#Space Program

[power-chords]

The naming of the space shuttle Enterprise involves one of the funniest presidential orders of all time.

Enterprise, the first space shuttle orbiter, was originally to be named Constitution, in honor of the Constitution of the United States. However, "Star Trek" fans started a write-in campaign urging the White House to instead select the name of the starship that James T. Kirk captained in the original TV series. Although President Gerald Ford did not mention the campaign, he directed NASA officials to change the name, saying he was "partial to the name" Enterprise.

In recognition of their namesake, "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and most of the principal cast of the original series were on hand when the shuttle Enterprise was rolled out of Rockwell's Air Force Plant 42, Site 1, Palmdale, Calif., assembly facility on Sept. 17, 1976.

Enterprise was built for NASA to perform test flights in the atmosphere; lacking engines or a functional heat shield, it was not capable of actual spaceflight. NASA planned to eventually outfit Enterprise for spaceflight and to make it the second space shuttle to fly, after Columbia, but final design plans for the fuselage and wings of the orbiters changed during the construction of Columbia, and refitting Enterprise in accordance with the new plans would have required significant effort: Entire sections would have to be dismantled and shipped across the country to subcontractors. Instead it was deemed less expensive to build the space shuttle Challenger from existing materials.

And she now resides in New York City at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum :)

[gemini-enthusiast]

Viewing the S-IVB stage over Lunar Module Spider RCS thrusters, Apollo 9

[theofficialastronomy101]

(NEW UPDATE WITH PHOTOS) Send us your best photos!

Absolutely beautiful! I hope everyone took this in! Makes you think just how small we are. A moment the world comes together as one! That’s true humanity . We will be uploading more amazing photos to this same post. So come back later on and check out our 2024 once in a lifetime eclipse photos.

[howellfotography]

Reentry

62 years ago today on May 15, 1963, astronaut Gordon Cooper lifted off in the Faith 7 capsule on the final mission of the Mercury program, Mercury-Atlas 9. Faith 7 now hangs in a gallery at Space Center Houston, where I shot this photo. The effect was achieved by zooming while shooting at a slow shutter speed, handheld, Nikon D90, 18-200.

[semioticapocalypse]

Jack Weir. A girl holding The Washington Post newspaper about the first Moon landing (Apollo 11). July 21, 1969

I Am Collective Memories   •    Follow me, — says Visual Ratatosk

[nasawebb]

Dust in the (stellar) wind

This new Webb image shows an edge-on protoplanetary disc around a newly formed star, surrounded by jets and a disc wind, in unprecedented detail. Read more: esawebb.org/images/

[stuckasmain]

Crying about Snoopy and NASA in the club. He’s just a little guy and he does Important work and they love him so much. 😭 he’s also literally been to space several times. Also, I don’t know if it’s still around but he’s also one of the higher awards in the field? Waahhhhhh

[coolthingsguyslike]

[meerawrites]

We made it to the moon for cheaper than NASA or Russia, or any colonial power ever has! (very positive)

Take that Great Britain and screw you all colonizers and imperialism (extremely derogatory).

[dailyhomestarfacts]

Fact 272:

The version of the email sent in sbemail space program was edited to be shorter than the version that was originally sent by Ryan

[whirligig-girl]

Guz grinned at her model, as it completed the first loop around the layout of her new quarters. Guz explained the contents of the train--solid rocket boosters for the North Meridian Space Launch Facility.

"It's not really prototypical though, is it?" Rutherford asked.

"A steam engine pulling high explosives does seem illogical," T'lyn said.

Guz smiled and flapped her hands. "It is prototypical, and here's how it happened--"

Around the late 2330s, an oil crisis shocked Mellanus. It was a while before it got really bad, and the rationing had to begin, but it skyrocketed the price of gasoline and diesel and plastic products. As Omen approached, the railways identified a problem--there might not be enough oil to migrate everyone and move all the goods that need to be moved to support the migration as the climate changed. With the increasing diesel fuel shortages, railways had to start taking their old coal and wood burning steam engines out of mothballs.

This one, No.2475, was taken out of a museum. It only rarely actually ran, so it was in poor mechanical condition, but when it re-entered service its paint and brass was pristine.

The diesel locomotive that had been scheduled to take the train of SRBs ran out of fuel during the first hill climb, and the depot didn't have enough fuel to spare, so 2475 was diverted from its passenger duties to take the train the rest of the way.

Eventually most of the old timer steam engines ended up back in museums or scrapped, but as the oil crisis waxed, the railways invented Advanced Steam engines to be as fuel efficient as possible.

"--like that tank engine, Sam," Guz finished, pointing at the little yellow switcher that Rutherford and T'lyn had been inspecting.

[astronotmovie]

The view ain’t all that bad. Apollo 9 astronaut David Scott takes it all in in this epic photograph by crewmate Rusty Schweickart, March 1969. The 10-day mission commanded by James McDivitt saw the first crewed flight of the Lunar Module.

[gemini-enthusiast]

After a brief scare due to a drop in propellant pressure, NASA's Psyche spacecraft has switched to its backup propellant lines and is back on track for a Mars flyby in early 2026 on the way to the asteroid Psyche. Launched in 2023, the spacecraft is expected to arrive at Psyche in 2029.

[theofficialastronomy101]

Back in the 1950s, the Andromeda galaxy was captured at Mount Wilson Observatory in California.

[russian-aesthetic]