Until last Saturday, the only thing that I associated with Pontefract in West Yorkshire, was the bitter liquorice “Pontefract cakes” that my Dad used to eat on car journeys. It certainly wasn’t the sort of place that I would expect to meet someone that had walked on the Moon, and yet that’s exactly what happened. [...]
It was a somewhat cheeky email I sent, just lightly mentioning that I was hoping to be at JPL for the Mars Science Laboratory landing, but was in a pickle about what to do since I was travelling with a friend who couldn’t get media credentials. There was no guarantee that he and I would [...]
In comparison to NASA’s (approximately) $18 billion budget, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) budget of $300 million looks like small change. Despite this, Canada has a presence in all of the major space disciplines and is a highly regarded international player. In a world where “No bucks, means no Buck Rogers” (so said Gus Grissom), [...]
2012 is the Chinese year of the Dragon, which is surely a good sign for SpaceX who will be launching their combined COTS 2/3 mission in March. All being well, this will see the first private spacecraft visit and supply the International Space Station. But what of China and their space programme? Whilst they might not [...]
I was lucky enough to hear Richard Garriott, gaming impresario and private astronaut, recount his personal tale of his mission to space at Yuri’s night at Ames in 2010 – and what a story it is. Yuri’s night at NASA Ames was quite an experience in itself. A two-day celebration of all things space, at [...]