Space X Makes Historic Launch

In a historic first, Space X successfully launched a refurbished Dragon cargo craft atop a Falcon 9 rocket, which returned to the launch pad a few minutes later.

SpaceX Liftoff

Falcon 9 return

NASA Orders Second SpaceX Crew Mission to International Space Station

Friday, NASA took an important step in returning U.S. astronaut launches to U.S. soil.

This came in the form of a second post-certification mission from commercial provider SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. 

This will increase  America’s human spaceflight launch capability and increase the time U.S. crews can dedicate to scientific research, which is helping prepare astronauts for deep space missions, including the Journey to Mars.

Please click HERE for the complete NASA article.

Things I Bet You Never Have Seen Before: High Speed Film of Apollo 11

I know, we have all seen the launch of Apollo 11 on its way towards history.  But I am willing to bet that most (myself included) have never seen footage of the launch taken at extremely high speed from various points around the craft.

In this great piece of film we see the frames from camera E8 on pad 39b shooting at 500 frames a second for about 8 minutes of watching but is in truth only about 30 seconds of real-time!

The film shows ignition of the 5 f-1 engines and lift-off.  The narration is wonderful in describing what it is we are seeing (quite frankly you could have told me it was the gates of hell opening and I would have had to consider it, just from the hellish amounts of flame and smoke ) .

I am stunned by just how much material is out there, but this short is an excellent jumping off point.

Enjoy!

Orion Closer to December Test Flight

In a recent NASA notice, the space agency reported that Orion was moved out of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA also noted that the Delta IV Heavy rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, made its move Tuesday night, to nearby Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was raised Wednesday from the horizontal position into its vertical launch configuration.

Orion now awaits the installation of  the launch abort system.


Once the launch abort system is stacked on the  crew and service modules,  the Orion spacecraft will be considered complete. It then will wait inside the launch abort system facility until mid-November, when the Delta IV Heavy rocket is ready for integration with the spacecraft.
 
NASA has already tested, processed and attached to each other the three Common Booster Cores of the Delta 4 Heavy,  to form the first stage that will connect to Orion’s service module.

Orion is capable of  providing living quarters for up to 21 days.   An additional habitat module will be made available for longer missions.  This will  provide extra space for crew and equipment.

Read the complete NASA release HERE

Iran to Space a Cat.....

Yep, Iran wants a space cat....Persian if you please.

What am I babbling about?  Well the word from IRNA (Iran's news agency) is that Iran is planning on sending a Persian cat into space.

Honest!  Oh and it is not like Iran doesn't have a track record for these type of launches, they claim to have sent a monkey into space already, although there is quite a lot of controversy surrounding that claim because the picture of the monkey that Iran says they launched is a different breed of monkey that came back....(it was aliens.....i seen em).

It would seem that Iran's Persian will be in rarefied company as only France in 1963 sent a cat on a 15 minute space flight.

Well anyway, Iran plans the cat launch for Mach of 2014. 

The complete article is at this address

Unexpected Passenger on Recent NASA Launch

In a recent NASA "LADEE" launch, (LADEE stands for Lunar Atmosphere & Dust Environment Explorer.  The craft is on a 100 day mission in orbit around the moon.  From the ABC article The purpose of the mission is to gather measurements and explore the moon's atmosphere, sending information back to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.) employees discovered that the Minotaur launch rocket had an unexpected stow-away. 

Chris Perry was in charge of setting up cameras to catch still photos of the launch.  In one frame there is the unmistakable outline of a frog.   Perry said that the frog was more than likely about 150 feet away from the rocket when it fired.    

Frogs and toads are common around the Wallops Flight Facility with hundreds  living in the acres of marsh lands surrounding the launch pad.  Quite likely the frogs are attracted to the area by the flies and other insects that proliferate in the area. 

However as NASA employee Keith Koehler stated, "We've never seen this at Wallops before. I've been here 30 years,"

As you can see, the frog's outline shows up clearly in the upper left of the photo.

Read the complete ABC News HERE

Antares Orbital Sciences Launches Antares

A rocket built by Orbital Sciences Corp. lifted off from Wallops Island, a NASA facility on the Virginia coast and transitioned into space Sunday, in a near picture-perfect maiden flight. This test flight demonstrates Orbital Sciences Corp's ability to deploy to the space station carrying cargo. It is hoped that deliveries will be able to start later this year. Sunday's 5:00pm launch was described as a total success. Check out the short video of Sunday's launch.

Huge Flying Launch System, Next Rutan/Allen Project

Where are Burt Rutan / Paul Allen going after their present project is up and running on it's own? Well how about this monster! A gigantic 385-foot wing span, 544-tonne plane powered by six 747 engines that will serve as a flying launch platform for 490,000 pound orbital rockets.

The reason it looks so familiar is Rutan built SpaceShipOne, the ship that made the first private suborbital flight, as well as its http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifmothership, WhiteKnightOne and the follow on versions for Virgin Galactic: WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo. Of course it will not be a sole effort either, SpaceX will be providing support in the way of boosters for the payload.

Here is a short animated film showing how the Stratolaunch System will work.





complete Gizmodo article here

Expedition 30 Launches

With the Russian space effort taking a few knocks lately, it is good to see that Soyuz TMA-22 lifted from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Expedition 30 flight launched 04:15am on 11/14/11 carrying 1 American astronaut and 2 Russian cosmonauts. With the current ISS crew set to return to Earth on 21 November.

With the new crew now on it's way, fears that the ISS would be unmanned for 2012 due to repeated failures in the Soyuz crew capsule, have been allayed.

The Daily Galaxy

Can the Private Sector do it Faster & Cheaper than NASA?

Just in case you live in a cave somewhere and were not up to speed as to what SpaceX has up it's sleeve - below is a short animation of their Dragon / Falcon 9 heavy, reusable launch system. What makes this interesting again is a recent report from NASA where they admit that the private sector can accomplish mission critical launches far cheaper than NASA can do it on it's own.

With the system shown here from SpaceX - the estimate is that from build to launch, they can - with the reusable vehicle - launch at roughly $60 million for launch and construction.


Here is the complete Dvice article

Close Call on 4/5/2011 Soyuz Launch wtf?

Hey, wanna see a close call that will make you damn glad you are NOT an astronaut? Check out this video of the April 5th 2011 Soyuz Spacecraft launch. I think if I were on-board and knew this was going on around the launch vehicle, I would have wet my space diaper for sure. Now I don't know how authentic the film is. (I first saw it on Daily Galaxy website) and since absolutely no one reacts to what happened, and I don't remember anything like this on the news right? So I am leaning towards hoax. But you watch it and let me know your take.

NASA underestimated shuttle dangers

In a recent USA Today article I read where NASA's Shuttle Program Safety and Mission Assurance Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston did a risk assessment of the dangers of shuttle missions.

As much as I hate to NASA bash, the initial results are disturbing to say the least.

When NASA start flying the shuttles in 1981, NASA managers thought there was only a 1-in-100,000 chance of losing a shuttle and its crew. Engineers thought the probability was closer to 1 in 100. The frightening fact is that those early missions had odds of less than 1 in 10!

From the article:

• Consider this: There was only a 6% chance that NASA would fly its first 25 shuttle missions without losing an astronaut crew, the assessment shows.
• Moreover, on the 88 shuttle missions flown between the Challenger and Columbia accidents, there was only a 7% chance disaster would be averted.

NASA realizes that to be more successful they need a " very robust test program" and collect as much data as possible.

In fact after two major accidents and many near misses shuttle now is 10 times safer than it was during the first flight in April 1981. The odds of a catastrophic failure now are 1 in 90.

WTF! Thermonuclear Space Shots?

Since the earliest days of printed and even cinematic science fiction, the thought of gaining access to the heavenly bodies often included in it's arsenal of launch systems, a very large bore cannon. Who among us has not seen, at least partially, men in top hats and tails entering what can only be described as the mother of all artillery shells. Said conveyance is then thrust into the bore (oh yes, I am very aware of what I am typing) of an equally large cannon by a bevy of 20s bathing beauties, to be fired, with rather gruesome effects into the right eye of the man in the moon. (I saw the sequence for the first time as a child only to be horrified as the yokey mess poured from the mutilated eye around our intrepid travelers cannon shell.)

Ahh the good ole days. Romantic or otherwise, ballistic space travel using a cannon or otherwise proved to be impractical in so many ways. So you can well understand my reaction when looking through various news articles, I found myself instead traveling the on-ramp of the magical mushroom mystery motorcade.

This is the article on the Next Big Future site via Dvice blog -Sea Based Launch Option for the Nuclear space launch cannon.

Nope I am not crazy and even Dvice thinks it's only "mostly" crazy. Even Joseph Friedlander, father to this brain child, admits the inspiration came from Vern's gun.

And to prove what comes next is not something I netted from a fever dream, here is an article excerpt:

• Dig a kilometer deep shaft, at the bottom build a giant cannon shell. Finally, after all is in readiness, pump reaction mass through an access shaft under the (shell) into a prepared chamber and place a thermonuclear explosive device in the midst of the reaction mass.

Surprisingly there are some who don't like this method, something about a smoking, kilometers deep, radioactive hole the launch would leave behind. (I would almost guess that each launch is a one off. Just from the fracturing of the bedrock alone....) And the not so crazy part? Well cost.
Each launch could be 1000 tons plus and with all the cost factored in the cost per pound would be around $100! I wonder if they factored in cleanup? I mean, someone has to back-fill that hole right?

This has got Slim Pickens written all over it huh?

Check out the articles on Dvice & Next Big Future

Dvice article
Nuclear space launch article on Next Big Future

Space X launches Falcon 9

Whoooooooo hooooooo talk about a great launch! Here we have Space X launching their Falcon 9 two stage rocket into Earth orbit. According to Dvice the launch from Cape Canaveral was a picture-perfect liftoff. The Falcon 9 launch vehicle carried a payload called the Dragon cargo module. The system is being built by SpaceX with a mission to deliver supplies to the international space station and bring back equipment and experiment samples to Earth. With this successful launch Space X now has a contract of 12 flights first of which is a resupply mission. The system is unique as it is largely reusable which in theory should keep the cost down. Below is the launch with a dummy payload that did make it into orbit.



ABH news article

Dvice article

Space X

Wiki on the Falcon 9 launch system

Death by 1000 cuts: Rocket Launches May Need Regulation

I may be a little bit on the paranoid side here, however this article in Science Daily to me is a prime example of how to destroy progress and innovation. Slowly starve it of it's support and financial base. Over reaction? Perhaps, but the article reports on a paper just released that suggests that to preserve our ozone layer rocket launches will need to be curtailed in the future.

In the article, according to:

• Professor Darin Toohey of CU-Boulder's atmospheric and oceanic sciences department. "If left unregulated, rocket launches by the year 2050 could result in more ozone destruction than was ever realized by CFCs."

As right as this sounds....it's completely wrong headed. We have found it impossible to do with cars and trucks. In the end, it was and will be more efficient engines and less polluting fuel sources.

You want to confine Humans to one small rock, then cut down on ways to get off the planet and research on how to live somewhere else. We need more and bigger rockets, cheaper, more efficient...not fewer.

Read the article. In my mind, there is damn little science here to base such a conclusion on...

Shuttle/Bat dies glorious death!

Got to give this one to Gizmodo, I wasn't going to mention it, but they put a neat spin on the whole affair. I was watching the latest Shuttle launch on NASA tv when, with scant minutes remaining, I heard chatter pertaining to a bat that was spotted clinging to the ET. The decision was to leave it along for risk of delaying the launch further. The rest of the story was "Wildlife experts deduced that he had injured his wing and shoulder, leaving him with little chance of survival. He remained on the tank until launch."

On the Gizmodo site and NASA you can see where the bat's location put it in harms way shortly after the SRBs ignited. What a way to go huh?

SpaceX Finally Gets Into Orbit

From Gizmodo: SpaceX wrote history Sunday September 28th - as the first private financed company to achieve orbit with a rocket. The next launch on SpaceX’ launch manifest will be a Falcon 1 carrying RazakSat for Malaysia. This launch if successful will be followed then by the maiden flight of the much larger Falcon 9 rocket in the second quarter of 2009.

Company representatives say they are looking to a new era of significantly lower launch costs that will allow for more flights

Click here for a video of the launch

The International Space Fellowship Via Gizmodo

China's Space launch news is FAKETASTIC!

News of China's successful launch of it's first space walk flight hit the web hours before the actual launch of the rocket. Creepier still was that the news release had transcripts of conversations between the astronauts and mission control. Shades of Capricorn 1 huh guys? Like the Yahoo News article said - "No wonder (people) think we never went to the Moon!" Said to be a technical glitch, it still means that reports of the whole event were to be completely manufactured and have no relationship to the actual mission! Gizmodo has it right - they exclaim "Faketastic!"

<- Yahoo News via Gizmodo ->

A Most Unusual Shuttle Launch View

A lucky and level headed Air Canada flier had a once in a life time event. From Gizmodo is a short film our intrepid flier happened to catch out his window seat portal. The amazing thing you get from this video is clearly how fast this machine makes orbit. Freakin amazin.

SpaceX Falcon 1 launch fails

Gizmodo reports that Space X's Falcon 1 rocket failed shortly after launch. Early reports put the failure at the separation of stages 1 and 2 which was to take place about 4 minutes after launch. Part of the payload was the Nasa NanoD experiment which was a test bed for solar sails. Also most unfortunately was James Doohan's ashes. Neither of which made it into low Earth orbit. From the Gizmodo article: Doohan—was one of the 208 people whose ashes were placed on board the Falcon 1 rocket by Celestis, Inc., a company that arranges for loved ones' ashes to be shot into space. Astronaut Gordon Cooper was also aboard the doomed launch.

Right now I think this sux. And I am not going to give the head honcho of Space X Elton Musk any more print space than he deserves other that to say I think his "Keep your chins up boys! Better luck next time" speech shows a disgusting lack of sensitivity. I have a better idea of where he can launch his next.

<- here is some more updates and comments from SpaceX sent in by Barry ->