RIP: Jim Lovell, Apollo Astronaut

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA astronaut Jim Lovell. (NASA)

Last Thursday, former NASA astronaut Jim Lovell passed away at the age of 97. Mr. Lovell was one of the first astronauts to orbit the Moon in Apollo 8, and he also commanded the Apollo 13 mission around the Moon under great stress after the onboard explosion of an oxygen canister. While the crew was unable to complete its mission by landing on the Moon, he was able to safely bring his crew back to Earth.

In commenting on the Apollo 13 mission, Mr. Lovell later said ““It was plagued by bad omens and bad luck from the very beginning.” Even so, he was part of a long tradition of trial and error as the U.S. stretched itself and eventually ferried men and supplies to the lunar surface. The deaths of three astronauts in the Apollo 1 capsule had shown the world that a mission to the Moon was a dangerous gamble.

Mr. Lovell took his chances and we are all the better for it. He also stated:

There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful, you need to be a person who makes things happen.

He made things happen.

You can read more on Mr. Lovell’s life and career at these sites:

NASA
BBC
The New York Times

Rest in peace.

IPO Shows Moon Missions Stir Stock Investors

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Blue Ghost lunar lander. (Firefly Aerospace)

Firefly Aerospace, the Texas-based company that successfully put a lander on the Moon earlier this year, is now having success with the stock market as well. It’s initial public offering (IPO) earlier this week led to a valuation of about $6 billion for the company. The sale provided Firefly with about $868 million in new funds to supports its ongoing efforts.

Firefly Aerospace has seen contracts roll in after its recent lunar success. For example, just last month NASA awarded the company a $177 million Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract. The contract calls for Firefly to deliver NASA-sponsored payloads to the lunar South Pole in 2029.

After the award last month, CEO Jason Kim stated:

Firefly is honored to support another NASA CLPS task order as a proven, reliable partner for robotic missions to the Moon…Following our first Blue Ghost mission that made history just a few months ago, this bold Firefly team proved we have the right mix of grit, innovation, and dedication to not only stick the landing, but also complete all scientific objectives for our payload partners. We’ve set the bar high, and we aim to continue setting new records in our missions to come with our active production line of Blue Ghost landers.

This is good news for other companies striving for a piece of the space industry. Now we just need to ensure NASA remains a reliable partner for Firefly Aerospace and others who have proven they can get the job done.

Space Stories: White House Destroys Satellite, US Nuclear Reactor Proposed for the Moon, and the End of the Lunar Trailblazer Mission

Posted on by onespaceman2000

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Oregon Public Radio: “Why a NASA Satellite that Scientists and Farmers Rely On May Be Destroyed on Purpose“

The Trump administration has asked NASA employees to draw up plans to end at least two major satellite missions, according to current and former NASA staffers. If the plans are carried out, one of the missions would be permanently terminated, because the satellite would burn up in the atmosphere. The data the two missions collect is widely used, including by scientists, oil and gas companies and farmers who need detailed information about carbon dioxide and crop health. They are the only two federal satellite missions that were designed and built specifically to monitor planet-warming greenhouse gases.

—CNN: “NASA Wants US to be the First Nation to Put Nuclear Reactor on the Moon“

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy has directed the agency to fast-track plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon. Expediting work to place a reactor on the lunar surface to help power moon exploration efforts would keep the United States ahead of China and Russia, both of which have “announced on at least three occasions” a joint effort to develop such a project by the mid-2030s, according to a directive dated July 31 and obtained by CNN.

—NASA: “NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Moon Mission Ends“

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer ended its mission to the Moon on July 31. Despite extensive efforts, mission operators were unable to establish two-way communications after losing contact with the spacecraft the day following its Feb. 26 launch. The mission aimed to produce high-resolution maps of water on the Moon’s surface and determine what form the water is in, how much is there, and how it changes over time. The maps would have supported future robotic and human exploration of the Moon as well as commercial interests while also contributing to the understanding of water cycles on airless bodies throughout the solar system.

Pic of the Week: “Another World”

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): 2025 shortlisted photo titled “Another World” by Felix Sproll. (https://reachforthestars.ie/exhibition/)

This week’s image comes from Ireland’s DIAS Reach for the Stars 2025 astronomy photo competition. The 2025 winners have yet to be announced, but the photos are available for the public to view (and vote on until last week).

This shortlisted entry by photographer Felix Sproll is titled “Another World.” It was taken in Dun Laoghaire located in Dublin, Ireland.

This is the story about the image from its creator:

Full moon rising behind Baily Lighthouse on Howth 9km away looking like another planet. I happened to be in Dun Laoghaire when I saw that the full Moon was set to rise on the opposite side of Dublin bay so I ligned it up with Baily Lighthouse at the end of Howth. I calculated the position to get the moon in the centre of the lighthouse when it reached the lighthouse using the photopills app. Nikon Z7ii and tamron 100-400 at 400mm, 1/5sec, ISO 6400, F6.3, minor adjustments in LR.

You can find many other fun images on the competition website. Winners will be announced next month.

In Case You Missed It: A Mystery Beneath the Ice

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Camp Century in Greenland. (NASA)

We live in a time of conspiracies, as the newspapers demonstrate everyday.

One conspiracy from the World War II era related to Hitler maintaining a secret base in Antarctica. While that story has been debunked, have you heard the one about the secret U.S. base hidden beneath the ice?

Last May, Newsweek told this story in an article titled “Map Shows US Nuclear Base Hidden Under Greenland’s Ice Since Cold War.” It discusses a NASA “discovery” last year during the test of new radar equipment – the (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) – to peer beneath the ice.

The NASA team rediscovered Camp Century, a secret U.S. base constructed in the late 1950s during the Cold War. The U.S. was testing the idea of building nuclear-missile launch sites beneath the ice. The effort proved fruitless, causing the abandonment of the secret base in 1967.

While Greenland is again on the tip of many tongues, the idea of joint military operations between the U.S. and Greenland is nothing new. The U.S. signed a treaty with Denmark back in 1951 that permitted U.S. military facilities throughout Greenland. The story notes that the U.S. has as many as 17 military bases in Greenland hosting close to 10,000 troops. Today, the U.S. has only one military base left with about 150 Air Force personnel.

Camp Century is not really a big secret today, and you can find many articles about it over the years, but it was an interesting discovery for NASA, and proved the value of the new radar equipment.

Maybe NASA needs to make a pass over Antarctica next just to put to rest any remaining rumors about that Nazi base. Better yet, we can check out some sites on the Moon to be certain the Nazis did not build a base there as well.

Note: This Newsweek story was originally reported in The Wall Street Journal, but the newspaper’s firewall would have prevented many from reading the story. You can find another good summary of NASA’s Camp Century encounter in this Smithsonian magazine article.