Category Archives: Space
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Implosion: Lessons from National Security, High Reliability Spacecraft, Electronics, and the Forces Which Changed Them”
Implosion: Lessons from National Security, High Reliability Spacecraft, Electronics, and the Forces Which Changed Them. By L. Parker Temple. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons for the IEEE Press, 2013. Paperback. Figures, tables, acknowledgments, acronyms, abbreviations, program names, index. ISBN: … Continue reading
Call for Submissions: 2017 Sacknoff Prize for Space History
Call for Submissions 2017 Sacknoff Prize for Space History About the Prize Awarded since 2011, the Prize is designed to encourage research and writing by university students in the area of space history. Awardees will be published in Quest: The … Continue reading
Call for Papers: “To Boldly Preserve: Archiving for the Next Half-Century of Space Flight”
“To Boldly Preserve: Archiving for the Next Half-Century of Space Flight” Center for the History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics College Park, Maryland March 1-2, 2018 Paper, Presentation, and Roundtable Proposals Due October 1, 2017 Preserving the … Continue reading
Considering the Moon
What is it about the Moon that captures the fancy of humankind? A silvery disk hanging in the night sky, it conjures up images of romance and magic. It has been counted upon to foreshadow important events, both of good … Continue reading
Three Canopies into the Pacific: Coming Home during Project Apollo
Since July 24 is the 48th anniversary of the return from space of Apollo 11, here is a short account the return via parachutes of the Apollo spacecraft. For all of the earlier work on the Gemini Earth landing system … 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
Planetary Protection: Announcing a New National Academies Study
The National Academies has just published the interim report, “The Goals, Rationales, and Definition of Planetary Protection.” It makes for really interesting reading. You may find a downloadable copy here.
Summer Reading: Indispensable Books on the History of the Space Shuttle
When NASA began work on what became the Space Shuttle at the end of the Apollo program, few recognized how important a part of American life it would become over the next thirty-plus years. While not vast, the literature on … Continue reading
Redirect: “How should we protect and preserve our history — on the Moon?”
Lucas Laursen has a good piece in ideas.ted.com entitled: “How should we protect and preserve our history — on the Moon?” I spoke to him about this story of preserving the lunar landing sites, as did others associated with pursuing … Continue reading
NASA’s Overestimates of Soviet Lunar Capabilities During the Moon Race
Many times NASA officials used the national security intelligence on the Soviet Union to sustain their case for an aggressive effort to complete Apollo by the end of the 1960s. In a few instances these public statements aroused within the … Continue reading
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