February 21, 2008

'Nothing larger than a football'
Though I've long been a fan of the Navy's anti-missile system, I'm pleased and relieved that this worked. USS Lake Erie (CG 70)under way in 1993.And I'm always a fan of Navy says missile smashed wayward satellite headlines. If the Navy had missed, do you think the headline would have...[READ]

February 20, 2008

Whack-a-Sat
I guess I'll weigh in on the issue of the plan to shoot down a failed satellite before it re-enters the atmosphere. I've got to admit I'm not really sure why some folks are getting so worked up about it. So much hand-wringing in the press and on the blogs....[READ]

February 12, 2008

4 arrests in China spy cases
Nabbed: Federal agents arrested a Pentagon official and three other persons yesterday in a nationwide sweep of Chinese espionage agents. A "nationwide sweep" got four. Do you think that's all of them? The good news is that some of the secrets they stole were related to the space shuttle. Hopefully...[READ]

October 23, 2007

Discovery into orbit
The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Pad 39A this morning for a 14-day mission to the International Space Station. It will deliver Node 2 (dubbed 'Harmony'), a hub that will be used to connect additional scientific modules in the future. Node 2 also contains additional life support equipment...[READ]

September 14, 2007

Lunar X-Prize
$25 Million in Prizes Is Offered for Trip to Moon Big bucks for a private unmanned moon probe with rover: The prize for reaching the moon and completing the basic tasks of roving and sending video and data will bring the winner $20 million, according to the contest rules. An...[READ]

August 28, 2007

Keep on ticking
Mars Exploration Rover Status Report: Rovers Resume Driving NASA.gov: After six weeks of hunkering down during raging dust storms that limited solar power, both of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have resumed driving. The game is "collect as much solar energy as possible". The rovers are suffering, but...[READ]

August 21, 2007

Endeavour returning right now
Performed de-orbit burn at 11:25 ET. Scheduled to land at 12:32 ET. All eyes will be on the tiles. UPDATE: Thankfully, pics now show that the shuttle seems to be okay. Will be down in a couple of minutes. UPDATE 2: Down and stopped. I still think that they should...[READ]

August 16, 2007

No repair of Shuttle tiles
Just communicated up to the astronauts less than a minute ago: No repair to the TPS (Thermal Protection System). The Mission Management Team meeting just ended. An evening press conference will begin shortly....[READ]

August 13, 2007

Don't they have to try a fix?
Station repair done ... shuttle repair ahead? NASA on Monday conducted a swift series of tests on the ground to determine whether a disturbingly deep gouge in Endeavour’s belly needs to be fixed for re-entry, while a pair of spacewalking astronauts replaced a broken space station steering device. The gouge...[READ]

August 8, 2007

Shuttle Today
I suddenly remembered that the Shuttle is scheduled to take off today. The countdown is currently at T-3:00:00 and holding. Launch is to be at 6:36 PM ET. If things work as advertised, the Shuttle will be able to draw power from the Space Station using the new Station-Shuttle Power...[READ]

July 26, 2007

Space solar power fans: Uncle Sam wants you
Pentagon enlists Internet users to figure out the high-tech road ahead A Pentagon office is taking advantage of the collaborative nature of the Internet as it studies potential applications for space-based solar power, according to one of the officials leading the effort. I have long been a fan of the...[READ]

July 20, 2007

One small step
July 20, 1969: This is great: Apollo 11 landing: Flight Director loop (left channel), Air-to-Ground (right channel) From the Project Apollo Archive's multimedia page. Here's some info on the Apollo 11 Program Alarms which we hear them calling (and worrying about). Other fun stuff: 626-page transcript of air-to-ground communication Apollo...[READ]

July 17, 2007

Essex-class satellite launching ship
Concept artwork, depicting an Essex or Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier converted for launching space satellites into orbits not readily accessible from launch sites in the United States. The rocket shown is an "Atlas" type. Image was received by the Naval Photographic Center on 12 December 1961. Never built....[READ]

July 6, 2007

When men were real men
A co-worker mentioned that he had seen a television program about the X-15, so I thought I'd post a cool pic of the totally awesome rocket plane: This photo shows one of the four attempts NASA made at launching two X-15 aircraft in one day. This attempt occurred November 4,...[READ]

April 20, 2007

Unfortunate choice of words?
At the end of Gunman kills hostage, self at NASA center: "Everybody I've seen is shocked that something like this would happen here. It's almost a collegial environment," Peterson said. Emphasis Murdoc's. Does this guy watch TV? Isn't that a pretty dumb thing to say this week?...[READ]

April 11, 2007

Scotty, beam me down some electricity
Sharon Weinberger at the Danger Room writes about Pentagon Dreamer's Sun-Beaming Sats, satellites which would collect solar energy and beam it down to earth. I wrote about this some time back (see: Just don't get in between the transmitter and the receiver) and have been intrigued by this idea since...[READ]

March 30, 2007

October Sky
I met Homer Hickam last night. Hickam is the author of October Sky, originally titled Rocket Boys. He spoke at the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center in Grand Rapids. October Sky was the One Book, One County title for Kent County. My wife also read The Coalwood Way by Hickam...[READ]

February 7, 2007

Bizarre Astronaut Kidnap Story
A reader tipped me off to the Lisa Nowak story Monday evening, and I immediately checked it out. I thought it was a Linkzookery-worthy story, interesting in a small and curious way to folks who follow the industry, so I added it to the post for the end of the...[READ]

February 3, 2007

When rockets go bad
Via Dick's Rocket Dungeon via Rocket Jones. Dick has more takes and Jones has links to other rockets going boom....[READ]

January 19, 2007

Easier way to the final frontier
I've not been posting much about space lately, which is sort of a bummer because it's a subject that I'm very interested in and enjoy discussing. If the public support is there, I'll have to ramp up my space blogging a bit. Even if I have to reinvent the Saturn...[READ]

Previous 'Space' Posts

• Piczookery: Backwards Flags  19 Jan 11:59

• Piczookery: Transatmospheric launch vehicle  19 Jan 07:59

• Unidentified Flying Oddball  02 Jan 11:52

• Pics of spacecraft on Mars  05 Dec 12:36

• Soviet space shuttle up on blocks  04 Oct 11:54

• Grumman posts to check out  14 Sep 09:07

• Comments on Liftport's space elevator work  30 Aug 13:23

• To 500 Feet...And Beyond!  05 Aug 08:53

• Veni Vidi Vici  20 Jul 09:09

• 1985: Space Shutle at Vandenberg  19 Jul 07:52

• Galileo: Cracked  10 Jul 12:11

• Hit and Missile in the ol' DPRK  06 Jul 13:07

• Space Stuff  26 May 12:57

• It was twenty years ago today  28 Jan 11:21

• Mission to Pluto to try again today at 1:08 ET  19 Jan 12:07

• Pluto or Bust!  17 Jan 12:13

• "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed"  12 Jan 11:39

• More on GPS  21 Dec 14:37

• GPS in the news  20 Dec 11:08

• More on ANGELS  08 Dec 12:43

• Satellite sidekicks or satellite assassins?  06 Dec 07:52

• Arguably the Space Shuttle's zenith  05 Dec 14:37

• NASA to eBay for Soyuz rides?  30 Oct 15:56

• Last Titan IV  21 Oct 12:11

• MAROONED  20 Oct 12:24

• Wow  22 Sep 13:11

• A great series of photos  04 Sep 13:45

• Go Look  11 Aug 13:21

• Good to see a safe landing  09 Aug 13:25

• Headline Watch - Grounded  27 Jul 21:45

• Fingers crossed  26 Jul 09:42

• July 20th at NASA  20 Jul 22:33

• Shuttle woes continue  14 Jul 21:25

• DISCOVERY to launch tomorrow  12 Jul 20:24

• Latest setback for the Shuttle  07 May 21:11

• Don't even know what to think any more  28 Apr 22:29

• Largest commercial satellite ever...more channels coming soon  27 Apr 20:14

• Stacking DISCOVERY  20 Apr 19:54

• Watching for disaster  14 Apr 19:17

• Atlas to Mars, Shuttle to LEO (if we're lucky)  06 Apr 22:12

• Am I the only one questioning the fact that these news items hit simultaneously?  16 Feb 22:10

• Bummer  21 Jan 21:02

• Follow-up on the Delta 4 Heavy  18 Jan 20:29

• Make sure to get the metric-English conversion right if you're going to actually use the thing, though  22 Dec 12:15

• Don't ask -- Just go look  22 Nov 12:33

• I've been TELLING you and TELLING you  29 Oct 16:00

• WTF? TGIF!  22 Oct 16:31

• The Pioneer Anomaly  12 Oct 13:52

• Who would have guessed?  03 Oct 19:34

• Iran, Rockets, and "What could possibly go wrong?"  08 Sep 13:21

• Although not really clear, I'm praying that this is satire  26 Aug 22:17

• There's a reason I've been neglecting space  04 Aug 12:35

• Tell me this isn't a bad idea  11 Jun 13:17

• Hubble On!  11 May 13:00

• Space Warfare  22 Apr 23:12

• This will wreck havoc with Lunatics and Werewolves, won't it?  26 Mar 12:38

• Hyper-X to try again  25 Mar 12:39

• Doomed? Not doomed?  11 Mar 13:06

• The cold January and February were due to global warming, I'm sure  04 Mar 13:06

• Squyres - NO WATER ON MARS  03 Mar 13:01

• OBL on Mars? WMD? The lost Colony of Roanoke? The Holy Grail?  02 Mar 12:31

• Weekly Saturn Show  27 Feb 19:51

• More Shuttle  23 Feb 22:10

• To Shuttle never more  20 Feb 13:02

• Scramjet on hold  18 Feb 21:35

• They know better than to rely on the Shuttle  18 Feb 21:16

• Would have never guessed that  18 Feb 12:46

• Space, the final frontier.net  22 Jan 19:52

• Space, the final frontier.net  22 Jan 19:52

• Lost Spirit?  22 Jan 13:57

• Lost Spirit?  22 Jan 13:57

• Just in time to return to the moon  16 Jan 23:21

• May the (G) Force be with You  14 Jan 20:06

• May the (G) Force be with You  14 Jan 20:06

• Big Weekend for NASA  03 Jan 14:36

• Free Fallin'  22 Dec 23:42

• We're already buying these, aren't we?  12 Dec 12:23

• Evidence for global warming - on a different globe  09 Dec 12:34

• The REAL Lord of the Rings  07 Dec 15:42

• Clang!  28 Nov 12:11

• 12.57 light hours out  30 Oct 12:44

• Fire pics from NOAA  28 Oct 11:54

• That's not a camera...THIS is a camera  27 Oct 12:25

• What could possibly go wrong?  24 Oct 12:56

• This is not at all insignificant  02 Oct 12:55

• Suspended, postponed, delayed, pushed back, and just plain late  02 Oct 12:44

• I wish them well  30 Sep 13:03

• So sad  29 Sep 12:42

• Out of the blue  29 Sep 12:23

• To the max  25 Sep 12:52

• We might be on to something  25 Sep 12:29

• Wow  23 Sep 16:44

• This is even less realistic than Armageddon  19 Sep 21:20

• Sunday at 2:57 PM ET  19 Sep 18:38

• Wait for what?  17 Sep 13:14

• More Galileo info  16 Sep 12:36

• Just over six days  15 Sep 13:19

• Something wrong...Saturn's three  12 Sep 20:09

• I'm just a Bill  12 Sep 19:56

• 18 days to go  03 Sep 13:49

• Resupply run to ISS  31 Aug 11:35

• "Failure Is Not An Option"  24 Aug 23:21

• Another possibility for the Hubble?  20 Aug 13:01

• 12.34 light hours...and counting  19 Aug 21:02

• ISS Update  19 Aug 20:41

• Ghost of Christmas Future?  18 Aug 13:24

• No 'Eureka!' solution  18 Aug 13:06

• Hubble  16 Aug 21:08

• Just don't get in between the transmitter and the receiver  16 Aug 13:17

• More on the Hubble  04 Aug 22:46

• End of the Hubble Space Telescope  03 Aug 14:10

• NASA 'SCRAMJET' READY TO FLY AGAIN  28 Jul 12:58

• RocketCam  27 Jul 19:16

• CHINESE MANNED SPACE MISSION IN 100 DAYS?  22 Jul 12:46

• ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN  20 Jul 21:40

• IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S ROCKET SCIENCE  09 May 12:31

• ONE BIG HAPPY INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FAMILY  08 May 13:21

• WELL, AT LEAST THEY HIT THE RIGHT COUNTRY  04 May 12:09

• MORE ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE  26 Apr 20:08

• SHUTTLE UPDATE  23 Apr 20:58

• ONE THIRD OF COLUMBIA RECOVERED  17 Apr 00:03

• COME ON, GLOBAL WARMING 23:59 18 Mar 2003  18 Mar 23:59