Category Archives: Space History

History, Popular Culture, Space, Space History

End Of An Icon

17 Comments

Neil Armstrong has died.

That’s a shame — he was only 82, which isn’t that old these days. No word of the cause of death. I’d heard that he’d been doing well since his recent heart surgery, so either there were later complications, or he just happened to succumb to something else.

The irony, of course, as it notes in the bio, is that he never wanted to be an icon, and generally shunned the publicity. In any event, ad astra, and resquiescat in pace.

[Update a few minutes later]

Well, my Facebook wall is all Neil, all the time.

Philosophy, Popular Culture, Social Commentary, Space, Space History

Evoloterra

10 Comments

One of the saddest things about the atrocity (not “tragedy” — does no one know the meaning of that word any more?) in Colorado (for me personally, of course, obviously not for the friends and families of those involved) is that it completely derailed any commemoration of what we accomplished forty-three years ago today. But while we have done a segment on The Space Show on the subject this time of year every year for the past half dozen, today was the first time that we did one a) with Margaret Jordan, one of the other authors and b) actually performed the ceremony live on air (or rather, on line). It got a good response, with several callers calling in to say that they were moved in listening to it, and were going to perform it themselves. If so, that’s great, because that’s why we wrote it. Perhaps we should have done it years ago. Anyway, here is the link, and the podcast is available now. You might also want to check out The Space Show blog.

Space, Space History, Technology and Society

Telstar

14 Comments

Happy fiftieth anniversary to the very first communications satellite. Sadly, I’m old enough to remember the day it happened. That was an exciting year, between Glenn’s flight and it. The space age seemed so young and full of promise to a kid.

[Update a few minutes later]

Here’s the newsreel. That brings back memories.

[Update late morning]

Speaking of Glenn, Amy Shira Teitel has a story on the Atlas reliability prior to his flight. It was about fifty percent.

History, Social Commentary, Space, Space History

The Right Stuff

1 Comment

Brian Binnie (who flew the first X-Prize flight) emails:

…this e-book:

The Right Stuff: Interviews with Icons of the 1960s, is available just in time for Father’s day. It’s the first in a series dealing with “adventurers” over the decades, many of whom are leaders in the space arena. I wrote the forward to it and the SpaceShipOne story will appear when the chronology finally gets to the 2000’s.

I met Jim via the eclectic Explorers Club and he is regular contributor to Forbes Magazine.

Cheers, Brian

You might want to check it out.

Space, Space History

Lunar Orbit Rendezvous

40 Comments

The decision was made fifty years ago this month.

Historically, the decision was a disaster, from the standpoint of making the effort sustainable, though it’s what won the race. Unfortunately, it was inevitable once it became a race to the moon and back. There was simply no time to develop the LEO infrastructure that von Braun and others wanted to put into place that would have obviated the need for the Saturn V. And it created a myth — that we can’t explore without such a vehicle — that haunts us to this day.