Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 31, 2009 in Science
No where in the mainstream media did I see any coverage that there was a space shuttle launch on Friday. This is sad to me because each launch of the shuttle is a news event to this humble NASA fanboy; for what you are seeing is takes a ton of work where the crew is putting their life at risk. Under no circumstance should we fall into the apathetic notion that this is in the same class as an airplane taking off even if NASA makes it look that easy. And here’s some footage of the shuttle docking to International Space Station: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 22, 2009 in Science
This amazing video shows the view of a camera attached to the SRB, which translated into English is the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster. If you want to see something amazing look at the 2:20 minute mark on the video and you can see the booster separate from the shuttle! I made an animated gif to show this off: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 17, 2009 in Science
This is an interesting Science Now segment from the PBS series Nova on doing unmanned lunar exploration on a low budget. It shows how a team working on the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) used every day items to create a payload experiment that would look for traces of water on the moon. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 16, 2009 in Science
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first mission to land astronauts on the moon NASA has released a freshly restored video from the July 20, 1969 live television broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk. This initial release is part of a larger Apollo 11 moonwalk restoration project and features 15 key moments from the lunar mission. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 16, 2009 in Science
After several days of waiting Endeavour took off last night for the International Space Station. Part of me loves it anytime a spacecraft takes off and especially when it’s a safe and smooth launch — but another part of me regrets that it’s the year 2009 and NASA is still stuck with a vehicle that was designed in the 70s. But my hat is off to Commander Mark Polansky for a safe trip and return. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 13, 2009 in Science
Above: The rusting hulk of a Saturn V rocket (now under restoration) is a harsh reminder of a lost golden age of manned space exploration.
As a child who spent most of his life after the Apollo project it’s my humble opinion that over the last 40 years we’ve been living a micro-dark age of space exploration. To me the 40th Anniversary of Apollo isn’t a cause for celebration, but is in fact a funeral for NASA which has been a shadow of its former self. Read more…
It’s so easy to forget that when Hubble first launched in 1990 that it was a total disaster because the lens on the main mirror couldn’t focus — yet 19 years later it’s one of the best NASA success stories in recent history. This video tells he story of the team that replaced the mirror back in 1993. Here’s a before and after photo to show how much of an improvement the mirror fix made: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 26, 2009 in Science
This interview with Buzz Aldrin is from my favorite local news source NY1 (they have the best coverage of everything from the state of the subway to local political issues). Shelley Goldberg usually does their kids coverage so while this isn’t on her beat she does an A+ job of talking with an Apollo astronaut about some heavy topics in a very short amount of time.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2009 in Science
I just finished reading an amazing essay by Buzz Aldrin — Buzz of course is the second human to have walked on the surface of the moon during the Summer of 1969. Aldrin is currently pushing his book new book Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon, but what has warmed my heart is that instead of reliving the past he’s pushing for the idea that NASA needs to aim higher and not just land on Mars, but build a space colony there: Read more…
“The House slashed NASA’s manned space exploration $4 billion budget by 16 percent for 2010, as the White House will wait patiently to hear more of NASA’s plans once the shuttle fleet is retired. The $670 million cut will leave just $3.21 billion, which is less than what the U.S. space agency is working with already.” Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 22, 2009 in Science
On this day in 1969 the fourth manned Apollo mission set a record in terms of getting as close as possible to the surface of the moon. Comic fanboys should note that the mission used the callsigns of the Peanuts characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy, who became unofficial mascots of Apollo 10. In fact Charles Schulz even drew some artwork for the mission. So when you look back at photos from this 1969 endeavor every so often you’ll spot a Snoopy or a Charlie Brown hanging around: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 30, 2009 in Science, Tech
Anyone who has watched the Six Million Dollar Man One knows that one of the holy grails of bionics is to create a bionic eye. But one problem (aside from portability) has been how to create an eye that isn’t a flat surface. This video shows some new work being done where scientists have placed a pixel detector on a surface that can be flexible which brings us a bit closer to making bionic eyes a reality: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 27, 2009 in Science
The good news is that Peter Smith who led NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission predicts that within ten years we’ll find life on other planets — but the bad news for us fanboys with hopes of hanging out with Vulcans and Klingons is that E.T. may be a clump of lowly microbes sitting underneath a rock on Mars. Smith made this prediction during his recent “Journey of the Phoenix” presentation at the University of Delaware which included images from the Phoenix which touched down on the Martian arctic last year. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 11, 2009 in Science
It’s funny I’ve been watching the space shuttle for so many years that when I see a design like this it brings me back to my early childhood of watching the Apollo projects — it’s been that long since I’ve seen a spacecraft that was designed to leave Earth’s orbit. NASA is still awaiting the hear from the Obama administration to find out who the next leader of the space program will be, so it’s questionable if Orion will become real (although the administration seems to be motivated to return to the moon thanks to China).
50 years ago in April of 1959 the then new American space agency NASA started Project Mercury — the goal of which was to have manned spaceflight. In 1962 Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. would make the first American sub-orbital trip — and later in 1962 John Glenn (shown in the video above) would make the first orbit: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 26, 2009 in Science
You know it’s not quite as cool as a space station that you’d see in 2001: A Space Odyssey but on the whole now that the ISS is 80% done it doesn’t look too shabby! This footage was shot by the space shuttle before it heads home. Here’s an amazing photo from a space walk earlier in the mission: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 23, 2009 in Science
On March 23rd, 1965 the Gemini 3 launched into history — it was the first manned Gemini flight. The ship was manned by John W. Young (shown above) and Virgil I. Grissom (shown below). Grissom named the spacecraft the Molly Brown in reference to the Broadway show The Unsinkable Molly Brown as he was hoping not to duplicate his previous experience with the Liberty Bell 7. This mission was very much a test flight and this was the first time ever that an American spacecraft had a crew of two. NASA was still in catchup mode at this point as the USSR launched the Voskhod 1 in 1964 which had a crew of three. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 18, 2009 in Science
In my humble opinion one of the best ways of following the space shuttle this week is to watch the NASAtelevision channel on YouTube (or you can watch it live here) — sadly this is the sort of thing that the SyFy channel should be doing, but maybe this yet another sign that mass media is in decline. Shown above is the crew of the space shuttle being welcomed to the International Space Station, I just love the nautical touch of them ringing the bells. Below are the highlights from the 2nd day: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 13, 2009 in Science
With all of the excitement today about space junk threatening the International Space Station it dawned on me just how easy it is to forgot how untypical life is on a space station. Shown above is a spacewalk from this week which didn’t even make the news, yet it’s an amazing under taking. What you’re seeing here is the crew if the International Space Station conducting a four hour plus spacewalk which included an experiment and photography of the Russian segment of the station. They’re doing this in advance of the next Discovery mission which will deliver a new set of solar panels which will make the station easier to spot from the ground. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 21, 2009 in Science
The planned February launch of the Discovery has been delayed for the forth time due to potential faulty fuel valves. But that’s not the real story here: The fact of the matter is that the Discovery first flight was in August of 1984. Think about that for a minute — that’s just a few months shy of 25 years ago! In that time we’ve had five Presidents in office spanning three generations — and when Discovery first launched geeks were first discovering dial up bulletin boards. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 16, 2009 in Science
It was only less than a few weeks ago that we reported that Astrophysicist Duncan Forgan had boldly calculated that there are about 40,000 planets that would support intelligent life — well like a free nerd upgrade Dr. Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Science now claims that our galaxy could have billions of earth-like planets! Boss’s thinking is that each Sun-like star has on average one “Earth-like” planet, although sadly he wouldn’t go on the record like Forgan and take his math to the next level to make predictions about intelligent life. In fact on the negative side (or positive?) Boss feels that many of these planets are in primitive states and are populated by less advanced life forms like bacteria. But up on the up side Dr. Boss thinks that NASA’s Kepler mission might begin to spot earth-like planets in just a few years.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 10, 2009 in Science
What makes this video amazing is that not only does it address what was once a taboo subject at NASA (embracing innovation) but in a bold step towards transparency NASA is making this video public and putting it on YouTube for the entire world to see. I applaud this as the agency has been facing criticism of being too bureaucratic, and this video shows the right stuff to having the correct mindset to change. Read more…
, but what has warmed my heart is that instead of reliving the past he’s pushing for the idea that NASA needs to aim higher and not just land on Mars, 
