The Delta Mariner, used by United Launch Alliance to transport rocket parts, has struck a bridge in Kentucky causing a section of the bridge to collapse. Photo Credit: Vandenberg.af.mil
The United Launch Alliance’s Delta Mariner has struck the Eggner Ferry Bridge located at U.S. Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 80 over the Tennessee River Thursday evening, Jan. 26 at 8:15 p.m. Central Time causing a section of the bridge to collapse. Continue reading ULA’s Delta Mariner Strikes Bridge – Causing Partial Collapse
Astronaut Jerry Ross, the first person to launch into space seven times, has announced his retirement from NASA. Throughout his NASA career, which began in 1979, Ross achieved many distinctions and proved to be a valuable asset both in and out of a spacesuit. One distinction – having flown into space seven times – is one that he shares with only one other Astronaut, Franklin Chang-Diaz. Continue reading Astronaut Jerry Ross Retires from NASA
Guests to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex attached flowers to the fence outside of the Space Mirror Memorial to honor those that died in the pursuit of space exploration. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla – Collected members of the NASA family held a “Day of Remembrance” on Thursday, Jan. 26 to mark the loss of the crews of Apollo 1, STS-51L and STS-107. Each of these accidents, although separated by years, all occurred between Jan. 27 and Feb.1. Continue reading NASA Honors Those Lost in Pursuit of Space Exploration
China’s first aircraft carrier was spotted by a DigitalGlobe Analysis Center analyst as it steamed the Yellow Sea under scattered-to-broken clouds. Photo Credit: DigitalGlobe
Yesterday, Newt Gingrich held a town hall in Cocoa, Florida to tell Brevard County voters about his vision for space exploration. Gingrich emphasized that his goal is to once again get people thinking big about space. Thanks go to SpaceFan and CSpan.
AmericaSpace’s Alan Walters and myself attended the “Day of Remembrance” ceremony held at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Check back this evening for a full article will still photographs and video.
Artist's impression of IBEX exploring the edge of our solar system. Credit: NASA GSFC.
WASHINGTON — NASA will host a Science Update at 1 p.m. EST, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, to discuss new analysis from NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft of material from outside our solar system and the interstellar boundary region that surrounds our home in space. Continue reading NASA Hosts Briefing On New Observations Of Interstellar Matter
This is the second in a series of five articles covering West Virginia University’s Microgravity Research Team whose flight will be taking place this summer. Kerri Phillips has worked with the WVU Microgravity Research Team in the past and is now bringing her experiences to AmericaSpace.
After the Columbia Disaster and subsequent CAIB report, ASAP has proven rigorous in its independent role to monitor NASA safety and compliance with CAIB recommendations. While most reports from government panels are forgotten as soon as they are submitted, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel’s annual reports are the exception to the rule in that they have had a material effect on space policy. Specifically, the White House lost the Great Space Debate of 2010 partly due to ASAP’s 2009 report that raised serious safety concerns regarding crewed commercial space flight. The Panel kept the safety pressure on NASA in its 2010 report that raised concerns about NASA’s efforts to draft commercial human rating standards. When crewed commercial orbital flights do begin, the safety of those flights will certainly have been enhanced by the oversight of ASAP.
Strong winds polished the snow of southwestern Alaska and stretched marine stratocumulus clouds into long, parallel streets in early January, 2012. After crossing Bristol Bay, the winds scraped the clouds across the tall volcanic peaks of the Aleutian Islands. As the wind impacted the immobile mountains, the airflow became turbulent, swirling in symmetric eddies and carving intricate patterns into the clouds on the leeward side of the islands. At the top of this image, the bright white color indicates a thick layer of snow overlying the land of southwestern Alaska. The pristine white is broken by the rugged Ahklun Mountain Range in the east, which is partially covered by a bank of clouds. Off the coast of Alaska, sea ice floats in Bristol Bay, cracked and chipped by the flow of the waters which lie underneath. A few cloud streets – parallel lines of clouds – can be seen in the far northwest over land. The clouds increase over the sea ice and become thick over open water, where row upon row of clouds lie close in perfectly parallel formation. The Aleutian Islands stretch from northeast to southwest across the image. Sea ice, which is bright white here, lies on the windward side of the islands. A few of the tallest volcanic peaks can be seen rising from the icy islands. The character of the cloud streets change as they impact the Aleutians, especially near the center of the image, where two rows of beautifully symmetric swirls of eddies in the clouds stretch across the sky. These swirling formations are known as von Karman vortex streets. This true-color image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite on January 11, 2012. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team Read More
