25 YEARS AGO TODAY... The 7 astronauts of space shuttle Challenger lost their lives 73 seconds into flight on a cold January day. 44 years ago yesterday, the 3 astronauts of Apollo 1 perished in a horrific fire during a ground launch rehearsal at Cape Canaveral, Florida. This Tuesday, it will be 8 years since the crew of space shuttle Columbia was lost during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere over Texas. May all these folks rest in peace. Hopefully, space shuttle Discovery will be launched as scheduled on February 24—and commence what will (hopefully once more) be a safe and successful conclusion to the space shuttle program (the flights of Endeavour and Atlantis will follow that of Discovery...in April and June, respectively). This particular era of American human spaceflight, which will have lasted a little over 30 years, deserves an upbeat and memorable ending. It would obviously be a tribute to the 17 men and women who sacrificed their lives in the name of exploration. Not to sound clichéd or anything...it's the ultimate truth.

Pat Corkery / United Launch Alliance PHOTOS OF THE DAY... Today’s entry is devoted to yesterday’s launch of the Delta IV-Heavy rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. If you read this recent post (high-five if you did), then you’ll know that the launch pad the Delta IV (whose payload was a top-secret spy satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office) lifted off from was originally intended for space shuttles being sent into polar orbit for military missions. As mentioned in the entry I linked to above, this plan was scrapped after the Challenger disaster in 1986. Too bad. As for yesterday’s launch (which took place at 1:10 PM, PST), this was the first time ever that the Delta IV—which is currently the largest unmanned rocket (or Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle in techno-jargon) in the U.S. inventory—took flight from the California coastline. Here is a video of the launch: Living in Southern California, I would’ve driven 100+ miles north to view this historic moment for um, America’s military space program, but I had errands to do around the time of launch yesterday. That, and my car will be 13-years-old this year (yes—it’s Japanese-made, but still...) and I currently can’t afford to spend money on something like a rental car right now. I probably shouldn’t have broadcast that here. Oh well. Pat Corkery / United Launch Alliance Gene Blevins / LA Daily News TitanFan - NASASpaceflight.com

U.S. Air Force

WHAT COULD’VE BEEN... SpaceflightNow.com has posted up some neat photos of the prototype space shuttle Enterprise sitting atop a launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, back in 1985. Prior to the Challenger disaster, the Department of Defense planned to launch the shuttle from the U.S. West Coast on military flights...but that was scrapped after the 1986 tragedy. Unlike launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, where shuttles and other spacecraft are sent up into equatorial (or west-to-east) orbit, the ascent of the shuttle after a Vandenberg liftoff would bring it into a polar (or south-to-north) orbit...which is the orbit that all satellites launched from the California airbase are sent to. Today, the pad, technically known as Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6), serves as the launch site of the Delta IV-Heavy rocket—which will fly its very first mission from the West Coast on January 20. The Delta IV’s four previous launches were from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.


U.S. Air Force

All I can say is...had the shuttle been launched from Vandenberg AFB as originally envisioned, I wouldn’t have to spend a thousand dollars to fly to Florida to see the orbiter at KSC instead. Then again, unlike at KSC—where I can take a tour (the 'Up-Close Tour' to be exact) to see the shuttle’s launch pad from as close as a mile away—there is no visitor complex at Vandenberg. Nor is there any hilly terrain (which would obscure the shuttle at liftoff) in Florida like there is in Ventura County (where Vandenberg is situated) in California. Oh well. I like traveling out-of-state anyway... When I have the money to do so, that is.


William G. Hartenstein


William G. Hartenstein


U.S. Air Force


U.S. Air Force


U.S. Air Force


U.S. Air Force


U.S. Air Force

NASA / Kim Shiflett PHOTOS OF THE DAY... The images above and below show space shuttle Discovery just as a total lunar eclipse is about to take place above it on Monday night. Of course, I myself couldn't watch the eclipse...since I live in Southern California...and the rainstorm that started last Friday just ended yesterday. Oh well. NASA-KSC video The pic below shows Discovery back inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center yesterday. Tests will be conducted on Discovery's external fuel tank before the shuttle rolls back to Launch Pad 39A by January 13...in preparation for its targeted February 2 (Pacific Time) launch. NASA / Frank Michaux

NASA / Kevin O'Connell

THE DRAGON TAKES FLIGHT... At 7:43 AM, Pacific Standard Time today, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying SpaceX’s first fully operational Dragon vehicle was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This was the second launch of Falcon 9 since its maiden flight last June, while this was Dragon’s first voyage to Earth orbit before it finally begins ferrying cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) next year. At 11:02 AM, PST, the Dragon capsule safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean (500 miles off the coast of Mexico, to be exact) after re-entering Earth’s atmosphere...making this the first time a commercial company successfully brought a spacecraft back to the Earth’s surface from orbit. SpaceX deemed this flight a 100% success.

Today is a historic day for manned spaceflight...especially for the United States. With the space shuttle fleet retiring next year, the launch of Falcon 9 had to be a complete success and the on-orbit performance of Dragon completely flawless to vindicate President Obama’s decision earlier this year to cancel NASA’s Constellation program and rely on private companies to send cargo (and even astronauts) to low-Earth orbit. SpaceX was suppose to conduct one more "demo" flight of the Dragon spacecraft before it was to finally dock the capsule to the ISS for actual cargo operations. Here’s hoping NASA will have a change of plans and allow SpaceX to consolidate those two flights into one mission, thus allowing Falcon 9 and Dragon to immediately usher in the era of commercial spaceflight just as the space shuttle program is about to come to a close. That is all.


SpaceX / Michael Altenhofen


SpaceX / Michael Altenhofen


SpaceX / Michael Altenhofen


SpaceX / Michael Altenhofen

PHOTO OF THE DAY... Astronaut Douglas Wheelock, currently residing onboard the International Space Station (ISS), took this great image of former crewmate Tracy Caldwell Dyson (who returned to Earth onboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in late September) inside the ISS' Cupola and posted it on his Twitpic page 49 days ago. Awesome pic... Obviously, there’s something very science fiction-ish (and um, sexy) about this photo. Then again, I pointed out earlier this year that the Cupola was something that you would see in Star Wars. Search your feelings, you know it to be true. (If you were a Star Wars fan you'd know who I was quoting with that line.) That is all.


NASA - Douglas Wheelock / Twitpic.com

IMAGE OF THE DAY... Courtesy of Mail Online...

NASA

IMAGE OF THE DAY... The illustration below is courtesy of Life's Little Mysteries...

Mark Greenberg - Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites

PHOTOS OF THE DAY... The VSS Enterprise, a.k.a. SpaceShipTwo, conducted its first solo flight above the Mojave Desert in Southern California today. Click here to read more. Now if only I had $200,000 to make this historic commercial spaceflight news relevant to me...


Clay Observatory - Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites


Mark Greenberg - Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites


Bill Deaver - Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites

Michael R. Brown / FLORIDA TODAY

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON... This will be the full title for Michael Bay’s third Giant Alien Robots movie when it gets released in theaters next July. Before folks here begin criticizing this new moniker for Transformers 3 (for syntax and otherwise), I found this interesting explanation for Dark of the Moon on this website:

"The Dark of the Moon is traditionally the last three days of the Lunar cycle, immediately preceding the New Moon, and the time when the night sky is notably absent the presence of the Moon."

If the rumors I’ve read for Transformers 3 since it started filming last Spring is any indication, then Dark of the Moon does make sense. (Apart from the fact Dark of the Moon has been a title used for several books and plays dating back over half a century; not to mention a term used in ancient Greek mythos.) TF3 will reportedly focus on the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union...and how the Transformers had an impact on the two nations’ famous race to send astronauts to the Moon in the 1960's. Also, humans will supposedly turn against the Autobots in TF3, with some prodding by the Decepticons, so it would make sense that Shockwave and Co. (and even Megatron before he ended up taking an Arctic ice nap) sneak onto Earth under a dark, Moon-less sky to wage war on the Autobots and mankind. That, and the Decepticons may have a secret base on the far side of the Moon, heh.

However, I DO think that another title—like Transformers: The Dark Moon—would’ve sounded better...but the last thing I need while watching TF3 is to think of a friggin' Twilight movie when I see this title. Anyways, here are a couple of pics of the Autobot cars and actor Tyrese Gibson at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida...where Michael Bay was filming TF3 since last weekend:


Courtesy of NASASpaceflight.com


Michael R. Brown / FLORIDA TODAY


Red Huber / ORLANDO SENTINEL


Courtesy of AceShowbiz.com