What United Launch Alliance rocket flight would be complete without a launch highlights video? The Parker Solar Probe is no exception here, as we have yet another fine blend of preparation shots and best of views of the early ascent of the Delta IV Heavy. Of note in this video is the man shown watching […]
After multiple delays, eventually resulting in a scrub for the original planned August 11th launch date, the Parker Solar Probe successfully began its mission mission to “touch the Sun” this morning at 3:31 AM . Yeah, quite early, but early enough that I could easily just stay awake to watch it, and I’m glad I […]
I didn’t get much sleep last night. I, of course, stayed awake to watch the launch of the Parker Solar Probe. Sadly, that launch didn’t happen this morning as planned. The original launch time of 3:33AM Eastern was pushed back by 20 minutes to accommodate some issues experienced in the countdown. Those issues were resolved, […]
Here we have the third video I wanted to share today regarding the Parker Solar Probe. This video is titled “It’s Surprisingly Hard to Go to the Sun” and covers, in pretty simple terms, the actual difficult faced in going to the Sun from Earth. Orbital mechanics is a funny thing – to go higher […]
Next up in my pre-launch sharing of content related to the Parker Solar Probe mission is this United Launch Alliance video on the launch vehicle for this mission – the Delta IV Heavy – and the flight plan that will put the Parker Solar Probe on a course for the Sun. Delta IV Heavy is […]
It’s time for another historic NASA mission to begin. This time, it isn’t to another world – this isn’t a Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, or even a Pluto probe. Oh no, this is something much more intense. Tonight or, more correctly, early this Saturday Morning, August 11th 2018 a Delta IV Heavy booster will launch […]
I shot several hours of video last August during the 2017 Solar Eclipse. While most of it just shows the sun slowly getting more and more covered by the Moon (we had, I believe, 94% totality in my area) until it’s nothing but a crescent, a few frames from the video proved better than normal, […]
I mention in my previous article about the launch of Skylab 3 that I would hunt for videos related to the mission. Well, sure enough, I quickly found a solid one – Skylab, A Scientific Harvest is a 1974 produced NASA Film on the two month long Skylab 3 mission. The video goes into light […]
If there’s one thing anyone could gather from the bulk of my space related posts (both the positive ones and the not so positive ones) it’s this: I freaking love NASA. It’s funny then that it would come as a surprise to me today to see that today, July 29th, marks NASA’s 60th birthday. While […]
On July 28th, 1973, a Saturn 1B rocket launched from Launch Complex 39-B at Kennedy Space Center carrying astronauts Alan Bean, Owen Garriott, and Jack Lousma into orbit for the Skylab 3 mission. This mission was, as you would expect, a direct follow up to the 28 day Skylab 2 mission. Skylab 3 would remain […]
This morning marked the final launch of the “Evolution Storable” or ES variant of the amazing Ariane 5 rocket. Without going into great detail on the history of the Ariane 5 launch vehicle and its variants, the “ES” variant combines an improved core stage of the still-flying ECA variant with the older storable propellant second […]
Okay, so it’s not really an Echidna and it’s not really in space, but this was something that was worth covering. What’s actually going on is Horus 49 – the launch of a high altitude balloon by the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group Inc. (AREG) for some radio experimentation. Pretty straightforward stuff, but this flight carried […]
On July 18th 2018 aerospace company Blue Origin conducted the 9th test flight of their New Shepard launch vehicle. New Shepard is a booster intended for commercial suborbital missions for both scientific research and space tourism, and holds the much-ignored distinction of being the first booster to reach space and safely land vertically, predating a […]
The Russian cargo vehicle Progress MS-09 launched on July 9th 2018 carrying approximately 2400 kilograms of supplies for the International Space Station. A pretty typical resupply mission save for two interesting facts: 1: This mission was launched at such a time that it could dock faster than any previous mission to the ISS, spending a […]
Today marks 49 years since the first crewed landing on the Moon – the mission of Apollo 11. For fans of space stuff, today is kind of the top day in the history of things, much like October 4th and April 12th. These are days we celebrate for their importance to humanity – the days […]