INSIDER
Ed Dwight, America's first Black astronaut candidate, finally goes to space 60 years later
Read full article: Ed Dwight, America's first Black astronaut candidate, finally goes to space 60 years laterEd Dwight, America's first Black astronaut candidate, has finally made it to space 60 years later, flying with Jeff Bezos’ rocket company.
Yoon opens state visit with spotlight on space, mega deals
Read full article: Yoon opens state visit with spotlight on space, mega dealsVice President Kamala Harris kicked off the state visit of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol with a tour of a NASA facility as the Biden administration looks to deepen ties with a close ally that it sees as only growing in importance in an increasingly complicated Indo-Pacific.
Two space fans get seats on billionaire’s private flight
Read full article: Two space fans get seats on billionaire’s private flightIsaacman also revealed some details about his Inspiration4 mission, as the four gathered Tuesday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Their SpaceX Dragon capsule — currently parked at the International Space Station for NASA — will launch no earlier than mid-September, aiming for an altitude of 335 miles (540 kilometers). That’s 75 miles (120 kilometers) higher than the International Space Station and on a level with the Hubble Space Telescope. AdThe capsule will be outfitted with a domed window in place of the usual space station docking mechanism for their trip. The St. Jude physician assistant was treated there as a child for bone cancer.
Mars landing team 'awestruck' by photo of descending rover
Read full article: Mars landing team 'awestruck' by photo of descending roverThis Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 photo provided by NASA shows the Perseverance rover lowered towards the surface of Mars during its powered descent. (NASA via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The world got its first close-up look at a Mars landing on Friday, as NASA released a stunning picture of its newest rover being lowered onto the dusty red surface. NASA equipped the spacecraft with a record 25 cameras and two microphones, many of which were turned on during Thursday’s descent. It's the ninth time that NASA has successfully landed on Mars __ and the fifth rover. As it did with 2012's Curiosity rover — still roaming 2,300 miles (3,750 kilometers) away — NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed Perseverance descending beneath its massive parachute.
For NASA engineer, writing about Challenger tragedy was hard
Read full article: For NASA engineer, writing about Challenger tragedy was hardThe chapter about the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded shortly after liftoff Jan. 28, 1986. He knew remembering the details of the Challenger tragedy would be difficult so he put off writing about it until the end. At the time Norris was the chief engineer for shuttle contamination control and played no direct role in the Challenger launch but he observed it as a NASA insider. It was a bitter 36 degrees Fahrenheit, 15 degrees lower than the previous-coldest launch day. As Norris watched the horrifying event unfold, his mind raced to make sense of it.
Take a selfie with (wax) Apollo 11 astronauts at DC's Madame Tussauds
Read full article: Take a selfie with (wax) Apollo 11 astronauts at DC's Madame TussaudsThe "Meet the Legends" exhibit at Madame Tussauds in D.C. features relaunched sculptures of Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong as well as a lunar module where guests can pose to take photos with the astronauts. Now, the astronauts involved in the mission are getting a permanent photo-op thanks to Madame Tussauds newest additions to its attraction in the US capital. In conversation with Madame Tussauds' General Manager Therese Alvich, Stern explained just how significant the moon landing was for science and technology. "We are about to enter a new age of exploration with the Artemis Project, which will send astronauts to the moon in the 2020s. That will be in preparation for sending astronauts to the surface of Mars in the 2030s and beyond.
This Apollo 11 experiment is still happening on the moon
Read full article: This Apollo 11 experiment is still happening on the moonLater, the Apollo 14 and 15 missions would also add similar arrays to the surface. This allows researchers to determine the moon's orbit, rotation and its current orientation, which will be needed to land on the moon. Previously it was believed that the moon had a solid core, but data from the arrays has revealed that the core is fluid. Until 1964, there weren't any closeup or detailed photos of the lunar surface. In 1964, Ranger 7 successfully reached the moon and returned 4,316 images of the surface before it collided intentionally with the surface.
NASA fed some Apollo 11 lunar samples to cockroaches and mice
Read full article: NASA fed some Apollo 11 lunar samples to cockroaches and miceAstronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were able to secure lunar samples from the surface of the moon from the Apollo 11 mission and bring them back to Earth. However, in order to ensure that it was safe to store lunar samples on Earth, scientists had to run a number of tests to make sure contamination was not possible, according to NASA. "We had to prove that we weren't going to contaminate not only human beings, but we weren't going to contaminate fish and birds and animals and plants and you name it," said Charles Berry, head of medical operations during Apollo, in an oral history. "They didn't find any microbial growth on the lunar samples, and they didn't have any microorganisms that they at least initially attributed to any extraterrestrial source or lunar source," said Hayes. It wasn't until after the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 that NASA felt it was safe enough to stop testing on animals and to end the quarantine process for astronauts and lab technicians working with any lunar samples.
11 things to know about the historic Apollo 11 mission
Read full article: 11 things to know about the historic Apollo 11 missionTo pull it off, the Apollo astronauts and the teams that supported them put in grueling hours of training. Cool'The Apollo 11 crew of Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins traveled 240,000 miles in 76 hours to reach the moon. The Apollo 11 astronauts, meanwhile, had more than 70 food items to choose from. 400,000 people worked on the Apollo 11 missionThe full triumph of Apollo 11 doesn't just belong to the astronauts. Over the years, Apollo Mission Control and its surrounding rooms fell into disrepair.
President Trump marks Apollo 11 anniversary by meeting its astronauts
Read full article: President Trump marks Apollo 11 anniversary by meeting its astronautsPresident Donald Trump, accompanied by Apollo 11 astronauts Michael Collins, second from left, and Buzz Aldrin, second from right, with Vice President Mike Pence and first lady Melania Trump, speaks during a photo opportunity commemoratingCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins reunited Friday on the eve of the 50th anniversary of humanity's first moon landing. The president asked if astronauts could get to Mars without first going back to the moon. He noted that the Apollo 11 command module and attached lunar module went straight into lunar orbit and even separated and redocked around the moon. The vice president is commemorating Saturday's anniversary at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, visiting the launch pad where Apollo 11 blasted off. NASA televised a two-hour show Friday afternoon remembering Apollo 11 but also looking forward to its future moon plans.