Tag: Russian Space Program

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

Prior to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project there were several attempts by the United States to engage the Soviets in a joint space effort. President John F. Kennedy was the first to propose a combining of U.S and Soviet resources. Kennedy’s core focus was defusing tensions between the U.S. and...

Minefields in Space

The recent collision between an active American Iridium communications satellite and the inactive Russian Cosmos 2251 satellite illustrates that for as big as space is it isn’t big enough for satellites to roam freely in low Earth orbit without rules governing the use of “occupied” space. No one is...

The Iranian Sputnik

With the announcement that Iran launched its own satellite last night came renewed suspicion that its intentions in space are less than honorable. In a closed society such as Iran one can never know if the public portrayal of national pride resulting from putting a small satellite into orbit...

Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle

I recently completed reading the book “Energiya-Buran: The Story of the Soviet Space Shuttle”. First, my kudos to the authors Bart Hendrickx and Bert Vis as well as Praxis for publishing a book with such a wealth of detail about a subject that only ten or so years ago...

No Giant Leaps for ESA (European Space Agency)

The thought of manned space exploration conjures many emotions from the initial “can we do this?” in the late fifties and early sixties to the space race to the landing on the moon and how we’ve progressed since that July day in 1969. On one hand those that are...

The Art of Imitating Life

This past weekend I ventured down to the Kennedy Space Center to catch the annual airshow on the grounds of the space center complex. While there I took the time to catch the 3D IMAX film “Magnificent Desolation”. When I had first seen this movie several years ago needless...

A Dangerous “Trek” to Tranquility Base

Astrobotics has announced an exciting and ambitious effort to land a robotic rover on the lunar surface at the site of the Apollo 11 landing as part of the Google LunarX Prize competition. Dubbed the “Tranquility Trek” they plan to land and explore the historic site where humans first...