Carl Sagan as a Rocket by sleepybowie on etsy.

(Source: crumblybutgood)

Retired space shuttle “Atlantis” is set to go on public display June 29th, in Florida.

It was recently relieved of its plastic shrink-wrap protection, as the exhibition building was being built from around the shuttle. Workers removed around 16,000 square feet (1,486 square meters) of the plastic covering.

Check out this gallery for more cool images of the new Atlantis display!

(Source: pennyfournasa)

What? I’m not crying, That’s just space dust in my eye …

ISS Astronaut/All-Around Badass Dude Chris Hadfield has already taught us that crying in space isn’t a good idea, but this lonely astronaut music video is equal parts beautiful and touching. This space-traveler’s quest for happiness grabs me right at the heart of my emotional galaxy, man …

The song is “Tambourine” by Dave Armstrong.

(via io9)

(Source: itsokaytobesmart.com, via jtotheizzoe)

When I picked up Landen from daycare (Keystone Early Learning Academy), he was doing this with one of his closest friends.

These are two of the minds of the upcoming generation. Stay curious*

Antares Rocket Launches

The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen as it launches from Pad-0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, Sunday, April 21, 2013.

The test launch marked the first flight of Antares and the first rocket launch from Pad-0A. The Antares rocket delivered the equivalent mass of a spacecraft, a so-called mass simulated payload, into Earth’s orbit.

(Source: crookedindifference)

Space Shuttle Discovery Delivered to the Smithsonian

The Space Shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a modified 747 jet, flew over the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on April 17, 2012 on its way to its permanent home at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.

NASA’s donation of the shuttle was recognized and celebrated during a special ceremony that followed its flight, landing, demating and towing.

One of the greatest, life-altering days within my last 30 years. I’m humbled and grateful to have taken part and experienced such a monumental moment in the history of time, space(flight), aeronautics, NASA, and human history.

Here are the posts I published upon my return from ‘Discovery Day. Make sure to check these out. I managed to capture some pretty stunning photos and conversed with some pretty awesome people: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

flashback: (1) my first trip to D.C. while coming back from South Carolina with family (2) me, present day (there was something on the mirror…I don’t keep things in my beard)

p.s., I’m in love with that hat. It’s from the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum. The one pin is a shuttle, commemorating the retirement of Discovery - which is when I got the hat/pins - the other pin is for the Orion Crew Capsule they debuted to the public. Best day of my space-enthused life.

distant-traveller:

First Space Shuttle launch

A new era in space flight began on April 12, 1981, when Space Shuttle Columbia, or STS-1, soared into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Astronaut John Young, a veteran of four previous spaceflights including a walk on the moon in 1972, commanded the mission. Navy test pilot Bob Crippen piloted the mission and would go on to command three future shuttle missions. The shuttle was humankind’s first re-usable spacecraft. The orbiter would launch like a rocket and land like a plane. The two solid rocket boosters that helped push them into space would also be re-used, after being recovered in the ocean. Only the massive external fuel tank would burn up as it fell back to Earth. It was all known as the Space Transportation System.

Twenty years prior to the historic launch, on April 12, 1961, the era of human spaceflight began when Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth in his Vostock I spacecraft. The flight lasted 108 minutes.

Image credit: NASA

cozydark:

Mission 26: The Big Endeavor

A timelapse filmed as the space shuttle Endeavour made its final journey - to be displayed in an exhibit at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

themagicofreality:

Discovery by Sam Commarato

(Source: thedemon-hauntedworld)

spacewatching:

Watching a successful launch of Space Shuttle Discovery from the roof of the Launch Control Center are (left to right) Astronaut Eileen Collins (in flight suit) with unidentified companions, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, Astronaut Robert Cabana, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and U.S. President Bill Clinton. This was the first launch of a Space Shuttle to be viewed by President Clinton, or any President to date. They attended the launch to witness the return to space of American legend John H. Glenn Jr., payload specialist on mission STS-95. Collins will command the crew of STS-93, the first woman to hold that position. Cabana will command the crew of STS-88, the first Space Shuttle mission to carry hardware to space for the assembly of the International Space Station, targeted for liftoff on Dec. 3 [1998 - ed].

invaderxan:

“Wait for me…!”

einauslander:

Science: Because you can’t pray this shit into space.

Jeff Bezos Recovers Apollo Rocket Engines From Deep Ocean

After lying on the ocean floor for more than 40 years, two Apollo rocket engines that helped deliver astronauts to the moon are once again seeing the light of day.

A team organized by Jeff Bezos spent three weeks fishing at sea to recover the corroded F-1 engines, which sat more than 4 kilometers below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Bezos does not yet know precisely which Apollo mission the engines flew on as the original serial numbers on the objects are missing. He is hoping they are the Apollo 11 engines that brought the first men to the moon. On Mar. 20, his team’s ship was heading back to Cape Canaveral in Florida with the aged pieces to restore them and perhaps determine which mission they came from.

“We’ve seen an underwater wonderland – an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end, one that serves testament to the Apollo program,” Bezos wrote in a blog post. “We photographed many beautiful objects in situ and have now recovered many prime pieces. Each piece we bring on deck conjures for me the thousands of engineers who worked together back then to do what for all time had been thought surely impossible.”

Billionaire Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, announced his intentions to pull the Space Age relics up from the depths almost exactly one year ago. Little has been heard about the endeavor since then but that’s often how Bezos works. His private rocket company, Blue Origin, is probably the most secretive new corporation getting into the commercial launch business.

Pulling the F-1 engines up was a tremendous engineering challenge. The team used remotely operated vehicles tethered with fiber optic cables to work in the black depths at the bottom of the Atlantic. After restoring the engines and stabilizing them to prevent further corrosion, Bezos hopes to display them at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, though the ultimate decision for where to put them will probably involve NASA.

“This is a historic find and I congratulate the team for its determination and perseverance in the recovery of these important artifacts of our first efforts to send humans beyond Earth orbit,” wrote NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a statement about the recovery. ”We look forward to the restoration of these engines by the Bezos team and applaud Jeff’s desire to make these historic artifacts available for public display.”

The F-1 engines flew on the gigantic Saturn V, still the largest and most powerful rocket ever built in the U.S. Each engine is nearly 6 meters tall and 4 meters wide and weighs more than 8,000 kg. They produced 7.7 million pounds of thrust and brought the Saturn V to nearly 58 km above the Earth at a top speed of and to a speed of almost 10,000 km/hr.

Watch: Jeff Bezos Recovers Apollo Engines

electrikmuse:

D&AD Cover by Alyson Jane Waller

D&AD awards in the category ‘magazine front covers’: This cover needed to illustrate that the space shuttle and all it represented had come to an end.

“I wanted to convey what was going to happen to the shuttle in retirement. I thought of it becoming a museum piece or an object in an art gallery, which is when Fiona Banner’s harrier jet installation at Tate Britain came to mind.”