Book Review: The Wright Stuff – The Century of Effort Behind Your Ticket to Space
The Wright Stuff – The Century of Effort Behind Your Ticket to Space By Derek Webber; Apogee Books; Burlington, Ontario Canada; $25.95 (soft cover); October 2010. Here’s an invaluable guide to the emergence of public space tourism. What the reader will find in...First Drop Test of SpaceShipTwo Looming
The first drop test of – SpaceShipTwo – the suborbital spaceliner being built for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic — appears to be near at hand. SpaceShipTwo is undergoing testing by Scaled Composites at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Taking...Space Tourism Carrier Plane Returns to the Air
The WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) is back in the air after a landing incident on August 19th. The WK2 is the mothership that totes to drop altitude the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) suborbital spaceliner – a six passenger, two pilot craft now under development for Sir Richard Branson’s...Book Review: The Spaceflight Vault – A History of NASA’s Manned Missions
The Spaceflight Vault – A History of NASA’s Manned Missions by Mark Mayfield; Whitman Publishing, LLC; Atlanta, Georgia; $49.95 (hard cover/box); 2010. Here’s a book that keeps on giving and giving. This volume is designed as a scrapbook, but also provides a...Denmark: Private Rocket Readied for Suborbital Test Shot
Stand by for acceleration! The Danish non-profit Copenhagen Suborbitals is readying its HEAT-1X-Tycho Brahe – an unpiloted sounding rocket, but a precursor to a larger rocket designed to carry a human passenger on a suborbital voyage. The effort is based entirely on...Suborbital Space Tourist Craft Makes Milestone Flight
Up, up…but not quite away! SpaceShipTwo captive-carry test includes first onboard crew. Credit: Virgin Galactic The scene at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California was one of thumbs up and all smiles. For the first time with a crew on board, the...Space Elevator for the Moon Proposed
Credit: LiftPort Group It is not science fiction. It’s a way to colonize space using today’s technologies and materials. That’s the view of advocates for planting a space elevator on the Moon. The concept would consist of a ribbon made of very strong and very light...Please Fence Me In! New Mexico Spaceport Progress
Credit: Virgin Galactic Spaceport America in New Mexico continues to take shape, the future site of commercial space tourism flights. Hundreds of construction workers are busily churning up dirt, completing a huge runway and terminal at the site. Sir Richard...Venus Orbiter, Solar Sail: Successful Launch
Japan’s H-IIA Launch Vehicle has successfully lofted the Venus Climate Orbiter, a solar sail experiment and several small mini-payloads. The booster lifted off on May 21 from the Tanegashima Space Center. AKATSUKI, the Venus Climate Orbiter mission (PLANET-C), is on...Space Talk
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#BlueOrigin is eyeing the launch of an uncrewed lander to the Moon within the next 12–16 months. The launch is to demonstrate #MK1's capabilities, which include the ability to deliver up to three tons of payload anywhere on the #Moon.
https://bit.ly/49YOLPC (📷: Blue Origin)
.@NASAWebb is providing new scientific insight into how stars and their protoplanetary disks form planets. The #JWST recently observed a system that just finished forming its planets.
Learn more: https://bit.ly/49Hko0r #SpaceExploration
#NASA's latest class of #astronaut candidates has graduated and is now eligible for missions to the Moon, Mars, and the @Space_Station. The agency is also accepting applications for a new class of astronauts.
Learn more: https://bit.ly/4bWYvvP #BeAnAstronaut
The @NASA astronaut selection window is open! #ArtemisGeneration #BeAnAstronaut