Skylon: They Do it with Smoke and Mirrors?

Every now and then I’ve heard of this Skylon space transport. It sounds very interesting and I honestly hope technology like it does come to fruition. But here’s the thing: Skylon-related research has apparently been going on for over thirty years. According to the wiki, which might contain some inaccuracies, the idea of horizontal take-off […]

DIY Space: Spacecraft in A Bedroom

Wow! Sometimes it’s good to be a kid. Especially the kid of a father who designs AND BUILDS a spacecraft to sleep and play in. This Make article shows the amount of detail and time a crafty father put into building a spacecraft in his son’s bedroom. There are communications, sound effects, lights, and switches. […]

She’s Got a Golden Space Ticket!!

Okay, so this is admittedly a nice public relations stunt from XCOR Aerospace. But for the recipient of this stunt, it’s pretty awesome. Imagine the scenario: you’re a typical comic nerd attending the San Diego Comic Con in 2012. Suddenly, there’s an announcement that certain audience members are eligible for a “golden ticket” for a […]

Has it really been a year?

For the readers and site subscribers, this is kind of space-related. But only because I’m the one who is writing for this site. It’s really a celebration!! Why? It’s because I’ve written a lot of stories, almost every day, for a year! That’s right!! I started themadspaceball.com and my writing on the site a year ago. […]

Space Geckos Saved and Space Surveillance Satellites Launched

These are two follow-ups, one closing out one of last week’s posts and one continuing a post I wrote in February. First, the geckos. I wrote last week about the Russian geckos that were sent into space on a satellite. There was supposed to be some kind of “gecko orgy” that Russian scientists were interested […]