The cold war is back! Companies in the U.S. and Russia are in a race to build the first private space stations.
Take a look at these spectacular images China released from its Chang’e 2 lunar probe that they say show potential landing sites for later Chinese probes.
Bad news for that November 30 shuttle launch date: Two cracks have been found on the aluminum body of Discovery’s external tank.
The up and down state of the Iranian space program.
At least one expert claims that the mystery missile launch off the California coast on was merely an optical illusion. Key quote:
John Pike of the security analyst group globalsecurity.org said the video shot by a news helicopter owned by KCBS is an optical illusion. Pike said the video is of an airplane heading toward the camera and the contrail is illuminated by the setting sun. He said the object can’t be a rocket because it appeared to alter its course.
Mystery rocket launch yesterday off of the California coast.
In addition to the hydrogen leak on Discovery, NASA is now dealing with a crack in the foam insulation on the shuttle’s external tank.
The second test launch of the Falcon 9, with the first flight of the Dragon capsule, has been postponed again. It is now set for December 7.
Discovery’s launch is now officially postponed until no sooner than November 30.
Here are the first images of Deep Impact’s flyby of Comet Hartley 2. The first is a montage, the sequence in time going clockwise. The second is a close-up of the second image.
The feature that I find most intriguing is the narrow smooth waist of the comet’s dogbone shape. The whole thing looks almost like a piece of taffy that’s being pulled apart.
It isn’t the first time he’s said it, but Burt Rutan, designer of SpaceShipOne, says he is retiring from Scaled Composites.
Discovery’s launch is scrubbed again, this time due to another hydrogen leak. Next possible launch date is Monday, which means it is possible the launch will be delayed until early December.
First close-up photos of Comet Hartley 2 reveal a space peanut.
Watch the Deep Impact flyby of Hartley 2 this instant (11:06 AM eastern)! The images are incredible. Update: The fly-by is over, but the live stream is still available (as of 11:30 am Eastern), showing some of the images taken. The comet itself is a peanut-shaped object about two miles long, with a jet of water coming out one end.
The Baikonur space port: a movie set.
The last launch of the space shuttle Discovery has been scrubbed today, this time because of weather. They will try again on Friday.
An electrical problem on the space shuttle Discovery could delay tomorrow’s launch. Update: NASA has decided to definitely delay the launch until Thursday, at the earliest.
Democracy marches on! The American astronauts on ISS used a secure email system to vote early from space.
NASA has completed a significant upgrade of its Deep Space communication system. These unheralded antennas and the engineers who maintain them make it possible for scientists to communicate with the far flung planetary probes in orbit around Venus, Mars, and Saturn, as well as the spacecraft visiting comets or traveling beyond the edge of the solar system.
Saving NASA from the Obama science fair. Key quote:
In place of a plan crafted by his predecessor which might have one day carried astronauts to Mars, Mr. Obama has proposed a science fair that literally goes nowhere.
Hasn’t someone already said this, at great length, more than a few times?
Link fixed! Sorry about that.
The last launch of the space shuttle Discovery has been moved to Wednesday afternoon in order to give engineers time to test their repairs.
Yesterday SpaceShipTwo completed its second successful free flight (via Clark Lindsey at www.rlvnews.com). The results:
Flew to more aggressive stall indication. Evaluated handling and stability through several maneuvers. Expanded envelope to 230 KTAS and 3g’s. Roll evaluation. Full stop landing.
Engineers have discovered two new leaks on Discovery as it sits on the launchpad. It appears the Monday launch has been delayed at least one day.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the likely budget cuts expected from the next Congress are almost certainly going to threaten the extra shuttle flight that Congress authorized several weeks ago.
On October 22, the International Space Station passed Mir’s record for the longest continuous occupancy, just short of 10 years.
Our government at work! The FAA has given SpaceX a license to launch the Dragon capsule, scheduled for a November 18 launch on the Falcon 9 rocket, but not yet given them a license to land.
The rocket launch company Sea Launch has exited bankruptcy under Russian ownership.
Is this a great country or what? The company that is performing the zero gravity beer test on November 19 is selling advertising space on the astronaut’s flight suit to anyone with a few thousand dollars cash.
China today announced plans to complete its first space station by 2020.
NASA is begging money from billionaires for an interstellar travel project. Sounds cool I know, but wouldn’t it be more worthwhile right now for those billionaires to invest their money in developing low cost rockets so we can simply get into space cheaply?
