First Aussie: Dr. Philip Chapman, Apollo’s Astronaut from “Down Under,” Part Three
This Space Available, by Emily Carney. In the previous installment of This Space Available, Dr. Philip Chapman brainstormed one of the Apollo program’s most famous televised experiments, resigned from NASA’s astronaut corps following the cancellation of Skylab B, and entered into a post-NASA career that saw him rubbing elbows with Dr. Gerard K. O’Neill. In this concluding installment, we’ll return to the place where his scientific career began, undoubtedly one of the closest analogues to another planet that exists on Earth: Antarctica. Moreover, we’ll catch up with him at present time.
Opportunities and Challenges for Space Solar for Remote Installations
Research paper added to the NSS Space Solar Power Library: Opportunities and Challenges for Space Solar for Remote Installations, Naval Research Laboratory, October 2019. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Energy is critical for essentially every human activity. A practical capability...
First Aussie: Dr. Philip Chapman, Apollo’s Astronaut from “Down Under,” Part Two
This Space Available, by Emily Carney. In the last installment of This Space Available, the life and career of Dr. Philip Chapman, NASA’s first Australian-born astronaut, was discussed from the time he joined the exclusive cadre in 1967 to 1970, when he was doing his best to suggest scientific experiments to Stuart Roosa, Apollo 14’s command module pilot, to be performed as the latter astronaut orbited the Moon. However, Deke Slayton, the head of the astronaut office, was also doing his best in an effort to undermine Chapman’s suggestions at every turn.
Book Review: Rise of the Space Age Millennials
As the title implies, this book chronicles the careers, ambitions, and opinions of several young space professionals. The book’s author belongs to this group and has a solid background that includes owning a space consulting firm and doctoral work in planetary science.
SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 Mission: Endeavour Spacecraft Docks at International Space Station
By George Mancuso “On 20 July 1969 humans landed on the Moon. This was not merely a historical achievement, but an evolutionary and even cosmic feat.” — Yuval Noah Harari - Sapiens The SpaceX “good ship” Endeavour accomplished a soft capture with the International...
SpaceX’s Triple Trifecta Triumph – And the Flag is Captured!
By Dale Skran Starting March 28, 2018, I initiated a series of blog posts tracking the “SpaceX Triple Trifecta” – a bold attempt by SpaceX to achieve three amazing milestones in space development: To develop and fly reliably the Falcon 9 Block 5, demonstrating...
Historic Crew Dragon Demo-2 Launch to International Space Station
By George Mancuso “Taking more and more passengers out into space will enable them, and us, to look both outwards and back but with a fresh perspective in both directions.” — Steven Hawking On May 30, 2020 at 3:22 p.m. EDT, a SpaceX commercially owned Crew Dragon...
National Space Society Lauds Groundbreaking Launch of a Crewed Commercial Spacecraft from U.S. Soil
The National Space Society applauds the successful launch of two Americans to the International Space Station—the first from American soil in nearly a decade—today aboard a SpaceX rocket. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken launched aboard SpaceX’s new Crew...
First Aussie: Dr. Philip Chapman, Apollo’s Astronaut from “Down Under,” Part One
This Space Available, by Emily Carney. The “Excess Eleven” astronaut group would see many of its members resign before Skylab even made it off the ground in May 1973. One of the astronauts who left this exclusive cadre was physicist Dr. Philip Chapman, who was NASA’s first Australian-born astronaut. This is his story, and as you will see, many of the frustrations that resulted in his 1972 resignation from NASA were echoed by former colleague O’Leary in his 1970 opus, The Making of an Ex-Astronaut.
Book Review – A Reluctant Icon: Letters to Neil Armstrong
This Space Available, by Emily Carney. A second volume of letters, A Reluctant Icon: Letters to Neil Armstrong, is Hansen’s latest contribution to Armstrong scholarship, and lives up to its title; it shows a First Man who, while being unfailingly modest and polite, is more at ease turning down public appearances and entreaties to reveal more about his personal beliefs and peccadilloes than making splashy celebrity cameos. In turn, the less-than-revealing Armstrong reveals a lot about his personality, and his values – even by his silence.
Book Review: Handprints on Hubble
Category: Nonfiction Reviewed by: Clifford R. McMurray Title: Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut’s Story of Invention Author: Kathryn D. Sullivan NSS Amazon link for this book Format: Hardcover/Paperback/Kindle/Audiobook Pages: 304 Publisher: The MIT Press Date:...
Book Review: Proposal for Man-in-Space (1957-1958)
For those old enough to recall, the content of this book will bring back lots of memories of an almost forgotten aspect of the early space race era. While it can be difficult reading because of its blending of numerous DoD/USAF papers and reports of the time, it provides an essential perspective of American space history.
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