As I have said before, I try not to get political here on Xadara, but I do have to say what I think from time to time. I’ll try to keep this one brief. Thank you, President Obama. You didn’t always do what I feel was the best thing – there are many times your […]
Category: History
25 Years Ago – The End of the Soviet Union
It’s by a strange coincidence that I would write a small article late yesterday about the city of Pripyat, Ukraine – the city where the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was located. It’s explosion is one of many events that is called “the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union” and while writing that article […]
Pripyat
Since hearing about the movement and successful installation of the Shelter Object at the remains of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, I’ve been in a weak version what I call a “Chernobyl” mood, where I’ve been hunting for information, photos, and videos of the subject off and on this past month. Nothing too out of […]
STS-95 Mission Highlights
NASA pushed out quite a few videos following the death of John Glenn. The other day I shared some video of the launch of STS-95, Glenn’s 1998 return to space. There was one video I found during the planning of that article, though, that I didn’t share due to its length, and thought more worthwhile […]
The Chernobyl Shelter Object Is Safely In Place Over Reactor 4
File this one under news that reached me 2 weeks after the fact, in late November of 2016, the Shelter Object, a massive arch intended to seal the remains of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor 4 was successfully moved over the structure with the intent of forever sealing the damaged reactor and its deadly nuclear […]
The Launch of STS-95
Godspeed, John Glenn
Pearl Harbor – 75 Years Later
Yesterday, December 7th, 2016, marked 75 years since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the event which marked the direct entry of the United States into World War 2. Rather than talk about what Pearl Harbor is like now, or just cover the normal anniversary events, I thought I would share my perspective on the […]
Project Mercury And You – 1961 Convair Training Film
Ah, project Mercury – the United States “Man In Space” program. Sure, it wasn’t the first to put a man in space, or in orbit (The Soviets would do that with Vostok 1 in 1961) but it was still a necessary step towards what we eventually would accomplish. Of course, anything going into space needs […]
The Soyuz Rocket Turns 50!
With nearly 2000 launches to its name, the Soyuz rocket turns 50 years old today – it’s first launch was on November 28th, 1966, carrying a payload known as Kosmos 133, Kosmos being a universal codename for “unknown” Soviet Satellites. This craft was, in reality, the first test flight of the boosters namesake, the Soyuz […]
The Legacy Of Project Gemini – 1967 NASA Film
As mentioned in the previous article, the Gemini Project, NASA’s 2nd manned space program, ended on November 15th, 1966. The 10 manned missions over 2 years proved that humans could do everything needed in space to make a successful flight to the Moon. All that would be left would be to prove out the Apollo […]
15th Anniversary Of The Xbox
15 years ago, on November 15th, 2001, Microsoft released its entry into the home gaming console scene, the Xbox. Based on computer hardware of the era, and using the DirectX game libraries of Microsoft Windows (hence the project name, DirectX-box) this powerful console filled a hole that was left following Sega ending production of the […]
50 Years Ago, The End Of The Gemini Program
On November 15th, 1966, Gemini XII, the final mission of the United States Gemini program returned to Earth, marking the end of space program to prove humans could do work outside of their spacecraft, could survive in space for the possible 2 week long duration moon missions would take, and lastly to prove two spacecraft […]
59 Years Ago, Sputnik 2 And A Dog In Space
One month shy of the launch of Sputnik 1, another R-7 missile was readied on the pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying another special payload destined for Earth orbit. This time the payload wasn’t just a simple metal sphere with a radio transmitter – instead, the payload was a dog named Laika. Laika was a stray […]
50 Years Ago, The Manned Orbiting Laboratory Test Flight
50 years ago today, on November 3rd 1966, the United States Air Force launched the 6th Titan III-C booster on a very unique test flight. Sitting atop the powerful launch vehicle was an extension made from a spare Titan I rocket oxidizer tank classified as OPS 0855, built to simulate an orbital laboratory payload, and […]