The Curious Case of MOL’s Missing Mission

For those interested in diving down a spaceflight rabbit hole, I here detail a key term hidden amongst thousands of declassified pages that hints at a defunct space station’s secret mission – one that might soon find new life given the renewed talk of a “Space Force.” …if it hasn’t already been resurrected, that is… […]

Everything You Wanted to Know About BEAM but Were Afraid to Ask

Humanity’s first human-habitable inflatable spaceship, (or as those in the industry prefer to call it, “expandable” spacecraft), is soon to launch off-world. Tucked inside a Dragon cargo transport‘s “trunk” and perched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, this momentous departure targets the International Space Station (ISS) and is slated to occur today. The precious expandable […]

At the Right Place at the Right Time…

Finally. On top of all of the other trouble I’ve been habitually getting myself into during the last several months, a series of unlikely and highly serendipitous events recently culminated in a sudden career shift. -One that, I might add, I’ve been pressing for and gambling on for some time. –And for longtime readers, it’s […]

Escape Trajectory Artifacts at WAC-7

Just a quick update today on something I’ve been excited to talk about for some time: I’ve been working during the past year with Dr. Colleen Beck of the Desert Research Institute on long-term planetary science/space archaeology crossover research, the first fruit of which has just hit the cyberverse. In short, in an upcoming presentation […]

Calling the Space Privateers

Today, I’d like to offer a rejoinder to Michael Hanlon’s article from The Telegraph a couple of weeks back, entitled, “There’s only one question for NASA: Is anybody out there?” In it, Hanlon offers an argument against regular human space exploration in favor of dedicated robotic missions devoted exclusively to astrobiology research. Whether via orbiters, landers, rovers, or […]

Dragon Views: Best Images of the Season

Despite the fact that I realize I’m adding to a glut of coverage right now, I can’t help myself. The sight of a new American spacecraft at our international orbiting outpost is a literal joy and no doubt represents the definitive space exploration moment of 2012. The Expedition 31 crew has recently uploaded a slew of new […]

Retrospective: The coolest orbital image of 2011

In case you missed it, nearly a year ago on July 21, 2011, the space shuttle Atlantis was imaged as it began its fiery descent toward Earth. As the final flight of the shuttle fleet, this was truly the last opportunity to grab this sort of image, and somehow the International Space Station Expedition 28 […]

Historic Dragon Caught: Dawn of Commercial Space

Quite literally, the sun dawned across from the International Space Station minutes ago to reveal history in the making. During a flawless night-time “grab,” Astronaut Don Pettit used the station’s robotic Canada arm to successfully secure SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. This makes SpaceX the first private company to launch a spacecraft into orbit and rendezvous with […]

Boeing, Bigelow conduct CST-100 drop test over Nevada desert

Aerospace giant Boeing and commercial space-station manufacturer Bigelow Aerospace, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management Ely District’s Caliente Field Office, conducted a relatively quiet spacecraft parachute drop test of Boeing’s Apollo-styled Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft this past April 3rd. The event, attended by local media and several bystanders, occurred over a remote playa in […]

Airships: A century from prototype to spaceflight?

Airships. There’s a certain nostalgic thrill to the streamline, art deco aircraft heyday that nearly was. To the point (and as illustrated above): the Empire State Building’s observation tower was originally intended to serve as a mooring point for airships. Achieving the power of flight by harnessing a buoyant gas is simple, reliable, quiet, low-velocity, […]