Apollo 13, forty years later
Apr 13, 2010 Geek, In The News, Spaceflight
As I’m writing this, it’s a little under a half-hour to the exact 40th anniversary of the oxygen tank rupture that severely damaged the Apollo 13 spacecraft, Odyssey. To mark the occasion, of sorts, I just finished watching the film Apollo 13 again. On one hand, it still amazes me what everyone had to go through not only to make normal missions successful, but to come through in pinch after pinch to make #13 survivable.
I’m not sure anymore, with reports of funding and program cuts, that NASA will send anyone to the moon again soon, if ever; government programming to get people to the International Space Station after the end of this year seems to be in doubt. I’m curious to wonder, though, what might come from private business ventures. Time will soon tell; I hope it’s within my lifetime, as I would love to see humans on the moon again, and beyond to Mars.
40 years ago – Apollo 8
Dec 26, 2008 Brainwaves, In The News, Spaceflight
My previous entry notwithstanding, I do respect and acknowledge Christmas as a very important religious holiday. That in mind, and also to go along with my love of space travel and exploration, I present (albeit a couple days late) a commemoration of an important anniversary in human spaceflight.
We are now approaching lunar sunrise and, for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
– William Anders
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
– James Lovell
And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.
– Frank Borman
Space Station Decade
Nov 20, 2008 Geek, Spaceflight
Ten years ago on this date, the first module of the International Space Station was launched into orbit from Kazakhstan. After some delays, it’s only a few short years from completion.
Building a space station is a challenge, to be sure, but the cool part is what you do with it when you’re done building it. Here’s to a decade in space and a launchpad to the Moon, Mars and beyond…
Fly Baby Fly
Nov 14, 2008 Cool Links, Geek, In The News, Spaceflight, Videos
After watching the Space Shuttle Endeavour take off tonight for the International Space Station on STS-126, I’ve been bombing around Wikipedia and YouTube reading and watching about the Space Shuttle. It’s a shame it’ll be retiring in a few years… I’d have loved to be in Florida to see a launch in person some day.
Watching the YouTube videos reminds me of one my friend Dave posted a couple years ago. As he put it, the first 30 seconds give you goosebumps:
I’m gonna miss these things.
Have you ever been fascinated by the space program?
