Category: Moon Landing

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Space Exploration Earth from Space Moon Landing

20 Longest Spacewalks in History

Susan Helms during STS-102 EVA 1, the longest spacewalk in history
STS-102 mission astronaut Susan J. Helms translates along the longerons of the Space Shuttle Discovery during the first of two space walks. During this walk, the Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 was prepared for repositioning from the Unity Module's Earth-facing berth to its port-side berth to make room for the Leonardo multipurpose Logistics Module (MPLM), supplied by the Italian Space Agency. The Leonardo MPLM is the first of three such pressurized modules that will serve as the International Space Station's (ISS') moving vans, carrying laboratory racks filled with equipment, experiments, and supplies to and from the Station aboard the Space Shuttle. The cylindrical module is approximately 21-feet long and 15- feet in diameter, weighing almost 4.5 tons. It can carry up to 10 tons of cargo in 16 standard Space Station equipment racks. Of the 16 racks the module can carry, 5 can be furnished with power, data, and fluid to support refrigerators or freezers. In order to function as an attached station module as well as a cargo transport, the logistics module also includes components that provide life support, fire detection and suppression, electrical distribution, and computer functions. NASA's 103rd overall mission and the 8th Space Station Assembly Flight, STS-102 mission also served as a crew rotation flight. It delivered the Expedition Two crew to the Station and returned the Expedition One crew back to Earth. With 8 hours 56 minutes, STS-102 EVA 1 was the longest spacewalk in history. Image: NASA

Spacewalking or Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut or cosmonaut outside a spacecraft beyond the Earth’s appreciable atmosphere (a moonwalk is also an EVA). The first spacewalker was the Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov. He became the first human to conduct an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) on March 18, 1965; exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for a 12-minute spacewalk. Since this very short EVA, a lot of astronauts/cosmonauts spent many hours outside their spacecraft, mostly for maintenance missions. Here are the top 20 longest spacewalks in history.

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Moon Landing Space Exploration

There’s a Memorial to Fallen Astronauts on the Moon and a small statue called “Fallen Astronaut”

Memorial to Fallen Astronauts on the Moon
A close-up view of a commemorative plaque left on the moon at the Hadley-Apennine landing site in memory of 14 NASA astronauts and USSR cosmonauts, now deceased. Their names are inscribed in alphabetical order on the plaque. The plaque was stuck in the lunar soil by astronauts David R. Scott, commander, and James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot, during their Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA). This is a cropped and resized image. You can see the original image on NASA.gov.

On August 2, 1971, during the third EVA (Extravehicular activity) of the Apollo 15 (see notes 1) mission, commander David Scott drove the rover away from Lunar Module, where the television camera could be used to observe the lunar liftoff. Then he left a small aluminum statuette called “Fallen Astronaut” next to the rover, which commemorates those astronauts and cosmonauts who lost their lives in the pursuit of space exploration. Scott also left a plaque bearing the names of 14 known American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts deceased by that time, along with the statuette. The names of Astronauts and cosmonauts were inscribed in alphabetical order on the plaque.

The crew of Apollo 15 kept the memorial’s existence a secret until after the completion of the mission.

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Space Exploration Mars Moon Landing

NASA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin’s Rockets comparison

NASA, SpaceX Blue Origin rockets comparison
Tech Insider published a video titled "How NASA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin's Monster Rockets Compare". Still, the old Saturn V, which was used by NASA between 1967 and 1973 and took humans to the Moon, is the biggest and strongest rocket ever built. But new rockets are coming and that's finally about the change. Here is the past and future monster rockets comparison.

Tech Insider published a video titled “How NASA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin’s Monster Rockets Compare”. Still, the old Saturn V, which was used by NASA between 1967 and 1973 and took humans to the Moon, is the biggest and strongest rocket ever built. But new rockets are coming and that’s finally about the change. Here is the past and future monster rockets comparison:

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Moon Landing Earth from Space Space Exploration

Apollo 17: The Last Mission to the Moon [in Real-Time!]

Apollo 17 Extravehicular Activity
On December 13, 1972, scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt (born July 3, 1935) is photographed standing next to a huge, split lunar boulder during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), which transported Schmitt and Eugene A. Cernan (March 14, 1934 - January 16, 2017) to this extravehicular station from their Lunar Module (LM), is seen in the background. The mosaic is made from two frames from Apollo 17 Hasselblad magazine 140. The two frames were photographed by Cernan. Photo: NASA

For the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 17 lunar landing mission, NASA has published a website called “Apollo 17 in Real-time. The Last Mission to the Moon – A real-time journey through the Apollo 17 mission”. You can see the events in real-time either joining at 1 minute before the launch or in progress.

On the website apollo17.org, you can access over 300 hours of audio, over 22 hours of video, and over 4,200 photos, and relive every moment as it occurred in 1972.

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Space Exploration Astronomy Mars Moon Landing

NASA’s 2017 Highlights

Orion spacecraft and Earthrise from the Moon
Orion spacecraft and Earthrise from the Moon (artist conception). On its first flight, NASA will send Orion on a trip around the Moon. So the spacecraft can test all of its systems in the environment of deep space.

NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has published a video that contains highlights of important events and the space agency’s achievements over the year 2017.

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Moon Landing Space Exploration

The historic Apollo mission control room is set to be fully restored by the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing

Historic Apollo 11 Mission Room
Overall view of the NASA Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center in Houston, bldg 30, during the lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) of Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (born Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.)

The historic Apollo mission control room in Houston is set to be fully restored by the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in July 2019. It will provide a snapshot of how it looked during the Moon landing on July 20, 1969.

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Mars Moon Landing Space Exploration

Space Race 2.0? Lockheed Martin and NASA have teamed up to send humans to Mars

Lockheed Martin Mars Lander
While Elon Musk and SpaceX planning to send Humans to Mars as early as 2024, the American global aerospace, defense, security and advanced technologies company Lockheed Martin has also revealed animations of a reusable rocket to colonize the red planet. The American company has teamed up with NASA, to build a space station (Mars base camp) orbiting Mars and a reusable, water-powered lander. The goal is sending humans to Mars only in a decade. The space race 2.0 is on the way!

It seems the space race 2.0 is on the way! While Elon Musk and SpaceX planning to send humans to Mars as early as 2024, the American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technologies company Lockheed Martin has also revealed animations of a reusable rocket to colonize the red planet. The American company has teamed up with NASA, to build a space station (Mars base camp) orbiting Mars and a reusable, water-powered lander. The goal is to send humans to Mars only in a decade.

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Mars Energy Environment Moon Landing Planet Earth Space Exploration

Why we should colonize Mars [and other planets and the moons too]

The colony on Mars
A colony on Mars [3D rendering]. Image source: Deposit Photos

In the quest for expanding the boundaries of human exploration and ensuring the long-term survival of our species, the idea of colonizing Mars and other celestial bodies has emerged as a captivating and viable possibility. While Earth remains our home, the potential colonization of Mars, along with other planets and moons within our solar system, presents a host of compelling reasons. From scientific discovery and resource utilization to the preservation of our species, the case for venturing beyond our blue planet grows increasingly enticing.

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Moon Landing Earth from Space Space Exploration

Photographs that were taken during the Apollo program [1966-1972] are now on Flickr, free to use

Apollo 15 astronaut Jim Irwin stands at the Lunar Rover, with Mons Hadley as a backdrop
Apollo 15 astronaut Jim Irwin stands at the Lunar Rover, with Mons Hadley as a backdrop, in this image taken by David "Dave" Scott at the end of EVA-1 (Extravehicular activity-1). Newly processed from NASA Photo ID AS15-86-11603.

The Apollo program is a significant milestone in the history of space exploration. During the program, NASA sent astronauts to the moon and captured breathtaking photographs of the lunar surface and space. These photographs have been treasured by space enthusiasts and researchers alike for decades, and now, they are available for everyone to access. Thanks to a collaboration between NASA and Flickr, a vast collection of Apollo program photographs, spanning from 1966 to 1972, is now freely available on the photo-sharing platform. This unprecedented move allows people to explore and use these historic images in new and creative ways.

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