by David Todd | May 31, 2020 | International Space Station, Launches, NASA, Russia, Seradata News, Space Shuttle, SpaceX
The former Space Shuttle launch pad LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center hosted the first crewed launch since the Space Shuttle was retired after its last flight in July 2011. The launch was the first commercially operated one involving NASA astronauts, with SpaceX...
by David Todd | Oct 15, 2018 | NASA, On a Sadder Note, Space Shuttle
Former NASA astronaut, Rick Searfoss who flew three Space Shuttle missions STS-58, STS-76 and STS-90 during the 1990s has died at the age of only 62. Searfoss was a test pilot and, until recently, was test pilot for the XCOR Aerospace Company, which, until its...
by David Todd | Nov 14, 2017 | Seradata News, Space Shuttle
After being dropped from altitude of 10,000 feet by a balloon, the Dream Chaser mini-shuttle design of Sierra Nevada Corporation made a successful glide to land at Runway 22L at Edwards Air Force base in California, USA on 12 November. The design used its two rear...
by David Todd | Jul 25, 2016 | On a Sadder Note, Space Shuttle
Former Space Shuttle launch director, Gene Thomas, passed away as an octogenarian in June. Thomas was probably the most unfortunate of NASA launch directors as it was he who was in charge of the Challenger STS-51L launch which was destroyed 73 seconds into its...
by David Todd | Jul 25, 2016 | History, NASA, Seradata News, Space Shuttle
The candidates of the US Presidential Election, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton, are keen to deploy former astronauts in their support. During July, former Shuttle commander Eileen Collins made a speech at the Republican Party Convention in which she noted her...
by David Todd | May 23, 2016 | India, Seradata News, Space Shuttle, Suborbital, Technology
India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has made a test flight of a new design for winged reusable space travel. The endo-atmospheric suborbital test flight, dubbed HEX-1, of the Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) was...
