Crowdsourcing Space Exploration

Jumping from the “Edge” of Space

Jumping from the “Edge” of Space

The imagery accompanying Felix Baumgartner’s record setting jump on Sunday was both compelling in the moment, and evocative of moments gone by. The piercing clear blue sky, and the thin,  ethereal nature of the balloon itself soon gave way to the infrared imagery of a single man plummeting through the atmosphere at a speed greater than that which most […]

“Looks Like We’ve Tamed the Dragon”

“Looks Like We’ve Tamed the Dragon”

Watch live coveage of CRS-1 at SpaceX.com SpaceX CRS-1 Mission Update:  October 10, 2012 Update from SpaceX The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has been successfully captured at the International Space Station. At approximately 6:56AM ET / 3:56AM PT, Expedition 33 crew member Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency used the station’s robotic arm to grapple Dragon. Expedition 33 […]

Soyuz  “Lite” Test Failure

Soyuz “Lite” Test Failure

According to a report on russianspaceweb, a test firing of the new Soyuz “lite” rocket failed on August 16th, possibly causing damage to the test facility. The new rocket is a less expensive version of the venerable Soyuz booster which employing a single NK-33 engine instead of the conventional sustainer core with 4 liquid strap-on boosters which has powered […]

Retreating from History

Retreating from History

Even as American athletes give it their all in the Olympic Games in London, competing against the best the world has to offer, sometimes wining, sometimes not,  the man who leads one of the few institutions globally identified with American exceptionalism,  NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told the editorial board of USA today that he had no wish […]

Oldspace vs. Newspace

Oldspace vs. Newspace

An article appearing at MSNBC.com (by the author of this post) examines several reasons why Spacex should be one of two primary  winners in the Commercial Crew competition.  One point which should be underscored is the relative difference between the launch vehicle components, and the crew capsules. Both Sierra Nevada’s Dreamchaser and the the Blue Origin entry are originally scheduled […]

Morpheus Lander Testing at KSC

Morpheus Lander Testing at KSC

NASA is about to begin a new round of testing with the Morpheus lander, this time on a specially prepared hazard field near the Shuttle Landing Strip at KSC.  Built by Johnson Space Center with input from Armadillo Aerospace, the Morpheus project is another example of the potential collaboration between the space agency and NewSpace companies.  Powered by […]

B612 Foundation Announces First Private Deep Space Telescope

B612 Foundation Announces First Private Deep Space Telescope

Thursday morning, the B612 foundation will formally announce a mission to launch the first privately funded science mission to deep space, a telescope launched into solar orbit and tasked with searching the inner solar system for Near Earth Asteroids. The goal is to identify and map the trajectories of NEA’s in the inner solar system to […]

“Welcome Home Baby”

“Welcome Home Baby”

SpaceX Press Release on Dragon Landing

SpaceX Press Release on Dragon Landing

THE DRAGON HAS (SPLASH) LANDED SpaceX’s Dragon Spacecraft Safely Completes Historic Mission to the Space Station   Hawthorne, CA – This morning, at approximately 8:42 AM Pacific/11:42 AM Eastern, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) completed its historic mission when the Dragon spacecraft splashed down safely in the Pacific.  The vehicle will now be recovered by boats […]

You Can Run….

You Can Run….

First video of the Dragon approaching the International Space Station.

π