Croney and the Bandit (Or Why Space Needs Full Privatization)

This most definitely is opinion. There must be some doubt about the effectiveness of Alabama Senator Richard Shelby’s legislative poison pill against new space launch providers like SpaceX and Orbital. Another attack has been launched, this time against SpaceX’s credibility of how it builds and operates its rockets. The attack comes from three Representatives (we’ll […]

Slipping the Surly Bonds in a Space Balloon

I’ve written posts in the past regarding World View Enterprises, Inc.’s, plans to get a balloon to “near-space.” Such plans are decent and less expensive alternatives to riding on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two. At least until XCOR Aerospace gets its act together. Most recently, I wrote about World View’s design challenge, which just ended this week. But […]

Virgin Galactic and LEGO Ideas Go Together Like Paul and Storm

There’s some hope out there that Virgin Galactic will eventually start flying passengers to sub-orbit and back sometime this year. And the spacecraft Virgin Galactic intends to use to do that is SpaceShipTwo, with the help of its airborne launch platform, WhiteKnight Two. Of course, that particular kind of flight is a bit pricey, about […]

SpaceX–Ya Win Some and Ya Lose Some

It’s been a week of ups and downs this last week for SpaceX. Since Friday, SpaceX have been trying their darndest to get a Falcon 9 launched out of Florida, but still haven’t launched as of this writing. At the same time, one of their tests of the Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) in the paradise of McGregor, […]

DIY Space: Citizens in Space

Are you a citizen scientist with a satellite payload idea? Then this might be the program for you: Citizens in Space. Citizens in Space would like you to develop an actual experiment, one in which you’ll be surprised by the outcome, no matter what the outcome is. They’d like you to keep the payload experiment within […]