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Human Spaceflight


For the first time since NASA retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011, American astronauts will once again launch to the International Space Station from U.S. soil. The U.S. space agency on August 3 named the teams of astronauts who will fly aboard the first commercial crew missions to and from low Earth orbit. This time, …

Katherine Johnson, a trailblazing mathematician whose calculations were instrumental in every major NASA spaceflight program, celebrated her 100th birthday on August 26. Johnson mapped the flight of Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space in 1961. And when John Glenn was preparing for his first orbital flight in 1962, he didn’t trust NASA’s …

The iconic launch pads, Pads 39A and 39B at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39, have been the starting point for many space flights including the first manned lunar landing. The original design for Launch Complex 39 called for three to five launch pads, designated 39A – 39E, that would have been spaced approximately 1.6 …

It has long been known that SpaceX’s long term goal is the colonization of Mars. Everyone from the engineers to their CEO, Elon Musk, dreams of a world away from home. In September of 2016, we got a glimpse of how SpaceX is going to get there. At last, the long rumored Interplanetary Transport System …

After a ‘very fast fire’, a four-month hiatus, a complicated anomaly, and a general shaking of confidence, SpaceX was finally able to launch – and land – their Falcon 9 rocket once again last month. This is the first of 27 missions for 2017, a slate of launches that will not only introduce the final version of …

Hollywood has made a lot of movies about space and NASA, but none quite like this. The new film Hidden Figures, to be released December 25, reveals the work of three African-American women who were the brains behind NASA’s most critical missions. Taraji Henson stars as Katherine Johnson, a math genius from rural West Virginia who calculated trajectories …

NASA has finished welding together the very first fuel tank for America’s humongous Space Launch System (SLS) deep space rocket currently under development. RocketSTEM had an up close look at the liquid hydrogen (LH2) test tank shortly after its birth as well as the first flight tank, within hours of completion of the milestone assembly …

The Air Force Space & Missile Museum and separate History Center, both located in Cape Canaveral, Florida, provide a unique look back at past space adventures, hardware, and facilities. You’ll find the entrance to the History Center just outside the main entrance of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The History Center, located just off …

If you’ve never been to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and you are reading this article, well you owe it to yourself to make that trip at some point. If you have been there before, but not in a few years, I’d suggest that it’s time for a return trip. The complex has undergone …

Five years ago, Space Shuttle Discovery launched on her final mission. Today we take a look back at her history and accomplishments during 27 years of spaceflight. Space Shuttle Discovery arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 9, 1983. After testing and a hot test firing, the orbiter launched on its first mission on …