Meet the Astronauts for the Crew-1 Mission
When SpaceX launches the Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft atop it from historic Launch Complex 39A, the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) will finally have reached fruition. Aboard Resilience will be three NASA astronauts and one JAXA astronaut, all heading to the International Space Station for a six-month stay at the orbiting …
This Week in History: November 15-21
NOVEMBER 15, 1927: Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Wachmann at Hamburg Observatory in Bergedorf, Germany, discover a very unusual comet, 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, that travels entirely between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn and that undergoes repeated outbursts at irregular intervals. It is this week’s “Comet of the Week.” NOVEMBER 15, 2016: Polish astronomers Filip Berski and …
Comet of the Week: 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 1927j
Perihelion: 1925 May 7.84, q = 5.475 AU One of the most unusual and remarkable comets that we know about was discovered just a little less than a century ago, when on November 15, 1927, the duo of Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Wachmann at Hamburg Observatory in Bergedorf, Germany, found it on photographs as it was …
Special Topic: Comets and Meteor Showers
I first began to show an interest in astronomy when I was 6 years old, although my interests shifted between astronomy and various other scientific fields over the next few years. My father was an early riser, and one morning when I was 8 he was engaged in his normal morning routine when he noticed that …
Crew Dragon and Falcon 9: The newest way to get to the ISS
It has been a long road from concept to flight for the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) culminating in the successful launch of the Demo 2 flight which launched May 30, 2020. SpaceX now begins fulfilling its contract with NASA taking astronauts to the International Space Station and returning them home safely with the launch of …
From cell phones to spacecraft – touchscreens are taking over UI
As SpaceX prepares to launch NASA’s Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station, the Crew Dragon spacecraft has already distinguished itself from prior generations of space capsules. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley set off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 30, 2020, and reached the ISS with no complications while testing out new features …