Just before dawn today, U.S. astronauts folded their tray tables and returned their seats to an upright position as the Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center. After five decades, our long National Space Stunt is over. Designed by Dr. Evel Knievel, the U.S. manned space effort sent humans into the cold void of space to definitively prove … um, that humans could go into space. Perhaps NASA will actually devote some of its funds to science now.
The 1985-model Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) rolled out of Florida today, headed for the International Space Station. When the spacecraft returns to Cape Canaveral, NASA will put it up on blocks in the Kennedy Space Center front yard. Some people are upset that Atlantis is being retired, since it only has 120 million miles on the odometer.
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Image (“1985 Models: Chrysler 5th Avenue and Space Shuttle Atlantis”) by Mike Licht (Atlantis is the junker on the top). Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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When NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour blasts off on mission STS-134 it will carry several non-human passengers. They are cephalopods, squid.
Calamari for cosmonauts? No. This is part of a controlled experiment that will finally answer the vital scientific question “Hey, what would happen if we launched some squid into Outer Space?”
NASA’s famed Evel Knievel Manned Space Program has an Asian rival. The People’s Republic of China is planning to launch a space station. The Tiangong or ‘heavenly palace’ will hurtle towards the heavens within the decade.
The Chinese man-in-space effort began ten years ago, and boasted its first space walk during the 2008 Shenzhou-7 mission. Meanwhile, in Florida, NASA’s antiquated Endeavour space shuttle is back in the shop.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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To the disappointment of First Space Fan Barack Obama, NASA scrubbed the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour Friday afternoon. The 20-year-old spacecraft has some sort of electrical malfunction in the two heaters in auxiliary power unit 1. Or maybe it’s the carburetor.
The Endeavour was kind of jalopy to begin with, anyway. It was cobbled together out of spare parts from the 1984-model Discovery and 1985 Atlantis space shuttles.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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