Tag Archive

Will James Webb Ever Get Off the Ground?

Published on June 14, 2020 By sirrahc

Did you know that the famed Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is going to be replaced? Well, not “replaced” exactly, since it will probably remain functioning in low Earth orbit for many more years. There will be no direct replacement, as its coverage of near-ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths is still quite valuable, and nothing with similar […]

The Spacewalk and the Space Shmutz

Published on October 27, 2019 By sirrahc

After being scrubbed and re-scheduled from this past March, the first all-female spacewalk took place the morning of Oct. 18, 2019. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir successfully installed a 232-pound replacement for a faulty battery charge/discharge unit (BCDU) in the lab’s solar power system. It may not sound all that difficult, but it […]

SpaceX Crew Dragon’s Successful Test Flight

Published on March 10, 2019 By sirrahc

“[The Commercial Crew Program] is one step closer to launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil.” — NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine In Aug. 2016, I wrote about SpaceX’s repeated missions carrying cargo back-and-forth between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS) with its Dragon capsule. I also mentioned SpaceX’s plans for future manned […]

Glimpsing the Future with Newt

Published on April 29, 2018 By sirrahc

“The future is going to be amazing, and we should be optimistic that as a free people we can lead the world into that future – just as we led the world with new developments in cars, airplanes, computers and the Internet.” — Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and unabashed […]

Amos 8 and a Total Eclipse of the Sun

Published on August 20, 2017 By sirrahc

“Usually there’s a big ball of light in the sky But now on this Day of the Mon Nothing I can see A total eclipse of the Sun” (with apologies to Bonnie Tyler and James Richard Steinman) I admit, I’m just not that into it. Chasing Monday’s eclipse, that is. I’m a science apologetics geek, […]

Another Historic SpaceX Launch

Published on March 19, 2017 By sirrahc

“Governments can develop new technology and do some of the exciting early exploration but in the long run it’s the private sector that finds ways to make profit, finds ways to expand humanity.” — Dr. S. Pete Worden, director at NASA Ames Research Center OK, I might be a tad late in reporting on this, […]

Godspeed, John Glenn

Published on December 11, 2016 By sirrahc

“Zero G, and I feel fine.” — Col. John Glenn On December 8, 2016, America and the world lost a hero and, some might even say, a “living legend”, when former Marine aviator, astronaut, and U.S. Senator John Glenn passed away at the age of 95. He will be laid to rest at Arlington National […]

Private Space Firm Targets the Moon

Published on August 28, 2016 By sirrahc

“Bang! Zoom! To the Moon!” Did you miss it? Splashdown! Just a couple days ago, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule came home after spending over a month at the International Space Station (ISS). This mission was the 9th (out of a planned 20 under contract) since 2012, when Dragon “became the first commercial spacecraft in history to […]

The Growing Commercial Spaceflight Industry

Published on April 13, 2014 By sirrahc

The following guest-post is from a young man trying to grow his essay-writing business. He contacted me and offered to research/write an original post on a topic of my choice. Since I had been meaning to return to the subject — well, some aspect of it, anyway — of commercial spaceflight, I decided to let […]

Water on the Moon

Published on October 23, 2010 By sirrahc

“Do I gotta get water from the Moon? Is that what I gotta do to make you love me?” Good news, Celine! It’s there! (No green cheese, yet, though.) It all began last year, when NASA’s LCROSS Mission crashed a spent-fuel, Centaur rocket into a lunar crater at 5,600 miles an hour — on purpose. […]