I thought I’d post here a couple of pics from the Spaceflightnow website, of Discovery’s homecoming early yesterday morning Australian time.
Mar 112011
Feb 252011
Discovery has circled the globe more than 5600 times and logged 230 million kilometres over its 352 days in space. Today, she left earth for the final time and will rack up more than a year in space in total. She’s an old girl, even for an aircraft, which in reality, she’s not. Thirty years and 39 launches is a long time. Even today after having her launch delayed by almost 3 months due to flaws being discovered in her liquid fuel tank, there were last second delays with complex computer management systems, but leave she did, if not bang […]
May 282010
Who’s been watching the ABC Science documentary, ‘Voyage to the Planets’ on Thursday nights?
Aug 212009
In the next couple of months, until the LCROSS spacecraft makes it’s spectacular double dive into the lunar surface October 9, 2009, we’re likely to be treated to quite a bit of historical re-visiting of the six Apollo Moon landings, courtesy of the companion mission, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Take a gander and see if you can recall what else was special about the Apollo 14 Mission. *HINT: it involves sport
Jul 202009
Fascinating Op-Ed in today’s Australian, centred on the event of the day, the week in fact. The 40th anniversary of the first manned Moon landing and the first footprint on the lunar surface.
May 192009
I often wonder about the way technology has taken humanity to the stars – or low Earth orbit anyway – and how that technology seems to have been surrendered for lack of funding or interest on the part of politicians.
Dec 312008
NASA has released the final and full report into what the media calls the Columbia Disaster. NASA, in it’s inimitable style, refers to the report as the Post-Columbia Crew Survival Study . For enthusiasts and even those with a mild interest in space flight technology, the report makes interesting,if somewhat macabre reading. I won’t extract details here, but invite those of you interested enough in the why’s and wherefore’s of what happened almost six years ago, to click on the link provided and go read for yourself. You’ll doubtless be amazed at some of the revelations, as was I. It […]
Dec 202008
Remember NASA’s New Horizons space probe?
Oct 072008
Did you feel the Earth move? I didn’t, but space science and NASA’s Near Earth Object surveillance team seem pretty chuffed with themselves. They’re calling this small asteroid strike a ‘prediction’ but I thought a prediction had to have a reasonable lead time in order to qualify as such. The small car sized space rock was only spotted on Monday, 6th October, yet those in the know are claiming a prediction, when the bloody thing was always going to hit the planet’s atmosphere at some point during the following 24 hours anyway!! Maybe when the big one comes along, we’ll […]
Jul 292008
104,000ft, My other half came across this on Flickr. Open the photo up as large as your screen can handle and wallow in the glorious beauty of the thin veil we exist within. More details “over the fold” as they say ….