Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Space enterprises, both NASA and commercial, fall prey to the coronavirus pandemic

The same spirit that put men on the moon and will, in the fullness of time, men and women back on the lunar surface are driving research efforts to find tests and treatments for the coronavirus. The effort is heroic and involves multiple paths to lifting the scourge from our planet.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

NASA's monster Space Launch System still costs too much and is taking too long

NASA’s Office of Inspector General has some grim news about the Space Launch System, the monster, heavy-lift rocket that the space agency hopes will take astronauts back to the moon by 2024. Costs continue to skyrocket, and the schedule continues to slip farther into the future.

SpaceX's Elon Musk wants the Space Force to become Star Fleet

Last December, around the time that Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the legislation that created the United States Space Force, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted, “Starfleet begins.”

Monday, March 02, 2020

Katherine Johnson's job at NASA was empowering

The plaudits for Katherine Johnson, the African American math genius whose work helped Americans to fly in space and ultimately to the moon, have been many and well deserved. Anyone who has seen the movie “Hidden Figures,” or better yet read the book, which lacks the Hollywood embellishments of the film, is familiar with her story. She worked in an age in which human beings, even women of color, could be called “computers” because of their skill in writing equations with nothing more than a pencil, paper and a slide rule.

SpaceX’s Starship SN1 prototype blows up during pressure test on its Texas pad