YouTube – High quality footage of that One Small Step
the 16 mm Data Acquisition Camera mounted in the Apollo 11 lunar module. [Have you seen this in the past? No.]
Category > rockets
NASA – Severe Space Weather–Social and Economic Impacts
At the moment, no one knows when the next super solar storm will erupt. It could be 100 years away or just 100 days.
Former astronaut speaks out on global warming – BostonHerald.com
Former astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who walked on the moon and once served New Mexico in the U.S. Senate, doesn’t believe that humans are causing global warming. “I don’t think the human effect is significant compared to the natural effect.”
Former astronaut speaks out on global warming – BostonHerald.com
MoonViews – Providing Imagery and Data For Lunar Exploration
Providing Imagery and Data For Lunar Exploration
MoonViews – Providing Imagery and Data For Lunar Exploration
RT: SciTech : Launch, Dock and Three Smoking Barrels
TP-82 with its three-barreled combination.
English Russia » The Screw Drive
When there is no roads a Screw Drive powered trucks come to help in Russia. They can go literary everywhere and were widely used by military as well as in some civil operations like to rescue Russian astronauts after their landing in a Random place across vast Russian territories.
Animation of a Broken Space Elevator
I have run a few simulations of a space elevator breaking. This page summarizes some results, and gives you access to animations.
Round trip with Endeavour – The Big Picture – Boston.com
Excellent photo of space ship landing on this planet.
Mars Rovers Near Five Years Of Science And Discovery
humanity’s first overland expedition on another planet
What happened to Brian Walker, the Rocketguy? | Ask Metafilter
He’s given up on the rocket. Now he’s going to shoot himself into the air with the world’s largest crossbow. [He lives in Bend, OR]
What happened to Brian Walker, the Rocketguy? | Ask Metafilter
New Scientist: The 10 most unusual objects to have flown in space
When the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and flight 93 were attacked by terrorists in 2001, killing 2974 people from over 90 nations, engineers at a spaceflight robotics company a few blocks away from the Twin Towers decided to commemorate the loss of life – on Mars. Honeybee Robotics, a company building some of the instruments for the NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity, obtained some metal wreckage that they fashioned into two cable shields and two spares (in case the launches failed) to protect wiring on each rover from rock impacts. With a US flag affixed to each, the shields are now in service on opposite sides of the Red Planet.
[Article continues at link. I think of this as a fitting FU to the Muslim world: hey, while you're busy trying to re-create the 14th Century, we're going to go ahead and explore other planets. You go have fun, okay? - Trevor Blake]
Luna C/I:: NASA Test Driving New Small Pressurized Rover in Arizona (News)
Q: “Sir, could the Small Pressurized Rover concept vehicle look anything more like a skull drawn by Jack Kirby?” A: “Absolutely not.”
Luna C/I:: NASA Test Driving New Small Pressurized Rover in Arizona (News)
Joe Kittinger parachutes from 102,800 ft
Better than anything.
YouTube – Giant Leap
Inspired by Joe Kittinger who in 1960 leapt from a balloon 30km high, this is a glimpse of the great new sport we’ll be seeing in a few years.
Liquid-Oxygen Powered Moon SUV | Environmental Graffiti
Taking a cue from the Mars rovers, it will have six wheels, each with it’s own independent steering.
Released to Public: "First Lady Astronaut Trainee" Jerrie Cobb (NASA) on Flickr – Photo Sharing!
Cobb passed all the training exercises, ranking in the top 2 percent of all astronaut candidates.
Released to Public: “First Lady Astronaut Trainee” Jerrie Cobb (NASA) on Flickr – Photo Sharing!
University of Cambridge
A team of students from the University of Cambridge sent four teddy-bears into space this week as part of an initiative to engage local schoolchildren in science and engineering.
J. Reston: Two Editorials from NASAwatch.com
MSL Cost Overruns, More Smoke and Mirrors from NASA: The following public exchange of letters regarding Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) cost overruns has been underway between former SMD Alan Stern and NASA HQ’s proxy, Jim Garvin from NASA GSFC for several weeks. Once again, Garvin attempts to play the standard NASA game of moving the goal posts with what amounts to selective semantic mathematics so as to try and decrease the true scope of MSL’s cost overrun. Stern, in response, uses Garvin’s own numbers and simple math to show that no matter how you try and cook the books, MSL’s cost has risen far more than NASA wants to admit. To be certain, the MSL cost increase itself is troubling. Even more troubling, however, is the broader issue of NASA’s continued, coordinated attempt to misrepresent facts so as to hide the truth of how it calculates how much things actually cost – and what the costs actually are. Small wonder no one can ever complete a credible audit of the agency’s books. There is simply no way that this agency can expect – or be allowed – to continue to operate in such an irresponsible fashion.
… and…
Only NASA Could Make Space Exploration Boring: Did you know that there are as many as a dozen live cameras, some which can send HiDef video back to earth 24-7-365? Many of them look at the ISS and the Earth. Yet JSC refuses to allow that video to be streamed live over the Internet. Even NASA HQ can’t make them do it. As for the more popular aspect of the STS-126 mission, the lost tool bag, this has become a rather popular topic of discussion in the news. And no, the talk on the news does not totally focus on NASA screwing up by losing this bag. Instead, broadcasts such as the NBC Nightly News focused – as did a number of websites – on how anyone can look up track this small object in space all by themselves. Some people have actually videotaped it. Yet I cannot find any evidence that NASA’s Human Spaceflight website or on its ISS/Shuttle tracking page have done anything to build upon this obvious public interest so as to facilitate more sightings. At least for a moment, a lot of people could participate albeit from afar, in the observation of this unintended satellite. But NASA does not seem to care.
This points to a critical – and chronic – failure as to how NASA interacts with the public. Something captures the public’s attention in a way that normally does not happen with shuttle missions such that they are drawn to lookup at the night sky. Does NASA do anything to encourage that behavior? No. Instead they treat this toolbag as a nuisance – one that they hope will go away. Alas, that is also how they are treating public interest in NASA. And if they are not careful, that interest will most certainly go away too.
