Today’s Popular Posts
- .
Popular Posts
- ,
Tag Archives: ISS
The Prestige: China orbits practice unit
The Heavenly Palace is in orbit, or at least the first practice piece – Tiangong 1 – is in orbit. CNSA, the Chinese National Space Agency reports that the 10.5 meter cylinder is designed to practice docking and other aspects of orbital navigation over the next 3-5 years, with the ultimate goal being a functioning [...]
Posted in Commentable Also tagged China, CNSA, Heavenly Palace, NASA, space platform, Tiangong Leave a comment
Space Shuttle Atlantis: happy landing, and out with a whimper
Among the many things said and written about the ending of the American space shuttle program, one thing we are not likely to hear any time soon is the last word. In short, it’s going to require the perspective of history, probably fifty years, before the impact of the space shuttle program – operating, then [...]
Posted in Essay Also tagged Atlantis, manned, NASA, space exploration, space probes, space shuttle, space station, unmanned 2 Comments
Falcon 9 – Dragon: Setting a milestone in commercial space flight
Artist’s conception of the Dragon capsule in orbit….Credit: Space X When President Obama, on the recommendation of the Augustine Commission, committed to raising the profile of commercial space flight, there were (and are) plenty of skeptics. Many assumed this was a zero-sum game, where if one company or agency wins more contract money, another loses. [...]
Posted in News: Space Exploration Also tagged astronauts, Augustine Commission, Dragon capsule, Falcon 9, NASA, Space X Leave a comment
Boeing throws (subsidized) hat into space tourism ring
Boeing Corporation, the giant American aero-space company, announced that it will be joining the effort to provide transport for ‘space tourists’ to and from the International Space Station (ISS). This sounds like a major step for the commercial development of space. It could be. However, in reality it’s a step into the often contradictory world [...]
Posted in News: Space Exploration Also tagged Augustine Commission, Boeing, commercial crew, NASA, space tourism Leave a comment
No muscle, no Mars
After feeding upon the thrills of Star Trek, Star Wars, Avatar and their ilk, we (that is, people of the entertainment soaked portion of the world) are conditioned to be optimistic about human beings in space. There’s also the reality of landing on the Moon, the International Space Station, and the inspiring history of astronauts [...]
Posted in Spun Also tagged bone loss, exercise in space, muscle loss, muscle mass, NASA, physiology, space exploration Leave a comment
New Russian spaceport: Vostochny Cosmodrome
Some space facilities are built in secret (military) or with little fanfare perhaps because they’re not very ambitious. But when the Russian Prime Minister (V. Putin) announces the building of a new $800 million spaceport – or cosmodrome, it’s clearly intended to be very public. This fits with the avowed use for a new ‘civilian’ [...]
Posted in News: Space Exploration Also tagged Baikonur, commercial space, cosmodrome, NASA, Putin, Russia, Vostochny Leave a comment
Exploiting suborbital space
The commercial ‘exploitation’ of space has been developing for more than a decade. By exploitation I mean simply ‘making a profit’ from it. Lofting satellites into orbit was once the purview of governments. In fact, rockets into any level of space were usually government projects (and mostly military). That began changing a decade or two [...]
Posted in Impact: Space Exploration Also tagged commercial space, ESA, LEO, NASA, NASA mission, private space companies, rocketry, suborbital space Leave a comment
The Dragon is in orbit