THESE PHOTOS PISS ME OFF...but not for the reasons you'd expect. NASA finally completed the assembly of the Ares I-X rocket yesterday...making it the first new launch vehicle to reside inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in almost 30 years. Unfortunately, thanks to a series of delays, including that caused by the Hubble Servicing Mission...which was scheduled to launch in May of last year but didn’t get off the ground till this year, and the results of the Obama-appointed Augustine committee (which will most likely recommend to the president that the Ares I program be scrapped), Ares I-X might never fly. Or it WILL fly...but it will be nothing more than a publicity stunt since the launch vehicle that it is a prototype for will most likely be cancelled (Hell... It's as much a waste of money assembling Ares I-X without launching it as it is flying the vehicle as nothing more than a "glorified model rocket". Just launch the damn thing). *Sigh.* Screw you Congress, for not giving NASA the money it needs to send astronauts beyond Low-Earth Orbit once more. And screw you Obama...for not having any vision for our space program, and relying on some presidential panel to give you an inkling of an idea for what direction NASA should take. F**K THAT.


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis

NASA PHOTOS OF THE DAY... Even though space shuttle Endeavour is no longer docked with the International Space Station (Endeavour is scheduled to land at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center tomorrow), just thought I’d share these two kick-ass images (below) that were taken of the two spacecraft from a ground-based telescope last Sunday. I found these photos on the On Orbit website. Both images courtesy of Thierry Legault / Look at Sciences

Happy 40th Anniversary, Apollo 11!


NASA

In a bit of timing that pretty much wasn't coincidental, NASA released the images below last Friday...showing 5 of the 6 Apollo landing sites as recently seen by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft. The Apollo 12 landing site should be photographed by LRO in the coming weeks. Before conspiracy theorists out there label these pics as your typical works of Photoshop, LRO has yet to settle into its final and lower orbit around the Moon...which means future photos of these landing zones should have much better resolution than the ones posted below. And hopefully, the future pics will be in color.






All Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images courtesy of NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center / Arizona State University

REST IN PEACE, Walter Cronkite (1916-2009). He passed away at the age of 92 today. Cronkite, "the most trusted man in America," reported on some of the most momentous events in the 20th century...including the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr...as well as the Apollo lunar landings.



I obviously don't want a repeat of events like the JFK and MLK tragedies, but who will we turn to next for a spirited commentary when a future generation of astronauts travel to the Moon? Whenever that will be? That question will remain unanswered for a while...

40 YEARS AGO TODAY, a Saturn V rocket carrying NASA's Apollo 11 spacecraft and its 3 astronauts launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a 3-day voyage to the Moon. When we send humans back to Earth's closest neighbor is anyone's guess...


NASA

SIXTH TIME'S THE CHARM... Endeavour will reach the International Space Station this Friday.


NASA / Sandra Joseph & Kevin O'Connell

FYI, these two awesome pieces of artwork have also been sitting on my Desktop for the past 4 months. To view more kick-ass illustrations like these, go to Mark Waki's website. Later.





Both illustrations courtesy of Mark Waki

THIS IMAGE has been taking up space on my Desktop screen for the past, oh, 4 months or so, so I thought I'd just post this here in honor of the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on STS-127. Whenever the heck that will be... (There's a 60% chance of bad weather scrubbing today's liftoff.)

UPDATE (3:45 PM): Make that a 100% chance of bad weather scrubbing today's liftoff. Florida in the summertime... Speaking of which, next month marks a year since I went on that cruise to the Bahamas.

NASA / Thierry Legault

FOUR 'WALKS DOWN, ONE MORE TO GO... And by 'walk, I mean extravehicular activity. Nothing nerdy like the term 'spacewalk' or something...

Whatever, I'm justing coming up with an excuse to post these photos.









All Hubble images courtesy of NASA

HUBBLE-Bound... At 11:01 AM, Pacific Time today, space shuttle Atlantis launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to start an 11-day mission (STS-125) to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. Godspeed Atlantis... Here’s hoping this voyage goes completely well...and that space shuttle Endeavour will find herself re-located to Launch Pad 39A a few weeks from now (for STS-127), instead of having to launch from Pad 39B on a rescue flight if the worse, God forbid, happens to Atlantis. And obviously, I’m looking forward to seeing some kick-ass imagery by Hubble once it becomes better than ever following the end of Atlantis' mission. That is all.


Canon / Scott Andrews