#americaspace

‘Fire in the Cockpit’: Remembering the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 1 (Part 1)

The Apollo 1 crew consisted of (from left) Command Pilot Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger Chaffee. Photo Credit: NASA Five decades ago, this month, one of the worst tragedies in the history of U.S. space exploration unfolded with horrifying suddenness on Pad 34 at Cape Kennedy in Florida. “The Fire”—as it became infamously known—tore through the Command Module (CM) of…

A Very Alien Moon: NASA Celebrates 12th Anniversary of Huygens Landing on Titan

Mosaic of images taken by Huygens during its descent to the surface of Titan, from an altitude of about 6 miles (10 kilometers). Riverbeds formed by liquid methane can be seen near the center of the image. Image Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Twelve years ago today, one of the most incredible space missions ever was accomplished: the first landing of a probe on an alien moon. And this…

‘Just a Normal Day’: Remembering John Glenn’s Mercury Flight (Part 2)

Bobbing gently in the waves after a highly successful – though nail-bitingly harrowing – mission, Friendship 7 is readied for winching out of the water. Photo Credit: NASA On the afternoon of 20 February 1962, millions of Americans listened and watched, transfixed as their countryman, John Glenn, plummeted back to Earth after completing three orbits of Earth. As detailed in yesterday’s…

‘Zero-G and I Feel Fine’: Remembering John Glenn’s Mercury Flight (Part 1)

Blurred and somewhat lacking in detail, this image of John Glenn in orbit aboard Friendship 7 represents one of the United States’ greatest advances in space technology in the 20th century: the effort to achieve piloted orbital flight. Photo Credit: NASA Two months after his death, aged 95, Monday will be a somber date for America’s human space program, as the 55th anniversary of John Glenn’s…

Pad 39A Set for First Post-Shuttle Launch, as SpaceX Readies for Weekend Return to Space Station

Sunday’s Static Fire Test left smoke, flame and the roar of rocket engines reverberating across Pad 39A for the first time since the end of the Space Shuttle era. Photo Credit: Jeffrey Siebert/AmericaSpace After a multi-month hiatus, SpaceX stands ready to resume cargo delivery flights to the International Space Station (ISS), under the terms of its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) commitment…

Landing on an Ocean Moon: NASA Unveils New Plan to Search for Life on Europa

Artist’s conception of the proposed Europa lander, with sampling arm extended. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech For decades now, Europa has beckoned – this moon of Jupiter which is frozen on the outside but hides a global ocean on the inside – has so far only been visited by spacecraft during brief flybys. Scientists and the public alike have been wanting to return to this fascinating little world…

Ready for a Margarita: 20 Years Since the Second Hubble Servicing Mission (Part 2)

Twenty years ago, on STS-82, the Hubble Space Telescope was transformed from a 1970s instrument with 1980s optics into an observatory for 21st-century scientific discovery. Photo Credit: NASA Two decades ago, yesterday, on 11 February 1997, Space Shuttle Discovery roared into the night with a seven-strong crew—Commander Ken Bowersox, Pilot Scott “Doc” Horowitz, Payload Commander Mark Lee and…