Human Spaceflight
Landing of Expedition 36
Expedition 36 Soyuz landing – The Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft with Expedition 36 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin and Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy (sitting far left) landed in a remote area of Kazakhstan on Sept. 11. They returned to Earth after five and a half months serving aboard the International Space Station. This article appeared …
Launch of Expedition 37 to ISS
Expedition 37 launch – The Soyuz TMA-10M rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 26, carrying Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov, NASA Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins (left, middle) and Russian Flight Engineer Sergei Ryazansky to the ISS. Their Soyuz rocket launched at 2:58 a.m. local time. This article appeared in the 3rd issue of …
Columbia STS-1 Launch
April 12, 1981: Space Shuttle Columbia launched this day from the LC-39A pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-1 mission lasted just two days, circling the Earth 37 times, before landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Columbia carried a crew of two – mission commander John W. Young and pilot Robert …
Contest challenges students to design new radiation shield
NASA is challenging school-children to protect their future ride into space. The agency’s Exploration Design Challenge (EDC), announced March 11 during an event at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, engages U.S. students in kindergarten through high school in helping to solve the known problem of increased radiation exposure encountered on flights into deep space. …
A conversation with Skylab 4 astronaut Ed Gibson
America’s first space station, Skylab was launched into orbit on a Saturn V rocket in May of 1973. Three manned missions to the outpost were immensely successful. Repairs made to the orbital station during several spacewalks ultimately proved that it was possible for astronauts to conduct work in outer space, which gave NASA the confidence …
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 …