Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in July 2011, America has been unable to put any astronauts into orbit around the Earth. Instead, it has been in the difficult situation of having to rely on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). This situation may change… Continue reading American manned spaceflight in 2019
Tag: Space Tourism
Where does space begin?
Happy New Year to all my readers and followers. Many of you will be aware of the recent test flight of the Virgin Space Ship Unity. On 13 December 2018 it reached an altitude of 82.7 km and was widely reported in the media, for example the BBC news website, as reaching ‘the edge of… Continue reading Where does space begin?
American manned spaceflight in 2018?
This post has been superseded by the later post American spaceflight in 2019 As readers of a previous post will know, since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in July 2011, America has been unable to put any astronauts into orbit around the Earth. Instead, it has been reliant on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to… Continue reading American manned spaceflight in 2018?
Spaceport UK?
I was very pleased to hear a couple of weeks ago that the UK government plans to introduce a piece of legislation called the Modern Transport Bill. This may not sound very exciting, but behind the uninspiring name is the intention to ultimately establish the UK's first commercial spaceports, from which space tourists as well as scientists… Continue reading Spaceport UK?
Space the Final Frontier- but where does it begin?
On 24 October 2014 a senior Google vice president 57 year old Alan Eustace (shown below) broke the world altitude record by jumping from a balloon from an altitude of 135,890 feet (41.4 km). When he was interviewed, after he had safely landed, he said: "..It was beautiful. You could see the darkness of space... " This made me… Continue reading Space the Final Frontier- but where does it begin?
Explaining Science 