By Ben Evans, on March 1st, 2020
Atlantis spears for the heavens at 2:50 a.m. EST on 28 February 1990. Photo Credit: NASA
In many minds, STS-36—a top-secret Department of Defense mission, flown 30 years ago this month—was one of the greatest flights ever undertaken in the three decades of Space Shuttle operations. In his memoir Man On A Mission, astronaut Dave Hilmers recalled […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on March 10th, 2019
Tropical Storm Owen vividly backdrops Columbia’s silhouetted payload bay, aft bulkhead and vertical stabilizer during STS-62. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de
A quarter-century ago, this week, five astronauts aboard shuttle Columbia sailed through a mission which their launch announcer had earlier described as “the cutting edge of microgravity research”. STS-62 Commander John […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on May 7th, 2017
In the first, and so far only, three-person EVA, astronauts Rick Hieb, Tom Akers and Pierre Thuot manhandle Intelsat 603 into Endeavour’s payload bay for the attachment of a new rocket motor. Photo Credit: NASA
Twenty-five years ago, today, on 7 May 1992, Space Shuttle Endeavour launched into orbit on her maiden voyage, […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on May 6th, 2017
With the possible exception of Columbia and the very first Space Shuttle mission, few orbiters had as dramatic and exciting a maiden voyage as Endeavour. On STS-49, she provided a reliable stage for the longest EVA in history and the first three-man EVA in history. Photo Credit: NASA
“Ready. Ready. Grab!”
The words […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on June 4th, 2015 With the possible exception of Columbia and the very first space shuttle mission, few orbiters had as dramatic and exciting a maiden voyage as Endeavour. On STS-49, she provided a reliable stage for the longest EVA in history and the first three-man EVA in history. Photo Credit: NASA
“Ready. Ready. Grab!”
The words […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on May 10th, 2015 With the possible exception of Columbia and the very first space shuttle mission, few orbiters had as dramatic and exciting a maiden voyage as Endeavour. On STS-49, she provided a reliable stage for the longest EVA in history and the first three-man EVA in history. Despite the trials and tribulations of the flight, […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on May 9th, 2015 In the first, and so far only, three-person EVA, astronauts Rick Hieb, Tom Akers and Pierre Thuot manhandle Intelsat 603 into Endeavour’s payload bay for the attachment of a new rocket motor. Photo Credit: NASA
“Ready. Ready. Grab!”
The words of Rick Hieb echoed through the silent Mission Control Center (MCC) at the […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on March 1st, 2015 Atlantis rockets into the night on 28 February 1990, headed for the shuttle’s first “dogleg” maneuver and the highest orbital inclination ever attained by a U.S. piloted spacecraft. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de
A quarter-century has now passed since one of the quietest missions in the shuttle’s 30-year operational history. On 28 […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on February 28th, 2015 The official crew patch for shuttle mission STS-36, which launched 25 years ago today, on 28 February 1990. Image Credit: NASA
Something strange happened in March 1990. Ground-based observers were busy tracking the orbital progress of a classified Department of Defense payload, recently deployed by the crew of Shuttle Atlantis on STS-36—Commander John […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on February 24th, 2015 Its new booster securely fitted, Intelsat 603 drifts away from Endeavour’s payload bay. After insertion into geosynchronous orbit, the satellite was instrumental in providing television coverage of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Photo Credit: NASA
Almost a quarter-century since its launch, and more than two decades since shuttle astronauts triumphantly snatched it from an […]
Like this:Like Loading...
|
|