The Orion launch really did remind me a lot of the old Saturn V. So slow-rising and majestic. Glad to see everything went so well.

Scientists and space buffs are getting excited about the New Horizons probe approaching Pluto after over 9 years in space - even with it being the fastest spacecraft ever launched from earth.

It will pass through the area July 14 (lots of details here). It was developed and built before Pluto's demotion from planet status, and when it was launched we only knew about Pluto's largest moon Charon, and now there are 4 other small known ones that posed brief challenges to navigation and may provide new targets for short glimpses.

If all goes well New Horizons may also be maneuvered to check out one or two additional Kuiper Belt objects on its way out of the solar system.

You know you're a NASA history geek when you can correct documentaries and radio talk show hosts.

I've a Apollo 11 "documentary" playing and they are making it out that the astronauts chosen where chosen for their bravery and skill. When Actually, Deke Slayton had a rotation set up and they were on that list. Only time the rotation got changed was when Alan Shepard was cleared to fly again. Good grief people... research.

A local radio talk show host kept saying he saw a Titan, three stage rocket, in a building at Johnson Space Center. Ummm... That's a Saturn V not a Titan II rocket. The Titan II was used for Gemini not Apollo and JSC doesn't have one on display.

Jack King, known to many as the voice of NASA, died last week at age 84. He did the launch countdowns for many Gemini and Apollo missions, and his voice (taken from the Apollo 11 launch) is still often heard in commercials and such (including a current one for the Science Museum of Minnesota's "Space" exhibit).

There's still nothing quite like watching those old Saturn V launches.

I've been eagerly, eagerly watching and waiting for New Horizons to reach Pluto since it first launched over 10 years ago. Now we're only a week and a half from getting high resolution photos (in color!) of this most distant and least known planet (yeah, I went there ). NASA has already posted some color motion photos of Pluto as the probe speeds towards it. Glorious!!!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newho ... index.html

Just thinking it's a pity that they didn't have cameraphones a hundred years ago, otherwise Digory could have snapped a few pics of Jupiter and its moons while travelling between The Wood Between The Worlds and London...

46 years ago today...

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

That brings back memories of crowding around our little TV on a hot July evening to see those black-and-white shots from the Moon. I couldn't get enough of Apollo coverage on radio or TV back then (occasionally to the dismay of others ) but we were all watching that night.

I enjoyed reading this item about Buzz Aldrin's recent tweet of expense reports for his 1969 Apollo 11 moon mission. He was reimbursed for $33.31 ($216.59 after inflation) for government travel (to Houston, the Moon, and the USS Hornet recovery ship) and use of government air and spacecraft.

A moderator on the NaNoWriMo forums linked this youtube video of Commander Chris Hadfield singing David Bowie's 1969 song "Space Oddity" (Ground Control to Major Tom) performed from the ISS. Thought I'd share it here just for fun.

Check out this spectacular picture of the earth rising over the moon, taken recently by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Who else watched the Falcon Heavy take off (and 2/3 land) yesterday? As impressive as it was, I was rather amused by the Tesla with Starman heading for permanent orbit around the Sun.

I watched it a few times online. I also liked the Tesla on its way to orbit.

Managed to watch it live, even though I was at work. Thought I was going to miss it, as the desktop machine wouldn't load the livestream. Finally tried a newer laptop, and got it to go about 7 minutes before launch. Rather too close for comfort! Also gathered all the kids who were there to see it--they didn't seem to find it too out-of-the-ordinary. I guess space launches are old hat for them.

We've watched a number of SpaceX launches, including some of the ones that didn't make it; this was pretty special, and you could tell from all the cheering that everyone there thought so too. And the two coming down together, perfectly in sync? Pity about the core, I suppose, but that's what makes live launches so thrilling--the possibility of things going sideways.

I watched it online after the fact. I never watched an entire space launch before, I thought it was pretty amazing! Especially the boosters landing at the same time.