by David Todd | Jun 27, 2014 | NASA, Space Shuttle, Technology
One of the great what-ifs of the US space programme is: if the leading edge damage of the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) had been confirmed after its launch on 16 January 2003, could anything have been done about it to prevent the crew meeting their fiery demise...
by David Todd | Mar 13, 2014 | History, NASA, Space Shuttle
While the BBC/Discovery Communications Docu-Drama The Challenger (aka The Challenger Disaster) was generally well regarded, with critics especially praising William Hurt’s performance as the not-to-be-purturbed physicist Richard Feynman (see our review here) as...
by David Todd | Mar 10, 2014 | Apollo, History, NASA, Russia, Seradata News, Space Shuttle
Skylab astronaut Bill Pogue has died on 3 March at the age of 84. Originally selected as an astronaut in 1966, having previously been a pilot in the US Air Force Thunderbirds display team, Pogue made his one and only spaceflight as the Command Module pilot in the...
by David Todd | Jan 9, 2014 | commercial launch services, ESA, International Space Station, Personal spaceflight, Space Shuttle, space station
While the International Space Station was originally set to retire in 2015, a retirement which was then deferred to 2020, NASA has just got permission from the Obama Administration to agree with its other national/pan-national users including Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA and...
by David Todd | Dec 17, 2013 | Commercial human spaceflight, NASA, Personal spaceflight, Space Shuttle
Sierra Nevada has announced that the company has successfully completed all milestones under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development 2 (CCDev2) phase. Milestones achieved include a systems requirement review, flight simulator development, creation of a vehicle avionics...
by David Todd | Nov 4, 2013 | Commercial human spaceflight, commercial launch services, On a Lighter Note, Space Shuttle
As already mentioned, the Dream Chaser aerodynamic prototype with which NASA hopes to hire to fly its astronauts to orbit, worked very well (see above) during its October test glide and approach phases. Nevertheless, its final landing went awry after its port...
