Amazingly, I don’t have much to share today on Vostok 1. I covered most everything I could possibly need to cover on the mission last year, and, suffice it to say, there amazingly isn’t that much video or special content out there on this mission – at least, nothing I’m quite feeling like sharing at […]
Last year I covered the launch of STS-1, the first flight of the Space Shuttle Program, with a more in-depth article which you can find in the link below. Today, I thought it would be better to share just a fragment of that historic, albeit somewhat forgotten mission, by focusing on the launch of the […]
The ill-fated Apollo 13 missions launched on this day, April 11th, 47 years ago today in the year 1970. The mission was famously portrayed in the 1995 film Apollo 13 which, while somewhat inaccurate on many elements, and slightly altered for the sake of drama, still told the story well enough for most people to […]
YouTube is full of interesting historic films of all types. I’ve been on quite the binge of old 1950’s and earlier informational films (I have no idea why, I’ve just been watching a bunch of them) and one popped up in my feed from 1917 – A film produced by NCR, one of the worlds […]
2017 marks 50 years since the first flight of the Saturn V rocket, the booster which not only helped put humans on the Moon (6 times) but also put America’s first (and only) space station, Skylab, into orbit. In use for only 6 years, the Saturn V launched a total of 13 times, performing it’s […]
February 22nd, 2017 marked the end of an era: after 43 years, the final Soyuz-U vehicle launched from Pad 1/5, or “Gagarins Start” at Baikonour Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, sending the Progress 66 (Internally known as Progress MS-05) supply vehicle to the International Space Station. The Soyuz-U Booster variant is the most flown rocket configuration in history, […]
February 21st, 1967 was the original planned launch day for the Apollo 1 mission. Of course, we all know the fire on January 27th put a grinding halt on the Apollo program until the problems that caused the death of the crew could be isolated and solved An American wouldn’t fly in space again until […]
If you ever wanted to see and hear a complete space flight, YouTube user LunarModule5 has you covered: One of his hobbies is to compile together actual audio and video of missions, combined with simulator produced visuals and some minor editing into complete, comprehensive overviews of entire flights. Mercury-Atlas 6 is one such mission. The […]
What launch anniversary would be complete without the requisite NASA film from the era about the mission. In this case, this hour long video on Mercury-Atlas 6, John Glenn’s historic first Earth orbit by an American in the Friendship 7 spacecraft. 55 Years Ago: The Flight Of Friendship 7 As I said, this is an […]
On February 20th, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in his Mercury capsule, Friendship 7. It was a short, 3 orbit mission, but regardless, an American had orbited the Earth and returned safely, which was a key goal of Project Mercury from the get-go. Of course, Glenn wasn’t the first […]
Nuclear Rockets. They still sound futuristic even today. Interestingly enough, they were under active research in the late 50’s and early 60’s as part of the then-planned natural progression of both manned and unmanned space flight. Nuclear rocketry doesn’t operate the way the common man would normally think; it doesn’t ignite its fuel, but instead […]
Last week I was watching some videos receiving far-away TV transmission when this video was recommended by YouTube – it’s a 1986 American public access show which covers Soviet state TV recorded over 1985 and 1986 – this includes comedy programs, news (including an early Chernobyl report), game shows,special reports on their space program, and […]
On the tail end of January each year, NASA does its “Day of Remembrance” where they honor the astronauts who have died not just in active missions but also in training accidents, tests, or other situations. Of course, the heavy focus is spent on 3 particular missions: Apollo 1, STS-51L, and STS-107. Apollo 1, as […]
This video, which was shared in my post last year about Challenger, details the events of the disaster. It explains the root causes of the disaster and takes an extremely detailed look at the 73 second flight of Challenger, the development of the fire plume in the right SRB, and the eventual disintegration of the […]
News spread rather quickly following the fire of Apollo 1. This was back when news really focused on telling the story, rather than on what ratings it will bring in – certainly a different time in media. In any case, many news reports, or snippets from such, are available online. Here are a few more […]