Archives for the 'space exploration' Category
Space Pens
Published on 27 Mar 2008 at 1:11 pm.
11 Comments.
Filed under history, space exploration.
When I was in high school, someone gave me an “astronaut pen.” I was awfully proud of that pen. After all, how many people got a chance to use a pen that had been used in space, I thought? Eventually, though, I lost my prized astronaut pen. Later, I found that […]
Selling Space
Published on 25 Mar 2008 at 8:35 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under history, space exploration.
Yesterday, I saw a news item about space memorabilia being auctioned nearby in Dallas. The auction is being held by Heritage Auction Galleries. What caught my attention was the news headline declaring that patches from Buzz Aldrin’s spacesuit were to be auctioned off. Actually, it isn’t just Buzz Aldrin’s spacesuit patches being […]
Jules Verne about to launch
Published on 7 Mar 2008 at 11:37 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under space exploration, space station.
Nearly a month ago I wrote about the author Jules Verne. Today, I am writing about another Jules Verne. Only this one is not a person. It is the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV).
ESA’s ATV is a cargo vessel designed to ferry supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). […]
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Return to Luna writing contest
Published on 4 Mar 2008 at 3:20 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under science fiction, space exploration.
The National Space Society and Hadley Rille Books are hosting a Return to Luna science fiction writing contest. Contestants are to submit a short story (2000 to 6000 words) about lunar exploration, preferably in the near future.  (To illustrate how little that is, yesterday’s posting about escape velocity was only a little over 2000 […]
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Explorer 1
Published on 30 Jan 2008 at 5:15 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under history, space exploration.
Tomorrow, January 31, marks 50 years in space for the United States.
50 years ago, on the evening of January 31, 1958, a Juno rocket (also known as a Jupiter-C rocket), which was basically a modified Redstone ballistic missile, roared to life on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, in Florida. Seconds later, at […]
30 Years of Progress
Published on 21 Jan 2008 at 8:24 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under space exploration, space station.
Thirty years ago yesterday, January 20, 1978, a Soyuz rocket booster lifted off from the Soviet Union carrying a craft that looked very similar to a Soyuz manned spacecraft. However, this craft had no crew, nor was it designed to ever hold crew members. It could never return to Earth intact. Instead, […]
Mercury, finally.
Published on 13 Jan 2008 at 12:49 pm.
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Filed under Mercury, planets, space exploration.
The MESSENGER spacecraft is now nearly to Mercury. It will pass that planet tomorrow, Monday, January 13, 2008, at about 1:05pm, Central Standard Time. I have published two other postings about MESSENGER (here and here). I am not going to restate all of that, so you can go back and read them […]
