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‘Space Shuttle’ Stories

Space shuttle Discovery comes to rest at the Smithsonian

, Apr 19th 2012 Discuss [2]

The space shuttle Discovery has finally come to rest in what may be the last location it ever travels to - the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum annex in northern Virginia. This shuttle has been covered by the news so many times in the past week that it's quite unlikely that you've not already seen it in one way or another - likely on the gigantic Boeing 747 that carried it on its back across the country. This shuttle is known as the world's most traveled spaceship and will essentially represent NASA's 30-year space shuttle program as it sits in its show space near the Dulles International Airport for the foreseeable future. Read The Full Story

Space shuttle Discovery hitches its last ride on a jumbo jet

, Apr 16th 2012 Discuss [2]

For decades, the space shuttles have hitched a ride atop a specially equipped Boeing 747 when they needed to be moved between facilities. The image of the space shuttle sitting atop the 747 is one that has fascinated many fans of space since the shuttle program launched. Space shuttle Discovery has been attached to the top of NASA's 747 for the last time at Kennedy Space Center. Read The Full Story

Space shuttle Endeavor flight deck is festooned with buttons

, Mar 8th 2012 Discuss [0]

The flight deck of NASA's now retired space shuttle Endeavor is certainly not the place for a pushbutton Bobby. The buttons you see in this picture are a small part of the switches, toggles, blinking buttons on the flight deck of the retired shuttle. I don't see how the flight crew would keep track of all those buttons and what they do. I have a hard time remembering what key on my keyboard I bound a macro to. Read The Full Story

NASA 911 Boeing 747 space shuttle hauler flies for the last time

, Feb 14th 2012 Discuss [7]

I'm still more than a little sad that NASA retired the space shuttle fleet. The space shuttles were a source of endless wonder for millions of space geeks around the world for decades. One of the coolest things that NASA had to do with the space shuttle was to ferry the spacecraft from the landing site back to the launch site attached to the back of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Read The Full Story

NASA tests metal ballista, space harpoon for Comet Nucleus mission

, Dec 16th 2011 Discuss [5]

This week the coolest team of space explorers on the planet at NASA have announced their next raging action and adventure television episode called "Space Harpoons!" - or that's what you might think if you'd not read too deeply into their press release which details not only "The Comet Nucleus Sample Return Mission," but both the fantastically powerful metal ballista and space harpoon they're currently testing out for it. Scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. are currently in early stages of testing a harpoon of epic proportions, able to collect samples of materials from the surface layers of a comet. What they're currently testing out is how hard their six foot tall crossbow will have to fire a harpoon with its 1/2 inch thick bow string to blast through enough layers of rock on the surface of the space bodies it intends to study. Read The Full Story

Lego Minifigs to Accompany Juno Space Probe Mission

, Aug 3rd 2011 Discuss [2]

Launching this Friday will be NASA's Atlas V rocket containing not only its most important piece of equipment, the Juno space probe, but three little Lego minifigs as well. Included in this mission will be Lego likenesses of Italian astronomer Galileo, Roman god Jupiter, and Jupiter's sister Juno, these toys soon to be the furthest flung toys in history. The rocket will be heading to Jupiter on a five-year trip that will be a joint mission between NASA and Lego, each of the special minifigs affixed to the spacecraft for a (hopefully) safe journey all the way. Read The Full Story

Space Shuttle Columbia part found in drought parched lake in East Texas

, Aug 3rd 2011 Discuss [0]

There are few key moments in life that I will always remember. Things like the birth of my kids, my wedding day, and a few others. Some of the days I will never forget aren’t good things though. I will always remember where I was when the Space shuttle Challenger blew up and I will always remember where I was when the Columbia blew up. In fact, I live in the area of East Texas where much of the debris from the shuttle was found. Read The Full Story

Space Shuttle Atlantis touchdown ends 26 years of flight

, Jul 21st 2011 Discuss [2]

Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down this morning at 9:57am ET, the final landing of the space shuttle program and bringing to a close a chapter of space exploration spanning decades. Arriving on schedule at the Kennedy space center, Atlantis had completed mission STS-135 consisting of 200 orbits around the Earth and a total of 5,284,862 miles.

Read The Full Story

Space Shuttle crew gets midnight wakeup over computer failure

, Jul 15th 2011 Discuss [0]

Of the wake-up calls you might want to get while on the Space Shuttle, an equipment failure alarm is probably not high on the list. Unfortunately that's just what happened to the Atlantis crew earlier today, when a General Purpose Computer failed and roused them from their slumbers with its needy alarm. Happily backup systems were quickly slotted into place, and the crew grabbed a little extra shut-eye before being roused a few hours later by the dulcet tones of Sir Paul McCartney. Read The Full Story

Postage Stamp Size Satellites Launch with Space Shuttle Endeavour

, May 16th 2011 Discuss [2]

Space Shuttle Endeavour launched today, on its last mission and the second to last mission of the Space Shuttle program. On board this time were three postage-stamp sized mini satellites. These tiny satellites will be mounted on the outside of the International Space Station, and will perform the same mission that the Russian Sputnik spacecraft did in 1957. They will monitor space conditions and broadcast them back to Earth. Read The Full Story

Space Shuttle Endeavour blasts off in successful launch [Update]

, May 16th 2011 Discuss [0]

Having seen its late April launch scrubbed over a power unit problem, the Space Shuttle Endeavour has finally taken off today, taking six astronauts from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, up to the International Space Station. The team will arrive there on Wednesday, two days into a 16-day mission to deliver a Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) as well as various spare parts and scientific components, and perform experiments in low-gravity. Read The Full Story

NASA scrubs Endeavour launch over power unit problems

, Apr 29th 2011 Discuss [6]

Looks like all that LEGO isn't going into space after all, at least not today. NASA has announced that it has scrubbed today's Space Shuttle Endeavour launch"because of an issue associated with Auxiliary Power Unit 1 heaters." Engineers will assess the issue, but NASA warns that the process will take at least 48-hours and likely more. Read The Full Story
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