Something Old, Something New, and If We do it Right, Maybe Even Something Bold! , Dennis Wingo “As a long time space advocate, I have found recent events to be extremely disheartening. Before my eyes, I am seeing the battle between the old exploration plan (Constellation), and the new plan put forth recently by NASA and the White House. This is battle is compounded by the fact that it is […]

NASA’s mission to nowhere: Big, fat, pointless and expensive describes plan to twiddle our fingers, Paul Spudis and Bob Zubrin, Washington Times “Although we are known for holding different opinions on the order and importance of specific objectives in space, we are united in our concern over this move to turn away from the Vision for Space Exploration (hereafter referred to as Vision). Vision gave NASA’s human spaceflight program a […]

Keep the shuttle flying, editorial, Houston Chronicle “The demise of the shuttle is reminiscent of the last time the U.S. space program reached a technological pinnacle with the Apollo spacecraft and its launch rocket, the Saturn V. Having created the mightiest rocket in history, budgetary considerations brought on by the Vietnam War led to the termination of the moon missions, scattering its work force. The Johnson Space Center wound up […]

From Obsolete Technology, New Science, NOVA, PBS “Today, an engineer named Dennis Wingo is working to resurrect that data. He co-leads the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project–which, as the name implies, is working to pry all that old data off of the tapes. So far, he’s been successful, thanks to a combination of skill and pure luck. Wingo’s team located one of the only NASA computer tape drives left in […]

Not Quite Rocket Science: 2 Week Underwear, Wall Street Journal “Underwear you can wear up to two weeks at a time without having to worry about the smell? Andy Jordan’s Tech Diary looks into the technological feat, how it works, and who is using the underwear. Yes, there’s a smell test.” Keith’s note: The video focuses on underwear that can be worn for prolonged periods of time without risk of […]

“We took 40 year old data tapes, tape drives that had been in a garage for 30 years, found elderly engineers, and reverse-engineered ancient technology to provide enhanced imagery from the five Lunar Orbiter missions in a fashion – and resolution – inconceivable at the time that the missions were conducted.”

“A view from the ground of Masten Space Systems’ first in-air engine relight on May 26, 2010. The test was a complete success and is another step forward in our test program.”

“Keith Cowing talks about the kind of hacks made famous by the Apollo 13 mission, instances where the crew had to improvise using materials at hand. He discusses the following: Skylab Rescue – the umbrella used to replace solar insulation and boating tools bought at a local marina; Syncom Rescue – tools made out of plastic and duct tape; Apollo 13 CO2 removal, use of LEM engine, etc.; Apollo lunar […]

Lockheed weighs layoffs, other cuts for Orion program”, Denver Post “Lockheed Martin officials have begun looking throughout the Orion crew-capsule program for savings that can be used to cover possible contract termination costs. Those savings could include layoffs of some of the 600 to 650 Lockheed employees in Colorado who are working on the NASA spacecraft.” Save the space program, HBJ readers say, Houston Business Journal “Houstonians are protective of […]

NASA Joins Web Consortium to Help Improve Universal Access “NASA announced Thursday it has joined the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The consortium is an international organization that develops protocols, standards and guidelines to ensure universal Web access. “Standards will play a key role in making NASA’s content more accessible on the Internet and in the implementation of our Open Government plan,” said Chris Kemp, chief technology officer for Information […]