Daily Archives: June 6, 2020

In May 2020 American astronauts returned to space on an American rocket with NASAs SpaceX Demo-2 mission. From the early days of SpaceX, the company questioned designs and used certain metal fabrication techniques, churning out prototypes within hours or days. The manufacturing processes were important, but collaboration between designers and manufacturers mattered even more. Photo by Joel Kowsky/NASA

In 2008 I spoke with Chris Thompson, then vice president of structures for a somewhat obscure company that had recently moved into the old Vought Aircraft complex. On the vast shop floor, where barrel-section fabrication for the Boeing 747 occurred decades before, workers bump-formed and rolled tank sections. A friction stir welding system with a retractable pin joined certain sections of aluminum and aluminum-lithium alloys, similar to those used on the Space Shuttle.

This was SpaceX, of course. Thomspon has since moved on to other firms in the burgeoning private space exploration sector. But in 2008 he was reveling in SpaceXs efficient decision-making culture. The company had developed a new way to design and manufacture a rocket. In essence, SpaceX applied speedy process improvement to what was then a slow-to-change industry.

I recall learning about SpaceX, seeing the companys early Crew Dragon spacecraft mockups, and thinking that, well, the idea was certainly aspirational, but was it realistic? Not only did Elon Musk and his team of visionaries want to launch people into space and return to the moon and Mars, they wanted to make engineering leaps in rocketry, such as with a booster that landed itself.

What a difference a dozen years make. SpaceX has successfully transported three astronauts to the International Space Station, and the booster landed itself onto a drone ship in the middle of the Atlantic. The feat showed just whats possible when smart people question assumptions.

A dozen years ago The FABRICATOR covered how they questioned designs and used rotary-draw tube bending, plate rolling, friction stir welding, and more, churning out prototypes within hours or days. The manufacturing processes were important, of course, but collaboration between design and manufacturing mattered even more. I recall the excitement in Thompsons voice when he told me about several component prototypes his team had recently worked on. When they had a question, they simply walked out to the shop and asked the engineers and technicians who ran the equipment.

Alas, that direct contact between design, engineering, and manufacturing is still lacking in many supply chains. In July our press brake columnist Steve Benson will be writing about one anonymously submitted situation where a press brake lead spent hours struggling with a part. After days of frustration, he found the print had several critical errors, including a bend deduction that was nearly half what it should have been. If designers, engineers, and manufacturing personnel were on the same page, the part would have been designed with the shops available tooling in mind.

Back in 2008 Thompson talked about similar manufacturing inefficiencies that were common in the aerospace industry, mainly thanks to communication problems between numerous component suppliers, hence his excitement working at SpaceX. The organization has grownits not just a prototype operation anymoreand Im sure some operational changes have come with that growth. But those changes are apparently working.

Throughout most of the history of human exploration, governments have taken the lead. A monarchy financed Christopher Columbus; a socialist state and a republic financed the space race. Exploration at that level simply was too risky for private enterprise to go it alone. SpaceX, Blue Origin, and others have apparently changed the risk equation.

As Colin Powell once wrote, Capital is a coward. It flees from corruption and bad policies, conflict, and unpredictability. He wrote that in the context of investors need for stable, predictable societies, but you could also apply it to endeavors too risky and expensive for the free market. Elon Musks team at SpaceX has effectively made space exploration a little more predictable and a lot less costly.

Whats next? Mars, of course. It still sounds a little far-fetched, considering all the obstacles, but a lot less so after Saturdays historic feat. When and if SpaceX helps us get to Mars, a small part of me will think of Thompson and his metal fabrication team during the companys early days. When smart people communicate well and oftenbe they designers, engineers, or on the fab shop floorgreat, even historic things can happen.

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America returns to space, and metal fabrication plays its part - The Fabricator

There is a new space race on, and Volusia County is joining the fierce competition with other places in Florida and the U.S. to design and manufacture the missiles, spacecraft and satellites of the future.

The move comes just days after a SpaceX rocket put two American astronauts in space after a nine-year hiatus of U.S. manned launches, following the end of the space shuttle program.

The Volusia County Council voted unanimously June 2 to create a new land-use designation for private aerospace companies wishing to locate close to Cape Canaveral and bring the high-tech jobs that business and civic leaders covet for their constituents.

Without a dissenting vote, the council agreed to amend the countys growth-management plan, also known as the comprehensive plan, to designate certain parcels in the unincorporated areas in the southern half of the county for the cutting-edge industries.

The goals of the decision are to create employment opportunities for local workers, especially the young, and to expand the tax base to lessen the burden on homesteaders.

I was born and raised in Volusia County, and this is the best opportunity, Council Member Ben Johnson said, adding, clean industry is what were looking for.

The actual term for the new land use is the Commercial Space Industry Opportunity Overlay District. The general area of the special zone covers 342,841 acres, but the land-use designations now apply to 11,735 acres.

Those parcels are scattered. A few border DeLand, while some are next to Deltona, notably in Osteen. Still others are adjacent to or close to Oak Hill and other coastal cities.

This is only for unincorporated Volusia County, Volusia County Growth and Resource Management Director Clay Ervin stressed.

Volusia County is proactively seeking targeted space industries and is fully capable of responding to unanticipated opportunities, the ordinance amending the countys comprehensive plan noted.

The proposal for this overlay brings economic benefits for Volusia County, state Sen. Tom Wright, R-Port Orange, told the council. Its important to the future of Florida that we keep our young men and women here.

Wright said several states are now seeking a piece of the space-exploration supply-chain business even Hawaii, he said.

The new era of space flight and satellites has created a need for 300,000 to 400,000 people just for the space industry, Wright added. Wright chairs the Florida House Committee on the Military, Veterans and Space.

Joining the County Council meeting by phone from Washington, U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, who represents District 6 which contains Volusia County, said the private aerospace companies coming to Volusia County may also be involved in NASA and military programs and projects, including the activities of the newly created Space Force.

I think the real attraction for Volusia County is its human capital, Waltz added.

The new space economy is going to happen, he continued. I would love to see Volusia County attract ... those high-paying jobs.

Although some of the properties that may be ideal sites for new aerospace plants are in the sparsely populated center of the county, Ervin said the change in the growth-management plan is not necessarily opening up conservation lands for development.

Some of the parcels are close to conservation lands, while others are close to the 50,000-acre-plus Farmton, a massive mixed-use development part of which is in Brevard County whose build-out will take several years.

The new amendment calls for an aerospace firm looking to set up shop in the special area to become a planned-unit development that may be given an expedited review process. One requirement for a company in the overlay area is for it to be connected to centralized water and sewer, once those utilities become available.

As for the county government, the ordinance requires officials to ensure that potential impacts to the environmental resources are minimized.

The county also shall coordinate with local municipalities to ensure that sufficient and affordable workforce housing is available, according to the new policy. In addition, Votran will provide sufficient transit service to employees of the targeted industry.

Its about economic development, and its about jobs, Council Member Deborah Denys said. Its not government-driven. Its market-driven. ... We get out of the way, and let the market take over.

Not everyone was enthused about the ordinance. Council members received emails from constituents who objected to the countys space-industry initiative.

There are a lot of promises of fast tracked [sic] infrastructure in this ordinance. We are told there is already a dearth of those dollars available, Jeff Brower, of DeLeon Springs, wrote.

Brower is a candidate for Volusia County chair.

Port Orange resident Kristine Cunningham, who identifies herself as the conservation chair of the Sierra Club Volusia-Flagler, also went on record objecting to the change.

If we start interrupting the natural flow of the wetlands by building new towns, ... we wont be able to mitigate our way to clean water. You cant replace nature with man-made wetlands, she wrote to the County Council.

After the council approved the ordinance to encourage aerospace companies to come to Volusia County, Denys urged supporters of the concept to go back and take it to your cities, and create your own overlay zones.

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Volusia wants its place in space | News | beacononlinenews.com - The West Volusia Beacon

'Hidden Figures' (Image 20th Century Studios)

On 3 June 2020, SpaceX, Elon Musks space exploration empire, launched Falcon 9 its eighth Starlink mission with the aim of establishing a satellite constellation capable of providing satellite internet access. The new Space Race is on, and this time around, it is not as much of a race between countries for bragging rights as it is a race to capitalise on economic resources available through off-world technology satellite internet, harvesting valuable elements from the Moon or the creation of unique products which are only possible in microgravity.

Pop culture is already tuning in to the exciting and terrifying possibilities of this emerging contest. On 29 May Netflix launched Space Force, a new comedy series by the creators of the American version of The Office. The premise is that Space Force is a new sixth branch of The United States Armed Forces and is tasked with winning the new Space Race. The show is light viewing and mainly manages to maintain a level of intrigue and charm on the back of John Malkovichs charisma and Steve Carells ability to convincingly act like an idiot.

***

Hidden Figures

It is 1926 and Katherine Johnson is the very image of a bright and exceptional future. A seven-year-old prodigy, bumped up two grades due to her unprecedented gift for mathematics

Fast-forward 35 years and Katherine is stuck in a broken-down car in the middle of nowhere, worried the policeman driving towards her might concoct some reason to send her to jail. Welcome to the segregated sixties. Its at this point that we meet Katherines equally talented peers. Academy-award winning Octavia Spencer plays mama-bear Nasa supervisor Dorothy Vaughan and Janelle Mone plays self-possessed Nasa engineer Mary Jackson, whose wit flips the situation on its head and lands the three of them a police escort to work that morning.

It is 1961 and the Russians are winning the Space Race, having successfully sent a man to space and bruised many an American ego. The Yanks are paranoid that Russian nuclear warheads could start dropping out of the sky at any moment and are determined to prove the size of their manhoods by matching the feat. Katherine and her colleagues are desperate to play a part in propelling this endeavour, and more than capable of doing so. But they are all black women.

It is blatantly obvious that black lives did not matter to many of the white employees of Nasa at the time. Early on in the film, a group of scientists initiate a dangerous experiment without warning Mary, who is still inside the room, indifferent to the unnecessary risk this poses to her life and leaving her with seconds to get out.

Katherine has to prove her ability to accurately solve and check equations at breakneck speed while also having to run to the opposite side of Nasa headquarters every time she needs the toilet in order to use the colored ladies restroom because there isnt one in the East Wing.

One can only feel fist-clenching frustration watching how the colored computers as they were called back then are shrugged off and ignored by their white co-workers. But the director of the space task group is a kind, passionate man and one of the few white characters in the film whose views are not utterly backward. He supports Katherine against her systematic oppression, symbolising the white ally in the struggle against racism a tricky role to portray from a character in a position of authority without straying within range of white saviourism.

Grit your teeth through the abuse which mild-mannered Katherine suffers through when she finally snaps and makes her voice heard she treats us to a powerful and moving monologue leaving everyone speechless.

When Hollywood sinks its bedazzled teeth into a feel-good underdog film based on true events, there is always a risk that, rather than embrace the complexity of how things actually transpired and the multifaceted personalities involved, they will dumb the characters down to one-dimensional walking stereotypes and wrap the whole film in a kindergarten style moral-of-the-story.

Hidden Figures mostly escaped the pearly whites of Hollywoods gaping jaws, but one can occasionally see the shadows cast by the bright light of its sickening winners smile in overly dramatic moments, or hear it breathing in the pauses of patriotic music whenever America triumphs over the commies or a white person says something nice to a black person. Hooraa USA!

For all its merit, Hidden Figures is still an American Blockbuster. There are common storytelling techniques that come with Blockbuster films and, while this is a darn shame, if that is what it takes to convince mainstream audiences to watch a historically revisionist film about the crucial role of talented black women in the Space Race of the sixties, then so be it, because we need to learn about more stories like this one.

We need to learn about them because many white responses to all the black outrage being expressed at the moment have made it abundantly clear that we as a society have not progressed socially nearly as much as we often think (or hope) we have.

Hidden Figures is available in South Africa on Apple TV and Google Play.

If you like Hidden Figures, you may also like The Imitation Game:

The Imitation Game focuses similarly on how the brilliant minds of marginalised people (in this instance a woman played by the fiery Keira Knightley and a gay man played by the enigmatic Benedict Cumberbatch) were instrumental in the unfolding of historical events. The Imitation Game does not entirely fit into the genre of feel-good film but it is a thrilling watch. It is available in South Africa on Netflix, Apple TV and Google Play. DM/ML

Found a little known gem of a film which you absolutely love? Send a recommendation to [emailprotected]

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Excerpt from:

This weekend were watching: The White Washing of the Space Race - Daily Maverick

anchor

Charisse Foo's fascinating submission "The Monument to the Labors" won the inaugural Outer Space Competition in 2019. This year's edition just opened for submissions (see list below). Image courtesy of Blank Space.

Welcome to this latest weekly roundup of new and exciting architecture challenges listed on Bustler, Archinect's sister site dedicated to competitions, events, and related news for architects and students.

Check out a few diverse calls for submission that stood out this week they range from design awards promoting justice and inclusion, through territorial planning in the Arab World, all the way to architecting a libertarian micronation. For the complete list of newly listed competitions, click here.

Here are, in no particular order, some briefs to consider.

NOMA-NAACP Social Environmental and Economic Design (SEED) AwardsRegistration Deadline: Saturday, Aug 1, 2020Submission Deadline: Tuesday, Sep 1, 2020

The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) partnered with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Design Corps to announce the NOMA-NAACP Social Environmental and Economic Design (SEED) Awards. The purpose of the partnership is to highlight the built and conceptual projects in architecture, community design, and economic development that exemplify justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) at their core.

International Architecture Competition: European Parliament Building in BrusselsRegister/Submit Deadline: Thursday, Jul 9, 2020

The European Parliament has initiated an international design competition for the renewal of its plenary building (SPAAK), located in a complex in the centre of Brussels. The open pre-qualification procedure for the selection of competitors among candidates was launched on 26 May 2020. Architects interested in participating in the renewal of the SPAAK building are invited to apply.

Outer Space 2020Registration Deadline: Thursday, Jul 23, 2020Submission Deadline: Thursday, Aug 6, 2020

The Outer Space competition is seeking proposals that envision space exploration in the near future (100-200 years). What kinds of structures will be developed to move, house and sustain people? How will robotics, AI, autonomous spacecraft, and satellites extend our reach?

Omran'19 PublicationRegister/Submit Deadline: Friday, Jul 31, 2020

This is a call for contribution to form a publication which follows the success of the ArchitecturalForum OMRAN19. It will furthermore engage and explore the main theme of Architecture ofTerritory by offering a compelling perspective of territorial planning in the Arab World. A territorythree times the size of the European Union, home to 423,000,000 inhabitants.

International Call for Proposals: Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021Register/Submit Deadline: Friday, Jul 31, 2020

The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021 (SBAU2021) is launching an international Call for Proposals (CFP) to identify the works that could be featured in the main exhibition of the SBAU 2021 with the intention of gathering works conducted or envisioned for one hundred cities from the five continents.

The 2021 Forge PrizeRegister/Submit Deadline: Sunday, Nov 1, 2020

The American Institute of Steel Construction is on the lookout for creative visions of the future from up-and-coming architects. The third annual Forge Prize competition is now open for entries!This competition [...] recognizes visionary emerging architects for designs that embrace steel as a primary structural component [...].

And if you're tempted to dive into the deep end of the pool, consider this challenge (hey, no zoning!):

Liberland Design Competition 2020Registration Deadline: Sunday, Aug 16, 2020Submission Deadline: Friday, Oct 16, 2020

Liberland invites you to challenge the contemporary urban and architectural design status quo by responding to Liberlands fundamental values and to envision the full design potential for this new micronation.

Are you a competition advertiser looking for a platform to elevate your online reach and exposure? Send your competition directly to Bustler for our team to review! Who knows, maybe your competition will be featured in next week's roundup.

If you are curious about Bustler's extensive advertising strategies for architecture and design competitions, reach out to us, and our team would be more than happy to help strategize with you.

Monte dOiro Wine Tasting Room

Register by Fri, Jun 5, 2020

Submit by Sun, Jul 12, 2020

WARMING Architecture Competition

Register by Sun, Aug 2, 2020

Submit by Mon, Aug 3, 2020

RE-Stock London Housing Competition

Register by Fri, Jun 12, 2020

Submit by Fri, Jul 17, 2020

Mega Dunes Ecolodges - Abu Dhabi

Register by Mon, Jun 1, 2020

Submit by Fri, Jul 10, 2020

See original here:

Flex your creative muscle with these architecture and design competitions - Archinect

Mars had a massive ring system several billion years ago, according to new research from the SETI Institute and Purdue University.

An artists impression of a ringed Mars. Image credit: Tushar Mittal.

Mars has two small satellites, Phobos and Deimos, discovered by the American astronomer Asaph Hall at the Naval Observatory on August 18, 1877.

They are thought to have formed from debris ejected by a single colossal impact onto early Mars.

Although these moons are small, their peculiar orbits hide important secrets about their past.

The fact that Deimos orbit is not exactly in plane with Marss equator was considered unimportant, and nobody cared to try to explain it, said Dr. Matija uk, a research scientist at the SETI Institute.

But once we had a big new idea and we looked at it with new eyes, Deimos orbital tilt revealed its big secret.

In 2017, Purdue Universitys Dr. David Minton and his student Andrew Hesselbrock noticed that the Martian inner moon, Phobos, is losing height as its tiny gravity is interacting with the looming Martian globe.

In several dozens of million years, Phobos orbit will drop too low, and Martian gravity will pull it apart to make a ring around the planet.

Mars is kept company by two cratered moons an inner moon named Phobos and an outer moon named Deimos. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Malin Space Science Systems / Texas A&M University.

The team proposed that over billions of years, generations of Martian moons were destroyed into rings. Each time, the ring would then give rise to a new, smaller moon to repeat the cycle over again.

This cyclic Martian moon theory has one crucial element that makes Deimos tilt possible: a newborn moon would move away from the ring and Mars. Which is in the opposite direction from the inward spiral Phobos is experiencing due to gravitational interactions with Mars.

An outward-migrating moon just outside the rings can encounter a so-called orbital resonance, in which Deimos orbital period is three times that of the other moon. These orbital resonances are picky but predictable about the direction in which they are crossed.

Only an outward-moving moon could have strongly affected Deimos, which means that Mars must have had a ring pushing the inner moon outward.

This moon may have been 20 times as massive as Phobos, and may have been its grandparent existing just over 3 billion years ago, which was followed by two more ring-moon cycles, with the latest moon being Phobos, Dr. uk and colleagues said.

Their findings will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

_____

Matija uk et al. 2020. Evidence for a Past Martian Ring from the Orbital Inclination of Deimos. ApJL, in press; arXiv: 2006.00645

This article is based on text provided by the SETI Institute.

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Researchers Find New Evidence that Mars Once Had Massive Ring | Planetary Science, Space Exploration - Sci-News.com

Space robotics market is poised to witness considerable growth in the imminent future owing to increased venture capital funding into space application-oriented start-ups, along with huge investment by technology giants into developing their own equipment, software and services. Reports indicate that in 2018, nearly USD 2.97 billion equity capital had been invested in space companies worldwide. One can certainly expect a large number of viable space technologies to be unveiled and commercialized over the coming years, further creating opportunities for the space robotics industry.

Rising enterprise and government spending towards development of space exploration technologies has propelled the space robotics market revenues, as efforts are being made to bring more efficiency into activities like equipment maintenance, satellite assembly and extraterrestrial surveys. Essentially, performing physical tasks in the orbit not only present risks for astronauts, but also require high levels of precision and control. Robotic arms or manipulator systems can provide the necessary accuracy and automation to safely repair and maintain spatial objects. Continuous improvement of automated systems and the ability of robots to significantly increase productivity will fuel the space robotics industry expansion.

Get sample copy of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3219

A brief overview of the competitive spectrum of the space robotics market:

Motiv Space Systems

California-based Motive Space Systems, a provider of aeronautics solutions, was selected by NASA to develop the robotic arms for spacecraft to be used in the upcoming Mars 2020 mission, under a multi-million dollar agreement. Being the most crucial part of the mission, the arms would be more advanced and stronger than the previous rover sent to Mars. The project signifies a massive potential for the space robotics market from surface exploration missions, as several countries, including China and Russia would also be looking to launch similar projects, with robotic arms being an indispensable component of space rovers and aircrafts.

Maxar Technologies

Presenting a technological offering that has widespread commercial applications, Maxar Technologies is in the process of completing its Dragonfly project, which is another NASA program, aimed at assembling spacecraft parts in the orbit. The program would make it possible to launch antennas and other satellite systems in a more compact way inside a rocket. Dragonfly, supposedly a robotic arm weighing 76 Kgs and capable of reaching 5 meters from the bases, would be having motors, avionics and advanced sensors to eliminate the single point of failure risk. Maxar is planning to offer the program as a commercial offering to private satellite operators as well as government agencies, which will immensely transform the approach of the space robotics industry.

Orbital ATK

On the verge of providing a novel and possibly revolutionary service to commercial operators of geostationary satellites, Orbital ATK had last year confirmed its plans to develop the Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) and the Mission Extension Pods (MEP). The MRV and MEP would be used to handle the station-keeping of geo satellites, especially those soon to be out of fuel. Reportedly, the MRV would get close to a satellite and using a robotic arm will attach to it the MEP, that will handle its upkeep and extend its life by up to 5 years. The service will help communication companies expand their geo-sats life and save incredible amount of money, in addition to safely disposing them into the graveyard orbit when needed.

Get this report Customized to your requirements @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/3219

Glimpse of Table of Content (ToC):

Chapter 4. Space Robotics Market, By Solution

4.1. Key trends by solution

4.2. Product

4.2.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2015 2025

4.2.2. Rovers/landers

4.2.2.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2015 2025

4.2.3. Probes

4.2.4. Arms/manipulator systems

4.2.5. Others

4.3. Software

4.4. Services

4.4.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2015 2025

Chapter 5. Space Robotics Market, By Application

5.1. Key trends by application

5.2. Deep space

5.2.2. Space exploration

5.2.3. Space transportation

5.3. Near space

5.3.2. Space exploration

5.3.3. Space transportation

5.3.3.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2015 2025

Chapter 6. Space Robotics Market, By End-Use

6.1. Key trends by end-use

6.2. Commercial

6.2.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2015 2025

6.3. Government

Browse complete Table of Contents (ToC) of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/toc/detail/space-robotics-market

About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.

Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: [emailprotected]Web: https://www.gminsights.com

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Space robotics market gain traction with the rising number of contributions by prominent industry stakeholders - Cole of Duty

By John Kanelis

Amid all the gloom and grief, and all the mayhem and misery associated with a global pandemic and the death of a man at the hands of brutal cops in Minneapolis, Minn., I found time Saturday to cheer an event for which I have been waiting.

At around 2:30 p.m., Central Daylight Time, a rocket launched from Pad 39A at Cape Canaveral, Fla. It carried two American astronauts into orbit. It was the first launch of Americans from a U.S. launching pad in nearly a decade.

Whats more, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken have docked with the International Space Station, setting up a lengthy mission in Earth orbit.

I could not believe the flutter in my heart as they counted down the final seconds before the launch. Then the Space X rocket lit up and burst off the pad toward Earth orbit.

NASA and Space X have teamed up for a historic event and this one was worth cheering ... loudly, in fact. I was thrilled in a way I hadn't been thrilled since I was a whole lot younger watching the early launches of the American space program with my mother.

Indeed, I thought of Mom while I watched Space X roar into space, wondering how she would have reacted to the sight of Americans zooming into the heavens aboard an American-made rocket, from a U.S. launch pad. Mom would be proud, too.

Space X is the product of a company owned by Elon Musk, the zillionaire owner of Tesla. His company has designed a fantastic space vehicle. I noticed how the first-stage rocket was able to land softly on a drone ship at sea in good enough shape to be used again on a subsequent space flight.

This is really cool stuff, man. It is cool for those of us who are old enough to remember the excitement and romance that used to be associated with space travel.

I am no Pollyanna. I know this is expensive, even with a privately ownership taking the lead on this kind of exploration. However, I have long believed -- and always will believe -- that humanity was put on this good Earth to venture as far as possible to explore.

I am just glad to see American technology being brought back into the picture once again to take that next "giant leap for mankind."

Given the troubling context of the times, the launch of a rocket into space was a welcome sight to this old man's eyes.

John Kanelis, former editorial page editor for the Amarillo Globe-News and the Beaumont Enterprise, is also a former blogger for Panhandle PBS in Amarillo. He is now retired, but still writing. Kanelis can be contacted via Twitter @jkanelis, on Facebook, or his blog, http://www.highplainsblogger.com. Kanelis' blog for KETR, "Piece of Mind," presents his views, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of KETR, its staff, or its members.

Kanelis lives in Princeton with his wife, Kathy.

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Piece of Mind: Space Launch A Hopeful Moment In Troubled Times - 88.9 KETR