Space Age Bulletins | Range Tracking

Ranch Saturday: STS-126

2018/11/10 by terranovabay

STS-126 on a construction, resupply, and crew transfer mission to the International Space Station carried out by the Space Shuttle Endeavour launched from Kennedy Space Center at 7:55 p.m. on 14 November 2008 into a sky lit bright by the full Moon. This view is the full wide-angle image of the launch, which includes the Moon blown out at right by the long time exposure capturing the streak of the Space Shuttle’s flight as seen from a cow pasture at […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Endeavour, Florida Cattle Ranch, International Space Station, ISS, Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Space Shuttle, STS-126, Treasure Hammock Ranch

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Kepler runs out of fuel

2018/11/06 by terranovabay

Spacecraft running out of fuel after many years of successful service seems to be the theme the last week or so. First it was the Dawn spacecraft out in the asteroid belt and, now, it is the Kepler spacecraft built to search for alien worlds around distant stars. I captured the launch of Kepler aboard a Delta 2 rocket from a lonely cow pasture late at night way back in March 2009 as seen below: Read more about the mission’s […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Delta 2, Kepler Space Telescope, NASA

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Dusk For Dawn

2018/11/02 by terranovabay

From the 1 November 2018 NASA press release: NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has gone silent, ending a historic mission that studied time capsules from the solar system’s earliest chapter. Dawn missed scheduled communications sessions with NASA’s Deep Space Network on Wednesday, Oct. 31, and Thursday, Nov. 1. After the flight team eliminated other possible causes for the missed communications, mission managers concluded that the spacecraft finally ran out of hydrazine, the fuel that enables the spacecraft to control its pointing. Dawn […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Asteroid, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Ceres, dawn, Delta 2, NASA, Vesta

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Hand Casts of Apollo Astronauts

2018/10/16 by terranovabay

From the interpretive panel at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex: Hand Casts of Apollo Astronauts International Latex Corporation – 1960s Hand and body casts were made to create custom-made spacesuits for each astronaut’s shape. A set of three suits with custom gloves were made for each astronaut; one to be used for training, one to be used for flight, and a third as a backup suit in the event of damage to one of the others. The hand casts […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong, Spacesuit

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Specialized Ships

2018/09/14 by terranovabay

The SpaceX recovery ship Go Quest heads into Port Canaveral while in front of it is the U.S. Navy’s Expeditionary Fast Transport vessel named City of Bismarck. The Go Quest supports ocean landings of SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets on the autonomous spaceport drone ship, sort of a rocket landing pad on a barge, that is then towed back to Port Canaveral so the rocket can be refurbished and reused. In this case, the return of the booster on 12 September […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: autonomous spaceport drone ship, City of Bismarck, Expeditionary Fast Transport, Go Quest, Port Canaveral, U.S. Navy

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SLS ML at 39B – Part Two

2018/09/03 by terranovabay

Traveling at a top speed of .7-mile-per-hour, the mobile launcher made its inaugural trek along the crawlerway to Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B for a quick fit check during late August and early September 2018. Key systems being checked out over the next several days include ensuring the water suppression systems align and the environmental control system that provides air and gaseous nitrogen purges to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket through the umbilicals hooks up properly with the […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39B, Mars, Mobile Launcher, Moon, NASA, Orion, Pied-billed Grebe, SLS, Space Launch System, VAB, Vehicle Assembly Building

SLS ML at 39B – Part One

2018/09/02 by terranovabay

The mobile launcher (ML) is the ground structure that will be used to assemble, process and launch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center for missions to deep space destinations, such as the Moon, Mars and beyond. The SLS, topped by the Orion spacecraft, will be stacked atop the mobile launcher while inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Afterward the mobile launcher will be moved by the crawler-transporter over four […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39B, Mars, Mobile Launcher, Moon, NASA, Orion, SLS, Space Launch System, VAB, Vehicle Assembly Building

Launch Complex 26 over the years

2018/09/01 by terranovabay

The following images show historic Launch Complex 26 (LC-26) from site visits over the years to the Air Force Space & Missile Museum at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The gantry is undergoing a very long term restoration that began in 2005 and is still ongoing. Complex 26 is famous for being the launch site of the United States first satellite on 31 January 1958 to reach orbit, Explorer 1, which discovered the Van Allen radiation belts encircling the Earth. […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Air Force Space & Missile Museum, Blockhouse, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Explorer 1, Launch Complex 26, National Historic Landmark, Redstone

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We Came In Peace For All Mankind

2018/08/31 by terranovabay

The plaque which the Apollo 11 astronauts left behind on the Moon, which was attached to the ladder on the landing gear strut on the descent stage of the Lunar Module. The plaque was signed by the three Apollo 11 astronauts and President Richard Nixon. (Photo Credit: NASA)

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin, Lunar Module, Mike Collins, Moon, Neil Armstrong, Richard Nixon

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Black Vultures at LC-34

2018/08/28 by terranovabay

Black Vultures atop some of the concrete remains of Launch Complex 34 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Black Vulture, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Coragyps atratus, Launch Complex 34, SLC 34

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Range Tracking

Photography by Bob Montanaro

Category Archives: Space Age Bulletins

Ranch Saturday: STS-126

Kepler runs out of fuel

Dusk For Dawn

Hand Casts of Apollo Astronauts

Specialized Ships

SLS ML at 39B – Part Two

SLS ML at 39B – Part One

Launch Complex 26 over the years

We Came In Peace For All Mankind

Black Vultures at LC-34