02:56 Coordinated Universal Time July 21, 1969 - Man Walked On The Moon

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.   Genesis 1:1 

Fabulous Landing For Atlantis At Edwards

Shuttle Atlantis lands at Edwards AFB on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

From NASA.gov - Awesome 1080i HD Launch Video Of Atlantis STS-125

Click the pic to go to the amazing 1080i HD launch video, and go
 to nasa.gov/multimedia/hd for other HD videos of STS-125

 STS-125, the Atlantis shuttle mission to repair and extend the life of the Hubble Space telescope returned with a perfect landing at Edwards AFB on Sunday May 24, 2009.  Thunderstorms prevented a Florida landing.

 This extremely successful expedition covered 13 days and almost 5.3 million miles thru space. 

 This super HD video is absolutely amazing to watch, especially if you have a large monitor and super fast broadband.  The velocity with which the mostly steam clouds are propelled horizontally is incredible! 

  I highly recommend you watch the ignition to lift-off segment over and over and over and over...

WhiteKnightTwo Flight Test Update

WhiteKnightTwo: wheels up and looking good!  Photo: VirginGalactic

 Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo, built by Scaled Composites, is well into the flight test phase now and is looking pretty sweet in the air.  This video really helps to get a feel for how graceful the airplane is in flight.

 Given the very unique nature of both the design of the airplane, and the intended task of being an airborne launch vehicle for a manned spacecraft, the testing at this point is going extremely well.

 You may have heard that test flight 4 had an interesting minor strike of the rudders on the runway.  It appears that it wasn't really a big deal, and they are fully aware of what caused the situation, and how to prevent it from happening again.  Here's the official Scaled Composites statement with details about the incident.

 Flight testing of new aircraft designs is always (as in ALWAYS!) full of unique challenges that lead to updated design.  With WK2, you'd expect nothing different.  The free flow of info today tho, tends to give us a look at details we would have rarely known about in the past.

 Here's an interesting look at the way the info about the issue surfaced from Alan Radecki at the Mojave Skies Blog (WK2 and the media).  He's got a great perspective on it all, and his blog always has tons of cool Mojave happenings to check out.

 I've found in my life that the more I try to accomplish things are difficult and challenging, the more I respect the people who make things happen.  They also become a tremendous source of encouragement as well.  Thank you!

This Is What We Could Do Before We Became What We Are Now

 Yeah I know, we're all high-tech and stuff these days, but being all about high technology does not a great country make.  I think it has a lot more to do with determination, commitment, and good old fashioned butt-busting  hard work.

 The Apollo Program, which began essentially in 1961, the same year I was born, was the epitome of accomplishment for the American spirit.  Watch this awesome Apollo 11 launch video for a good taste of it.

 The insanely massive Saturn V booster with 7.5 million pounds of thrust is the largest rocket booster made.  Ever. 

 Without getting all whacked out from a political or social standpoint, I would at least like to suggest that we aren't what we used to be.  And the farther we get away from the core elements that made us so strong, the less likely we'll ever be coming back.

 But I'm not here to be all doom and gloom tho.  I'm actually somewhat optimistic still.  But I really think as a nation, we need to stop thinking about Paris, Lindsay and Britney... and spend a lot more time looking back at what was accomplished by people who had the courage to dream big, work hard, and to never take no for an answer. 

Universe Getting Smaller As VirginMotherShip Proves Her Stuff

Photos: Alan Radecki at  http://mojaveskies.blogspot.com/
Illustration:  http://virgingalactic.com/

  Her name is Eve, she has a 140’ wingspan, and now, she flies.  On Sunday, 12-21-08, Scaled Composites' VirginMotherShip, also known as WhiteKnightTwo, became the largest all composite aircraft to fly. 

 It’s easy to misunderstand just how big this thing is by many of the pictures you see, but as can be seen in the lower pic above (from the day she was rolled out in July) this is a big airplane!  The wing main spar is all one piece too, prompting designer Burt Rutan to suggest that it’s the largest single composite aircraft structure ever made.

 However, being a big plastic airplane really isn’t the WK2’s big deal… it’s the task of dragging SpaceShipTwo up to about 50,000’ where the rocket fire will be lit and 2 pilots & 6 passengers will go for a (pricey) space ride. 

 I admit I’ve been a little slow to care about this whole private space venturing, but I’m starting to catch the cool factor here.  I’m gonna watch very closely as this project moves toward the first flights that join the SpaceShip with the Momma.  Cuz it won’t be long after that when people will trade $200,000 for the wildest roller coaster ride of their life, including about five minutes of for-real weightlessness.  The flights will reach the lower thermosphere at about 110km above the planet (the ISS orbits in the upper thermosphere at about 320km.)

 If you haven’t seen the video animation of an entire Virgin Galactic flight, check it out, it’s pretty stinkin’ cool.  But don’t just watch it, really imagine yourself looking down at earth from about 360,000'!

WhiteKnightTwo Catching Some Sun

Photos: Alan Radecki http://mojaveskies.blogspot.com/

 Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo, the rather unuasual looking jet-powered launch vehicle for the upcoming SpaceShipTwo program is getting ever closer to first flight.  The 4-engine Scaled Composites design with a 141' wingspan is being built and tested at the Mojave Air and Space Port.     

 You can expect a lot of upcoming coverage of the promising private space program as well as many of the other cool things happening at Mojave in the near future.  But I also want you to know that these pix came from the really nice blog 'Mojave Skies'.  Check it out to see some great coverage of what's been happening at Mojave.