The Russian space station Mir, meaning “peace” or “world” in Russian, was a groundbreaking orbital complex that paved the way for long-duration space habitation and international cooperation in space. Launched on February 20, 1986, Mir was the first modular space station, assembled in orbit piece by piece. The initial core module was followed by additional … Read More “Russian space station Mir” »
Many people will never have heard of ISECG, and this won’t exactly change any time soon as the organisation isn’t focused on delivering its message to the public at large. The International Space Exploration Coordination Group is a multilateral effort by (at date of writing) 13 space agencies* to chart future space exploration goals in … Read More “International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG)” »
Japan has always been at the forefront of robotics, driven by the need to prepare itself for an ever more aging population that is looking for ways to support itself. So it comes as no surprise that when we talk about Robot Astronauts, the pioneers are Japanese… Meet Kirobo and Mirata. What makes these two … Read More “Robot Astronauts: Kirobo & Mirata” »
Check out this amazing video created by NASA, showing a scientifically accurate reenactment of how one of the iconic images in human history was captured by the crew of Apollo 8 forty-five years ago to the day: Earthrise
NASA‘s second manned mission launched exactly 45 years ago, in 1968. Apollo 8, its crew being made up of Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders, was the first manned mission orbiting the Moon. A pivotal milestone in U.S. President JFK’s plans to have a man walk on … Read More “Today In History – December 21” »
Japan is known for numerous things: sushi, samurai, advanced robotics, manga and a rapidly aging population to name but a few. Maybe not as well known abroad as NASA or ESA, Japan also has its own aerospace agency called JAXA, which in its current form is still very young. Its veteran astronaut – Koichi Wakata – … Read More “JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)” »
Fifteen years ago to the day, man began arguably the most challenging construction project in the history of the species: the International Space Station. Sure, you have CERN’s Large Hadron Collider which got constructed to look for several theorized particles including the Higgs particle and test theories around particle and high-energy physics. But for all … Read More “Today In History – November 20” »
We all know that bureaucracy can lead to overcomplicated situations. If you’ve never heard of UNOOSA then rest assured you will not be the only one. The acronym stands for United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, it’s history can be traced back to the late fifties and early sixties. How does this relate to … Read More “US Air Force X-37B” »
Following from Hubble’s story in part two, the year is 1995 and in June of that year space shuttle Atlantis lifts off. It’s mission: to dock with MIR, the Russian space station that by some is seen as the predecessor to the International Space Station. This event led to what was at the time the … Read More “The Space Shuttle (1981 – 2011) – Part 3” »
The ill-fated Challenger, the second space shuttle to be built was the first to conduct a spacewalk. Unfortunately 3 years later in January of 1986, disaster struck when a seal on a rocket booster failed, leading to the shuttle’s destruction 72 seconds into its mission. It was a disaster on many levels for NASA, because … Read More “The Space Shuttle (1981 – 2011) – Part 2” »
