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Artifacts
space flown and ground hardware
Autographs
who's who in space: first 25 years
Books
galleys, advanced reading copies
Medallions
flown and minted with flown metal
Philatelics
first day programs, flown stamps
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The Source for Space History and Artifacts
FLIGHT DAY: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14
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February 8, 2010 / 8:29 a.m. CT (1205 GMT)
Night flights' last blast: For what was very likely the last time, shuttle Endeavour lifted off into the darkness of the pre-dawn sky on Monday at 3:14 a.m. CST, leaving just four daytime launches remaining for the 29-year space shuttle program to fly in 2010 before retiring. The STS-130 mission off to a brilliant start, the flight delivers the Tranquility module and its adjoining observation portal, called the Cupola, to the International Space Station (ISS) and includes three extravehicular activities to install them.
February 4, 2010 / 6:05 a.m. CT (1205 GMT)
Canceled, but still space-bound: NASA's Constellation program to land astronauts on the Moon may be scrubbed, but it -- or more accurately, its logo -- hasn't been grounded. Space shuttle Endeavour, set to launch the STS-130 mission next week, is poised to loft 25 lapel pins bearing the red, white and blue program emblem. The pins are stowed in the Official Flight Kit (OFK) alongside many other mementos flying to the International Space Station.
February 3, 2010 / 7:05 a.m. CT (1305 GMT)
Houston, we have a Blu-ray disc: To mark the 40th anniversary of the mission and 15 years since of the debut of the film, "Apollo 13" will be released by Universal Studios for the first time on 'Blu-ray Hi-Def' on April 13. The "15th Anniversary Edition" includes the previous DVD bonus features -- including audio commentary by the real Jim Lovell and his wife Marilyn -- as well Universal's new U-Control options that offer Apollo-era history and science and technology explanations while the movie is playing.
February 1, 2010 / 6:02 p.m. CT (0002 GMT Feb 2)
Constellation canceled for new plan: The White House on Monday released its fiscal year 2011 budget proposal for NASA calling for the Moon-focused Constellation program to be canceled. In its place, the President's plan commits to operating the International Space Station through 2020 and investing in commercial crew and cargo spacecraft and "game-changing" technologies intended to put the nation on a sustainable forward path into space.
February 1, 2010 / 6:56 a.m. CT (1256 GMT)
Picking the patch for shuttle's end: After almost three weeks polling its employees, NASA has identified the "People's Choice" for their insignia commemorating the end of the space shuttle program, targeted for later this year. The favorite patch received nearly 30 percent of the workers' votes, but ultimately differed from the choice ranked highest by fans voting in collectSPACE's unofficial public poll conducted over the same period. Space shuttle program managers will consider the People's Choice when they choose the winning design to fly onboard Atlantis.
January 30, 2010 / 3:39 p.m. CT (2139 GMT)
Patch preview | STS-132: The last mission patch for space shuttle Atlantis, which was first spotted on an ornament last December, features the orbiter flying off into the sunset symbolizing the shuttle program nearing its end. The sun however, also heralds the promise of a new day as it rises for the first time on MRM-1, STS-132's new module for the International Space Station, a Russian-built docking cargo port also called Рассвет ("Dawn"). Atlantis is scheduled to launch the STS-132 crew in May 2010.
January 30, 2010 / 12:50 p.m. CT (1850 GMT)
Preserving Tranquility: The more than 106 items left behind at Tranquility Base by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were granted on Friday California Historical Resource status by the state's office of historic preservation. The opening move of a multi-state effort to establish the first off-planet National Historic Landmark -- and ultimately United Nations World Heritage Site -- the nomination lists such items as the science experiment packages that the astronauts deployed, but also their camera and spacesuit parts that were ejected before leaving the moon. Even the footprints they created during the Apollo 11 mission are protected, though not the land itself, as the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 prohibits nations from sovereignty claims.
January 29, 2010 / 11:55 a.m. CT (1755 GMT)
Visiting Glenn, elsewhere: NASA's Glenn Research Center will move its on-site visitor center to the Great Lakes Science Center in downtown Cleveland in an effort to continue exhibiting its past and present work, lacking the funds to maintain its own public facility. Announced on Thursday, the Great Lakes Science Center plans to adapt the Glenn Center's current exhibits, including the Skylab 3 command module on loan from the Smithsonian, to build an updated, interactive $3 million visitor center for Glenn, expected to open in 2011. Students will have free access to the exhibits on Tuesdays, if accompanied by an adult.
January 27, 2010 / 6:59 p.m. CT (0059 GMT Jan 28)
From space to the Super Bowl: NASA on Wednesday set Feb. 7, Super Bowl Sunday for the launch of shuttle Endeavour and the STS-130 mission as the crewmembers from November's STS-129 mission presented the NFL with the space-flown flip coin to be used at the game. The gold and silver coin, which was struck last August by The Highland Mint, was revealed by the astronauts at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Before heading to the Sun Life Stadium in Miami, the coin will be returned to the mint where logos for the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints will be added to the gold-plated helmets.
January 26, 2010 / 1:51 p.m. CT (1951 GMT)
Spirit's new mission: Stand still. After six years roving the Red Planet and ten months stuck in soft sands, Mars Exploration Rover Spirit will start its new mission, serving as a stationary science platform, if it can survive the coming Martian winter. Mired beside the western edge of a low plateau, Spirit's final resting place, dubbed "Home Plate," will become NASA's newest station for studies into the nature of the Mars' core and the composition of nearby soil. First though, rover drivers will try to position Spirit so that they can maximize its solar panels' sunlight exposure for the Martian winter, which lasts from May to November.
January 23, 2010 / 7:21 p.m. CT (0121 GMT Jan 24)
First words: "I see Earth. It's so beautiful!" were the first words spoken by Yuri Gagarin after entering orbit in 1961. "From the lovely Apollo room, high atop everything," printed on a cue card, were the first words seen on live television transmitted from space by Apollo 7 in 1967. "Hello, Earth! Greetings from the STS-43 Crew! This is the first Applelink from space," began the first e-mail, sent via a Macintosh Portable onboard space shuttle Atlantis in 1991. And on Friday came the first 140 character tweet to be posted directly to Twitter from onboard the International Space Station: "Hello Twitterverse! We [are] now LIVE..."
January 19, 2010 / 5:28 p.m. CT (2328 GMT)
Parceling out the program, part two: With its online catalog restocked with 2,500 or so potential artifacts, NASA began on Tuesday the second round of its web-based program for museums and educational institutions to request spacecraft parts and accessories for display. The first round, which was conducted last fall, allocated all 913 space shuttle artifacts it listed, including full scale orbiter mock-ups used for training. For its next set of equipment, which museums have through April to browse, NASA dug even deeper into its 50+ year history to offer artifacts from its 1960s Gemini and Apollo programs, in addition to more modern space shuttle and Hubble telescope components.
January 19, 2010 / 1:31 p.m. CT (1931 GMT)
"To the ISS and beyond!" Buzz Lightyear, Disney's animated space ranger who, in the form a 12-inch action figure, took a real trip to the International Space Station in 2008, now has his own mission patch courtesy of an 11-year old boy. The Walt Disney Company announced Tuesday the winning design in its "Mission Patch Design Challenge" held in cooperation with NASA. The patch will fly onboard one of the final shuttle missions to the station before being awarded to its artist by NASA and Disney.
January 18, 2010 / 12:47 p.m. CT (1847 GMT)
End of the Outpost (maybe): The Outpost Tavern, the relocated pilot barracks-turned- astronaut hangout located near the Johnson Space Center, closed Thursday, earlier than had been expected. Midway into a schedule of farewell parties and having removed much of the space memorabilia that famously lined the bar walls, the tavern's proprietors found themselves suddenly locked out by the owner of the land on which the Outpost sits. The Houston Chronicle's Beer, TX blog reported Friday that the property owner plans to move the building, give it a family-friendly upgrade, and then reopen "to preserve the Outpost... from an historical perspective," but that is at odds with Stefanie Foster, the current license owner. "If he thinks he is going to use the Outpost Tavern name... this is going to court."
[ browse earlier updates ]
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