Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager 1 and 2 probes were sent out on missions to observe Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, as well as their moons, rings, and anything else they could discover on their journeys out of the solar system. Voyager 1 was sent on a more specialized mission for only Jupiter and […]
If you’re going to the moon, you’re going to need a rocket. A big one. Actually, scratch that, you’re going to need several rockets of varying types, uses, and fuels. This film, produced during the late stages of the design and testing of the rocket systems of the Saturn V and the Apollo Command, Service, […]
Not that I care whatsoever for such outright silly superstition, but it has to be said, because those posts are annoying the hell out of me. No, your Astrological sign didn’t change 1: NASA has nothing to do with such (I never understand why anything at all related to space has to magically have NASA […]
Going along with the last articles theme of hypergolic fuels, with a focus on the Gemini spacecraft, we have this 1964 film, from the very early days of Gemini, explaining the propulsion systems and operation of the maneuviring capabilities of the Gemini. Gemini was the first manned spacecraft capable of making major orbital trajectory changes, […]
It’s well known that I am a massive fan of the Titan missile, and its derived space boosters – the Titan II GLV, the Titan-III and Titan-IV booster families. These launch systems, based upon the Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, used a very special type of fuel and oxidizer type that was storeable at room […]
An Atlas V rocket carrying the OSIRIS-REx probe successfully launched yesterday, September 8th, sending it’s payload on a course that will eventually, in 2018, bring it to the asteriod Bennu, a rocky body believed to contain large quantities of organic molecules, heavy metals, and other useful materials with a goal of returning a sample of […]
Today, September 8th, 2016, marks the scheduled launch date for one of the newest NASA space probes, OSIRIS-REx. This craft is planned to study the asteroid 101955 Bennu, and eventually return a sample of it for study back on Earth. This is quite the ambitious mission, and follows many successful materials return missions dating back […]
This film, produced in 1981, follows the first flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-1, April 12th to 14th of 1981. The video tells the general story of the 4 day mission, while also going over details on the general operations of the then new Space Shuttle. One of the best things about this […]
Back in the 1970’s, NASA began a transition from the Apollo program, using expendable rockets and single-use capsules, to an idea known as the Space Shuttle – a reusable space plane to carry crew and cargo into orbit at a fraction of the cost of traditional boosters. Of course, 40 years later, we all know […]
45 years ago today, Apollo 15 was deep in its mission.By the time it was all over, the crew had spent 4 days at the moon, conduction research from both orbit and from the surface, including the missions most famous moment where a falcon feather and a hammer were dropped in the effective vacuum of […]
45 Years ago today, Apollo 15 Landed at Hadley Rille on the Moon. The Crew of this J class mission, David Scott, Al Worden, and James Irwin, would spend 3 days both in orbit and on the surface studying the moon, which was, of course, the true scientific goal of the Apollo program – to […]
It was 45 years ago today that the 4th manned lunar landing took place. Hadley Rille, a geographically intriguing area of the lunar surface, was chosen as the landing site due to the possible volcanic origins of the region, with the rille area itself being likely one of the best areas to gather samples from. […]
Two and a half months after the flight of Freedom 7, NASA was ready for another Mercury – Redstone test flight. The pilot for this flight was Virgil Ivan “Gus” Grissom, a Korean War Veteran from the United States Air Force. This flight was to be a duplicate of Shepards Freedom 7 flight, testing out […]
Today, July 20th, 2016, marks 47 years since Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. It’s an event that everyone knows of, but, as historically significant as it was, was just a test flight – the later Apollo landings were the real missions of science and exploration that Apollo was born to execute, but 11, that […]
One year ago today, on July 14th, 2015, the New Horizons space probe passed by the dwarf planet Pluto, scanning its surface with a multitude of research experiments, cameras, scanners, and more to try to gather all the information we could on it, and it’s moons, during our one time fly-by of this much beloved […]