• Europe Takes New Steps Toward Space Travel

    Did you have a chance to attend the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Summit 2023 earlier this month in Seville, Spain? Well, neither did I, but from what I hear it appears the Europeans are trying to address some shortfalls in their space program. We already know that Europe is having difficulties timely developing its…

  • A Day in Astronomy: Pioneer 10 Approaches Jupiter

    We may have missed the date of the story in this piece (the anniversary was November 6), but this is an opportunity to share another site that brings astronomical history to life. The American Astronomical Society, which brings together professional astronomers, astronomy educators, and amateur astronomers, has its own blog on astronomical anniversaries that I…

  • RIP: Ken Mattingly, Apollo Astronaut

    Last month we lost another astronaut who almost flew on the Apollo 13 mission and later flew on the Apollo 16 mission. Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II died on late last month at the age of 87 in Arlington, Virginia. In addition to his work on the Apollo missions, he also flew on two space shuttle…

  • Blue Origin is Going to Mars, Hopefully

    Okay, the plan is for Blue Origin to launch NASA satellites towards Mars, so don’t worry about Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk fighting it out on the Martian surface. NASA has tapped Blue Origin to take two satellites worth about $79 into space, which will be the first use of the company’s New Glenn rocket.…

  • Pic of the Week: The Core of Our Galaxy

    With the Thanksgiving holiday almost over, you may be thinking of Christmas lights after seeing the image above. Think larger, such as the size of a galaxy. You are looking at approximately 500,000 stars at the center of the Milky Way galaxy as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and it is pretty…

  • Space Stories: Space Station Gap, Martian Job Losses, and Canadian Astronauts Announced for Upcoming Missions

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —SpaceNews.com: “NASA Acknowledges Possibility of Short-term Post-ISS Gap“ While NASA seeks to maintain an uninterrupted human presence in low Earth orbit, an agency official said a short-term gap between the International Space Station and commercial successors would not be “the end of the world.” NASA’s current approach to its…

  • Space Quote: NASA Funding is Coming, Someday

    “Is it easy to convince people? People want resources spent on things where they see the immediate benefit…And space exploration is something where the benefits, while they are current, a lot of what we’ll see is what’s anticipated in the future.” –Statement by U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, the top Republican appropriator for NASA in the…

  • Podcast: Are We Ready to Start Settlements Off-Planet?

    You may want to tune into another episode from The Planetary Society’s podcast Planetary Radio is you are pondering space settlements on the Moon and Mars. The recent program, A City on Mars, is a discussion with authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith who wrote “A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have…

  • Is Elon Musk Experiencing a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly?

    SpaceX may have suffered a rocket loss yesterday, but everyone agrees that this is part of the process when trying something big. What can we then say about Mr. Musk creating a second loss last week, but in this case it was a loss of confidence in his leadership at Twitter (yes, the site is…

  • Starship Self-Destructs on Second Launch Attempt

    Earlier today, SpaceX lost contact with its Starship rocket about 10 minutes into the launch. This happened after the second-stage separation, so while a successful landing of the rocket did not occur, the rocket had more success than the launch earlier this year. After what appeared to be a self-detonation of the Starship rocket, the…