Only Three People Have Died in Space
On April 19th, 1971, the Soviet Union launch history’s first ever space station, Salyut 1. Days later the Soyuz 10 mission failed after a problem with the docking hatch meant the crew couldn’t actually...
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This is Why the Apollo 11 Moonwalkers Look Ghostly
Ghostly Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon. NASA. A close look at the Apollo 11 EVA footage shows ghostly astronauts, which of course has launched speculation that the footage is faked. If NASA...
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Apollo’s Life-Saving Q-Ball
Apollo launch escape system diagram. NASA. At the very top of the Saturn V stack, at the top of the Launch Escape Tower, was a small ball bored with eight holes. These holes led to the Q-ball, an...
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Ivan Ivanovich Cleared the Way for Yuri Gagarin’s Spaceflight
Ivan Ivanovich’s face obscured by the sign proclaiming him a dummy. via Astronautix The countryside near Perm in the Soviet Union was rocketed by what sounded like an explosion in the afternoon of...
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We Almost Had Jet Packs on the Moon
The Apollo lunar landing missions had limitations. The personal life support system backpacks moonwalking astronauts wore didn’t have replenishing stores of consumables. Once their power and oxygen...
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Sputnik was the Soviets’ Backup Satellite
Wernher von Braun popped briefly back into his office before heading out to a pre-dinner reception. He’d spent the day giving General Bruce Medaris, head of the US Army Ballistic Missile Agency, and...
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The Wearable Reentry Spacecraft of Yesteryear
The MOOSE concept. GE. Imagine an astronaut on board a dying spacecraft in orbit. The vehicle is losing power and there’s no way it will be able to make it safely back through the atmosphere. There’s...
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Laika’s Lasting Gift to American Spaceflight
Laika before her flight. via Wikipedia. “Dog in Second Satellite Alive; May be Recovered, Soviet Hints; While House is Calm Over Feat” The headline blared across the front page of the New York Times on...
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Astronauts Didn’t Sleep So Well on the Moon
Inside the cramped and tiny Lunar Module. NASA/Hancock. The habitable volume of the Apollo lunar module was just 160 cubic feet. That might sound like a lot for two men, but when you consider that it...
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Meet the LEGO Women of NASA
It’s not too often that a toy depicts a real-life unsung hero in science, but the LEGO Women of NASA kit does that four times over. A couple of the names should be familiar — Sally Ride is the go to...
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This Apollo Rocket Stage was Smashed for Science
Apollo 11 leaving the Earth. NASA. Within 10 minutes of a Saturn V launch, the first two stages had fallen away as the spacecraft settled into Earth orbit. Within another 10 minutes, both stages had...
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Apollo 11’s “1202 Alarm” Explained
Capcom Charlie Duke, and backup crewmembers Jim Lovell and Fred Haise in Mission Control during Apollo 11’s descent. NASA “Got the Earth straight out our front window.” As the lunar module Eagle yawed...
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It Took 83 Engines to Get to the Moon
The five F-1 engines of the Saturn V in Florida. My own selfie. The first time the Saturn V launched in November of 1967, ceiling tiles in the nearby studio where Walter Cronkite was reporting from...
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How the Challenger Disaster Changed NASA
The moment of the Challenger orbiter’s explosion has, sadly, become an iconic image of the space age. NASA. By January of 1986 America was already bored with spaceflight. It was, in part, NASA’s own...
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Why Cosmonauts Have Never Splashed Down
The moment before Soyuz TMA-08 lands from Expedition 36, the retrorockets fire. NASA/Bill Ingalls) When the Soyuz spacecraft returns from the ISS, a parachute slows its fall, but not enough for a safe...
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The How and Why of Rockets’ Staging
Apollo 11 staging; that’s the first stage falling away before the second stage lit. NASA. When we talk about spaceflight — modern or vintage, manned or unmanned, orbital or deep space — launch vehicles...
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Yes, Rockets CAN Fly in a Vacuum
Artist concept of the S-IVB firing to send the crew to the Moon, aka the translunar injection burn. It fired in a vacuum. For real. NASA. “Rockets can’t fly in space! There’s no air for the engine to...
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Eleven Deaf Men Helped NASA Leave Earth
Peterson before a centrifuge test. Gallaudet University Archives. In the late 1950s when NASA was a brand new agency, the list of spaceflight unknowns was significantly larger than any list of knowns....
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What if John Glenn had Died in Space?
A healthy John Glenn after landing. NASA. When NASA launched John Glenn on its first ever orbital mission in 1962, there was a pretty realistic chance that he was going to die. Not because the agency...
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Why Apollo Flew in a Figure 8
If you’ve ever looked at a schematic for an Apollo flight like the one on the left, you’ll notice right away that it traces out a figure 8, which leads many to wonder why? Surely it’s easier to go in a...
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