NASA’s master plan – to create the next space airlines

The Commercial Crew Program is responsible for helping companies develop vehicles that can ferry astronauts, and maybe civilians, to space. Could this lead to a ‘spaceline’ industry, a la the airlines? An interview with Ed Mango, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program:   What’s the goal of the Commercial Crew Program? We still have Americans in …

Images of the lunar surface from the Apollo 17 mission

In December of 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 75 hours on the Moon in the Taurus-Littrow valley, while colleague Ronald Evans orbited overhead. The image shows Schmitt on the left with the lunar rover at the edge of Shorty Crater, near the spot where geologist Schmitt discovered orange lunar …

Timeline of women in space

Hundreds of humans have flown in space. Only 40 women (54 as of 2012) have made the journey — including Eileen M. Collins, who commands the Space Shuttle Discovery on NASA’s historic return to flight. NPR explores the long road that women like her have trod into space: 1960-1962: Ladies in Waiting Twenty-five women report …

SpaceX introduces team to test Dragon for manned space flight

Recently, SpaceX “announced it has assembled a team of independent experts to help the company create a safe spacecraft for NASA astronauts.” And, one of them, Edward Lu, is on Google+: “I’m looking forward to peeking under the hood of the SpaceX Dragon, and helping them successfully launch humans into orbit!” More on the company’s …

Angry Birds in Space – NASA shows what happens to a slingshot with no gravity

It’s fun to watch the birds and pigs bounce around the International Space Station, plus check out the really cool game footage at the very end.