Tag Archives: space

NASA Unleashes Two Vintage Warplanes to Chase the Eclipse

By Paul | Published August 2, 2017

Wired: WHILE MILLIONS OF astronomy enthusiasts chase the moon’s shadow on the ground during the August 21 total solar eclipse, four NASA personnel are going to have front row seats. Two pilots and two technicians will race the big black spot at 50,000 feet, well above any cloud cover. And at 400 mph, they’ll be […]

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Aging Soviet Space Vehicles Still Impress

By Paul | Published July 10, 2017

Eric Berger, writing at Wired: The Soviet Union’s Buran space shuttle program stands as one of the saddest episodes in aerospace history. After NASA began working on its space shuttle program in the early 1970s, the Soviet Union conceived of its own orbiter program, the eerily similar looking Buran shuttle. Ultimately, the vehicle made just […]

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Eclipse 2017: T-2 Months

By Paul | Published June 21, 2017

If you’re anything like me, you heard about the 2017 eclipse over a year ago and thought “cool,” but haven’t really thought about it since. This week, some of the photography podcasts I listen to started talking about the eclipse and man, I’m really starting to get excited!

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When Astronauts ‘Saved’ the Worst Year in American History (Not 2016)

By Paul | Published January 4, 2017

It really wasn’t until we came back that we suddenly realized what the flight had accomplished as to the attitude of the Americans,” Lovell said in 2014. “We got so many telegrams, and one I remember distinctly, all it said was ‘You saved 1968’.

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R.I.P. John Glenn, first American to orbit the Earth

By Paul | Published December 8, 2016

The paper of record: John Glenn, a freckle-faced son of Ohio who was hailed as a national hero and a symbol of the space age as the first American to orbit Earth, then became a national political figure for 24 years in the Senate, died on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio. He was 95.

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The Last Steps

By Paul | Published November 28, 2016

Great Big Story: On December 7, 1972, NASA launched Apollo 17, a lunar mission crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt. It would be the last time humans traveled beyond low Earth orbit, the last time man landed on another celestial body, and the last time man went to the moon. The Last […]

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Cosmodrome

By Paul | Published October 30, 2016

Netflix: Get a look at the sophisticated engines Russia designed for a Cold War-era moon landing and how a changing world led them to a strange fate. Excellent film. Anything space-related, especially Mercury-Gemini-Apollo era, you can sign me up.

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AP: Meteor Explodes Over Russia, Nearly 1,000 Hurt

By Paul | Published February 15, 2013

“Ever wonder just how much damage a meteor exploding in the sky can do?” “The Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement that the meteor over the Chelyabinsk region entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph) and shattered about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above ground.”

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Man on Moon +42 years

By Paul | Published July 20, 2011

After the astronauts planted a U.S. flag on the lunar surface, they spoke with President Richard Nixon through a telephone-radio transmission which Nixon called “the most historic phone call ever made from the White House.” Nixon originally had a long speech prepared to read during the phone call, but Frank Borman, who was at the […]

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Recalling “Kaputnik” and the early days of the space race

By Paul | Published April 14, 2011

Rose Lichter-Marck writing in The Daily: On Dec. 6, 1957, Cape Canaveral was swarming with journalists. In the distance stood the 70-foot-tall Vanguard Test Vehicle 3, or TV-3, with its nib-like black nose. The cameras rolled as the countdown began. The slender rocket trembled against the blue sky as the boosters kicked in. Orange flames […]

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