Updated 24 December 2025 Image from NASA. The first module of the ISS, called Zarya, was launched by a Russian rocket back in November 1998. Zarya was not an inhabitable module and its function was to provide electrical power, storage and propulsion to the ISS during the initial stages of assembly. Interesting the word ‘Zarya’… Continue reading The International Space Station
Category: Space
Jupiter at opposition 9 May 2018
On May 9 Jupiter is at opposition. This event, which occurs every 399 days, happens when Jupiter is at its closest to the Earth and at its brightest. To the naked eye it is a brilliant white object, three times brighter than the brightest star. Features such as coloured bands and the famous great red… Continue reading Jupiter at opposition 9 May 2018
The early days of the space race
In my previous post I talked about two significant successes for the Soviet Union in 1957: the first artificial satellite in orbit in October and the first living creature, a dog named Laika, in orbit in November. In December of that year the Americans had a humiliating failure when the Vanguard spacecraft exploded in a… Continue reading The early days of the space race
4 October 1957 – the start of the space age
Updated 16 December 2025 On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit around the Earth. This is considered to be the beginning of the space age. Before this date there were no human made satellites in space but on every single day since then there have been artificial… Continue reading 4 October 1957 – the start of the space age
The discovery of pulsars 1967
Updated 14 December 2025 In 1967, a 24-year-old student from Cambridge University, Jocelyn Bell, was doing the research for her PhD. She was using a radio telescope to study radio waves emitted from compact astronomical objects known as quasars, and when she analysed the data she had collected, she noticed a signal which appeared to… Continue reading The discovery of pulsars 1967
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