Twenty-eight years ago this morning our hearts were broken…
…Right? Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, flying on the International Space Station, is being criticized by some U.S. observers for using a digital camera equipped with an 800-mm. telephoto lens and a video camera to image what a Russian official said were “after-effects of border conflict operations in the Caucasus” on Aug. 9, soon after the…
When all else fails – and your butt is on the line with a major PR catastrophe looming, it is best to man-up, square your shoulders and do your duty as organizational lead by assuming responsibility before The Big Guy…unless you are the head of Russia’s ROSKOSMOS space agency. Then you can hint darkly about…
Apropos that on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the landing on the Moon, the latest US visitor and (hopefully) precursor to our return via the Constellation program, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged the location in Mare Tranquilis that was the site of Apollo 11’s landing (click on image to enlarge): Note the object…
Requirement: 1) place a satellite in orbit during the IGY; 2) accomplish a scientific experiment in orbit; 3) track the satellite and ensure its attainment of orbit. Because of an ongoing classified program to put reconnaissance satellites in orbit (Project WS-117 using Air Force Thor MRBM’s – which later became the Korona-series of reconnaissance…
The space race begins with the launch of Sputnik (Russian for traveler) by an indigenously developed and modified R-7 ICBM (NATO Codename SS-6 Sapwood). R-7 Семёрка/SS-6 SAPWOOD Design work began at OKB-1 (later S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia) in Kaliningrad (now Korolev) and other divisions in 1953 with the requirement for a…
“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…
