Today, November 3rd 2017 marks 60 years since the launch of Sputnik 2, the second satellite to orbit the Earth. Sputnik 2 was quite different from Sputnik 1, though, and not just in that it was much heavier – while Sputnik 1 just flew around and beeped, day in, day out, for about 3 week, […]
On October 15th, 1997, a Titan IV/B lifted off from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft into space for its eventual amazing mission to study the planet Saturn. This was one of the first launches of the Titan IV/B and the first flight of that particular Titan variation […]
Have you ever seen the movie “Office Space”? If you have, then you will certainly remember a certain antagonist in the film that wasn’t a human – it was a machine. In this case, the office Printer. They are funny things, really, the typical printer – it seems since their inception, people have had a […]
Back in 2007 for his annual Monster Madness series, James Rolfe decided to do a history of horror films, that being his preferred genre of movies; something he’s quite passionate about. A decade late, James has recompiled his original 31 reviews into one 53 minute marathon video covering everything – at least, everything important. It’s […]
Earlier today I wrote my article on the 60th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1. I wasn’t quite happy with how it turned out, and thought more about it – what I really wanted to say with it. That’s when I realized it wasn’t the fact that it launched that I wanted to convey, […]
60 years ago today, on October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the worlds first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, using a slightly converted intercontinental Ballistic Missile. This action shocked the United States – an enemy nation, the “backwards and primitive” Soviet Union, they had launched something into orbit before us? This, of course, couldn’t stand. […]
At 7:55 AM Eastern Time NASA’s Deep Space Network captured the last signals from the Cassini spacecraft. The vehicle, 83 minutes earlier, had dived into the atmosphere of Saturn. As planned, Cassini did its absolute best to keep its antenna pointed towards Earth, sending all the data it could before aerodynamic stresses finally pushed it […]
At the time of this articles publication, the Cassini spacecraft should no longer exist – at this point in time it should have vaporized in the atmosphere of Saturn, the planet it was built to study and always destined to be a part of. This is happening quite early in my time zone – a […]
In a bit of news from yesterday that, out of respect for the date I waited until today to share, the Atari Video Computer System (better known as the Atari 2600) was released 40 years ago yesterday, September 11th. The Atari 2600 is one of the most historic consoles in gaming, to be sure. Not […]
If there is one thing that I just can’t stand, it’s conspiracy theories. More over, conspiracy theories relating to a certain event 16 years ago today; an event that is better documented than most anything that had happened before, or in many cases, since then. September 11th, 2001. Oh yes, for pretty much every year […]
40 years ago today, on September 5th, 1977, Voyager 1 was launched from Launch Complex 41 on the final Titan III-E booster to fly. Voyager 1 was launched after Voyager 2, on a trajectory which put it ahead in its encounters of Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 1 would later begin flying up and away from […]
The identical twin to Voyager 2, Voyager 1, was launched on September 5th 1977. While launched after Voyager 2, it was launched with a more direct trajectory and as a result quickly moved ahead to reach Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980 with its last major flyby being Saturn’s moon Titan. Voyager 1 would […]
In this video from NASA we have the flight path that Voyager 2 took through the Solar System during it’s mission, which is still going 40 years after launch! It’s a very straightforward video, no sound or anything special. It starts just a few days before August 20th, 1977, the launch day of Voyager 2 […]
On August 20th, 1977, Voyager 2 was launched on the most powerful launch vehicle available at the time, the Titan IIIE, on a mission to explore all 4 of the gas giant outer planets, and onward to deep space. Voyager 2 was, oddly, the first of the 2 Voyager probes launched – Voyager 1 was […]
The Voyager space probes, the furthest man-made objects from Earth, were launched 40 years ago this upcoming week (in the case of Voyaged 2, launched August 20th 1977 – Voyager 1 was launched later, in September of 77), and as such NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are doing a bit of a celebration, to […]