It’s common in my business of planetary science to complain about the ISS, how it suc...

The Moon, space and other things

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 02:47:58 GMT

The editors of Air & Space magazine have asked me to continue blogging on lunar exploration, the space program in general, and the relationship of both to broader society. I am happy to do so. This is my first post on the new blog, “The Once and Future Moon.”A brief word about that name. Peo...

Hitting a bull’s-eye on the Moon

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:14:27 GMT

I am in Bangalore, sitting awake in my hotel room at 4 am. Last night was a memorable and exciting experience. Chandrayaan-1, in lunar orbit since last Saturday, released its Moon Impact Probe (MIP), designed to descend and hit the Moon at high velocity, sending images and other data as it went. ...

Thunderbirds Are Go!

Thu, 05 May 2011 09:13:16 GMT

Who can forget billionaire ex-spaceman Jeff Tracy and his five sons (Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon, and John), each named after a Mercury astronaut? Remember how they—through their organization (International Rescue)—um...rescued people...internationally? Ok, so they were puppets. Deal with it, peop...

So You Want to Live on Mars? Really?

Wed, 04 May 2011 02:34:37 GMT

Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan thinks the notion of a one-way trip to Mars is "a ridiculous concept...That's not the kind of people we are." And he's hardly alone in that view.Every time the subject of one-way Mars expeditions comes up, it reminds me, in a perverse way, of Ambrose Bierce's great Civi...

VASIMR: Still Hot

Mon, 02 May 2011 01:14:48 GMT

Late in 2014, a radically different type of rocket propulsion is set to show up on the International Space station for a period of experimentation.The technology is called the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR). It's a rocket engine that uses electricity to ionize a gas such as...

It's Fun to be Rich

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:03:05 GMT

On May 5, 2011, Bonhams auction house will hold its annual space history sale. (The date commemorates the 50th anniversary of Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard's suborbital flight in Freedom 7.) Some 250 items are up for grabs, a few coming from the Forbes Collection, others from the personal collect...

Young Artists and the 50th Anniversary of Human Spaceflight

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:32:25 GMT

Each year, the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) and the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) organize an art contest meant to encourage young people to become familiar with (and participate in) aeronautics, engineering, and science."The quality of the art we see is unbeliev...

Kinect to the Universe

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:06:45 GMT

I became fascinated by the Xbox 360 Kinect system long before it hit the stores—back when Microsoft was still developing it under the name Project Natal. The commercial product hasn't yet delivered on the full promise of this demo, but I expect that it will, and fairly soon. Kinect is already the f...

Yuri's Day

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:22:50 GMT

What is it about April 12 that makes momentous things happen?Today is the 150th anniversary of the start of the U.S. Civil War, the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch, and the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight.Centuries from now, the last of these may be considered the...

A Handshake (and a Movie) Before You Go

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 03:43:17 GMT

The Soyuz TMA-21 crew is scheduled to blast off for the International Space Station this evening, with NASA astronaut Ron Garan and two rookie cosmonauts, Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Andrei Borisenko, onboard, ready to begin the Expedition 27 mission.Because their trip comes close to the 50th annive...

The Human Touch

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:16:09 GMT

One thing I've always liked about the Russian space program is that it keeps the "human" in human spaceflight. NASA often seems more interested in technology than people. You can see it in the different feel of the international space station modules: the American, European and Japanese labs are f...

Zoom Zoom

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 06:07:03 GMT

When we last left the Garvey Space Craft/Cal State Long Beach rocketeers at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry test site in Mojave, California, they had static-tested their P-18 engine, designed to launch nanosatellites to low Earth orbit, for the 150 seconds required to launch an orbital first stage....

Taxi or Rental Car?

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:54:40 GMT

That's one interesting question that a few former space shuttle astronauts and other experts were grappling with one day in early March at the National Research Council's Keck building in downtown Washington, D.C. Around a large conference table sat NASA veterans Fred Gregory, history's first black...

Lunney’s Legacy

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 08:21:40 GMT

These are emotional days for the folks who work on the space shuttle, as they watch vehicles and people retire. Today was the last day on the job for Bryan Lunney, a 22-year veteran NASA flight director who also happens to be the son of legendary flight director Glynn Lunney.Here's how Bryan summed...

Discovery's Last... and First...Flight

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 04:20:58 GMT

With space shuttle Discovery having just wrapped up its career, we thought you might like this account of its first flight back in 1984, as narrated by the STS-41D crew.See here for more of these shuttle home videos.

Bad Day at Vandenberg

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 09:34:52 GMT

Ron Grabe, launch system manager for Orbital Sciences, didn't try to sugar-coat the news. "Tonight we're all pretty devastated," he said during a predawn press briefing at Vandenberg AFB today.Orbital's Taurus XL rocket had just dumped NASA's $424 million Glory climate satellite into the Pacific oc...

Spacewalker in a Telescope

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:38:45 GMT

Amazing what you can see in a 10-inch telescope if the conditions are right. Dutch amateur astronomer Ralf Vandebergh got a picture of STS-133 astronaut Steve Bowen spacewalking outside the International Space Station last week.

The First Countdown?

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 02:08:25 GMT

Most histories of space travel credit the first use of the rocket countdown to a work of fiction: Fritz Lang's 1929 science fiction film, "Frau im Mond" (Woman in the Moon).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaVLaD4vfBcMaybe not, though. British science fiction writer George Griffith used the same dram...

A Bottle of Nothing

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 02:07:48 GMT

Call it a thought experiment, a way to engage the public, or an expensive waste of time.Either way, the "Message in a Bottle" task on yesterday's spacewalk outside the International Space Station was one of the more unusual chores ever by an astronaut. At the behest of the Japanese Space Agency JAX...

Photo Op for Soyuz

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 02:03:33 GMT

Busy days in Earth orbit.Space Shuttle Discovery is set to make its last voyage tomorrow, with liftoff planned for 4:50 p.m. Florida time. If all goes according to plan, Europe's Johannes Kepler unmanned cargo vehicle will have docked with the space station earlier in the day (at 10:45 U.S. Eastern...

"The Martian Lord of Creation"

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 05:08:27 GMT

"Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance.... Even at this first encounter, this first glimpse, I was overcome with disgust and dread." —H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds, 1898.Wells wasn't alone in thinking Red Planet Dwellers would be a comp...

Kepler's Catch

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:16:47 GMT

When a veteran planet hunter like Debra Fischer calls it the most momentous discovery since 51 Peg, you know it must be big.In 1995, scientists found the first planet circling a normal star outside our solar system—an unassuming yellow dwarf called 51 Pegasi. In the 16 years since, they've identifi...

Cosmic Milestone: The End of the Line

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 06:29:56 GMT

Hubble has done it again, squinting deeper into the universe, and hence farther back in time, than ever before. What it sees is a little smudge of light that turned out to be the most distant galaxy ever detected, 13.2 billion light-years away. It's not seeable in visible light, only in infrared. T...

Sidecar

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 07:11:13 GMT

It's a very cool animation, and the idea is certainly sensible: use existing shuttle external tank, four-segment boosters, and space shuttle main engines, without the expense of a reusable orbiter. But with Orion riding beside and below the external tank, doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of go...

The Return of Space Tourism

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 06:27:40 GMT

We probably shouldn't call them space tourists, even in a headline. The seven people who have visited the International Space Station as paying customers of the Virginia-based booking agency Space Adventures all worked very hard—before, during, and after their flights. None of them spent their time...

The Last Flight Before Challenger

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:08:38 GMT

It was "the end of innocence," according to veteran space shuttle commander Hoot Gibson—the last flight before the Challenger tragedy, which shocked the nation less than two weeks later and changed the course of the shuttle program.On that evening, though, 25 years ago exactly, the mood was all upb...

Operation IceBridge

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 01:25:49 GMT

Had you heard about it? It's a NASA mission, the largest airborne survey ever carried out to measure Earth's polar ice. Scientists plan to build a three-dimensional model of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves, and sea ice in an effort to bridge the gap in polar observations by one NASA sa...

Rare Views Inside the Soyuz

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 02:15:45 GMT

I was surprised by these photos, but I shouldn't have been.Most pictures of Russian space crews in the Soyuz TMA vehicle show them squished together like sardines, sitting side by side on their launch "couches." I've always wondered how they can move their arms, let alone get anything done, during ...

Scott Kelly's Home Video

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:18:46 GMT

Lots of space station astronauts have narrated video tours of their digs in space. This one, by current ISS commander Scott Kelly, struck me as more intimate, like a friend showing you around his new house:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4dG9vSyUFQSpeaking of Kelly, the recent slip of his twin brot...

The Astronaut's Husband

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:50:29 GMT

The second half of the space station Expedition 26 crew headed off to work this afternoon, as Russian Dmitry Kondratyev, Italian Paolo Nespoli, and American Cady Coleman were launched on the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Coleman, a two-time shuttle astronaut, began her six-mont...

Bang Zoom!

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 07:32:35 GMT

Engineers with the Office of Naval Research set a new world record on Friday by firing an electromagnetic railgun "cannon" with an energy of 33 megajoules, or 33 million joules. That would be enough, in an operational system, to shoot a projectile 110 miles from a ship, at speeds up to Mach 5.Here'...

In From the Cold

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 09:47:51 GMT

Like all good spooks, the U.S. Air Force's X-37 orbital spaceplane came in from the cold—in the middle of the night, of course—on December 3 after a seven-month inaugural orbital test flight. It's shown here at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, its primary landing spot, shortly after touchdo...

Dragon's Fire

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 04:45:28 GMT

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is now two-for-two: It launched the company's Dragon space capsule into orbit this morning.Here's video of the launch: And here's video from inside Dragon, the world's first privately developed recoverable space capsule:

Heavens Above

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:53:35 GMT

We've come a long way from Madalyn Murray O'Hair.She was, you'll recall, the activist atheist who campaigned against government sanctioning of religion—including NASA astronauts reading from the Book of Genesis during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.But times have changed. Even Russians are now carryi...

Shuttle Program's Value: $12 Billion

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 03:06:06 GMT

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...

A Steamy Earthlike Planet?

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 06:19:45 GMT

Having already found more than 500 planets circling distant stars, scientists are getting better at understanding what they're made of. A group led by Jacob Bean at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reports in this week's Nature that they've analyzed the atmosphere of a planet only sl...

Life As We Didn't Know It

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:41:01 GMT

Score another one for the extremophiles.Biologists had already discovered organisms that can survive everything from high levels of radiation to vacuum to total darkness. Now they've found one that uses arsenic as a substitute for phosphorus, one of the six elements (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxy...

Nanosail-D Sets Sail

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:19:49 GMT

Update: Successful launch! Follow the mission's progress on Twitter.In this season of solar sailing (Japan's IKAROS is still going strong), another ship is about to leave the harbor.NASA's modest solar sail demonstrator, Nanosail-D, is due to launch tonight on a Minotaur 4 rocket from Alaska. You c...

The Rutan Turkey Timer

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 03:38:04 GMT

Today's New York Times dining section features the Perfect Roast Timer, by Kikkerland in SoHo. Florence Fabricant writes "Just when I thought the chicken should be ready...the legs of the timer whipped straight up from horizontal to vertical."In case there is any doubt that the Perfect Roast Timer...

Space Specs

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:16:19 GMT

It's no secret that the astronaut corps today, with an average age between 47 and 48, is a bit older than the in-their-primers of Mercury and Gemini. And eyesight, it turns out, is one measure of age. Approximately 80 percent of the current astronaut corps wears eye correction (i.e. glasses or cont...

Chinese Moon

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:05:58 GMT

What impresses me most about the new photos of the moon taken by the Chinese Chang’e-2 orbiter is not their beauty (although they are pretty) nor their sharpness (NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter returns higher resolution images). It's the fact that they were unveiled by Premier Wen Jiabao (left...

Close-Ups of Hartley 2

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 04:31:41 GMT

The first close-up photos of Comet Hartley 2 came in this morning from NASA's Epoxi spacecraft. Dramatic!

Data Clippers

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:20:58 GMT

Now this is a charming idea, and maybe a handy one too – fleets of solar sails delivering pictures of distant worlds back to the home planet.Data is a valuable commodity in the Information Age, just as spices and silk were in centuries past. So Joel Poncy and his team at Thales Alenia Space have im...

Too Many Astronauts?

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:02:55 GMT

As the space shuttle program winds down, an obvious question faces NASA: How many astronauts will it need in an era of drastically reduced flights? Only three Americans live on the space station at any one time, typically, and those slots come open just twice a year. As for a moon base or Mars miss...

Aboriginal Astronomers Saw Stellar Blowup in 1843

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 06:29:09 GMT

The idea that ancient cultures were keen observers of the night sky is neither surprising nor new: think of the Druids, the Mayans, and the Babylonians. But most examples from the annals of archaeoastronomy seem to come from the northern hemisphere.Now a team of researchers from Macquarie Universit...

The Nedelin Disaster

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:46:07 GMT

There's some justice in the fact that the worst rocket accident in history, which happened 50 years ago today, is remembered by the name of the man who caused it.Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin was an ambitious military leader who rose to command the Soviet Union's Strategic Missile Forces during the Cold...

A Graphic Reminder of Cost

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 02:51:29 GMT

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...

First Flight for VSS Enterprise

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 12:07:38 GMT

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.

Cornucopia of Data

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 10:20:40 GMT

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...

Looking for the High Life

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 01:36:36 GMT

In the wake of several misleading news headlines, researchers at Cranfield University in the U.K. have had to set the record straight: No, they're not looking for aliens in Earth's atmosphere.But they are looking for microbes floating around in the stratosphere, at altitudes up to 22 miles. The...

Bon Voyage, Soyuz TMA-01M

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 01:52:52 GMT

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...

China Returns to the Moon

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:12:50 GMT

China's ambitions in space are often exaggerated and held up as a threat to U.S. preeminence in the field, mostly as a scare tactic to shake more money for NASA out of Congress. A lot of the huffing and puffing you can safely ignore. But the Chinese have made solid progress over the last decade in ...

Russian Animals in Space

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 07:20:31 GMT

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...

An Artistic Sendoff for the Shuttle's Last Tank

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 08:17:39 GMT

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...

A New Record for Mars 500

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:56:37 GMT

When I saw this new image of the six guys locked inside the Mars 500 mission simulation chamber in Moscow, I feared for their mental health.But they seem to be doing fine. In fact, they just broke the previous Mars chamber endurance record:

Inspiration

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 08:38:26 GMT

Former space shuttle commander Frank Culbertson stepped up to the podium inside a hearing room in the Rayburn House office building yesterday morning, and talked about inspiration. He turned to his left and thanked moon walker Buzz Aldrin for a kind gesture last year during a visit to the Johnson S...

SETI @ 50: Are We Getting Anywhere?

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 04:23:15 GMT

Most people date the modern Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) to Frank Drake's Project Ozma, conducted in 1960 using the giant dish at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia.Today through Wednesday, at an NRAO workshop, SETI-ologists will review where th...

Plymouth Rock: 90 Days in a Minivan

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:35:09 GMT

At first I was excited to read press reports of a Lockheed-Martin concept for a bare-bones human asteroid mission, using a pair of Orion capsules yoked together. Finally, a near-term plan! Because the Orion is mostly built, the first "Plymouth Rock" mission could fly as early as 2016, nine years ea...

Duck!

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:54:05 GMT

Today, two asteroids pass the Earth at a fairly snug distance. One, 2010 RX30, went by just before 6:00 a.m. EDT about 154,000 miles above the northern Pacific Ocean. That's equivalent to three-fifths the distance to the moon. The other one, 2010 RF12, goes by just after 5:00 p.m. EDT, above Antarc...

Aliens Confirmed Dead

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:43:28 GMT

In researching a reader's letter about "Department of Flying Saucers" in the Sept. 2010 issue, I came across a report on the Web site, UFO Casebook, which claimed that General Omar Bradley had been flown overseas to view alien beings retrieved from a UFO crash site in the Arctic Circle. The report ...

A.W.O.L.

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:18:35 GMT

You may have read about the X-37B, the U.S. Air Force's new unmanned orbital spaceplane, in our January issue. The secretive satellite with space-shuttlesque delta wings made its first launch on April 22 of this year atop an Atlas V rocket, and has been in orbit since, visible on the web via a numb...

Stripped-Down Spaceflight in Denmark

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:54:20 GMT

However the Copenhagen Suborbitals project turns out, you have to give these people points for nerve. The eventual plan is to launch a human to an altitude of 100 kilometers inside a capsule barely large enough to fit one person, standing up. For the moment, the Danish team would be happy just to l...

Remembering Belka and Strelka

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:48:01 GMT

By some definitions, you could say that spaceflight began 50 years ago today.On August 19, 1960, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 5 capsule containing 40 mice, two rats, a rabbit, some fruit flies, plants—and a pair of dogs, Belka ("Whitey") and Strelka ("Little Arrow.") They were the first li...

Astronomy's To Do List

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 06:40:33 GMT

Every ten years or so, the nation's astronomers put their heads (actually committees) together to come up with a collective wish list for the projects they'd like to see funded over the next decade. Politicians tend to like this method of setting scientific priorities, as it saves them from choosin...

He May Be a Smart Physicist, But...

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 02:08:31 GMT

Here's Stephen Hawking, commenting on humanity’s future: ...Our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million. Our only c...

The Air Force in 2030

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:03:34 GMT

Forecasting technology is a notoriously tricky business. In spite of all the predictions, we still don't have fusion power or flying cars, but in 2010 you can kick around a virtual soccer ball using a handheld camera phone, and who saw that coming?It's the job of the Air Force Chief Scientist and h...

NASA's Next Mars Rover

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:09:00 GMT

The Curiosity rover, scheduled for launch to Mars next year, took its first test drive last week.

The Most Well-Traveled Nobel in the Universe

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:06:14 GMT

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...

SpaceShipTwo Gets a Pilot

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:57:22 GMT

Some nice scenes here of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (now known as VSS Enterprise) on a recent captive carry flight—with a pilot (Peter Siebold) onboard for the first time.

Asteroid Trackers

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:56:05 GMT

Scientists are keeping tabs on an asteroid called Apophis, an 820-foot chunk of rock moseying toward Earth at about 22 miles per second. Apophis—named after an ancient Egyptian god of evil, naturally—will pass near our planet in 2029. How near is near? Closer than our own communication satellites.B...

Technology Seeding

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:43:29 GMT

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...

Scenes From Star City

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:02:51 GMT

With more NASA astronauts Twittering and YouTubing these days, you can get all kinds of insider views of the spacefarer's life if you're willing to rummage around the Web a bit. Scott Kelly is training for a space station tour beginning in September, and over the last year has posted video scenes ...

Leroy Chiao on Working With the Chinese

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:16:10 GMT

Last week the Obama White House released its National Space Policy, a document put forward by every administration since Eisenhower's. The report gives each president a chance to articulate his vision for the nation's space activities.The new plan is notable in its call for international cooperatio...

Roswell, "The Genesis Story of U.S. UFOs"

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:58:00 GMT

"It was 58 years ago today that the Roswell incident occurred," said Roger Launius, a National Air and Space Museum Space History curator who could also be considered NASM's chief skeptic. (An earlier talk of his concerned people who refuse to believe the Apollo program landed men on the moon.) Hi...

HAM the Astrochimp

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:09:39 GMT

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...

Flying While Female

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:33:45 GMT

China has selected its first two female astronauts, Space.com recently reported. But, unlike their male counterparts, females have to be married. “We believe married women would be more physically and psychologically mature,” Zhang Jianqui, the former deputy commander of China’s spaceflight program...