I've been collecting links and making notes for an upcoming biography of Robert Goddard, the Father of American Rocketry.

Instead, you should read this, because Chris Winter has already done a magnificent job telling the story of this fascinating man and his accomplishments.

Thanks to Spacecraft for the pointer.

Posted by: Ted at 06:34 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

Nigeria, Great Britain, Turkey, and South Korea all shared a ride with two Russian military satellites. Photo here.

Posted by: Ted at 07:54 PM | category: Space Program
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

Besides my little niche fanatasism about space, there are some fine people out there writing about space, science, and the technology thereof. They're also all smarter than me, which is why I try to compensate by using words like 'thereof' (twice now). They write about a variety of other topics too, so check them out and tell them Ted says hey.

Rocket Man writes from an insiders point of view, because he works for the aerospace industry. Geez, that sounds dull. He's not, I just need writing help.

Spacecraft is a new one to me. He sent a nice email of introduction and put a mention of Rocket Jones on his blog, which sent a nice bit of traffic my way. For everyone who followed the link from his site, you should come back here each and every day, because I'm going to talk him into having a test at the end of the semester, just about me. Thereof.

Rocket Forge. Good stuff.

Samizdata. I just found out about these guys. So far, so very good.

Terrestrial Musings has been on my links roster for awhile now. If you haven't already, you should.

Winds of Change posts some excellent stuff about the space program on occasion. Same deal people. The link has been there, take advantage!

Laughing Wolf. NASA. Cooking. A man after my own heart. Wait, that just sounds paranoid, doesn't it?

USS Clueless. Stephen Den Beste gets into a good meaty science post once in a while. Fun to read. I probably misspelled his name, which is why I'm not prominently displayed on his blogroll. That and his damnably ethical behavior, which gets in the way of a good blackmail scheme.

Now Jeff at doesn't write about space, but his blog name Alphecca is named after a star he found on the star chart hanging next to his desk. Good enough for me.

Everyone needs a little down time when you can relax and play and get silly. But you also need to exercise the mind on occasion, to work that brain and the thought processes by chewing through something not thoroughly familiar. Collectively, these guys are 'brain taffy'. Yes, that was another blatant attempt at Google hits.

Brain Taffy.
Boobs.
Thereof.

Posted by: Ted at 10:20 AM | category: Space Program
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 380 words, total size 3 kb.

The European Space Agency is ready to launch it's first ever lunar mission this weekend. Carried aloft by an Ariane 5 rocket, the payload will be put into orbit around the moon, where it will map the surface.

The interesting thing about this probe is the use of a low-thrust ion engine. NASA's Deep Space 1 probe was the first to use ion propulsion.

Posted by: Ted at 10:51 PM | category: Space Program
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 70 words, total size 1 kb.

1 The Ariane is a French rocket, isn't it? Won't it surrender to the little green men?

OK, there's a better joke in there somewhere.

Posted by: Victor at September 27, 2003 05:24 PM (FNHVL)

2 The Ariane program started off well, but hit a rough spot when their new and improved version tended to blow up.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is a consortium dominated by France.

Posted by: Ted at September 27, 2003 08:00 PM (2sKfR)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Visit the USS Clueless (which is anything but), and find a wonderful explanation about why it was decided to crash the Galileo probe into Jupiter. Plenty of good links too. If you like science, space, physics, or mathematics, you'll enjoy the read.

Posted by: Ted at 11:52 AM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

I mentioned in passing that the Chinese would be making their first attempt at manned space flight, probably around the first of October. As the Brazilians learned earlier this year, accidents can happen at any time and quickly turn triumph into tragedy. The Chinese have learned this lesson as well. Then again, like any totalitarian society, what's a few peons killed when you have an opportunity to steal technology?

Posted by: Ted at 04:40 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 75 words, total size 1 kb.

For the science inclined among us:

After eight years orbiting Jupiter, NASA's Galileo space probe will end its long mission on Sunday by plunging through the Jovian cloud tops and smashing into the giant planet -- collecting data as it goes.

I don't think our successes get nearly enough press. Pioneer, Galileo, Voyager, Hubble, and many more. Great programs all, but people don't remember them. This satellite lasted 6 years longer than expected. More from the article:

The end doesn't sound pretty.

"The spacecraft will reach the outermost layers of Jupiter's atmosphere, which is very dense," Lopes said. "There will be a lot of friction. (Galileo) will begin to burn and crush and disintegrate and then it will just vaporize and become part of Jupiter."

Unless of course, it hits something living in that thick soup of an atmosphere. Yeah, I read too much science fiction. However it happens, my thanks to the team of engineers and scientists who concieved, designed, managed and controlled this spectacular endevour.

It just struck me... nah, I need to think this one out a little (making a note)... this might become a separate post later.

Also on the home front:

New Apollo-Style Capsules Could Replace Shuttles

Some of the preliminary designs I've seen (artist renditions) make it look kinda like the old Soviet Soyuz craft, with pieces strung together like beads. Except whereas Soyuz was circular, Apollo is wedge shaped. Interesting ideas, there'll be more about this coming out, no doubt.

Betcha we hear something interesting come October 1st. The Chinese space program is modeled on the Soviet, so announcing a flight prior to it's actual success is somewhat rare. It's easier to deny a failure if nobody knows ahead of time that you're trying. Of course, they still hedge a little bit:

"As far as I know, all the preparatory work for the launching of Shenzhou V is going very smoothly," Science and Technology Minister Xu Guanhua told a news conference.

The Chinese have had four consecutive successful test flights with their booster and Shenzhou spacecraft, so this should be same-same, except that this time they'll have taikonauts aboard. The Shenzhou craft is an updated and improved version of the Soviet Soyuz.

Hey, I think we could use a little Space Race to spur things. Let's see (talking off the top of my head here), Russia couldn't afford to go it alone, but I'm not sure they would want to partner up with Uncle Sam. They might feel it less humiliating for them to team with China. In the other corner would be the U.S., Japan, Canada, Great Britain... Would Brazil join? Maybe. France? I'd expect them to say no, just to be French, and continue to concentrate on their little niche.

Update: Over at Scientific American Online (my favorite print magazine), they have a nice article about China's space program.

Posted by: Ted at 10:46 AM | category: Space Program
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 486 words, total size 3 kb.

America has been challenged once again, this time by terrorism. Our response this time, like every time before, is to rise up and meet the challenge. Like Japan after Pearl Harbor and the Soviet Union during the Space Race, the terrorists are being met with a national determination not expected when they threw down the gauntlet.

Since rockets are what gets me going, IÂ’m going to describe in some detail what we as a nation accomplished when we went to the moon. This is going to concentrate on the actual hardware, to give you an idea of the complexity and ingenuity involved. Links to reference sources are located at the end.
more...

Posted by: Ted at 08:32 AM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1190 words, total size 8 kb.

Over on eBay, a nice assortment of aerospace related Zippo lighters.

Posted by: Ted at 04:21 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.

I like rockets. What a coincidence! Have fun.

Posted by: Ted at 04:08 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 16 words, total size 1 kb.

Gus Grissom was the astronaut for the second manned suborbital flight in the Mercury series, and his capsule was named the Liberty Bell 7.

The flight was fully successful, but upon splashdown the capsule hatch prematurely opened and the capsule sank into the sea.*

The Liberty Bell 7 was finally found and recovered in 1999. The Discovery Channel did several shows on it, and it has been touring the country. It is scheduled to be reutrned 'home' and back on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere before the end of the year.

* Forget that crap from The Right Stuff, Gus Grissom was fully exonerated later by NASA after tests proved his claim that the hatch could indeed 'just blew'. (yeah, I know the quote doesn't quite fit right... deal)

Posted by: Ted at 10:59 AM | category: Space Program
Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 135 words, total size 1 kb.