Tag Archives: U.S. Civil Space

Announcement of Opportunity to Submit Input to Study on Human Spaceflight


Now is your chance to tell everyone what you think about the direction the United States should take in human spaceflight. The U.S. National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies is currently conducting a congressionally‐requested study to examine the … Continue reading

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Wednesday’s Book Review: “Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope”


Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope. By Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly, with Jeffrey Zaslow. New York: Scribner, 2011. hardcover, 320 pp., illus. ISBN 978-1-4516-6106-4. USD $26.99. Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly are a “power couple.” Giffords was a … Continue reading

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President Kennedy and the Apollo Commitment: A Unique Moment in Time


Tomorrow will be the 52nd anniversary of President John F. Kennedy announcing the decision to pursue a Moon landing by the end of the decade of the 1960s. On May 25, 1961, he stood before a joint session of Congress and … Continue reading

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Redirect: “The Impact of Sally Ride’s Contributions in Space and Education”


On Friday, May 17, 2013, we held at the National Air and Space Museum here in Washington, D.C., a wonderful program on Sally Ride and her place in the history of spaceflight and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. … Continue reading

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“Space Oddity” Sung by Chris Hadfield


This is really fun! Chris Hadfield, Commander of the International Space Station sings “Space Oddity” written by David Bowie to the world.

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Exoplanets: The Kepler-62 System Compared to Our Solar System


This is so cool. This graphic diagram comes courtesy of the stunning Kepler mission searching for extra-solar planets. Here is the description of this poster: The diagram compares the planets of the inner solar system to Kepler-62, a five-planet system … Continue reading

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Is Space Tourism Soon to Become a Reality?


With the successful test flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) at the end of April, 2013, we are one step closer to commercial space tourism. This is not orbital tourism, of course, but the ability to fly above 100 km … Continue reading

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Interpreting the Decision to Build the Space Shuttle


Wernher von Braun once supposedly told his colleagues: “We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.” Whether true or not the statement reflects what has been viewed for the last forty years as one of the traditional difficulties … Continue reading

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A New Moon Race?


It’s amazing when you think about it. One might think that there is a new race to the Moon underway, this time with robotic spacecraft rather than astronauts and cosmonauts. There has been a small armada of space probes sent … Continue reading

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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

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