Dec 16, 2013 | Blog, China, Education Station, Exploration, International Cooperation, Kids Space, NASA, Space Race, The Moon
Previously taken NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) images of the area in which China’s Chang’e 3 landed on the Moon December 14 have been matched up with descent images acquired by the Chang’e 3 lander as it dove down onto the lunar surface. According to imaging...
Dec 11, 2013 | Blog, Book Reviews, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, MESSENGER, NASA, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, Space and Science, The Moon, Why Space
Alien Seas – Oceans in Space by Michael Carroll, Rosaly Lopes (Editors); Springer, New York; $29.99 (hardcover); 2013. Thanks to the editors for this captivating “wet look” at an under-appreciated aspect of planets and moons in our celestial neighborhood – those “seas...
Dec 6, 2013 | Blog, China, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, The Moon
China’s Chang’e 3 lunar probe has successfully entered lunar orbit. Braking into a circular orbit around the Moon, the spacecraft is set to attempt a soft landing on moonscape in mid-December. According to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) the craft is in a...
Nov 26, 2013 | Blog, China, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, The Moon
On Mars there’s Curiosity, Spirit and Opportunity – veteran NASA robot rovers of the Red Planet. But add a new mobile robot’s name to the space exploration history books. According to China’s Xinhua news agency, the “Yutu” or Jade Rabbit is the name for the country’s...
Nov 13, 2013 | Blog, Commercial Space, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Space Race, Space Research, The Moon
At a press conference today, representatives of NASA and Bigelow Aerospace discussed the options for commercial sector involvement in space exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. Under a NASA Space Act Agreement, Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas, Nevada has scoped...
Oct 31, 2013 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Book Reviews, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Space Race, The Moon
Apollo 13 Owners’ Workshop Manual – An engineering insight into how NASA saved the crew of the failed Moon mission; Quayside publishing group/Zenith Press; Minneapolis, MN; $28.00; November 2013. For those of you that didn’t experience the “real deal” in 1970 – beyond...
Oct 28, 2013 | Asteroid Exploration, Mars, NASA, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, Space and Science, Space Research, The Moon
Orion, the new NASA spacecraft under development to transport U. S. astronauts to an assortment of deep space destinations, including the asteroids, the moon and eventually Mars, has been powered up for the first time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where it is...
Oct 10, 2013 | Education, Exploration, NASA, Planet Earth, Space and Science, Space Race, The Moon
NASA Mercury 7 astronaut Scott Carpenter, who in May 1962 became the second American to orbit the Earth, died Thursday. Carpenter, 88, was hospitalized in his home state of Colorado after suffering a stroke in September. The multi-dimensional Carpenter launched...
Oct 7, 2013 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Space and Science, Space Research, The Moon
NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) achieved lunar orbit on Oct. 6. Thanks to two High Performance Apogee Thruster HiPAT phasing burns, each of the blasts by the Aerojet Rocketdyne bipropellant engine increased the spacecraft’s apogee...
Oct 3, 2013 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, International Cooperation, Kids Space, NASA, Space Research, The Moon
The Earth’s moon is taking on more of a wet look. Scientists have detected “magmatic water” on the surface of the Moon, that is, water that originates from deep within the Moon’s interior. Fresh data about water on the Moon has been percolating for several years. For...