Tag Archives: space program

(Via – Boing Boing)

A years-long drought in Texas has lowered the water in one lake to the point that the above piece of the space shuttle Columbia has been revealed. In 2003, the Columbia disintegrated over Texas during its reentry to the atmosphere.

Speaking from beyond the grave…

Father and son attend the first Space Shuttle launch. And the last. Much bigger version at the link.

The four retired space shuttles have been doled out, but New York City is getting the Enterprise, which never actually went into orbit.

Today’s is the 39th and final launch of the space shuttle Discovery. I was there at the Cape for the Discovery’s first launch in 1984 as a lowly news assistant/gopher for WMFE-PBS in Orlando. It was a terrible gig and my first real post-college jobby-job, but I did get to attend three shuttle launches in the six months I lasted. …

Where were you on this day in 1986?

(Source)

Rep. Alan Grayson opposes the president’s plan to dismantle the space program and turn future endeavors over to private industry. Grayson’s congressional district in Central Florida doesn’t include the Kennedy Space Center, but many space industry employees live in and around Orlando.

Openly gay Intrepid Air & Space Museum director Bill White is asking fans of Star Wars and Star Trek to put down their phasers and light sabers and appear today in full costume at an event to rally support for the campaign to get a decommissioned space shuttle added to the collection of historic vehicles displayed on the deck of …

All three space shuttles will be retired next year. Openly gay NY state Sen. Tom Duane wants to bring one of them to NYC for permanent display in Manhattan onboard the Intrepid aircraft carrier. “On Thursday, by a unanimous vote, the state senate approved a legislative resolution spearheaded by State Senator Thomas K. Duane that enthusiastically endorses the Intrepid Sea, …

From his vantage point near Disney World’s Cinderella’s Castle, photographer Kent Phillips captured the space shuttle Discovery on its way to the International Space Station this morning. Big better version here.

My parents struggled valiantly to keep me awake during the live TV coverage of the first moon landing 40 years ago today. I remember my mother peering out of our living room window and marveling that every house on our street had their lights on.

Heat tiles damaged the space shuttle Atlantis upon takeoff yesterday. The shuttle Endeavor is standing by in case they have to perform a rescue, but NASA is hopeful that the damage will prove slight enough to allow the Atlantis to risk re-entry.

The 40th anniversary of the first moon landing is coming up and just released is President Richard Nixon’s prepared statement had things ended in disaster. It reads in part: Fate has ordained that the men who went to the Moon to explore in peace will stay on the Moon to rest in peace. These brave men know there is no …

Watching last night’s launch of the space shuttle Discovery, I was struck with how improved the photography of these launches is – the shots of the booster rockets separating are startlingly clear. But I was also reminded of how my family used to drive from Orlando to the beach to watch the later Apollo launches. Sitting on the roof of …