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My Father’s 100th Birthday: A Tale Of Two ID Badges
My Father’s 100th Birthday: A Tale Of Two ID Badges

Keith’s note: I spent some time in Washington, DC this morning at the World War II memorial. My father was born 100 years ago today. We lost him a few years ago at age 95. He was a WWII vet. I thought this was an appropriate time to finally visit this hallowed place. As I have written previously my father – barely out of his teens – came within a matter of feet from possible death during a V-2 attack on London in 1945. He was injured physically – and that healed. But the emotional scars stayed with him until he drew his last breath – in my arms. As I also noted – the direct descendants of the thing that nearly killed my father – and thus almost preventing me from ever existing – gave my life purpose as a child and totally directed the course of my career. More Below

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  • NASA Watch
  • August 1, 2023
How NASA Operated Before PowerPoint
How NASA Operated Before PowerPoint

Book Review: The Apollo 11 Flight Plan: A Real Script Of Exploration “The Apollo 11 Flight Plan” from relaunch.space is one of the more unusual books that I have “read” or reviewed. Let me get this out of they up front: this book represents a true labor of love and dedication to the art of making history available as if it happened yesterday. This book contains a faithful recreation of […]

  • NASA Watch
  • August 8, 2022
Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols

Ad Astra Nichelle Nichols, SpaceRef Keith’s note: Actress Nichelle Nichols has died at the age of 89. To generations of Star Trek fans she was the iconic Lt. Uhura. To others she was a symbol of emergent racial equality who literally burst through multiple glass ceilings. To others she was the inspiration for people who actually became astronauts. Regardless of how you first encountered her, she was – and always […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2022
Too Bad NASA Ignores NASA Documentaries

Keith’s 16 June update: NASA finally got around to mentioning this publicly. NASA’s The Color of Space Documentary Celebrates Black Space Explorers Too bad @NASA can't be bothered to promote this. ".. premiere of NASA’s feature documentary The Color of Space. In honor of #Juneteenth please join us for an evening of inspiration with NASA’s Black astronauts who’ve gone from space to the big screen." https://t.co/1NafLv8nzV pic.twitter.com/VxafZLYZeD — NASA Watch […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 14, 2022
Apollo 1 Memorial At Arlington

Apollo 1 memorial is finally in place at Arlington National Cemetery. Long overdue. Kudos to all who made this happen. #AdAstra Alas @NASA hasn't bothered to tell anyone unless you happen to know to look for this pic taken today Marc Etkind @PinballMe https://t.co/Fm11aAnAvH pic.twitter.com/ZhhummHBOF — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 2, 2022

  • NASA Watch
  • June 2, 2022
My STS-1 Story

Video of #STS1 launch #OTD 12 April 1981 At 3:47 you can see @SenBillNelson in the VIP area shouting "GO". I was standing 10 feet away (I was Jerry Brown's advance man) and you can see me in the lower right with the sunglasses on, hands on my hips at 4:17 https://t.co/4Y6G1TN6YI — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) April 12, 2021 #OTD 12 April 1981 I stood in the VIP area at […]

  • NASA Watch
  • April 12, 2022
NASAWatch Is 26

How It Started | How It’s Going Keith’s note: NASAWatch turns 26 on 1 Apr 2022. It started as “NASA RIFWatch” on 1 Apr 1996 with this post “RIF at NASA In Summer 1997?“. The website was first hosted on a Mac Classic II on a 128 kbps ISDN line in my old little condo in Reston, Virginia (see 20 Years Ago Today: The Seeds of NASAWatch). Here are a […]

  • NASA Watch
  • April 1, 2022
History Runs In Circles In Orbit
History Runs In Circles In Orbit

Multiple Historic Resonances With The Moon Aboard ISS Keith’s update: Four small Apollo 11 Moon rocks that went to the summit of Mt. Everest – with an Astronaut – plus a piece of the summit of Everest – are now located in the ISS cupola 2 meters from where this picture was taken. “… Like a mini version, my Cosmic Kiss mission patch floats here next to the Nebra Sky […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 27, 2022
History Most Certainly Repeats Itself
History Most Certainly Repeats Itself

That Time Wernher von Braun’s Rocket Tried To Kill My Father “Humanity now lives in space permanently. Our spacecraft have left the solar system. Our space telescopes look back to the beginning of time. We are spacefarers. Space technology has its roots in weapons of war. America’s early accomplishments in space were achieved with direct use of Nazi technology and personnel. Russia followed a similar path. Today North Korea, Iran, […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 17, 2022
Erasing Space History Won't Help Ukraine

Some people want to rename @yurisnight because the first human to leave Earth was a Russian named "Yuri". Bad idea. BTW Gus Grissom's middle name was "Ivan". "Looking at the earth from afar you realize it is too small for conflict and just big enough for cooperation" Y. Gagarin pic.twitter.com/c3yAZPtbDq — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) March 15, 2022 Bad idea @SpaceFoundation *In light of current world events, the 2022 Space Foundation […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 15, 2022
No One Seems To Care About Apollo – Except NASA

ICYMI #NASA is obsessed with Apollo things that 2 generations of humanity weren't alive to witness & stumbles when it comes to making what @NASA does now & will be doing in the future relevant to their lives today & tomorrow. The Artemis Generation is not the Apollo Generation. https://t.co/gpVpm1q2Fq — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) March 11, 2022

  • NASA Watch
  • March 11, 2022
We Remember With Helene and Chris Hadfield

Last Thursday on 27 January, 2022 NASA marked its Day of Remembrance. A time that is set aside to remember those astronauts who died in the line of duty. On this episode of the Terranauts podcast I talk with Helene and Chris Hadfield about the Day of Remembrance, about their memories of some of the crew who did not make it home from space. We also talk about what remembering […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 3, 2022
9/11: Bad News From Earth
9/11: Bad News From Earth

11 September 2001: Bad news from Earth, New Moon Rising – SpaceRef Larger image “The news from Earth that morning wasn’t good. Frank Culbertson would soon find that some of the day’s pre-planned routine would be altered. As soon as he was told of the attacks, Culbertson checked to see when they would be passing over the east coast of the U.S. Discovering that this was only some minutes away, […]

  • NASA Watch
  • September 11, 2021
9/11: Old Flags, Sheer Terror, and Red Begonias
9/11: Old Flags, Sheer Terror, and Red Begonias

Keith’s note: I have lived in the Metro Washington DC area for 33 years – more than half my life. When I first moved to DC to work at NASA HQ I lived in Pentagon City directly across from the Pentagon in the River House III apartment building. The Pentagon was what I saw outside my window every single day. In the afternoons after work I often used to run […]

  • NASA Watch
  • September 11, 2021
Building The Tallest Things On Earth

1931: Building the tallest building in the world 2021: Building the tallest rocket in the world#Starship #SpaceX @SpaceX @ElonMusk pic.twitter.com/7s7Ip3tlw3 — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) August 8, 2021

  • NASA Watch
  • August 8, 2021
My Father's Day Story
My Father's Day Story

That Time Wernher von Braun’s Rocket Tried To Kill My Father Keith’s note: I thought Father’s Day might be an appropriate time to repost this story. “As best I can collate the facts, on 18 March 1945, a V-2 missile was launched from Statenkwartier in The Hague in occupied Netherlands at 9:25 am by Battery 485. It was one of the last V-2 launches before Germany lost the ability to […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 20, 2021
Review: The High Frontier: The Untold Story Of Gerard K. O'Neill
Review: The High Frontier: The Untold Story Of Gerard K. O'Neill

The High Frontier: The Untold Story Of Gerard K. O’Neill: A Review As the size of satellites shrinks and the ubiquity of the technology expands it is close to being possible to build a rocket in a garage and put something into space. OK, I am exaggerating. But my straw man talking point is a lot closer to reality today than it might have been 40 years ago. Back in […]

  • NASA Watch
  • April 12, 2021