Anna Fisher
More stories
-
Top Ten US EVA Missions of All Time: No. 8—’It’ll Be A Miracle’
Early in February 1984, astronaut Joe Allen was at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, watching his former crewmate Vance Brand rocket into orbit aboard Challenger on Mission 41B. The pair had flown together on STS-5, and Allen later wrote in his book Entering Space that he remembered thinking “as I wistfully watched the […] More
-
‘Stop the Clock’: 30 Years Since the Rescue of Westar and Palapa (Part 2)
By the summer of 1984, the space shuttle had enjoyed success and disappointment in equal measure. Astronauts had successfully tested a new jet-propelled backpack, the Manned Manoeuvring Unit (MMU), and spacewalkers had retrieved and repaired NASA’s crippled Solar Max satellite. The maiden voyage of the new orbiter Discovery had gone well, but the failure of […] More
-
Halcyon Days: 30 Years Since the Rescue of Westar and Palapa (Part 1)
Early in February 1984, astronaut Joe Allen was at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, watching his former crewmate Vance Brand rocket into orbit aboard Challenger on Mission 41B. The pair had flown together on STS-5, and Allen later wrote in his book Entering Space that he remembered thinking “as I wistfully watched the […] More
-
‘Freeze the Sim’: The Unflown International Mission of STS-61H (Part 2)
The beginning of the end of Mission 61H came on 28 January 1986, when Challenger and her crew were lost, just 73 seconds after liftoff. As described in yesterday’s history article, the flight was intended for launch aboard Columbia in June, carrying a payload of three communications satellites and a seven-strong crew, including the first astronauts […] More
-
‘Neat People’: The Unflown International Mission of STS-61H (Part 1)
It has been almost a quarter of a century since Britain’s first astronaut, Helen Sharman, undertook an eight-day commercial flight to the Soviet Union’s Mir space station in May 1991. Yet for every successful human space venture, there are others which were unsuccessful or which never had the opportunity to bear fruit. Twenty-nine years ago, […] More
-
Dale Gardner, MMU Spacewalker, Dies Aged 65
Dale Gardner, a member of NASA’s first group of shuttle astronauts and one of only six men to fly the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) jet-propelled backpack on a spacewalk, died Wednesday, 19 February, reportedly following a sudden brain aneurysm. He was 65. Gardner flew aboard STS-8 in August-September 1983, which featured the shuttle program’s first […] More
-
Book Review: ‘Spacefarers: Images of Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the Heroic Era of Spaceflight,’ Edited by Michael J. Neufeld
Spacefarers: Images of Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the Heroic Era of Spaceflight was released on July 9 by the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press as part of its “A Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge Series.” This book, hot off the heels of many 50th anniversary milestones in the last couple of years, dissects not just human […] More
-
in NASA, Spaceflight, Shuttle, Space, KSC, Kennedy Space Center, Space Exploration, Ben Evans, Discovery, astronaut, Challenger, satellite, space shuttle, Launch, Exploration
“It’ll Be A Miracle”: The Rescue of Palapa and Westar (Part 2)
By the summer of 1984, the Space Shuttle had enjoyed success and disappointment in equal measure. Astronauts had successfully tested a new jet-propelled backpack, the Manned Manoeuvring Unit (MMU), and spacewalkers had retrieved and repaired NASA’s crippled Solar Max satellite. The maiden voyage of the new orbiter Discovery, despite a hairy main engine abort, seconds […] More
-
in NASA, Spaceflight, Shuttle, KSC, Kennedy Space Center, Ben Evans, Discovery, Columbia, astronaut, Challenger, Launch, Exploration
“It’ll Be A Miracle”: The Rescue of Palapa and Westar (Part 1)
Early in February 1984, astronaut Joe Allen was at the Kennedy Space Center, watching his former crewmate Vance Brand rocket into orbit aboard Challenger on Mission 41B. The pair had flown together on STS-5 and Allen later wrote in his book Entering Space that he remembered thinking “as I wistfully watched the spaceship Challenger climb […] More