The Last Flight of Discovery
- By Maggie Masetti
- April 18, 2012
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Today we said a bittersweet farewell to the space shuttle orbiter Discovery, as it headed off to retirement at the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center atop a special 747. On its way to Dulles Airport (where it landed just outside DC) from Kennedy Space Center (where … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-Up – 10/11/2011
- By Maggie Masetti
- October 11, 2011
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This YouTube vid features recordings made by the U.S. Air Force Space Surveillance Radar in Texas during the Perseid meteor shower. How does this work? Head over to Phil Plait’s blog for an explanation.
Awesomeness Round-up – 8/16/2011
- By Faith Tucker
- August 16, 2011
- 1 Comment
The Goddard Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory released some exciting news about the age-old question of origin of the chemical components necessary for life. According to Dr. Michael Callahan of Goddard, “People have been discovering components of DNA in meteorites since the 1960’s, but researchers were unsure whether they were really created … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 7/26/11
- By Maggie Masetti
- July 26, 2011
- 3 Comments
The James Webb Space Telescope has had a lot of recent milestones. All the primary mirror segments have been polished – and the secondary mirror has just been completed. You can read a NASA web feature all about what Webb’s secondary mirror does and why it’s important. (It’s quite large … Continue Reading →
STS-135: All Systems Go!
- By Faith Tucker
- July 12, 2011
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As the launch countdown rapidly approached zero, STS-135 Commander Christopher Ferguson addressed Launch Director Mike Leinbach: “Thanks to you and your team, Mike, until the very end you all made it look easy. The shuttle will always be a reflection of what a nation can do when it dares to … Continue Reading →
Special Space Shuttle Awesomeness Round-Up
- By Faith Tucker
- July 8, 2011
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The time has come to say goodbye to Space Shuttle. The program has faithfully served NASA, our country and the international community for 30 long years, and now it’s time for an era to come to a close. The final Shuttle launch occurred mere minutes ago, down at Kennedy Space … Continue Reading →
It was 30 years ago today…
- By Maggie Masetti
- April 12, 2011
- 6 Comments
…that the first space shuttle was launched. On April 12, 1981, at Pad 39A, just seconds past 7 a.m., the space shuttle Columbia carried astronaut John Young and Robert Crippen into Earth orbit. Credit: NASA I think our Administrator, Charlie Bolden (a former astronaut), said it best when he called … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 4/4/11
- By Sara Mitchell
- April 4, 2011
- 1 Comment
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program, employees down at Kennedy Space Center came together for this impressive themed aerial portrait. I’m not sure what image we would pick at Goddard, since the research here is so diverse! Any ideas? Post them in the comments! There’s … Continue Reading →
Blueshift ponders… how would you wake up the astronauts?
- By Maggie Masetti
- March 10, 2011
- 8 Comments
As you may or may not know, each “morning,” the astronauts aboard the shuttle are woken up with specially selected music. Sometimes they get the original band to play the tune, sometimes it’s a favorite song or a parody (during the last Hubble servicing mission, I have it on good … Continue Reading →
Discovery’s Last Hurrah
- By Maggie Masetti
- March 2, 2011
- 3 Comments
On February 24, 2011 the space shuttle had a successful launch – it also happened to be Discovery’s last flight. It was actually coincidental that I was in Florida on the day of the launch. My friends and I had made plans ages ago for the Disney Princess half-marathon. Some … Continue Reading →
