Category Archives: NASA

An Open Casket Wake

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Orren

Yesterday, Space Shuttle Endeavor completed the final leg of her cross-country journey from Florida. She flew on the back of a modified Boeing 747 down California and landed at Los Angeles International Airport. As has been widely reported, Endeavor’s new … Continue reading →

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Futures Past and Moon Men

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Orren

I Tweeted and Facebooked as soon as I heard Neil Armstrong had passed away. I didn’t plan on much more blogging than that. Needless to say that having been born post-moon landing in the 70s, NASA were huge in our … Continue reading →

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…To explore strange new worlds…

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Orren

While the achievements of our Olympics athletes have garnered most of the news, NASA just celebrated it’s own remarkable achievement. It successfully landed Mars Curiosity on Mars. This is a truly amazing thing. We even captured a picture of it … Continue reading →

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The ending of the shuttle era

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Orren

This morning, the space shuttle Atlantis launched. It was a glorious takeoff, like so many glorious takeoffs before. Only this one, after 100 or so missions, is different. It’s the final mission for the space shuttle program. I remember being … Continue reading →

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Our Spirit is gone

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Orren

Actually, it’s been out of commission for a while. But as “Bad Astronomer” Dr. Phil Plait writes on his blog, NASA lets go of Spirit after nearly a year of the rover being unreachable. I remember how exciting it was … Continue reading →

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Arsenic-based life

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Orren

NASA had a press conference today. They found bacteria in the mud around Mono Lake, California that evolved to use arsenic instead of phosphorus in it’s DNA and energy-transport system. This is a Very Big Deal™ because scientists didn’t think … Continue reading →

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I’m older than a collapsed star

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Orren

When NASA announced a press conference for an “exceptional object in our cosmic neighborhood” as you might guess, the Twitters and Interwebs went a little flush with Star Wars and alien invasion references. But we’re still safe for now. No … Continue reading →

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