Posts tagged rocket
On this day in 1957, America’s first satellite launch attempt ended in a fireball:
Vanguard: America’s Epic Failnik: “…the rocket rose slowly off the pad for a full four seconds, gaining about two feet of altitude. Then, it lost thrust. It looked for a second like the rocket was going to settle nicely back down on the pad, but it didn’t. Vanguard buckled under its own weight, its fuel tanks ruptured and exploded. The rocket was destroyed and the launch pad badly damaged as both were engulfed in flames.
“Within the carnage, the satellite interpreted the loss of thrust as weightlessness in orbit and separated from the rocket. It was thrown clear, landing a short distance away with its transmitters proudly sending out a beacon signal.”
Me: “Uhhhh…. What the what?! That’s beautiful.”
Hillary: “Huh?” *walks over* “Whoa.”
Me: “That’s it? That’s all you got?”
Hillary: “Yep, I’m really deep like that.”
Last Launch: Dan Winters and the Shuttle Program
NASA: “Exploring other worlds and preserving this one since 2012.”
Just made that up. *brushes off shoulder*
NASA goes green with new propellant technology
A third party manufacturer has been chosen by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to demonstrate a high performance “green” propellant alternative to the highly toxic fuel hydrazine, signaling the entry into a new era of innovative and nontoxic green fuels. The Green Propellant Infusion Mission proposal done by a team led by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation of Boulder,
NASA’s Biggest Rocket: Thrust Would Be Useful Now
Some of the more exciting plans for the future of space exploration are currently quite literally out of reach.
The United States doesn’t have the rocket power to send men to the moon or to Mars. There are some big rockets in the pipeline that will soon restore that power to the United States, but none can match the power of Nova. Nova was NASA’s first heavy launch vehicle that never made it to the launch pad — let alone off it.
Photo: The Nova rocket, at bottom, is shown compared to the Saturn 5 rocket at top. credit: NASA
Only hours before SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle blasts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the first private company to carry out a cargo test-run to the International Space Station (ISS) is ready to make history. Shown here on Friday, the Falcon 9 rocket stands proud on the launchpad.
The launch is still “GO” for 4:55am EST… For updates, follow @Discovery_Space and @astroengine on Twitter!
Santa Soyuz? Rocket Reentry Dazzles Europe
On Christmas Eve, videos of a strange streak of light over Europe surfaced… it wasn’t Santa’s sleigh.
