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On this day in 1958, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration began operations. On July 29th, 1958, ten months after Sputnik 1 was launched into orbit, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act establishing NASA as a civilian space agency. The new agency absorbed the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, including its budget, resources and personnel. Prior to the formation of NASA, space exploration was considered to be largely military enterprise. NASA would begin operations on October 1, 1958. Celebrate NASA’s birthday by telling Congress to increase NASA’s budget: http://www.penny4nasa.org/take-action/

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One Year Ago Today: NASA’s New Horizons Probe Completes Successful Flyby Of Pluto

In a journey nearly a decade in the marking, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft successfully completed its historic flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto on Tuesday, July 14. Mission controllers received a signal from the spacecraft indicating it was healthy and completed its scheduled science observations at 8:52:37 p.m. EDT.

http://www.penny4nasa.org/2015/07/14/new-horizons-completes-successful-flyby-of-pluto/

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51 years ago today, Mariner 4 became the first spacecraft to perform a successful flyby of Mars In a coincidence of astronomical proportions, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft conducted the first flyby of Pluto on the 50th anniversary of the first flyby of Mars. NASA’s Mariner 4 probe became the first spacecraft to capture up-close images of another planet when it flew past Mars on July 14, 1965. Continue reading: http://www.penny4nasa.org/2015/07/14/pluto-flyby-marks-50th-anniversary-of-first-mars-flyby/

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Falcon 9 coming in for a landing following the launch of CRS-9 on July 18, 2016. P/c: SpaceX.

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July 20, 1976 - Viking 1 makes first Martian landing.

Paving the way for generations of Martian landers and orbiters, NASA’s Viking 1 mission became the first spacecraft to safely land on the Red Planet’s surface on this day in 1976.  Following launch on a Titan IIIE rocket, Viking’s 10-month cruise to Mars culminated in orbit insertion on June 19. Landing was initially planned for the United State’s Bicentennial on July 4, 1976, but initial reconnaissance of the landing site proved to be too rough for the spacecraft. Landing was delayed to July 20th at Chryse Planitia. Two 1,270 pound landers complimented two orbiters as part of NASA’s Viking program. Viking 1 launched on August 20, 1975 and landed on July 20, 1976, while Viking 2 launched on September 9, 1975 and landed on September 3, 1976.

The first photograph ever taken from the surface of Mars showing one of Viking 1′s landing pads. Viking’s science instruments provided the first in-situ, or ground based observations of Martian seismic, atmospheric, and chemical activity. Since the biological compatibility of Mars’ surface was completely unknown at the time, both Viking landers carried instruments to directly test of organic life. Of the four, three instruments returned negative results while one returned a positive result.  This discrepancy was first attributed to the chemical reactions of inorganic compounds in the Martian soil, but has been disputed in recent years as data from other Martian missions has been analyzed.

Viking 1 far outlasted its designed operational lifetime of 90 days, transmitting data until November 11, 1982. Upon its deactivation, it was named the Thomas Mutch Memorial Station after the leader of the program’s imaging team.

Viking 1′s Surface Sampler Boom prepares to deliver a soil sample to the spacecraft’s science instruments.

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The second launch from Cape Canaveral - the Bumper #7 missile from LC-3 - photographed from the top of the Cape lighthouse, July 29, 1950.  Bumper #7 was slated to launch on July 19, but a misfire on the pad forced a delay. Bumper #8 therefore was readied for launch on July 24, and became Cape Canaveral’s first-ever rocket launch. Five days later, Bumper 7 successfully launched, though it was also the rocket’s last flight from the Cape.

Click here for a larger version of the image above.

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Notes on Meteorites (2014) | spreads and photographs

"A Collection of Literature and Ephemera regarding mysterious Falling Stones and Celestial Exhalations of the Earth." Hand bound, limited edition artist's book.

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the Flame nebula | 1,400 light-years from earth

image credits: Optical: DSS; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech; X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/ K.Getman, E.Feigelson, M.Kuhn & the MYStIX team

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“I don’t think science is hard to teach because humans aren’t ready for it, or because it arose only through a fluke, or because, by and large, we don’t have the brainpower to grapple with it. Instead, the enormous zest for science that I see in first-graders and the lesson from the remnant hunter-gatherers both speak eloquently: A proclivity for science is embedded deeply within us, in all times, places, and cultures. It has been the means for our survival. It is our birthright. When, through indifference, inattention, incompetence, or fear of skepticism, we discourage children from science, we are disenfranchising them, taking from them the tools needed to manage their future.”

Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

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Vintage press photos show Mercury and Gemini spacecrafts side by side at the McDonnell Aircraft plant in St. Louis, Missouri, early 1960s.

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SA-500D, the first Saturn V rocket | designed by Wernher von Braun

     The first time I visited SA-500D in 1999, she was outside on the US Space and Rocket Center property. Her paint was faded and worn, having sat there since 1969. In 2005, full restoration began, and she was moved inside her new facility, the Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville, Alabama. I’m happy to report that as of Sunday, July 27, 2014, she looks great.

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Tonight’s Delta launch, seen from St Petersburg, Florida.

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Mrs Ann Hodges is examined by doctor Moody Jacobs after being struck by a meteorite | Sylacauga, Alamaba 30 November 1954

(top photograph: Jay Leviton, Time & Life Pictures; other three: uncertain)

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Notes on Meteorites | 5g Campo del Cielo (my meteorite 2013)

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pennyfornasa

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moving towards interstellar existence

Growing Lettuce In Space.

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"Yes gentleman," continued the orator, "in spite of the opinions of certain narrow-minded people, who would shut up the human race upon this globe, as within some magic circle which it must never outstep, we shall one day travel to the moon, the planets, and the stars, with the same facility, rapidity, and certainty as we now make the voyage from Liverpool to New York! Distance is but a relative expression, and must end by being reduced to zero." 

—The Future Express