STS-7 Mission Specialist Sally Ride poses on aft flight deck with her back to the on orbit station (Credit: NASA).

Sally Ride and Valentina Tereshkova: Changing the Course of Human Space Exploration

Source: NASA This week marks the anniversary of two significant events in the history of space exploration–the flight of Valentina Tereshkova 50 years ago on June 16 and of Sally Ride 30 years ago on June 18. With the exception of the single flight by Tereshkova, human spaceflight during the early years of the space race was the province of [...]

First man in space, Yuri Gagarin (left) with fellow cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov, the first man to undertake a spacewalk (Credits: RIA Novosti).

Mystery of Yuri Gagarin’s Death Solved

Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space on April 12, 1961 when he road Vostok 1 into history. Gagarin became an instant celebrity, and is still hailed world-round for his accomplishment. With all that attention, Gagarin’s premature death in a routine fighter jet training flight is all the more surprising in that first the USSR, then Russia [...]

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (Credits: ESA).

ExoMars Enters Final Phase of Construction

ESA’s ExoMars program has entered the final stage of construction by signing a hardware contract with Thales Alenia Space at the Paris Air and Space show, on June 17th. “The award of this contract provides continuity to the work of the industrial team members of Thales Alenia Space on this complex mission, and will ensure that it remains on track [...]

Credits: Envision Series/Copenhagen Suborbitals

Accepting the Risk of Death in Spaceflight

Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen have been developing Copenhagen Suborbitals, the open source, backyard endeavor they founded to launch themselves into space, for five years now. In the midst of ever more models and tests (here is a nice update on the Tycho Deep Space II capsule if you’re interested), von Bengtson took a few minutes to talk about [...]

Cella Energy's new hydrogen pellets, in pellet and wool form (Credits: Cella Energy).

New Hydrogen Pellets Allow Better Fuel Storage and Radiation Protection

Dr. Stephen Perusich, Senior Scientist at Cella Energy’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida location recently sat down with Space Safety Magazine to talk about his company’s creative new method for storing hydrogen fuel in reusable plastic pellets. Dr. Perusich manages the lab at the Space Life Sciences Laboratory facility, where new hydrogen storage methods are in the research and development phase. [...]


News

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (Credits: ESA).

ExoMars Enters Final Phase of Construction

ESA’s ExoMars program has entered the final stage of construction by signing a hardware contract with Thales Alenia Space at the Paris Air and Space show, on June 17th. “The award of this contract provides continuity to the work of the industrial team members of Thales Alenia Space on this complex mission, and will ensure that it remains on track [...]

continue reading

Focus

First man in space, Yuri Gagarin (left) with fellow cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov, the first man to undertake a spacewalk (Credits: RIA Novosti).

Mystery of Yuri Gagarin’s Death Solved

Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space on April 12, 1961 when he road Vostok 1 into history. Gagarin became an instant celebrity, and is still hailed world-round for his accomplishment. With all that attention, Gagarin’s premature death in a routine fighter jet training flight is all the more surprising in that first the USSR, then Russia [...]

continue reading

Documents

STS-7 Mission Specialist Sally Ride poses on aft flight deck with her back to the on orbit station (Credit: NASA).

Sally Ride and Valentina Tereshkova: Changing the Course of Human Space Exploration

Source: NASA This week marks the anniversary of two significant events in the history of space exploration–the flight of Valentina Tereshkova 50 years ago on June 16 and of Sally Ride 30 years ago on June 18. With the exception of the single flight by Tereshkova, human spaceflight during the early years of the space race was the province of [...]

continue reading

Editor's Pick

‘Space girls’ 50 years after Valentina

‘Space girls’ 50 years after Valentina

By Tereza Pultarova and Merryl Azriel It’s been fifty years since the first woman in history took off in a tiny Soviet space capsule to spend three days in orbit. Being officially hailed alongside Yuri Gagarin as a symbol of USSR’s victory in the space race and referred to by many in the West as a proof that Russia is [...]

continue reading

Recent Posts

Sally Ride and Valentina Tereshkova: Changing the Course of Human Space Exploration

STS-7 Mission Specialist Sally Ride poses on aft flight deck with her back to the on orbit station (Credit: NASA).

Source: NASA This week marks the anniversary of two significant events in the history of space exploration–the flight of Valentina Tereshkova 50 years ago on June 16 and of Sally Ride 30 years ago on June 18. With the exception of the single flight by Tereshkova, human spaceflight during the early years of the space race was the province of [...]

read more

Mystery of Yuri Gagarin’s Death Solved

First man in space, Yuri Gagarin (left) with fellow cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov, the first man to undertake a spacewalk (Credits: RIA Novosti).

Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space on April 12, 1961 when he road Vostok 1 into history. Gagarin became an instant celebrity, and is still hailed world-round for his accomplishment. With all that attention, Gagarin’s premature death in a routine fighter jet training flight is all the more surprising in that first the USSR, then Russia [...]

read more

ExoMars Enters Final Phase of Construction

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (Credits: ESA).

ESA’s ExoMars program has entered the final stage of construction by signing a hardware contract with Thales Alenia Space at the Paris Air and Space show, on June 17th. “The award of this contract provides continuity to the work of the industrial team members of Thales Alenia Space on this complex mission, and will ensure that it remains on track [...]

read more

Accepting the Risk of Death in Spaceflight

Credits: Envision Series/Copenhagen Suborbitals

Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen have been developing Copenhagen Suborbitals, the open source, backyard endeavor they founded to launch themselves into space, for five years now. In the midst of ever more models and tests (here is a nice update on the Tycho Deep Space II capsule if you’re interested), von Bengtson took a few minutes to talk about [...]

read more

New Hydrogen Pellets Allow Better Fuel Storage and Radiation Protection

Cella Energy's new hydrogen pellets, in pellet and wool form (Credits: Cella Energy).

Dr. Stephen Perusich, Senior Scientist at Cella Energy’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida location recently sat down with Space Safety Magazine to talk about his company’s creative new method for storing hydrogen fuel in reusable plastic pellets. Dr. Perusich manages the lab at the Space Life Sciences Laboratory facility, where new hydrogen storage methods are in the research and development phase. [...]

read more

ATV-4 Successfully Docks with ISS

ATV-4 firing thrusters approaching S3 hold point (Credits: NASA).

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) completed its 10 day flight executing a successful rendezvous, and successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS), on 15 June. The spacecraft delivered scientific experiments, vital supplies, fuel and clothing to the astronauts. “Bravo Europe, bravo ESA, bravo ATV. Thank you Member States, thank you industry, thank you CNES, [...]

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‘Space girls’ 50 years after Valentina

‘Space girls’ 50 years after Valentina

By Tereza Pultarova and Merryl Azriel It’s been fifty years since the first woman in history took off in a tiny Soviet space capsule to spend three days in orbit. Being officially hailed alongside Yuri Gagarin as a symbol of USSR’s victory in the space race and referred to by many in the West as a proof that Russia is [...]

read more

Plastics May be Man’s Best Friend During Deep Space Travel

Artist's conception of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter above the Moon. The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) instrument is visible in the center of the image at the bottom left corner of the spacecraft. (Credits: NASA).

by David Sims DURHAM, N.H. — Space scientists from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) report that data gathered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show lighter materials like plastics provide effective shielding against the radiation hazards faced by astronauts during extended space travel. The finding could help reduce health risks to humans on [...]

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Gastronomy Domine: Neil deGrasse Tyson on Space Food

Space food, as envisioned by Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey (Credits: MGM).

Neil deGrasse Tyson gives an interview for his StarTalk radio show, and discusses the importance of food for the psychological wellbeing of astronauts, and also comments on the joys of eating 5-year old irradiated steak. Tyson is a renowned astrophysicist, and Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York. He is often blamed for the man directly responsible for the relegation of Pluto to [...]

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SpaceX Signs Agreement for Potential Military Launches

Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of SMC, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk signed a cooperative research and development agreement to help certify SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket for military launches. Credit: U.S. Air Force/Joe Juarez

The U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) and SpaceX have signed an agreement that will eventually allow SpaceX to be considered as a launch provider for U.S. military satellites, on June 7. The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) is an important milestone for SpaceX on the road to Falcon 9 v1.1 certification for National Security Space [...]

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