Challenger/STS-51L
Twenty-eight years ago this morning our hearts were broken…
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The Missiles of Winter (I): International Conventions
If news reports coming from South Korea and echoed through the West are to be believed, North Korea is moving towards another attempt at launching a Taepo Dong – 2 IR/ICBM, ostensibly as a space launch vehicle (SLV). This would be the third such attempt, with previous attempts in July 2006 and Sept 1998 ending…
Iran’s Successful Space Launch
Comes word over night of an apparently successful attempt by Iran to place a satellite in orbitusing the Safir-2 space launch vehicle (SLV). The Safir (“Ambassador”) was ingeniously developed as part of Iran’s growing rocket and missile program and has direct links to its attempts to develop extended range missiles in the IRBM and ultimately,…
Iran’s Space Launch: Did They or Didn’t They?
(earlier report on Iran’s space launcher acivity here) Much reporting since yesterday regarding Iran’s claims to have launched an object into space. To set the record right, Mohsen Bahrami, the head of Iran’s aerospace research centre, told state television that “The first space rocket has been successfully launched into space,” without disclosing its range or…
Final DSP Satellite Lifted to Orbit on First Operational Delta IV Heavy Lift
The last of the 23-satellite Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites was lifted to orbit this past weekend on the newest heavy lift rocket in the US inventory. The Delta IV was developed as part of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program to replace the previous workhorse of US military and commercial heavy lift, the Titan-family. Consisting…
CAPT Wally Schirra, USN-Ret.: 12 Mar 1923 – 3 May 2007
“Are you a turtle?” I had always wanted to go to the Navy. As a young kid, I was intrigued by a Naval Officer with the beautiful brown shoes and sharp gold wings.- Wally Schirra Born into an aviator family (his father had gone to Canada during WW1 to earn his wings and his mom…
US Space Program: Lost in Place?
What is the mission of NASA? No — Seriously, what is NASA’s mission? Is it to be the lead Agency for exploration in the fields of aeronautics and space? Discovering new technologies, opening new vistas of engineering and scientific knowledge for further exploration and utilization by US industry and the free nations of the world?…