Tag Archives: climate
Nuclear Power Systems for Spacecraft: The Transit Navigational Satellite Connection
Flying in space requires reliable, uninterrupted, stable electrical power, not only for engines to maneuver and navigate but for systems on spacecraft performing a range of functions. During the first two decades of the space age in the 1950s and … Continue reading
Redirect: Chicken Little Was Right
I published on March 4, 2013, a new commentary on the policy issues surrounding what to do about asteroid/meteor/comet impacts. Chicken Little Was Right just appeared on the National Air and Space Museum’s blog. It notes that yes, indeed, the … Continue reading
“Lost and Gone Forever”? Clementine and the Blending of Civilian and Military Space Science
I have been working on a study of the Clementine program, a lunar orbiter that flew in 1994. Here is the abstract for this study. I would welcome any thoughts about it. In the early 1990s, just as the Cold … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean, 1492-1969″
From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean, 1492-1969. By Eric Williams. New York: Vintage Books, 1970. I visited the Caribbean for the first time in the fall of 2011, and this sparked me to want to learn more … Continue reading
Do You Know Me? The Legacy of Neil Armstrong
Do You Know Me? That was the unforgettable phrase that opened a series of classic American Express commercials from the 1970s. In them, people with well-known names but whose faces were not so memorable pitched how that charge card gave … Continue reading
Great New Video Gone Viral: “We’re NASA and We Know It”
You knew it had to happen! She mission controllers from JPL that landed the Curiosity rover so successfully on Mars on August 6, inspired a great rap video now gone viral. Based on the popular LMFAO song, “Sexy and I … Continue reading
Video of Congressional Briefing on Spaceflight, June 15, 2012
On June 15, 2012, I moderated a briefing on the history of spaceflight and its relationship to current public policy issues. The National History Center xponsored this event and has placed information about it on-line. Check out the discussion and … Continue reading
Cassini Arrives at Saturn: Happy Anniversary!
Representing the international character of many NASA planetary missions since Voyager, Cassini-Huygens, a joint effort of NASA, the European Space Agency, and Italian Space Agency, has also proved to be an incredible success. It seems appropriate to recall this mission … Continue reading
Notes on an Important Book: Susan Jacoby’s “The Age of American Unreason”
The Age of American Unreason. By Susan Jacoby. New York: Pantheon Books, 2008. While there is much on this book that is quite valuable and I certainly recommend reading it, Susan Jacoby reminds me of so many ancient Roman writers … Continue reading
