China looking to public to name space station
China is asking the public to name its space station.
China is asking the public to name its space station.
China is asking the public to name its space station.
In Turkey: A hotel carved out of a mountain.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo makes its longest test flight yet.
The competition plays hardball: The Russians say “Nyet” to letting SpaceX’s Dragon capsule dock with ISS on its next flight.
Some details behind Blue Origin’s manned spacecraft.
“For example, many metals burn more easily in reduced gravity, liquids behave differently, both of which have important implications for safety and the way machinery and equipment operate in spacecraft and space stations. The beer experiments assisted in determining the correct level of carbonation, so that it can in the future be appropriately enjoyed by humans in reduced gravity,”
An evening pause: Though this took place last week, on the fiftieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight, I can’t let it go by, especially because it is so nicely done. Trust me, for two flute players to play a duet with one several hundred miles up in space and traveling more than 17,500 miles per hour while the other is safely on Earth is not easy.
India has successfully launched three satellites using its low-Earth-orbit rocket.
The launch could not have come at a more apt time than now. The old reliable workhorse vehicle was last used in a July 2010 launch. ISRO’s next two launches of the indigenous higher-powered GSLV failed.
Exploring London’s abandoned Mail Rail subway system.
More on the incredibly shrinking Orion program.
It ain’t gonna fly, and if I’m wrong and it does, it will accomplish little in the process — except spend a lot of pork money we no longer can afford.
Medicine in space does not have the right stuff.
After 28 months, the medication stored in space generally had a lower potency and degraded faster than those stored on the ground. Six medications on the space station underwent physical changes, such as discoloration and liquefaction, while such changes only occurred in two medications stored on the ground.
Who says there aren’t customers for the new rocket companies? The Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office have inked a deal with SpaceX, preliminary to using the company’s rockets to launch military satellites.
The electric-powered Chevy Volt actually produces more CO2 than an ordinary gasoline engine!
I don’t know if the analysis in the above article is completely accurate, but it sure suggests that switching to electric cars over gasoline is not all that it’s cracked up to be, and is probably not a good idea.
Reality bites: NASA faces awkward, unfortunate spaceflight gap.
Boeing moves forward on its commercial manned capsule.
A Soviet-era Vostok space capsule, flown prior to Gagarin as a test, has sold for $2.9M at a New York auction.
Stagnation haunts Russian space program.
ISS plans week-long simulated Mars mission.
This is the right idea, but to really learn something NASA needs to commit to a year-plus long simulated mission.
The future is here: Spaceship lands at San Francisco airport. And yes, that is an accurate headline!
Astronauts in ISS take cover as Chinese space junk flies past.
SpaceX unveils its plan for the Falcon 9 Heavy, what would be the world’s most powerful private rocket.
The new rocket will be able to carry about 117,000 pounds (53,000 kilograms) of cargo to orbit – about twice the payload-carrying capability of the space shuttle. The Falcon Heavy would launch more than twice as much weight as the Delta 4 heavy, currently the most powerful rocket in operation. Only NASA’s Saturn 5 moon rocket, which last launched in 1973, could carry more cargo to orbit, SpaceX officials said.
Musk said the rocket should lower the launch cost of cargo to about $1,000 per pound, about one-tenth the cost per pound on NASA shuttle launches.
Software engineers to the Moon!
Crazy? Absolutely! Impossible? Probably not! There are a growing number of people who believe that with federal funding for our space program getting scarce, the future lies in private-public partnerships. Entrepreneur Elon Musk’s third job (after leading electric car company Tesla and acting as the Chairman of solar installer SolarCity) is heading up SpaceX, which was the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a rocketship. Virgin’s Richard Branson has a similar private space venture.
Three astronauts were launched to ISS today in a Soyuz capsule the Russians have named Gagarin, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of his flight on April 12.
Russia’s launch capability continues to expand: Not only will they be able to launch rockets from French Guiana this year, it looks like Russia’s western spaceport will be ready for its first launch by 2015.