Sprint to the Finish: 30 Years Since the 'Death Star' Missions (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on May 8th, 2016

By the time Galileo eventually left Earth in October 1989, it was boosted toward Jupiter by a less powerful Inertial Upper Stage (IUS). Photo Credit: NASA

Thirty years ago, this month—had the hands of fate showed greater kindness—two shuttles might have rocketed into orbit within days of each other to deliver a pair […]

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Willing to Compromise: 30 Years Since the 'Death Star' Missions (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on May 7th, 2016

The Centaur-G Prime, mounted in its Centaur Integrated Support Structure (CISS), is readied for launch in the Shuttle Payload Integration Facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: NASA

When Challenger was lost in the skies of Cape Canaveral on 28 January 1986, it brought to an end the space shuttle’s “age of […]

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'On its Way': 25 Years Since STS-41 Sent Ulysses to the Sun (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on October 11th, 2015

Mounted atop its IUS and PAM-S boosters, Ulysses departs Earth at the start of its odyssey to explore the Sun. Image Credit: NASA

Dick Richards enjoyed a sound night’s sleep on 5 October 1990. In the astronaut crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, he was only hours away from […]

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Many Twists and Turns: 25 Years Since STS-41 Sent Ulysses to the Sun (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on October 10th, 2015

Ulysses drifts serenely above Earth in the moments after deployment on 6 October 1990, 25 years ago, this week. Shortly after this image was taken, the attached Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) and Payload Assist Module (PAM)-S boosters would propel the craft faster than any previous man-made object out of Earth’s gravitational clutches. Photo […]

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Summer of Discontent: 25 Years Since the Shuttle Hydrogen Leaks (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on August 2nd, 2015

In one of the most historic shuttle-era photographs ever taken, this image shows the STS-38/Atlantis stack (at right) returning to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for repairs on 9 August 1990. In doing so, it passed the STS-35/Columbia stack (at left), which was returning to the launch pad after several weeks of extensive […]

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Summer of Discontent: 25 Years Since the Shuttle Hydrogen Leaks (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on August 1st, 2015

Pictured in September 1990, the problem-plagued STS-35 stack is shown in the foreground, on Pad 39A, with the STS-41 stack in the background on Pad 39B. Photo Credit: NASA

A quarter-century ago, in the summer of 1990, the shuttle program was in chaos. Less than two years since the resumption of flight operations […]

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NASA Preparing for Juno's Historic Arrival at Jupiter, One Year Out

By Emily Carney, on July 8th, 2015

Artist’s concept of the Juno spacecraft approaching Jupiter in 2016. Image Credit: NASA / JPL

“Jupiter’s welcome to more from his Juno if he can get it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

While NASA and space enthusiasts the world over are waiting for New Horizons’ unprecedented Pluto flyby, the space agency […]

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To Follow After Knowledge: STS-41 and the Odyssey of Ulysses

By Ben Evans, on October 21st, 2012

Pictured in its horizontal position in Discovery’s payload bay, the circular dish antenna and Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) of Ulysses are clearly visible in this image. Photo Credit: NASA

Human hands have stretched far into the cosmos during our half-century of exploring the final frontier. Men and women have circled hundreds of miles […]

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