NASA › 2.0: The Blogmocracy

Posts Tagged ‘NASA’

On This Date in History

by Deplorable Macker ( 110 Comments › )
Filed under Cold War, History at April 12th, 2011 - 9:00 pm

Here is the headline, appropriately enough, from the Huntsville (Alabama) Times:

50 years ago today Cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human being to ascend into Outer Space. His mission, Vostok 1, made one orbit of the Earth, the flight lasting 1 hour, 48 minutes.
The following words are attributed to Col. Gagarin upon landing:

“When they saw me in my space suit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked, they started to back away in fear. I told them, don’t be afraid, I am a Soviet like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!”

This little fact that Col. Gagarin parachuted from the spacecraft prior to its touchdown wasn’t known at the time, being that this is the Soviet Union we’re talking about here. In any case, the Soviets did it first, and the real race was on….a race which the Soviets LOST eight years later.
Huge celebrations took place all over Russia in commemoration of this flight…while in the USA, NASA announced the final homes for the soon-to-be-retired space shuttle fleet. And the Russians are still keeping the International Space Station going with more-or-less regular Soyuz flights.
What does that say about America’s yearning for exploration? Very, very sad if you ask me.

Tags: International Space Station, NASA, Soviet Union, Soyuz, Space Shuttle, Vostok 1, Yuri Gagarin
Posted in Cold War, History | 110 Comments »

Saturday Lecture Series:

by coldwarrior ( 72 Comments › )
Filed under Academia, Open thread, saturday lecture series, Science, Technology at January 22nd, 2011 - 8:30 am

Good morning all, today our lecture comes to us from Huntsville, Alabama (not al-Habama). Yesterday, NASA reported that the experimental NanoSail-D has successfully deployed its sail and is underway. “This research demonstration could lead to further advances of this alternative solar sail propulsion and the critical need for new de-orbit technologies.”

Do check out the dashboard feature on this website:

NASA’s First Solar Sail NanoSail-D Deploys in Low-Earth Orbit

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Friday, Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. EST, engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., confirmed that the NanoSail-D nanosatellite deployed its 100-square-foot polymer sail in low-Earth orbit and is operating as planned. Actual deployment occurred on Jan. 20 at 10 p.m. EST and was confirmed today with beacon packets data received from NanoSail-D and additional ground-based satellite tracking assets. In addition, the NanoSail-D orbital parameter data set shows an appropriate change which is consistent with sail deployment.

“This is tremendous news and the first time NASA has deployed a solar sail in low-Earth orbit,” said Dean Alhorn, NanoSail-D principal investigator and aerospace engineer at the Marshall Center. “To get to this point is an incredible accomplishment for our small team and I can’t thank the amateur ham operator community enough for their help in tracking NanoSail-D. Their assistance was invaluable. In particular, the Marshall Amateur Radio Club was the very first to hear the radio beacon. It was exciting!”

NanoSail-D will continue to send out beacon signals until the onboard batteries are expended and can be found at 437.270 MHz. It can be tracked on the NanoSail-D dashboard at: http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm.

It is estimated that NanoSail-D will remain in low-Earth orbit between 70 and 120 days, depending on atmospheric conditions. NanoSail-D is designed to demonstrate deployment of a compact solar sail boom technology. This research demonstration could lead to further advances of this alternative solar sail propulsion and the critical need for new de-orbit technologies. This ejection experiment also demonstrates a spacecraft’s ability, like the Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, or FASTSAT, to eject a nano-satellite from a micro-satellite, while avoiding re-contact with the primary satellite.

“This is a significant accomplishment for both the FASTSAT and NanoSail-D projects. This accomplishment validates that we’ve met another of our primary mission objectives — successfully ejecting a nanosatellite from an orbiting microsatellite,” said Mark Boudreaux, FASTSAT project manager at the Marshall Center. “This is another significant accomplishment for our inter Agency, Industry and Governmental FASTSAT-HSV01 partnership team.”

Follow the NanoSail-D mission operation on Twitter at:

http://twitter.com/nanosaild

For additional information on the timeline of the NanoSail-D deployment visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/501204main_NSD2_timeline_sequence.pdf

To learn more about FASTSAT and the NanoSail-D missions visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats

Tags: NASA, Open Thead, saturday lecture series
Posted in Academia, Open thread, saturday lecture series, Science, Technology | 72 Comments »

The Onion: NASA to work with Jihadists in Space

by Phantom Ace ( 342 Comments › )
Filed under Humor, Islamic Supremacism, Leftist-Islamic Alliance, Progressives at February 17th, 2010 - 11:30 am

President Barack Hussein Obama has decided to scrap a return to the moon. It is now clear why he did this, the moon is a symbol of Islam. Not wanting to offend our Masters he has appeased them by canceling a moon trip. To add icing on the cake, he has ordered NASA to work with the highly technological advanced nations of Dar Al-Islam. Muslims have invented every device known to man including the wheel, so gaining their knowledge is an asset. They are years advanced of America and cooperating with them will enhance our Space Program! All of this is part of his “apology to Islam” policies. After all, the moon landing was an affront to Allah. The moon is a sacred symbol to Islam and we have to make up for the moon landing. Neil Armstrong heard the Azzan (adhan) on the moon and became a Muslim!

WASHINGTON — NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has asked him to “find ways to reach out to dominantly Muslim countries” as the White House pushes the space agency to become a tool of international diplomacy.

“In addition to the nations that most of you usually hear about when you think about the International Space Station, we now have expanded our efforts to reach out to non-traditional partners,” said Bolden, speaking to a lecture hall of young engineering students.

Read the rest: NASA plans more outreach to Muslim countries

This obviously is not an Onion piece. This is real news. Obama cuts our Space Program and makes us reliant on the Russians. While not a huge fan of this move we can deal with the Russians. But this is too much. Why are we helping a civilization bent on the extermination of the West get a leg up in Space? This is madness and shows how beholden America is to Islamic interests. Why no partnership with Latin American countries or Israel? The answer is obvious, the American Establishment is beholden to Islamic interests and will never go against them. Our politicians will even bomb a Christian nation like Serbia or sell out Israel to appease the Jihadists. This all can be traced to the influence of the House of Saud and their agents in the Muslim Brotherhood. I’m really getting sick of this Nation’s Pro-Islamic policies.

I only wish this was an Onion Story!

(Hat Tip: creeping sharia via M)

Tags: NASA
Posted in Humor, Islamic Supremacism, Leftist-Islamic Alliance, Progressives | 342 Comments »