Abandon in place: Betty Grissom’s last visit to Apollo 1 memorial?
Is Gus Grissom’s widow herself about to “abandon in place” the memorial vigil she has maintained over the last 48 years since the fiery death suffered by her husband, Astronaut Commander Virgil “Gus” Grissom and fellow astronauts Roger Chaffee and Ed White back in 1967 at Pad 34 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS)? They …
Boeing’s CST-100 passes two new milestones in development
The Boeing Company recently announced the completion of more developmental requirements for their Crew Space Transportation 100 (CST-100) spacecraft that includes a software safety test and hardware design review. Passing this phase of testing is considered a milestone for a company that is competing to return flights of astronauts from U.S soil in the coming …
Jupiter: The Gas Giant
Of all the planets that orbit around our Sun there are two that are easily visible and are fascinating objects to view. These are, of course, Saturn and Jupiter. Of these Jupiter is prominent in our night skies at the moment. At magnitude -2.06 it is the third brightest thing in the sky after the …
‘In Saturn’s Rings’: One man’s journey to make a space film
When filmmaker Stephen Van Vuuren first saw images of Saturn retuned by the Cassini spacecraft, he saw something more in them. He not only saw the beauty of the ringed planet, he saw a motion picture camera flying through space. Van Vuuren grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, with dreams of being an astronaut. …
Taking a first look at ‘Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey’
“Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” beams onto our television screens on March 9 across 10 U.S. networks, including FOX and National Geographic Channel, with a multi-network simulcast in the United States. Global releases will follow shortly after on National Geographic and FOX branded channels in 180 countries within a week of the U.S. premiere. Fronted by …
Ann Druyan preserves the legacy of Sagan’s ‘Cosmos’ with ‘A Spacetime Odyssey’
How often are you so moved by your job that you actually shed tears? On “Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey,” this was a fairly regular occurrence. It is impossible to work on something of such scale and import without being overcome, now and again, in the exact same way you hope your audience will be. I …
Jackee Mohl looks to the future as a structural engineer for Boeing’s V-22 Osprey
What do you get when a talented female engineer is one of the masterminds behind the design of an aircraft crossed between a helicopter and a jet fighter? There exists a sort of “hybrid” military, tiltrotor aircraft that takes off and lands as a helicopter, and flies like an airplane. The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey …
Neil deGrasse Tyson is a conduit to knowledge
What to say about Neil deGrasse Tyson that hasn’t already been said? These are the facts: Neil is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at New York City’s American Museum of Natural History. He is an astrophysicist and New York Times bestselling author, former host of “NOVA ScienceNow,” and frequent guest on such shows as …
Wonders of the Cosmos: Neil deGrasse Tyson answers readers’ questions
The pursuit of knowledge is just half the odyssey of a scientist. Being able to communicate that knowledge to a broader audience is the other half. Few, if any, excel better at the second part of the equation than the famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. It is little wonder then that he was chosen to …
Cosmos receiving largest ever global TV launch
FOX Networks Group has announced the first ever simultaneous cross-network global event for “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” on Sunday March 9 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Showing across multiple U.S. networks on Sunday, March 9, this exhilarating new series will make its debut on FOX International Channels and National Geographical Channels. After the cross-network premiere event, “Cosmos: …
NASA launches STEM-in-sports online learning program
Teachers and students can learn the science behind scoring a touchdown, throwing a slam-dunk or a hitting a homerun with a new distance-learning program called NASA STEM Mania. NASA’s Distance Learning Network (DLN) will present the two-week series Monday, Feb. 24, through Monday, March 10, and will give educators and students from kindergarten through 12th …
NASA hosting Deep Space Network social
NASA will host a two-day NASA Social for 50 of its social media followers on April 1 and 2, 2014, at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the Deep Space Network complex in Goldstone, Calif. The event is part of a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Deep Space Network …
Free space systems engineering course starts March 3
Space Systems Engineering, a new massive open online course or MOOC from NASA and the Saylor Foundation, launches on Monday, March 3, 2014. The six-week, general-audience course is available to the public at no cost and provides a unique opportunity to learn from NASA engineers. Students who participate can earn a free certificate. The Space …
NASA observes Day of Remembrance
Earlier today NASA paid tribute to the crews of Apollo 1 and Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia, as well as other NASA colleagues, during the agency’s Day of Remembrance. NASA’s Day of Remembrance honors members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden …
Cygnus delivers to the ISS
Orbital Sciences Corporation successfully launched their Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station on Jan. 9th. With freezing cold and clear blue skies as a backdrop the company sent Cygnus skyward atop their Antares rocket, which thundered away from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport launch Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The mission, Orb-1, …
WISE discovers black hole duo merging together
Two black holes are entwined in a gravitational tango in this artist’s conception. Supermassive black holes at the hearts of galaxies are thought to form through the merging of smaller, yet still massive black holes, such as the ones depicted here. NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, helped lead astronomers to what appears to …
ESA’s Swarm trio monitoring our planet’s magnetic shield
ESA’s three-satellite Swarm constellation was lofted into a near-polar orbit by a Russian Rockot launcher in late November, 2013. For four years, it will monitor Earth’s magnetic field, from the depth of our planet’s core to the heights of its upper atmosphere. The Swarm satellites will give us unprecedented insights into the complex workings of …
Students ace ‘Hole-In-One’ contest at JPL
Students from 19 high school teams across Southern California, as well as NASA professionals, took part in a “Hole-in-One” contest in the Invention Challenge last month at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif. The objective of the annual challenge was to create a device that could propel or move a golf ball into a …
China lands Yutu rover on the Moon
China scored a stunning, history making success with the successful touchdown of the ambitious Chang’e-3 probe with the ‘Yutu’ rover on the surface of the Moon Dec. 14, 2013, on the country’s first ever attempt to conduct a landing on an extraterrestrial body. The dramatic Chang’e-3 soft landing on the lava filled plains of the …
Stephen Colbert presents honor from NASA to Voyager scientist
As if NASA’s Voyager mission didn’t have enough firsts in its 36-year journey, what with sending the first spacecraft to Uranus, Neptune and, most recently, interstellar space! Now, it has another first back here on Earth: on the December 3, 2013 episode of the Colbert Report, host Stephen Colbert floated across the stage in a …