Milestones in space exploration: yesterday, today and tomorrow April: A privately-financed mission is launched to Mir. May: The Shuttle crew (STS-101/2A.2a) delivers supplies, re-boosts and repairs the International Space Station. July 12: The Zvezda service module of the International Space Station reaches orbit. August: The first Progress cargo ship arrives…
Anyone who s found themselves beneath a spectacularly starry night sky has to wonder what s out there. That same person, though, might stare out at a dark ocean at night and ponder the very same thing. And yet the resources we ve committed to the vast, largely unexplored ocean is a mere fraction of what we ve invested in space exploration. Jacqueline Ronson…
The Hubble Space Telescope was designed to free astronomers of a limitation that has plagued them since the days of Galileo—Earth s atmosphere. Shifting air pockets in the atmosphere block and distort light, limiting the view from even the most powerful Earth-bound instruments. Orbital telescopes function as eyes in the sky that allow astronomers to peer farther…
Dr. Malina Hills and retired Aerospace engineer Steven Soukup at opening of the Space Exploration Gallery of the Flight Path Museum and Learning Center on Thursday, Sept. 22. (Photo: Elisa Haber) The Space Exploration Gallery, the newest exhibit at the Flight Path Museum and Learning Center and cosponsored by Aerospace, has officially opened following a ribbon-cutting…
“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.” -Carl Sagan As Sagan pointed out in his book Cosmos , space is the great unifier of all those who live on Earth. Such is the underlying mentality of the new art project . Supported by Roscosmos, the…
When the satellite Sputnik orbited pulled ahead in the space race. The Cold War was on, and the United States scrambled to respond in kind. It had already developed a satellite under another national program, but it became clear that a dedicated space agency was in order. President Eisenhower and Senator Lyndon B. Johnson led the drive. It took one year from…
NASA s space shuttle was unlike any other spacecraft built during the 30 years the program was in operation. Unlike the much smaller capsules of the Apollo era, which launched on the tips of rockets and splashed back into the ocean, the jetliner-size shuttle was designed to streak into space using powerful boosters and return to solid ground as a glider. The…
