Space Technology

NASA Budget Cuts Could Hit Johnson Space Center (First No Shuttle, Now This?)

In recent years, NASA has been hit pretty hard, and another hit may be coming. We're a long ways off from the days when JFK told the nation that the United States would put a man on the moon, and in recent years, what with the Great Recession, space exploration seems to have taken a backseat. Hell, ... More >>

The 10th Anniversary Of The Shuttle Columbia Disaster: Worst Hoax Ever

Today is the 10th anniversary of the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia, which blew apart as it was gliding across Texas to a Florida landing. All seven crew members died, and Texans were poking around the Piney Woods for weeks looking for debris. NASA is keeping a low profile for the anniver ... More >>

Nerd Humor: NASA Gets Clever With "Why the World Didn't End" and Gangnam Style Parody Videos

Nerds have a sense of humor and when those nerds also have cool toys and a desire to get people more interested in their world, they can come up with some pretty damn clever concoctions. In this case, the nerds in question are at our own Johnson Space Center where they have created a couple of video ... More >>

5 Things The Shuttle Endeavour Needs To Do In Its Houston Layover

NASA is trying to make a big PR splash with its crosscountry trip, of the retired shuttle Endeavour, including a nose-thumbing stopover of Houston, the city who didn't get a shuttle despite being the home of NASA. See Also: - Retired Shuttles: Houston Even Finished Behind McMinnville, Oregon - Eigh ... More >>

Houston's Consolation Prize: Space Shuttle Endeavour Gets A Conjugal Visit

A little bit of Houston died last year when Atlantis returned from its final mission and NASA put the breaks on the space shuttle program. The wound was exacerbated by the announcement a few months prior that Houston would not become home to retired shuttle, but that New York and California would. ... More >>

Jose Hernandez: Shuttle Vet Allowed To Call Himself "Astronaut"

Jose Hernandez flew on the space shuttle in 2009 and worked on the International Space Station, but he's been having a court battle over whether he can refer to himself as an "astronaut." Hernandez, who stirred up some controversy with his immigration stances as an astronaut, retired in 2011 and i ... More >>

Skylab IV Splashed Down on This Day: Five Things the Most Complaining Space Crew Ever Bitched About

Skylab IV: Not happy campers​Skylab IV splashed down on this day in 1974, ending the last mission to America's first space station. They were glad to get home. The crew of Skylab IV -- William Pogue, Gerald Carr and Edward Gibson -- became famous for the sheer amount of complaining they did. ... More >>

A Pendulum In Space: Kids Learn It Ain't The Same

NASA has posted new videos of International Space Station astronauts doing experiments proposed by schoolkids, and it includes this easy-to-grasp one. Everyone knows how a pendulum acts on Earth. How about in zero gravity? Astronaut Cady Coleman -- who shows again why she made our list of Seven Wil ... More >>

Endeavour Crew Stabs Houston in Back (Sorta) Over Getting a Retired Shuttle

Mike Fincke: What can you expect from a Steeler fan?​Houston, still smarting over missing out on a retired space shuttle, now gets to hear NASA astronauts going on and on about how the decision was a great one. Members of the Endeavour crew were in Los Angeles recently to take part in the Cal ... More >>

NASA Taking Astronaut Applications: A Job With A Bright Future

This could be you​Tired of your dead-end job? Get into a profession that's guaranteed to be well-funded for the foreseeable future and beyond: manned space travel!! NASA is once again opening up the application process for astronaut jobs, even though, you know, there are no more shuttle missi ... More >>

Astronaut Suicides: Funny, Tasteless or Both?

Photos by Neil DeCosta​The end of the space shuttle era affects everyone differently. One group of creatives from Portland, Oregon put together a Web site called Astronaut Suicides, which is pretty much as advertised -- a slide show of an astronaut, faceless behind his spacesuit, reading abou ... More >>

An Amateur Lands The Space Shuttle

Boyd MeierKym in the sim​Be sure to check out our pics from the Atlantis astronauts' homecoming at Johnson Space Center. You often hear the expression "a once in a lifetime experience," and while this may or may not always be true, for those lucky enough to participate in a NASA Tweet-up, not ... More >>

Shuttle Era Ends: A Look Back At Our Coverage

Mission patch FAIL​With what we fervently hope is a flawless landing, the last mission of the space shuttle ends this morning when Atlantis touches down in Florida. The final flight evoked a lot of memories, and we tried our best to spark some. In case you missed our varied posts on Atlantis ... More >>

Atlantis Wake-Up Music So Far: Ranking The Good, The Bad & The Ugly On The Last Shuttle Trip

What's with all the damn Coldplay?​NASA, always on the lookout for good publicity, has made a cottage industry out of the wake-up music it uses to rouse crews orbiting the earth. They recruit artists to record messages that are played after the song, because the first thing you want to hear ... More >>

15 Unfamous But Great Space Shuttle Photos

Even if it's not today, at some point Atlantis will lift off and eventually finish the last of the space shuttle missions. There are plenty of famous, even iconic, NASA photographs of the program; we pulled some highlights of lesser-known ones. 15. Almost a rocket ship This makes the shuttle look ... More >>

Shuttle Atlantis' Souvenir Load: 22,000 Flags, 10,000 Patches, A Very Small Painting And More

Atlantis: Last chance for souvenirs​If you're making the last-ever trip on the space shuttle, you want to make it count. And if the list put together by collectSPACE.com is any indication, this last flight is taking along enough souvenirs to outfit a small army. Almost all the items are put ... More >>

Shuttle Atlantis: Its 10 Weirdest Mission Patches

In May, as it prepared to take off, we offered a list of the five coolest mission patches of the shuttle Endeavour. We wish we could do the same for the Atlantis, scheduled tentatively to go up on the last shuttle mission Friday, but it appears the ship did not provide as much inspiration as the En ... More >>

Cover Story: Austin Fires Back

Feelings have been hurt​So I'd gotten up at 5 a.m. and spent the day at NASA's Mission Control, where along with about fifty other writers, talking heads and camera crews from Houston, New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, I'd been granted unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the final full- ... More >>

In Run-Up to Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch, NASA Allows Rare Peek Behind Mission Control Curtain

Photos by Troy Fields​Check out our pictures of the final round of space shuttle simulation training at NASA's Mission Control. Space. If you are anything like me, you've probably started to take it for granted. Save for disasters like the Columbia explosion in 2003, the country as a whole no ... More >>

Cover Story: Air Hockey Reigns Supreme (With Video)

As the space shuttle program winds down, people will be reflecting on all the contributions to society NASA has made. Among them: Air hockey. The game was developed by NASA contractors, and it remains huge, especially in the Houston area. Our cover story this week, "Hover Boards," examines the ph ... More >>

The 10 Coolest Shuttle Atlantis Pictures

Next month will bring the final space shuttle mission ever, and the vehicle that will take that last ride will be the Atlantis. The Atlantis has taken 32 trips to space so far, and like every shuttle, stunning photographs have been part of the deal. Here are 10 of Atlantis' best. 10. Leaving that ... More >>

ZZ Top Debuts New Song... In Space

​The first bit of music from ZZ Top's long-awaited, long-delayed, semi-mythical forthcoming album has leaked... but not anywhere on Earth. Astronaut and friend of ZZ Michael Fossum, currently headed to the International Space Station on a Russian spacecraft, is carrying a copy of "Flyin' High ... More >>

Shuttle Endeavour in Hi-Def: Its Final Liftoff

NASA has released hi-def video of the shuttle Endeavour's final liftoff, from cameras mounted at various points on the outside of the vehicle. Your tax dollars at work! Enjoy.

Space Shuttle Endeavour: Its Five Coolest Mission Patches

Monday, barring yet another delay, the space shuttle Endeavour will take off on its 25th and final mission. Each mission gets its own patch, of course, designed with input from the crew. The five coolest mission patches Endeavour has had: 5. STS-49, May 1992 Endeavour's inaugural flight paid tribu ... More >>

Space Shuttle Blues: County Commissioner Calls for a Congressional Investigation

Answers are demanded, even though they're obvious.​You know what the Space Shuttle fiasco needs? Congress getting involved. At least that's the thinking of Harris County Commissioner Jack Morman. He's introducing a resolution at next week's meeting demanding Congress investigate "Nasa's deci ... More >>

Space Shuttles: Ten Ways Los Angeles and New York Can Show Theirs Off, Dammit

Bi-wing airplanes...pfft. Try this on for size, Kong.​This week, we learned that Houston, essentially the birthplace of the space shuttle program, will not be given one of the four remaining shuttles. Two of the four cities receiving them are both deserving and appropriate: Washington D.C. (fo ... More >>

Jethro Tull in Space: No Aqualung, Though

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic spaceflight, current space station astronaut and noted flute player Cady Coleman joined in an earth-orbit duet with Jethro Tull founder Ian Anderson.

Gabrielle Giffords: No Media Appearances If She Goes to Husband's Shuttle Launch

Expected to go to Florida for shuttle launch.​Staffers for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, recuperating here after her Tucson shooting, say she still plans to attend the April 29 launch of her husband's space shuttle mission. But if she does, there will be no press interviews or public stat ... More >>

Astronaut Plays Jethro Tull Flute In Space

Rocks Off has been trying to come up with a "space rock" joke all day, but we can't, so we'll just say this is pretty cool. Today we got an email from Austin nonprofit Dart Music International with a link to the above video, which premiered during SXSW. It's astronaut (and musician) Cady Coleman ... More >>

The Ultimate Musical Space Shuttle Crew

​The first man to ever leave the Earth and venture into space was a Russian cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin, who, if he hadn't died at the young age of 34 in a plane crash he would be 77 years old today. Garagrin was launched into space on April 12, 1961, and orbited once around the planet in 108 ... More >>

Retired Space Shuttles: Will Houston Get Shut Out?

A space shuttle on display​Discovery has landed safely, ending its last mission of a long and fruitful career. It's expected to spend its retirement at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum branch in Virginia. Two other space shuttles are retiring this year -- the Endeavour and Atlantis -- and 2 ... More >>

Space Cowboys: Big Head Todd Serenades Shuttle Crew

​If someone woke Rocks Off up at 2:30 in the morning with a Big Head Todd & the Monsters song, even the band themselves, we might have a few choice words for them. But we suppose it's a little different when you're 220 miles above the Earth. That's what happened earlier today (way earlier tod ... More >>

Discovery 's Last Take-Off: Some Wild Views

NASA has put together an impressive montage of the last take-off of the space shuttle Discovery, using a wide range of cameras on the launch pad and the vehicle. There's about five minutes or so of preflight stuff here, so fast-forward if you prefer.

Comment of the Day: Does the Challenger Explosion Only Resonate in Houston?

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Challenger Disaster, 25 Years Later: The Five Most Chilling Moments

Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, a news event that remains so vivid -- especially to Houstonians -- that most everyone can remember where they were when they learned of it or when they first saw a replay of that launch, embedded above. That day and its aftermath trigger ... More >>

Intelligent Life

When NASA employee April Evans questioned animal experiments, her career fell apart.

Space Shuttle Discovery: Five Notable Missions, For Better Or Worse

Godspeed, Discovery​The space shuttle Discovery headed to the pad yesterday for its last trip into space.The 26-year-old craft has seen a lot in its career, some good, some bad, some odd. Here are five highlights:5. Being used as an old-folks' tour busIn 1998 Discovery took John Glenn up to space ... More >>

See Yourself On TV From Space!

Photo courtesy NASAHere's something neat from NASA that will let you while away your cubicle hours waiting for the corporate ax to fall: live shots of Earth from the space station.The International Space Station will be streaming live video from external cameras seven days a week at this website. Th ... More >>

Real Astronauts Don't Drink Pee

Everyone is breathlessly following the latest space mission to see if astronauts will one day successfully be able to drink urine (NASA -- the kinkiest space agency evah!!)It's a bit of a comedown from the moon days.As it turns out, at this time in 1969 NASA was just getting ready to launch Apollo 1 ... More >>

Take Our Shuttle Quiz And See If You're A Space Expert

NASA is back in space, via a dramatic nighttime launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. The mission will expand and repair the International Space Station, and exchange out crew members. NASA has largely dropped from public consciousness -- at least until the "Mars, Bitches!!" program begins -- ... More >>

Do Astronauts Hate NASA's New Moon Rocket?

A Blast From Calexico's Past Blasts Into Space

In the Shadow of the Moon

Reliving the glory of America's giant leap for mankind

Shuttle Cock

Coming Down

A "routine" shuttle descent winds up stunning Space City

Coming Down

A "routine" shuttle descent winds up stunning Space City

Lance in Space

Coming soon to a TV near you: hardbodies in zero-G

IMAX by Extraterrestrials

Astronauts film life aboard the space station in stunning 3-D

Science Friction

Architect Constance Adams designed an inflatable house that could take American astronauts to Mars. NASA wants to build it, but Congress keeps bursting the bubble.

Man in the Moon

Writer James Schefter