Human Spaceflight
Skylab: Disaster followed by triumph
The launch of any new spacecraft cannot be regarded as ‘routine’; nor, indeed, can its inaugural checkout in orbit. The Skylab orbital workshop was an entirely new concept for the United States and a totally different spacecraft, larger, more spacious and in many ways far more complex, than any that had gone before. Shortly after launch, telemetry data indicated a premature deployment of the protective micrometeoroid shield and the No. 2 workshop solar array. The very future of the space station was hanging by a thread.
Skylab: The flown and unflown missions
An overview of each Skylab mission, from launch of the orbiting space station through the once planned Space Shuttle rescue mission.
Evolution of the space toilet
When Alan Shepard first went into space, he wet his pants. There was no toilet and that was his only option. Scientists put their heads together and created the modern diaper. Before this event, people used cloth diapers. The crews of the Apollo missions were a bit luckier, with diapers, but it still wasn’t very …
Salute to the Pioneers of Space
The last man to walk on the Moon decided to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this occasion at the place where his flight career started. Held Dec. 15 at the National Naval Aviation Museum, with 1,200 of his friends, the event was split up into several different panel discussions. The morning panel included individuals such …
Gene Cernan: A conversation with the last men on the Moon
Forty years have passed since he left mankind’s last bootprint on the Moon, but Gene Cernan is a man focused on the future. He strongly believes that inspiring dreams within children, and encouraging STEM education is the path to a future where we walk on the Moon again. Cernan: “What we have to do is …
Harrison Schmitt: A conversation with the last men on the Moon
Of the 12 men who explored the Moon, only Dr. Harrison ‘Jack’ Schmitt was a professional geologist. After years spent training those who had gone before him, he blazed a trail for the scientist-astronauts who would later follow him into space. Schmitt: “Well I think it was important to the space program because it set …
Apollo 17: Final voyage to the Moon
Forty years ago, humanity left its last footprints on the surface of another celestial body. Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison ‘Jack’ Schmitt guided their lunar module Challenger down into a beautiful, mountain-ringed valley in the Taurus Mountains, on the edge of the Moon’s Serenitatis basin, just south of the ancient crater Littrow. The spectacular …
Julian Leek has an eagle’s eye view of Space Coast
It may seem like nothing more than a tall tale, to hear that after arriving at the Space Coast in the last 1960s, a teenager from England soon would be riding atop the launch tower for a Saturn V as it rolled out to the launch pad. But in this case, it is the real …
NASA developing SLS rocket to take us beyond LEO again
What is the Space Launch System? It’s NASA’s plan for a next generation space exploration vehicle, and it is built like a big puzzle by putting together the best of both the Saturn V that took men to the Moon and the Space Shuttle that for 30 years took us to low Earth orbit. Here’s …
Orion advancing toward 2014 test flight
NASA is making steady progress toward liftoff of the inaugural space-bound Orion crew capsule. The agency aims for a Florida blastoff of the uncrewed Exploration Flight Test-1 mission (EFT-1) – about 18 months from now – in September 2014 atop a Delta 4 Heavy Booster, NASA officials informed me. Orion will ultimately fly astronauts to …