DIY Space: Space Travel Grants are Go!

Citizens of Earth: for as little as $15 you can apply to fly in a rocket ship of your choice. How? It’s all thanks to your money, and an inspired program from the people you are giving the money to–Spaceship Earth Grants (SEG). From the middle of last September, until the end of this year (Dec 31, […]

DIY Space: Operate a Very Expensive Backhoe

I worked with some plumbing fellows this last year to remove some huge amounts of dirt to get at our very clogged up house waste line. One of the pieces of equipment we used to remove the dirt was a very small, but effective, backhoe. They let me help them with the backhoe occasionally (when I […]

1980: Mt. Saint Helens from Space

I was only 10 years old when Mt. Saint Helens erupted in 1980. I remember the newspapers with pictures of the volcano spewing ash and smoke. I remember seeing pictures of cars in Spokane covered in the ash from that angry mountain. I remember the little cylinders of ash enterprising business-people sold to people who […]

DIY Space: Ardusat

Before I begin the fairly short DIY part, this is just a reminder for those who don’t know, or just plain forgot. Today is the anniversary of Sputnik I, the first man-made satellite, which was launched into orbit on the top of an R-7 rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The R-7 had already been successfully tested as a […]

A Landmark Anniversary for Space?

Oct. 3, 1942–72 years ago–an A-4 test rocket was launched from Peenemuende Army Research Center. The fourth A-4 to be tested, it was the first to successfully fly. It was also the first rocket to reach the edges of outer space (it flew about 85-90 kilometers above the Earth). If you’ve never heard of the A-4, […]