Category Archives: History

Space policy roundup – Oct.26.2018

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government related space news and resource items that I found of interest:

Webcasts:

** Administrator Bridenstine Joins Washington Post Discussion: The New Space Age

The Washington Post hosted “Transformers: Space” which featured prominent speakers in the fields of space science and policy. The New Space Age discussion included NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye and Dr. Heidi Hammel, Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Planetary Society. These speakers discussed the most important issues on the country’s space agenda including the future of the International Space Station, America’s plans to return to the Moon, and the search for life in the cosmos.

** NASA Administrator Talks Training, Future Missions with Newest Astronaut Class

NASA’s newest class of astronaut trainees joined agency Administrator Jim Bridenstine Sept. 27 at NASA headquarters, to talk about their experiences in the training program, hopes for future missions, and more, in a live episode of “Watch This Space”.

Astronaut candidates Zena Cardman, Jasmin Moghbeli, Jonny Kim, Frank Rubio, Matthew Dominick, Warren Hoburg, Kayla Barron, Bob Hines, Raja Chari, Loral O’ Hara and Jessica Watkins were joined by Canadian Space Agency astronaut candidates Joshua Kutryk and Jenni Sidey-Gibbons. The first U.S. astronauts, the “Original Seven,” were selected in 1959. Since then, NASA has selected 21 more groups of astronauts. This latest class, announced on June 7, 2017, includes a physician, biologist, geologist, military pilots and engineers.

Once their training is complete, they may be assigned to any of a variety of missions, including: performing research on the International Space Station, launching from American soil on spacecraft built by U.S. commercial companies, and departing for deep space missions on NASA’s new Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.

** October 23, 2018 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

** The Space Show – Tue, 10/23/2018William Ketchum

Ketchum spoke about his new book, To The Moon On A Slide Rule, and “early ICBM and rocket history, early space program, Surveyor missions, lunar surface, nuclear propulsion, NASA, SLS, Gateway and much more”.

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Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto

 

Videos: Yearly changes in human population, world history, Chinese dynasties, etc

A sampling of videos showing historical changes one frame at a time:

** Human Population Through Time

** The History of the World: Every Year

** The Spread of the Indo-Europeans

** The Early Dynasties of China: Every Year

** World War I: Every Day

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Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8: The First Manned Mission to Another World

Videos: 100th launch of an Ariane V rocket sends two satellites to GEO

Yesterday an Ariane V rocket lifted off on the 100th mission of the program, sending two communications satellites towards their slots in geostationary orbit. 100th Ariane 5 launch a success, orbiting two satellites for Intelsat, SKY Perfect JSAT and Azercosmos – Arianespace

The first Ariane V launch took place on June 4, 1996. Unfortunately, the rocket exploded soon after liftoff due to a software problem.

There was another total loss on the 14th launch and three partial failures (two in the 1990s and one last year) occurred when the satellites were put into the wrong orbits and had to use their own fuel to reach the target orbits. In general, though, the Ariane V became a very reliable launcher. Failures early in launch vehicle’s launch history are the norm as seen, for example, with the two SpaceX Falcon 9 explosions (one in flight and one during a pad test).

Scott Manley gives some background on the Ariane V:

Speaking of launches, here is an essay on the fun and excitement of watching a launch: The day I caught rocket fever | The Planetary Society.

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Einstein’s Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes

Listen to the Story of Apollo 8, when humans first left earth and orbited another world

Bob Zimmerman tells me his book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, which tells the dramatic history of the first mission to send humans beyond earth orbit, is now available as an unabridged audiobook.  From the press release:

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of one of mankind’s boldest adventures, the first manned flight to another world. To mark the occasion, an audio version of the first book about the mission of Apollo 8 has been released, narrated by Grover Gardner, a legend in the ears of fans of audiobooks all over the planet.

Says Valerie Anders, wife of Apollo 8 crew member Bill Anders, “When I first read this excellent account, published before the end of the space shuttle era, I was delighted.”

Now, with the advent of high quality audio books and online merchants like iTunes and Audible, and the resonant and expressive voice of narrator Grover Garner, everyone can enjoy this recording of this pivotal moment in space history.

While more recent books have been published on the mission of Apollo 8 (most of which rely heavily on Zimmerman’s work), none has captured the impact the Apollo program had on the families of the astronauts nearly so well as “Genesis – the story of Apollo 8.” The new forward to “Genesis,” by Valerie Anders, contains a moving tribute to those pilots who never returned from their missions – not as faraway as the moon, but just as dangerous and far more frequent.

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