Category Archives: Spaceflight & Parabolic Flight

Stephen Hawking’s reasons for space exploration + A space boffin’s reasons for space tourism

Stephen Hawking gives his “Reasons for Space Exploration” and expresses his optimistic view of the future of spaceflight (via Rocketeers): 

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And science journalist Richard Hollingham of the Space Boffins gives his reasons for why space tourism is important : Six reasons why space tourism matters – BBC.

Space History: The economics of the Sea Dragon Rocket + A different kind of space hero

A couple of space history items I came across today:

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Robert Truax‘s gigantic Sea Dragon doesn’t look as economical as often claimed when all costs are included: Historical Note: The Legend of the Sea Dragon – Citizens in Space

224px-SeaDragonRocket

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Cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin became seriously ill during a mission to the orbital station Salyut-7 in the fall of 1985. Here are more details about Vasyutin and the early termination of the mission due to his illness : Vazyutin – a different kind of space hero – Sven Grahn

Summary

Space travelers that achieve hero status often make daring space walks, landing on other heavenly bodies or narrowly escaping death. But, in my book, Vladimir Vasyutin should be given a special place in the Hall of Fame. He suffered very much from illness while in space. Some of his colleagues said he hid his ailment before launch and it got worse in flight. Can all astronauts honestly say they are innocent of this very human behaviour? The final result was bad for Vladimir Vasyutin and he paid dearly for any wrong-doing and probably felt that he had failed his crew, the space program and his nation badly. But the odds were against him. Still, he fought valiantly and stayed about 65 days in orbit during his only space mission. He retired from cosmonaut duty for medical reasons in 1987. I feel much sympathy for him. Life can be very tough.Vladimir Vasyutin, space hero, passed away in 2004, at the age of fifty. I think he is well worth remembering.

‘Skinsuit’ to be tested on ISS

A skin-tight body suit developed by a group at King’s College London led by Dr David Green will be tested on the International Space Station to see if it counter-acts some of the detrimental effects of weightlessness :

EAC’s crew medical support office is working with King’s College London and the MIT to test prototypes, and ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will be the first to wear the suit in space during a mission in early 2015, where he will evaluate it from a functional perspective. If successful UK astronaut Tim Peake could potentially wear the skinsuit on his mission to the International Space Station later in 2015.

The skinsuit could also be used on Earth to counteract the effects of ageing on bone density and muscle mass.

Carvil added: ‘The space environment provides ideal conditions for studying ageing because of the acceleration of muscle and bone wastage in space. At King’s we’re conducting further tests to examine the practicality of wearing the skinsuit both in space and here on Earth as well as investigating further terrestrial applications.’

“Gravity” grabs seven Oscars

Congratulations to the makers of and the actors in Gravity for the seven Oscars they won tonight, including Best Director for Alfonso Cuarón. Quite remarkable for a space drama with a near-term, (fairly) hard science, realistic approach to captivate audiences in huge numbers and to achieve so much critical acclaim.

I wish the scenario was less catastrophic but, as NASA Astronaut Mike Massimino indicates, the movie still manages to depict the amazing beauty and wonder of spaceflight in earth orbit:

Michael Shinabery: Enos the chimp and his two orbits in space

Moonandback posts another two part space history report from  Michael Shinabery. This one is about America’s first primate astronauts:

“Enos was a good chimp. He was smart but he didn’t take to people,” Ed Dittmer, who trained primates at the Aero Medical facility at Holloman Air Force Base, said in a 1987 oral history. “A lot of people had the wrong impression of Enos. They said he was a mean chimp and so forth, but he wasn’t really mean. He just didn’t take to cuddling.”

Enos’ two-orbit flight was a major accomplishment in the Cold War-era Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union.