Last year they had a horrible accident on the pad that killed 21 scientists and technicians. This year, they made it. Congrats, mi Amigos!*

Thanks to both A.E. Brain and Interested Participant for pointing this out.

*Yes, I know Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish. Work with me here.

Posted by: Ted at 12:08 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

Oh man, say it isn't so!!!

The NASA spacecraft that smashed into the Utah desert last month while bringing home fragile samples of the sun may have been doomed by engineering drawings that had been done backwards, an investigating board said Friday.

Because of the backward drawings, the switches that were supposed to detect Genesis' re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and trigger its parachutes were placed incorrectly, said Michael G. Ryschkewitsch, chairman of the board.

Posted by: Ted at 08:08 PM | category: Space Program
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 113 words, total size 1 kb.

Russia is planning a simulated mission to Mars to study the effects of such a voyage on the crew.

The 500 Days experiment, under development by the Russian Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, will isolate human volunteers in a mock space station module for -- as its namesake suggests -- a complete 500 days to study how a long mission to Mars might affect its human crew.

"Obviously, we're very interested in the results," NASA spokeswoman Dolores Beasley said of the long-duration study during a telephone interview. "It is a high priority for us."

During the 500 Days study, six volunteers will depend on a preset limit of supplies, including about 5 tons of food and oxygen and 3 tons of water. A doctor will accompany volunteers inside the module to treat illnesses and injuries. Volunteers will only be allowed to quit the experiment if the develop a severe ailment or psychological stress.

Posted by: Ted at 04:46 AM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 190 words, total size 1 kb.

Jennifer (who is on a roll) mentioned it yesterday, but I completely misunderstood what she meant. When she posted "Who's the greatest pilot you ever saw?", and then wrote "Goodbye Gordon Cooper", I thought she was referring to the new SpaceShipOne astronauts.

What she was referring to was that Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, passed away yesterday. He was a flake, but he was also a great pilot.

Posted by: Ted at 11:54 AM | category: Links
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 82 words, total size 1 kb.

Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites has just won the XPrize!!!

Thanks to Pixy for the heads up, and Transterrestrial Musings for the live coverage.

Posted by: Ted at 11:49 AM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 41 words, total size 1 kb.