Piers Bizony peers into NASA’s history through the lens of Hasselblad cameras
Piers Bizony is an accomplished science journalist, space historian and documentary film maker. His books have explored the enormity and spectacle of the Universe as well as focused all way down to the sheer emptiness of a single atom. In his 2017 book Moonshots, Bizony takes readers on a photographic journey of 50 years of …
Jerome Pohlen brings alive ‘The Apollo Missions for Kids’
All across America and throughout the world, celebrations are being held this month to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s first landing on the Moon. Well-traveled author Jerome Pohlen was just a kid when the Saturn V rockets were launching astronauts to the Moon from 1968 until 1972, but that era still has left …
Farouk El-Baz’s space odyssey from NASA to Star Trek
Farouk El-Baz once trained the astronauts who were planning for the 1969 Apollo Moon landing. Today, the former NASA geologist is training students at Boston University in how to use satellite images and other sensors to study the Earth. Of his role within the Apollo program, particularly Apollo 11’s crewed lunar landing, the Egyptian-born El-Baz said, “We …
‘Rocket to the Moon’ with the multitalented Don Brown
With the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon rapidly approaching, there has been a plethora of books about the Apollo program released during the past year. We’ve been deluged with such books here at RocketSTEM in the past couple of months. That has been a good thing too. The ever-rising stack …
First night launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy lofts 24 science satellites into orbit
Twenty-four science satellites streaked to orbit during an absolutely spectacular middle-of-the-night liftoff Tuesday. It was the first night launch of the triple-stick SpaceX Falcon Heavy program. As an added bonus it also featured the first ever fairing catch by the Ms. Tree boat out at sea, as well as twin landings of the side boosters …
NASA’s Martian helicopter enters final test phase for 2020 rover
Going where no helicopter has gone before, humanity’s maiden Martian chopper has entered its final testing phase with the goal of proving the rather difficult feat that a heavier-than-air vehicle can fly in the Red Planet’s extremely thin atmosphere. If all goes well, the Martian helicopter will be mated to the belly of NASA’s 2020 …
Hubble captures rare self-destructing asteroid
Thanks to the advanced imaging capabilities of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in cooperation with other observatories, astronomers were able to identify and explain a rare and beautiful object in the distant sky: an active asteroid that is in the process of coming apart. The image of the asteroid known as 6478 Gault shows two narrow, comet-like tails …
Israeli Beresheet lander crashes onto Moon; new mission planned
After a gallant effort worthy of the celestial goal the small privately built Israeli moon lander Beresheet fortified with high hopes failed in the final minutes of its autonomous descent to Earth’s nearest neighbor and crash landed onto the lunar surface Thursday afternoon, April 10. The Beresheet team, led by main investor Morris Kahn, soon …
See the first-ever image of a black hole
Until now, everything we’ve known about black holes — celestial objects with intense gravitation — has been from theories and illustrations. Now, thanks to an international collaboration called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a cosmic portrait of a supermassive black hole exists. At the center of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) in the Virgo constellation, the …
NASA’s first women-only spacewalk to occur this week
U.S. space agency NASA will send astronauts Anne McClain, 39, and Christina Koch, 40, on NASA’s first women-only spacewalk this Friday (March 29th). The all-female spacewalk also will be supported by a female ground crew: Mary Lawrence will serve as lead flight director and Jackie Kagey will be lead spacewalk flight controller at NASA’s Johnson …
SpaceX Crew Dragon completes successful first mission to ISS
The United States of America moved one giant step closer to regaining the ability to send astronauts into space today. Early this morning SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida after conducting a five-day test mission docked to the International Space Station. “If you just think about …
Opportunity completes record-setting 15 year mission on Mars
The longest surviving robot ever to explore the surface of Mars – the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover – was declared dead by NASA officials on February 13, 2019, after conducting a record-setting 15 year mission on the Red Planet, when she failed to respond to a final set of “phone home” commands sent last night …
Five future astronauts and a teacher you need to know
All five of the women in NASA’s latest class of astronaut candidates followed a passion for adventure and science to get where they are today and are inspirations for the next generation of NASA scientists. Kayla Barron, Zena Cardman, Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O’Hara and Jessica Watkins are nearing the end of two years of intensive …
International Space Station’s 20 years of transformation
The largest and most complex international construction project in space began on the steppes of Kazakhstan 20 years ago today. Atop its Proton rocket, on Nov. 20, 1998, the Zarya Functional Cargo Block thundered off its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome to serve as a temporary control module for the nascent International Space Station. …
Meet the astronauts launching a new era of U.S. 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, …
NASA pioneer Katherine Johnson celebrates 100th birthday
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 …
NASA mission in Senegal promotes scientific discovery
When NASA scientists assembled telescopes in her home country of Senegal, Binita Yanni knew very little about astronomy and didn’t realize a career in planetary sciences was even a possibility. Determined to learn why 21 U.S. telescopes were stationed throughout the Senegalese countryside, the 20-year-old chemical engineering student approached lead scientist Adriana Ocampo on the …
When disaster strikes, space agencies share forecasts
From major hurricanes in the U.S. and Caribbean islands to floods in India, NASA and U.S. satellites have helped countries better forecast and respond to extreme weather events. Currently, U.S. satellites are tracking a typhoon in the East China Sea and hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean using big-picture data from space. During the recent hurricanes Harvey and …
The Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017
A Total Solar Eclipse is a once in a lifetime event for most people and often occurs in a very specific area for just a short period of time. For the first time in a very long time the USA will experience a Total Solar Eclipse across the entire country from the West Coast to the …
America’s gateway to space: LC-39A
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 …