Free Republic

... I went to see Interstellar mainly because I was tickled by the fact that the bad guy is called "Dr Mann". But I took along my kids, and I'm glad I did because it's a good film to see with children or parents. Underneath all the saving-humanity space-travel stuff, the only relationship that matters in the movie is between dad Matthew McConaughey and his daughter. I'm tiptoeing around the startling evolution of that relationship, but let's just say that the, ahem, role reversal of their final scene together had my boys talking all the way home. Interstellar is directed...

The Apollo Stowage Lists (ASL) were a product of the late 1960s and early 70s, which meant that for the better part of the decades that followed, they were limited to printed copies. Since the advent of the internet, NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston scanned the documents, but as images, the contents still could not be easily referenced by researchers and curators with regard to specific items. "They are extremely difficult to search or sort – whether by object name, part number, or spacecraft storage location, "Needell wrote in a blog entry announcing the transcription project on Thursday (Nov....

Recently I spent some time surrounded by people who are smarter than I am, who are braver and more committed to human progress, who know more about science and technology, more about business and industry, and more about budgets and expenditures. This is an experience Congress and the White House should have. Except Congress and the White House have this experience every day. And me too, but at least I know when itÂ’s happening.It was happening with unusual intensity last month in Colorado Springs at the 29th National Space Symposium. This is the biggest and most important annual worldwide gathering...

The exploration team used Remotely Operated Vehicles to find the engines, which sat on the ocean floor, more than 14,000 feet below sea level. Bezos described the experience as "otherworldly," noting the engines' burial site was eerily similar to space: a feeling of microgravity and a seemingly endless black horizon. After decades of exposure to the ocean's harsh conditions, the engines are corroded, and many are missing the original serial numbers. This will make the identification process more difficult. Bezos will work with NASA to restore two of the F-1 engines' hardware and prevent further corrosion. They will eventually go...

A vintage rocket engine built to blast the first U.S. lunar mission into Earth's orbit more than 40 years ago is again rumbling across the Southern landscape. The engine, known to NASA engineers as No. F-6049, was supposed to help propel Apollo 11 into orbit in 1969, when NASA sent Neil Armstrong and two other astronauts to the moon for the first time.

STENNIS SPACE CENTER — A massive steel structure jutting into the sky not far from Interstate 10 is sending the world a message: NASA is taking the next step in hurtling humans back to the moon. Structural work was recently finished on the giant A-3 test stand. Now, things are moving further along in the construction phase. In April, Steel Erector Inc., of Lafayette, La., put the final steel beam on top of the towering test stand and bolted the beam in place, bearing the signatures of project team members. “We’re now 235 feet closer to going back to...

A high-level panel of experts has praised the idea of sending NASA astronauts to visit a nearby asteroid and recommends ambitious robotic missions that will be made possible by next-generation rockets. But the panel also warns that these missions could carry big price tags... When the Ares V rocket makes its first planned flight in 2020, it will be able to lift larger and heavier payloads than any existing vehicle. It will be able to launch objects stretching more than 8 metres across and haul dozens of tonnes of cargo into space on a single flight. For example, it can...

SEATTLE, Feb. 22, 2005 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] today said development of the 747 Large Cargo Freighter is proceeding according to plan and the modified freighters will be ready to support final assembly of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliners in 2007. "We have a top-notch team of engineers working to design what will be one of the most unique airplanes flying," said 787 Vice President of Manufacturing and Quality Scott Strode. "This kind of modification is an engineer's dream. It's an extremely challenging project, and it's essential to the success of the Dreamliner." Boeing announced last week the critical "swing...

Saturn 5 Blueprints Safely in Storage A NASA official has denied a claim made by a book author that blueprints for the mighty Saturn 5 rocket used to push Apollo astronauts to the moon were lost. The denial came in response to a recent story in SPACE.com that reported on a claim John Lewis made in his 1996 book, Mining the Sky, that he went looking for the Saturn 5 blueprints a few years ago and concluded, incredibly, they had been "lost." Paul Shawcross, from NASA's Office of Inspector General, came to the agency's defense in comments published on CCNet...

The last lunar landing was Apollo 17, which took place on Dec. 11, 1972. Commander Eugene Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt did three moonwalks in the Taurus-Littrow valley, scoping out the highlands to try to get a geologic sense of the area. Among their more memorable findings are orange soil.

I vividly recall being in the living room with my family watching tv in 1969 as the American Astronauts walked on the moon. The pictures were fuzzy, black and white, somewhat indistinct. It almost resembled an Ultrasound image an expectant mother would see. We were thrilled to be part of a country, a culture so advanced as to put men on the moon and later, to bring them back safely to earth. We had completely one-upped communist Russia! Sputnik was a very important step in space exploration. Quite significant back in 1957, but that was a long time ago, back...

Cultural Inertia: Remember how 45 years ago we were suddenly able to say: "If we can send a man to the moon, why can't we (fill in the blank)"? If only we could say the same today. It's worth remembering Neil Armstrong's July 21, 1969 "giant leap for mankind," if only as a measure of what the country used to be able to accomplish, but increasingly can't do today. When President Kennedy announced his goal of "sending a man to the moon and returning him safely to earth" in less than nine years, it was a laughably audacious promise. By...

Pardon me, please, if you’re familiar with this terrific story, but I never knew it: Former astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin celebrated the Lord’s Supper on the moon 44 years ago, on July 20. Aldrin was an elder at Webster Presbyterian Church near Houston. According to London’s Daily Mail, a Presbyterian General Assembly gave Aldrin permission to administer communion to himself on the moon, using a small plastic container of wine and some bread.