Visiting Florida's Kennedy Space Center
Curiosity has now completed its software upgrade. The original software package was heavy on software necessary for taking it safely from Mother Earth to the Martian Surface. That included all the calculations necessary to get from here to there, but also to handle all the millions of calculations necessary to enter the Martian atmosphere and [...]
Most Americans woke up this morning to the news that Curiosity had successfully landed on Mars! Most with even a little bit of interest in the mission were aware of the “7 minutes of terror” as the Curiosity capsule de-accelerates Morning sunlight here on Earth tells us another day has begun and the world is [...]
Early Monday morning Curiosity safely landed on the surface of Mars pretty much exactly as expected. Just after touchdown Curiosity sent back the first of 2 images that would be sent back immediately.The above image is the 1st image sent just after landing. It shows some small rocks on the Martian surface and in the [...]
On Wednesday NASA successfully test the new Orion crew vehicle parachute deployment in the Arizona desert. This is just one of many tests the new capsule will have to pass before going into space sometime in 2014. The Orion will carry astronauts deeper into space than ever before, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew [...]
SPACE X: After successfully undocking from the International Space Station (ISP) at 5:49A.M. Eastern time, the Dragon space capsule, loaded with some 1400 pounds of returning equipment and experiments headed back to earth. The Dragon successfully demonstrated several firsts for commercial space flight and completed 31 of 33 criteria set out by NASA. The 2 [...]
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER: After a few attempts, the SPACE X Dragon lifted off early Tuesday morning for its rendezvous with the ISP. Friday morning the Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the orbiting station, the first time a commercial vehicle has done so. The Dragon was successfully captured by the robotic arm some 3 days after [...]
Later this month at 12:22 p.m. on April 30 at the Kennedy Space Center, the new SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will lift off from the SpaceX Launch Complex 40 at Kennedy. The rocket first flew successfully from here in June 2010. The Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. [...]
With Disney’s release of the sci-fi movie “John Carter” some interest in life on Mars may be creeping into daily conversations of late, especially with the excitement of the Curiosity rover scheduled to touch down later this summer. That’s why it was so interesting to see this new NASA photo from the red planet that [...]
The president’s 2013 budget revealed deep cuts (21%) for 2013 alone, for planetary exploration and study. The new goal is a big shift away from putting men into space, and pulls the plug entirely on planned US / European missions to Mars. With the shuttle vehicles now relegated to museum status, we wonder if these [...]
My how time flies. 50 years ago today, using an Atlas rocket, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, and the third American to fly in space. A faulty signal indicating a problem with the heat shield forced NASA mission controllers to cut Friendship 7‘s flight to only three orbits, but Glenn [...]
