New space race begins when Atlantis lands

by Chris Owen on

The Space Shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth this week from its final flight. That pretty much puts NASA out of the business of launching humans into space anytime soon. On one hand that’s sad, the end of a grand program and many space workers will lose their jobs. On the other hand, its the right move at the right time that may result in more American space travelers than ever as America’s next space race blasts off.

“I’m convinced in the next few years we’re going to see multiple companies flying several times a week,” says George Nield, head of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration reports NPR.com. “And that will mean hundreds of launches every year, with thousands of people getting to experience space flight firsthand.”

Indeed, several companies are offering trips that will give people a few minutes of weightlessness at the edge of space. Space Adventures, Virgin Galactic and XCOR are all taking deposits. Other companies are planning to make spacecraft that can take NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.

The Space Shuttle program did it’s job. Hauling huge payloads of equipment, parts and supplies into space to build the International Space Station and more. Now it is time to turn the page on the next chapter of space exploration and some believe a whole new space race will be the result.

“The new American space race has begun” says Richard Garriott who paid a reported $30 million to ride a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2008, “This new race promises to create safer, cheaper spaceships that will explore farther, sooner. More importantly, in addition to exploration and fundamental research, this new era will return economic value from space resources like energy and minerals and microgravity research in fields such as biology.”

Garriott agrees that privately funded space travel will be the new frontier for NASA but notes the big difference is in how NASA will go about it’s business.

“NASA has always owned the vehicles that its astronauts rode into space” says Garriott in an article on Statesman.com, “What is changing is merely this procurement method. Instead of buying a vehicle, NASA is buying rides, just like it does for satellites.“

Flickr photo by Undertow851

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National Geographic celebrates the last space shuttle mission ever

by Kraig Becker on

Yesterday morning, at 11:30 AM Eastern Time, the Space Shuttle Atlantis blasted off on the last shuttle mission ever. For fans and proponents of space exploration, it was a bittersweet moment to say the least. To celebrate what truly is the end of an era, National Geographic has updated their Space Shuttle Hub page with a look back at the storied vehicle’s tragic and triumphant history.

At various times, NASA‘s fleet of space shuttles has included five different vehicles, including the Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor. The Nat Geo page covers all of them, and even has articles discussing the two orbiters that were lost – the Challenger, which exploded shortly after take-off back in 1986 and Columbia, which tragically burned up on re-entry in 2003. Other articles celebrate the many achievements of the shuttle program over the three decades they have been in service however, giving the remaining three vehicles the final send-off they richly deserve.

During this final flight of the Atlantis, National Geographic space editor Victoria Jaggard will also be posting regular blog updates on the progress of the mission. She has already covered the launch and will continue to add more thoughts and commentary until the shuttle returns to Earth in about two weeks time.

Tomorrow, the Atlantis is scheduled to rendezvous with the International Space Station one final time. While there, the astronauts on board will resupply the ISS and perform routine maintenance on the station, which will be serviced by Russian Soyuz spacecraft in the foreseeable future.

Graphing the deepest ocean to the highest peak

by Justin Delaney on

The surface of the Earth plummets deeper than 35,000 feet in the Mariana Trench and reaches up to the lofty heights of the Himalaya mountain range. The rest of our planet exists somewhere in between. Every hill, coral reef, dance contest, and disappointing vacation takes place at some point between these two extremes. This amazing graph by NOAA and NASA details some of the more significant earthly markers in height and depth, such as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the resting place of the RMS Titanic, and the highest peak – Mt. Everest.

Source OurAmazingPlanet.com, Exploring the wonder and beauty of planet Earth through exclusive news, features and images.

Image via Justin Delaney

Interstellar travel dreams wanted

by Chris Owen on

Have you ever thought or dreamed of what it might be like traveling to distant planets, perhaps in a different solar system? If so, the people that might very well make that happen in the next 100 years or so want your ideas.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA’s Ames Research Center will host the 100 Year Starship Study Symposium in Orlando, Florida from September 30 to October 2. They hope to discuss “the practical and fantastic issues man needs to address to achieve interstellar flight one hundred years from now,” the agencies told PCMag.

That’s where you come in.

“This won’t just be another space technology conference-we’re hoping that ethicists, lawyers, science fiction writers, technologists and others, will participate in the dialog to make sure we’re thinking about all the aspects of interstellar flight,” David Neyland, director of the Tactical Technology Office for DARPA, said in a statement. “This is a great opportunity for people with interesting ideas to be heard, which we believe will spur further thought, dreaming and innovation.”
The conference has been divided into different topics and proposals can relate to those topics or cover a completely new topic. Choose from time-distance solutions; education, social, economic, and legal considerations; philosophical and religious considerations; biology and space medicine; habitats and environmental science; destinations; and communication of the vision.

“The genesis of this study is to foster a rebirth of a sense of wonder among students, academia, industry, researchers and the general population to consider “why not” and to encourage them to tackle whole new classes of research and development related to all the issues surrounding long duration, long distance spaceflight” says DARPA on the symposium website.

Think this is a silly idea? NASA and DARPA remind us that in 1865, author Jules Verne wrote From the Earth to the Moon, a story of sending humans to the moon. About 100 years later, that happened.

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Flickr photo by somegeekintn

VIDEO: Astronaut’s view of the world

by Meg Nesterov on


Need a few moments of Zen? This video from NASA‘s Johnson Space Center has seven of them, traveling over the Earth from the coast of Namibia to the Amazon Basin to capture an astronaut’s view of the world. The incredible images are narrated by Dr. Justin Wilkinson, a soothing astronaut who points out the many rivers, mountains, deserts, and other features shown on NASA’s camera from far above. You can see Utah‘s Salt Lake, Sicily‘s cloud-covered Mt. Etna; there’s even footage of Hurricane Florence, forming a perfect spiral over the Atlantic Ocean.

Sit back, put the video in full-screen mode, and start dreaming of your next travel destination. What an astronaut’s camera sees.