Archives for the 'NASA' Category
Ares I-X Launch Photos
Published on 4 Nov 2009 at 12:21 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under NASA, rockets.
It’s been a week since the Ares I-X launch, so you are probably wondering where the pictures are. After the launch, I tried to clean up as best I could in the bathroom at the space center, and I headed straight to the airport to catch my plane back to DFW. Upon returning, I have […]
40 Years Ago
Published on 16 Jul 2009 at 9:38 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under NASA, history, space exploration.
40 years ago today a giant Saturn V rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on a trip of a lifetime. The astronauts were going to the Moon. The Saturn V rocket was an amazing piece of equipment. It was the largest rocket that was ever built (the Soviets had tried to build one […]
A new NASA administrator, finally?
Published on 23 May 2009 at 11:32 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under NASA, politics.
Michael Griffin, NASA’s previous top administrator, stepped down January 20, 2009. NASA has been without a top administrator ever since. Now, that does not mean that NASA has been aimless or without leadership. Christopher Scolese has been serving as acting administrator since Griffin stepped down. But, an acting administrator is not the same thing as […]
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The Mercury Seven
Published on 9 Apr 2009 at 10:31 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under NASA, history, space exploration.
Fifty years ago, the newly created NASA announced the selection of seven military test pilots who would be serving as America’s first astronauts. Officially, they are Astronaut Group 1, but most people call them the Mercury Seven. Selected from Naval aviators were Malcolm Scott Carpenter, Walter Marty (Wally) Shirra, Jr., and Alan Bartlett […]
NASA’s WB-57 Aircraft
Published on 24 Jan 2009 at 10:31 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under NASA, aeronautics.
The same hangar at Ellington Field that houses NASA’s C-9B also houses the agency’s two WB-57 aircraft. So, I got to see them when I was there for the microgravity flight.
Out of over 400 various variants B-57s built, only two still fly. NASA operates both of them to fly high altitude research missions. […]
Zero G and feeling fine
Published on 14 Jan 2009 at 5:01 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under NASA, microgravity flight.
I grew up during the height of the space race. I wanted to be an astronaut. I had astronaut play sets. I built spaceships for them. I built Lego spaceships. I had a space helmet. I was going to be an astronaut. Things didn’t work out that way. […]
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Neutral Buoyancy Lab
Published on 12 Jan 2009 at 6:56 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under NASA.
The pressure chamber that I wrote about in my last posting is at the Sonny Carter Training Center, home to NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab. The NBL is the latest of NASA’s attempts to simulate the weightlessness of space using water immersion. In the early days of spaceflight, nobody knew what to expect during […]
