human space exploration

In preparation for its October 27th test flight, the Ares I rocket has successfully made its way to the launch site at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Situated on launch pad 39B, the Ares I represents the first step towards NASA's new, post-shuttle era.

This is the first new rocket design to blast off from that launch pad in almost 25 years. The rocket arrived at the launch pad at 9:17 AM yesterday, after a six-hour slow roll from its hanger. It took another 15 and a quarter hours to get the rocket fully situated.

[ Read Full Story ]

The movies make space flight seem easy. A simple flip of the joystick or twist of the knob and any asteroid or space creature is done for. Sadly, the reality of space flight involves the constant monitoring of, and fiddling with, a near-endless set of dials, switches and buttons. In fact, so much of modern space craft are packed with gear and doodads that even astronauts have trouble keeping everything straight.

[ Read Full Story ]

Wasting no time after the publication of the Augustine Report, both NASA and a competitor for the Lunar X-Prize used this week to test lunar exploration technology. For NASA, this meant a Thursday test of the Ares rocket that forms the bedrock of their Shuttle replacement efforts. For Armadillo Airspace, a test of their X-Prize-contending lunar lander prototype.

[ Read Full Story ]

A 10-foot-long moon buggy is parked in the Taurus-Littrow Valley, roughly 239,000 miles from Earth. Nobody has driven this lunar rover in the past 31 years, but because the Moon has no liquid water and only the thinnest of atmospheres, the vehicle is probably as good as new—a set of fresh batteries would get it running again.

[ Read Full Story ]