Al Worden on the honor of being an astronaut
“Do you know what they did down on the Moon? What those guys’ primary job was? They picked up rocks and dirt. Now, myself, in lunar orbit…” — Al Worden, Apollo 15 CMP USAF Colonel Alfred Worden served as Command Module Pilot for Apollo 15 – the fourth manned lunar landing mission. He also holds the …
The difference it made: Building a car for the Moon
Neil Armstrong set the first distance record with an impromptu amble to Little West crater. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean exceeded that several times over by circling out and down into Surveyor Crater. Edgar Mitchell still holds the title for longest one, over a mile, made when he and Alan Shepard went looking for Cone …
Celebrating Mars New Year
The town of Mars, Pennsylvania and NASA marked the Martian New Year with a three-day celebration in the small western Pennsylvania borough. As part of the celebration of the Red Planet’s latest complete journey around the Sun, the town hosted three days of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) activities. This article appeared in the …
These robots are out of this world
It may have lacked the destructive mayhem of a BattleBots competition, but the 2015 Sample Return Robot Challenge also just may hold the key in furthering our space exploration goals. Sixteen teams competed in the event held last month at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass. Teams were required to demonstrate autonomous robots …
When good rockets go bad
Behind the scenes of launch control Space flight is dangerous and not just for the astronauts. Over the hundred plus years of rocket technology and space flight growth, many have died just working on rockets or even testing them, from engineers to flight pad crew to even spectators. Progress comes with a price and with …
Crisis strikes Russian space program
A series of unfortunate events happened in end of April and beginning of May that has raised a few eyebrows about the current state of affairs in Russia’s space exploration program. A string of failures unfolded in the following sequence: On 28th of April 2015, Soyuz-2.1a Launch Vehicle with Progress M-27M cargo vehicle experienced an anomaly …