I posted my nine reasons for human space exploration a while back, but with all the discussion of human spaceflight lately, my friend Joe Shoer, “quantum mechanic and rocket scientist extraordinaire,” decided to do the same and posted his top five reasons for sending humans to space. His are quite a bit more detailed and [...]
Archive for July 2009
Reasons for Human Space Exploration
July 31, 2009Thoughts on the Augustine Comission’s Public Meetings
July 30, 2009For the past three days, the “Augustine Commission” has been holding public meetings as part of their study of the future of NASA’s human spaceflight program. They still have a few weeks before their final report is due on the President’s desk, but the public meetings have been a great view into the current status [...]
Public Engagement in Space: The Power of Story
July 25, 2009In my post yesterday about the future of NASA, I paraphrased a philosophy for public engagement with NASA that centers around telling a story. Today I scanned in the packet of information that first introduced me to this idea. You can download it here. The packet is a report put together by Bob Rogers for [...]
The Future of NASA
July 24, 2009Earlier this week I mentioned that there is an ongoing evaluation of the future of human spaceflight at NASA. The so-called “Augustine commission” has been tasked to: “conduct an independent review of ongoing U.S. human space flight plans and programs, as well as alternatives, to ensure the Nation is pursuing the best trajectory for the [...]
NASA Then and Now
July 20, 2009Forty years ago today, the world watched as Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the moon. All day today, I have been reading accounts from people who witnessed the landing. They have almost unanimously expressed the awe and wonder of seeing human being set foot upon the surface of another world. But another common [...]
Carnival of Space #112: Apollo’s 40th Anniversary!
July 20, 2009Today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing! I will have more to say about this later, but for now, let me direct you to this week’s Carnival of Space over at ‘Out of the Cradle’. There are also some great sites celebrating this anniversary, including: NASA (duh), “We Choose the Moon“, [...]
LRO Images of Apollo Landing Sites!
July 17, 2009Just in time for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team have released images of the Apollo landing sites. These pictures show the lower half of the Lunar Module (LM), the scientific instruments left on the surface, and even the tracks where the astronauts walked! Awesome. Of course, the [...]
Book Review: Red Mars
July 14, 2009Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Red Mars” is, in the words of Arthur C. Clarke, “The best novel on the colonization of Mars that has ever been written… It should be required reading for the colonists of the next century.” I read it back in 2002 during the summer between high-school and college, and then promptly went [...]
Review: Moon
July 13, 2009Last night I went to see “Moon“, starring Sam Rockwell. It was excellent, both as a fascinating sci-fi story and for its relatively accurate science. The premise is that, in the near future, the moon is being mined for Helium-3 to fuel fusion power plants back on Earth. Sam Bell (played by Rockwell) is an [...]
Carnival of Space #111
July 13, 2009Another week, another awesome Carnival of Space! This week is hosted by 21st Century Waves, and has lots of great entries. Go check it out! Also stay tuned here: I have two sci-fi reviews coming up this week!
