Keefer Madness

Shuttle Atlantis Moves to VAB, But Only for Storage

// January 25th, 2012 // No Comments » // Space Stuff & NASA

Even with the shuttle program retired, there’s still a lot of activity related to the remaining orbiters, now all in the process of being decommissioned for display at the Smithsonian, California Science Center and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center.

When I was lucky enough to get a little behind-the-scenes view of Kennedy Space Center and its facilities back in September, we got to get pretty close to the Endeavor orbiter parked in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Well they’re shuffling the Atlantis, Endeavor and Discovery.

Endeavor is moving from its recent temporary home in the VAB, where I guess it’s been since I saw in September 2011. It is now in the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2 hangar, with Atlantis going to the VAB. Truth be told, all of the orbiters could fit in the massive VAB if they really had to. Atlantis is going just down the road to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center, so it’s probably going to be spending a lot of quality time in the VAB, and will probably be the last to be prepped fully for its final display space.

Is it me, or is it a little sad seeing the orbiters with bits and pieces removed? I know they’re in preparation for museum duty, and will get all polished up with display appropriate stuff, but still.

I still get a kick out of all the shuttle-related news — part of it nostalgia, and part of it waiting for the next chapter in space flight.

Shuttle Atlantis Moves to VAB, But Only for Storage

SpaceX Cargo Flight on Hold Until at Least Late March 2012

// January 22nd, 2012 // No Comments » // Space Stuff & NASA

Delays are commonplace in space flight, so it shouldn’t be surprising or unexpected that the maiden SpaceX cargo flight to the international space station has been pushed back from its February launch till at least March.

This will give SpaceX-employed engineers time to complete additional hardware and software testing, as well as software analysis at the Florida Space Coast.

It makes sense to take it slow at the beginning of these vehicles, wrinkling out as many bugs pre-flight as possible.

The company has not set an official target launch date for its Dragon cargo carrier, but the long-awaited mission is not expected to fly before March 20 and it could slip to early-to-mid April depending on what it takes to shoehorn the flight into an already busy space station schedule and to book a slot with the Air Force Eastern Range, which orchestrates all East Coast launches.

SpaceX Cargo Flight on Hold Until at Least Late March

Delta 4 Rocket Launches from Cape Canaveral

// January 20th, 2012 // No Comments » // Space Stuff & NASA

Yesterday evening from Central Florida’s Cape Canaveral, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket lifted off, shortly after, deploying a U.S. military communications satellite to support battlefield troops and unmanned aerial drones in the Middle East.

Wish I had been there to see it launch. Oh well, I’ve always got my Delta II Heavy launch back in September.

Delta 4 Rocket Launches from Cape Canaveral

Help NASA Code Its Way Through Space

// January 8th, 2012 // No Comments » // Space Stuff & NASA

Interesting, and the code they’re talking about is totally out of my knowledge base, but still a cool idea I’d like to get behind, even if it’s only via promoting in on Keefer Madness.

The article also alludes to the fact that NASA hasn’t turned to open source, albeit in a very unorganized and difficult to contribute to. Here’s to hoping it’s bett with this project.

Help NASA Code Its Way Through Space

2011: Atlas & Delta Launch $20 Billion in Payloads

// January 3rd, 2012 // No Comments » // Space Stuff & NASA

It was an impressive and flawless launch schedule last year from the United Launch Alliance (ULA) conglomerate, made up of Lockheed Martin’s Atlas and Boeing’s Delta programs.

Love the article’s mosaic of launch vehicles in 2011. Congrats to ULA for a nice year!

2011: Atlas & Delta Launch $20 Billion in Payloads

NASA’s 2012 (and Beyond) Launch Schedule

// January 2nd, 2012 // No Comments » // Space Stuff & NASA

It’s still weird to look at NASA’s official launch schedule page, and see no shuttle launches and a very reduced schedule from Cape Canaveral — in fact the only launches happening from Florida in the 2012-2013 timeframe are all on the Air Force base side, as the launch complex 39 facilities are still being renovated for future launches.

A couple notable launches are going to occur though from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, including Feb. 7+’s SpaceX Mission, described as, “The Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. Pending completion of final safety reviews, testing and verification, NASA has agreed to allow SpaceX to send its Dragon spacecraft to rendezvous with the Station in a single flight.”

Pretty cool. Other than that, the current launch schedule is a lot of space station crew and supply missions with the Soyuz all originating from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

Here’s to hoping we’ll see more launches in 2014 and beyond from American soil.

NASA’s GRAIL Twins to Welcome 2012 at Moon

// December 31st, 2011 // No Comments » // Space Stuff & NASA

So the Delta II rocket launch I got to see in Florida way back in September of this year finally has its double craft payload reaching its target: the Earth’s moon.

NASA’s two Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft are closing in on their quarry, the moon. The mission plans New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day main engine burns to place the twin spacecraft in lunar orbit.

GRAIL A goes into orbit of the moon today, with the B craft going into lunar orbit tomorrow (New Year’s Day)

Discovery, Innovation and New Destinations Highlight “This Year @NASA”

// December 29th, 2011 // No Comments » // Space Stuff & NASA, Tech, Video

This was posted two days before Christmas, but I just found it on YouTube yesterday. It highlights NASA’s accomplishments in 2011 — a year that was highlighted with the 30+ year space shuttle program decommissioned, scientific missions (including Juno, MSL Curiosity, Aquarius and the one I got to see launch, GRAIL) and partnerships with four different commercial companies taking over and modifying Kennedy Space Center facilities to continue low-Earth orbit.

NASA is now poised to focus on further targets. The video is quite long but simultaneously very in-depth and informative.

Private Spaceflight Gets New Contender with Stratolaunch

// December 15th, 2011 // No Comments » // Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Space Stuff & NASA

Here’s another private company’s concept for future manned and un-manned payloads, using an aircraft 2X larger than a 747 to get the rocket up to 30,000 feet. Then the rocket is dropped, wings deploy, and it’s launched into space. This concept would be in competition and in same class as the Delta 2 rockets.

Initially I was wondering why do this, meaning you have to fight the gravity after drop. But the real advantage of this system is being able to deploy the rocket from anywhere in the world to get to any orbit faster. Interesting concept by former NASA administrator, Mike Griffin and one of Microsoft founders, billionaire Paul Allen, among others.

While we’ve all had to get over NASA’s decommissioning of the aging shuttle fleet, there’s still plenty of spaceflight future — both from NASA, but also from several private firms as well.

Private Spaceflight Gets New Contender with Stratolaunch

Space Shuttle: The Final Flight

// December 1st, 2011 // No Comments » // Space Stuff & NASA, Video

NASA TV’s YouTube channel added this 17 minute video yesterday, and it’s a pretty cool historical account of our now retired space shuttle program, along with a little voice over by William Shatner, insight from astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and a soundtrack by Rush.

It’s all so amazing, and here’s to the next chapter of space exploration.