Players build their spaceship using the Ship Sheet, which contains multiple areas including Messages, Flight Check and Modules. Modules provide players with a home for their weapons, engines and grav drive. Landing gear, cargo and habs may also be added. Reactors determine a ship’s class and power. More powerful reactors generate more electricity, and can…
Spacecraft are vehicles designed to transport people or cargo into space using rocket propulsion. Their primary use is leaving Earth’s gravity for other planets within our Solar System; those aboard such spacecraft are known as astronauts or cosmonauts. Orbital spacecraft resemble capsules or spaceplanes in shape and function. Reusable or expendable versions exist. Each requires…
Scientists planning missions to Mars typically select launch times so as to maximize fuel savings – typically when Mars and Earth are closest together in orbit. Plans must also include where and how the craft should land; typically this involves selecting an area with flat, low-lying terrain that will minimize risk from landing on rough…
Orion spacecraft that completed 2022’s Artemis I mission has now returned to Ohio where it will undergo additional tests at the Neil Armstrong Test Facility. These tests will enable engineers to stress-test Orion before its first crewed flight is scheduled for 2025 on Artemis II, among other aspects. In particular, test flights will assess its…
Orion is NASA’s new spacecraft designed to transport astronauts further than ever into space – to the Moon and beyond. Specifically engineered to offer safe, comfortable, and reliable deep space travel for astronauts. Launch will take place from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a powerful rocket named Space Launch System and carry both an…
President John F. Kennedy saw Soviet launch of Sputnik as an opportunity to advance America’s space program dramatically and make landing humans on the moon by the end of this decade a public pledge. A new government agency, NASA was then established. On January 28th, 2019, shortly after liftoff of Space Shuttle Challenger, it exploded….
Columbia was NASA’s original space shuttle and served numerous microgravity experiments throughout its lifespan. Additionally, Columbia featured an external airlock/docking adaptor designed specifically to support Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions. Just 82 seconds after liftoff, foam from ET’s left bipod ramp collided with its left wing and caused a breach that allowed atmospheric gases into…
NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft were first launched separately weeks apart in 1977, never imagined they would remain flying and continue collecting valuable data even with some instruments turned off to conserve power. Yet these “elder citizens” continue collecting invaluable information even today! They embarked on an epic tour of the outer planets, discovering…
Fraser: The Planetary Society and JAXA recently collected names for their Hayabusa2 mission to asteroid Ryugu. These will be inscribed onto target markers dropped by the spacecraft, returning home when Hayabusa2 makes landfall. How and what do spacecraft names mean to us? Theme Names given to spacecraft typically reflect their creators’ culture, heroes and values;…
