Category Archives: Space Exploration

Ronald Reagan helped a nation grieve when he eulogized the space shuttle Challenger astronauts, saying they slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.

Reagan was quoting a poem by John Gillespie Magee that beautifully describes the experience of flight. But as Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson ascend to heights unavailable to ordinary people of lesser means, theres less poetry and more surliness about what theyre doing up there.

Leave the billionaires in space, grumbled writer Paris Marx in the U.K.s Tribune magazine. Really, billionaires? This is what youre going to do with your unprecedented fortunes and influence? Drag race to outer space? comedian Seth Myers ranted. More than 150,000 people have signed an online petition that says Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth.

Some of the outrage is comedy, cheap shots about privileged white men buying toys for a midlife crisis (although Branson, a grandfather, is 70).

However, a timeless moral dilemma lies at the heart of the criticism: whether its right to spend money on nonessentials while other people go hungry or bankrupt from medical bills. This question was a key driver of public opposition to the first moon landing.

Throughout the 1960s, a majority of Americans opposed the Apollo 11 mission and believed the government was spending too much money on space exploration, Alexis C. Madrigal wrote for The Atlantic. This viewpoint was especially common among Black Americans. Many Black papers questioned the use of American funds for space research at a time when many African Americans were struggling at the margins of the working class, Madrigal wrote.

One of the few public defenders of billionaires in space is columnist Megan McArdle, writing for The Washington Post, who said even a fleeting roller-coaster ride into the Earths thermosphere can be an enduring contribution to humanity.

Every human breakthrough, from fire onward, McArdle argued, was likely disparaged and resented by the pioneers peers. She likened Bezos and Bransons achievements to Orville and Wilbur Wright and said private companies tend to innovate better than government can. If humanity is eventually going to the stars, that kind of innovation will be an essential part of how well get there. Even if, at the moment, most of us cant quite see it.

But McArdles take is a minority view, as she acknowledges. And it should probably be noted that Bezos owns The Washington Post.

Critics have slammed Branson and Bezos for not reading the room, saying that this is an especially cringeworthy time to be joyfully cavorting in space as income inequality rises, the West is burning, the Taliban is advancing, and COVID-19 cases are edging upward again.

And predictably, there is a partisan divide on the subject, with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in March chiding Tesla founder Elon Musk for pledging to help make human life multiplanetary. (Musks SpaceX wants to colonize Mars.)

Calling todays income inequality obscene, Sanders said on Twitter, Space travel is an exciting idea, but right now we need to focus on Earth and create a progressive tax system so that children dont go hungry, people are not homeless and all Americans have health care.

However, essayists in the conservative website National Review Online have lauded private ventures into space, saying that they have already brought the cost of space exploration down. Before SpaceX, the U.S. was paying Russia $90 million to get one American astronaut to the International Space Station, Andrew Follett wrote for NRO. Reusable rockets developed by SpaceX can do that for $55 million, he said, adding Musk has demonstrated that the American private sector can do what its government cannot.

And Brandon J. Weichert argued in NRO that that the privatization of space is a critical component of American competition with China. Whichever nation wins the new space race will determine the future of the earth below, Weichert wrote.

He added, Whatever ones opinion about Bezos or Musk, the fact is that their private space companies are inspiring greater innovation today in the space sector after years of its being left in the sclerotic hands of the U.S. government.

In a recent survey about Americans views of space exploration, Pew found that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the government should be involved in space ventures. Conversely, Republicans (41%) are more likely than Democrats (28%) to say private companies will ensure that enough progress is made.

On social media, Bezos, in particular, is a particularly inviting target for ridicule given that his former wife, MacKenzie Scott, is busy giving her billions away, or at least trying to do so. It turns out, when youre as rich as Bezos and Scott are, your money makes more money faster than you can give it away.

In one recent day, an increase in Amazon stock prices earned Scott $2.9 billion in one day, more than the $2.7 billion shed recently given away. Despite her widely cited promise to keep making charitable donations until the safe is empty, so far her philanthropy hasnt made much of a dent in her accumulating wealth, Tim Schwab wrote for The Nation.

Meanwhile, Scotts former husband contends with relentless criticism about Amazon wages and working conditions and the fact that he hasnt signed the Giving Pledge, amid suggestions about what he should do with his money. Often these suggestions include ending hunger: A writer for The Verge estimated that it would take only about 1/7th of his wealth to end hunger in the U.S., and a Twitter account with 103,000 followers asks every day Has Jeff Bezos decided to end world hunger?

A recurring complaint about the billionaire space force involves the wealth tax, pushed by Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., among others. Many people on social media have said the money Bezos and Branson are spending on their space adventures is proof that a wealth tax is needed to address income inequality. Recent revelations by ProPublica about the tax-evasion strategies of some of the wealthiest Americans havent helped the billionaires cause. According to ProPublica, Bezos, the worlds richest man, paid no federal taxes at all in 2007 and Musk, the worlds second-richest man, paid none in 2018.

That said, Bezos and Branson and ultimately Musk are not zooming off to space like the rest of us Earth-dwellers head to the beach or the lake. They bummed a ride on the space vehicles developed by their companies: Bezoss Blue Origin and Bransons Virgin Galactic.

Other ultra-wealthy people will be following in their wake. According to Reuters, about 600 people have booked reservations for a $250,000 seat on the Virgin Galactic rocket plane. That price is expected to double when the company formally begins operations, although Branson said he hopes the price will eventually descend to about $40,000.

And a still-anonymous person paid $28 million for a seat on Bezos inaugural flight July 20, although the person has deferred the flight to the future, citing scheduling conflicts. Hes been replaced by an 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, who along with the previously announced passenger Wally Funk, 82, will be the youngest and oldest people to go into space, respectively.

Meanwhile, critics of Bezos and Branson might not be as familiar with the name Charles Simonyi. Hes a Hungarian-born billionaire whos already been to space twice as a tourist, via the Virginia company Space Adventures. On its website, you, too, can sign up to visit the International Space Station in 2023. The website doesnt tell you the price, however.

If you have to ask, you cant afford it.

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Jeff Bezos space flight: When is it and who is going with him? - Deseret News

Billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and the spaceflight company Blue Origin, will donate $200 million to the Smithsonian, the Institution announced Wednesday (July 14). It's is the largest donation to the Smithsonian since James Smithson's founding gift in 1846.

The Smithsonian Institution is "the world's largest museum, education and research complex," the organization's website states. This $200 million donation will be split, with $70 million going to renovate the National Air and Space Museum and $130 million supporting the creation of a new education center at the Smithsonian's flagship museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. This new museum will be named the "Bezos Learning Center" because of the donation.

"The Smithsonian plays a vital role in igniting the imaginations of our future builders and dreamers," Bezos said about the Smithsonian and his donation in a statement. "Every child is born with great potential, and its inspiration that unlocks that potential. My love affair with science, invention and space did that for me, and I hope this gift does that for others."

Related: How to watch Blue Origin launch Jeff Bezos to space on July 20More: Blue Origin will launch an 18-year-old into space on its 1st crewed flight

"The gift will also help enable a technological transformation of the museums galleries and public spaces, including the creation of new interactive experiences to inspire visitors, students, teachers and families," Smithsonian's statement reads.

The new education center will be built at the Smithsonian museum's flagship location alongside ongoing museum renovations. The new facility will be centered around exploring STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) topics. The museum will have programs designed to inspire young visitors to explore STEAM careers and will connect to all Smithsonian museums to include experts from different Smithsonian locations and incorporate a variety of STEAM-relevant collections, according to the same statement.

"Since its inception, the Smithsonian has benefited from both federal funding and the generosity of visionary donors," Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch said in the same statement. "This historic gift will help the Smithsonian achieve its goal of reaching every classroom in America by creating a world-class learning center with access and inspiration at its heart. We are grateful to Jeff for his generosity and for his passion and commitment to education, innovation and technology. This donation will fuel our nations future leaders and innovators."

Related: Blue Origin donates $19 million to space nonprofits ahead of Jeff Bezos' launch

"At this moment, the first human to set foot on Mars might be in elementary school," Ellen Stofan, the Smithsonians Under Secretary for Science and Research and former director of the National Air and Space Museum, said in the same statement.

"As the largest and most visited aerospace museum in the world, the museum wants to spark that passion and enrich the imagination and ingenuity of every student who visits the Smithsonian. For many years, Jeff has been an avid supporter of the Smithsonian and the museums mission to 'ignite tomorrow.' With this gift, we will be able to continue our transformation and further expand the National Air and Space Museums ability to reveal the possibilities of space exploration," Stofan added.

Also on Wednesday, Blue Origin announced that it's giving $1 million apiece to 19 space nonprofits, including The Mars Society and The Planetary Society. Those donations are being made via Blue Origin's nonprofit organization, Club for the Future. The donations come as Bezos is preparing to add "astronaut" to his list of titles.

On Tuesday (July 20), Bezos alongside his brother Mark, legendary aviator Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen will fly to space on board Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle. The crew will make a flight above the boundary of space and then return to land back on planet Earth.

This crewed, suborbital flight will be the first of its kind for the company and will test the rocket and spacecraft's capabilities as the company works toward regular crewed launches to space on New Shepard, which will carry paying passengers on the once-in-a-lifetime journey. This launch will follow Virgin Galactic's successful crewed suborbital test flight Unity 22, carried out this past Sunday (July 11), which took billionaire Virgin Group founder Richard Branson to space and back.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Jeff Bezos donates $200 million to the Smithsonian Institution ahead of Blue Origin launch - Space.com

Blue Origins foundation, Club for the Future, announced it will offer 19 non-profit organisations each a USD 1 million grant. The grants will inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help invent the future of life in space. The recent auctions for the first paid seat on Blue Origins New Shepard rocket made the funds possible.

Each organisation has demonstrated a commitment to promote the future of living and working in space. Consequently, this commitment is to inspire the next generation to explore careers in space-related fields. Furthermore, they enhance the foundations ability to reach students, teachers, and communities. This way, the foundation can engage them in the excitement and adventure of innovation and space exploration.

Blue Origins CEO, Bob Smith, remarked that Our recent auction for the first seat on New Shepard resulted in a donation of $28 million to our non-profit foundation, Club for the Future, He added that This donation is enabling Club for the Future to rapidly expand its reach by partnering with 19 organisations to develop and inspire the next generation of space professionals. Our generation will build the road to space, and these efforts will ensure the next generation is ready to go even further.

The 19 organisations include:

Club for the Future will use the remaining funds from the auction to continue its work on its space-focused curriculum and Postcards to Space program. For more information about Club for the Future, visit ClubforFuture.org. Blue Origins first human flight will take place on July 20. For more details about the mission and how to watch the launch live, follow @BlueOrigin on Twitter or sign up for updates at BlueOrigin.com.

Faleti Joshua is an avid lover of space in all its incomprehensible nature. He holds a LL.B degree, and is a pessimist in his free time.

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IAF, SGAC, and Space for Humanity to Each Receive USD 1 Million in Grants - Space in Africa

TEXAS Deep in the heart of Texas, the stars at night are big and bright, and the latest of the billionaire businessmen blasting off to space is taking note.

Im pretty sure the first word that was spoken in space was Houston Texas is full of engineers, is full of raw talent people that understand what its like to work on a project that has a big goal, that is a risky goal, Dr. Casey Williams, Science Research Lead for the University of Kansas and former Texas Tech graduate student, said.

Next week, on Tuesday, July 20, Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin New Shepard Spacecraft will rocket out of the atmosphere from the tiny town of Van Horn in West Texas, located about four hours southwest of Lubbock. To Williams and Texas Tech physics and astronomy professor Dr. Thomas Maccarone, the rural region makes the perfect launching pad.

Land is cheap, its sunny there most of the time, so you dont have to worry about clouds cancelling your flights as often, Maccarone said.

The wide open space in the desert also means less chance of debris crashing down and hitting someone if something goes wrong.

But whats also attracting these tycoons turned aspiring astronauts to Texas is the states long legacy of looking to the stars and supporting space exploration.

[Texas has] the center of engineering excellence for the whole planet What were thinking of [in the billionaire space race] is not just whats happening right now but what it will allow us to do, John K. Strickland, board member and assistant treasurer for the National Space Society, said.

The experts said they are eager to watch what happens next week.

I think its quite exciting that were seeing a new generation of people going to space. When I was a kid, that was when they first started doing space shuttle launches, and that was one of the things that got me excited about science at first, Maccarone said.

Maccarone added he hopes the launch will bring more students into the Texas Tech physics and astronomy program.

Both Maccarone and Williams emphasized this launch and future ones will create more jobs and take Texas one step closer to space tourism, leading to an economic boom around the state, especially in rural regions hammered by the pandemic.

That is the human drive, and I think that Texas is going to be primed to be at the forefront of that, Williams said.

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Experts explain why West Texas is the perfect launch pad for the billionaire space race - KLBK | KAMC | EverythingLubbock.com

At Astronaut Days, organized by Space Center Houston, guests can meet and even train with veteran NASA astronauts.

Attention Space lovers! This summer, travel to Infinity and Beyond by unlocking the mysteries around life in space with real-life veteran astronauts at Space Center Houstons Astronaut Days event from August 5-8.

Hop on-board with friends and family to embark on a fun-filled inter-galactic adventure that will deepen your understanding of the universe and its explorers. Whats more, guests will have the opportunity to meet an astronaut, train like an astronaut, have breakfast with an astronaut and even hear first-hand space exploration stories from NASA astronauts. From activities like Mission Memories with space experts and insightful Q&A sessions to bingo and book signingstake your pick from the astronaut schedule before making a safe landing back to earth.

Check out this schedule to know about space-themed activities lined up at Astronaut Days, organized by the Space Center Museum.

At this interactive Q&A session, hear first-hand space exploration accounts from an ace NASA astronaut every day from 12 12:20 p.m. and 2 2:30 p.m at Rocket Park.

Get a glimpse into the space program from an astronauts point-of-view while enjoying a delicious meal catered by the Wolfgang Puck. Afterwards, join in a Q&A session with the veteran space explorer, which will allow participants maximum access to a NASA astronaut. As a memento, event-goers will also receive a personalized photograph from the guest astronaut. Breakfast with an Astronaut occurs Fridays and Saturdays from 8:30-9:30 a.m. in The Food Lab and includes admission to the iconic Space Center Houston.

Adult tickets are priced at $99.95 and child (ages 4-11) tickets at $79.95. Guest capacity is limited to allow for a more intimate experience.

Children from ages 4-12 can train like an astronaut through interactive challenges. Put your mind and body to the test with an obstacle course, agility training sessions and a puzzle everyday at the Independence Plaza from 12:30 12:50 p.m. and 2:30 2:50 p.m. Register onsite in advance the day of your visit. Note, space is limited.

Join a NASA astronaut as they share some of their mission memories at the Space Center Theatre every Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. 12 p.m. and 1:20 1:50 p.m. Astronaut Mission Memories are included in general admission.Check out this schedule to learn more about the astronauts and when they are scheduled to speak.

Indulge in games like astronaut bingo, tease your memory with space movie trivia, and take a photo to cherish in a spacesuit at the Astronaut Gallery. Also, get a taste of space with dishes inspired by NASA-Johnson Space Centers iconic All-American Meal, prepared by Space Center Houston partner Wolfgang Puck Catering.

Rex Walheim is a veteran of three space flights. He has spent more than 36 days in space, and logged over 36 hours in five spacewalks. Walheim served on the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011.

Don Thomas is a veteran of four space flights. He logged over 43 days in space. In his last assignment, he served as the ISS Program Scientist overseeing NASA experiments performed on the International Space Station.

Mark Polanksy is a veteran of three space flights. He logged more than 41 days in space. Polansky also served as Director of Operations at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

All featured images are courtesy of Space Center Museum, Houston

General admission to the Space Center is usually $24.95 for children between 4 & 11 and $29.95 for people over 11 years of age. There are senior discounts and kids under 4 are free.

Ticket prices for events vary and include General Admission. For example the Space Expert Tour is $69.95 while Breakfast with an Astronaut is $99.95 for adults and $79.95 for children. For more details on ticket click here.

To save money on Space Center admission, check out our article on Discounts & Coupons at Space Center

Heres another exciting activity for this summer: Reach for the stars at the magical HMNS Discovery Dome

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Unlock the secrets of Astronaut life during Astronaut Days at Space Center - Houston On The Cheap

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Space-based Laser Communication Market - A Global and Regional Analysis: Focus on End User, Application, Solution, Component, and Range - Analysis and Forecast, 2021-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global space-based laser communication market is expected to reach $4,107.1 million by 2031, with a CAGR of 26.98% during the forecast period 2021- 2031.

The increasing number of satellite constellations for applications such as communication, technology development, Earth observation and remote sensing, and research and space exploration are expected to be the major driving factors for the market. In addition, the growing need for secure and high-speed wireless communication and increasing demand for higher flexibility at low cost are some of the key drivers for the growth of the global space-based laser communication market.

Key questions answered in the Report

Segmentation

Space-based Laser Communication Market by End User

The space-based laser communication market has been segmented based on end user including government and military, commercial. The commercial end user segment is estimated to dominate the global space-based laser communication market due to the growing need for high-speed inter-satellite communication for commercial satellite operators.

Space-based Laser Communication Market by Application

The space-based laser communication market has been segmented based on application including technology development, earth observation and remote sensing, communication, surveillance and security, research and exploration. The combat training application is expected to be the front runner in the global space-based laser communication market due to the rapid growth of small satellite constellation plans by various satellite operators such as SpaceX, Telesat, Space Development Agency, ICEYE, and Cloud Constellation.

Space-based Laser Communication Market by Solutions

The space-based laser communication market has been segmented based on solutions including space-to-space, space-to-ground station), component (optical head, laser receiver and laser transmitter, modulators and demodulators, pointing mechanism, and others. Space-to-space communication is the most prominent solution contributing toward the growth of the global space-based laser communication market. There is an increasing number of small satellites in larger constellations that require inter-satellite communication links for applications such as communication, Earth observation, technology development, remote sensing, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

Space-based Laser Communication Market by Range

The space-based laser communication market has been segmented based on range, including short range, medium range, and long range. The connectivity of satellite-to-satellite and satellite-to-ground stations is enabled by using short-range laser terminals. It allows short-range inter-satellite point-to-point communication to transmit data at high rates. Satellites for low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) are more preferred for this range. This is expected to generate huge demand for short range laser terminals.

Space-based Laser Communication Market by Region

The space-based laser communication market has been segmented based on region, including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest-of-the-World. North America is expected to account for the highest share of the global space-based laser communication market, owing to a significant number of companies based in the region, increased spending by government and commercial organizations such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Space X, and Space Development Agency on the adoption of space-based laser terminals.

Market Dynamics

Growth Drivers

Challenges

Opportunities

Companies Mentioned

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/su9l2v

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Global Space-based Laser Communication Market (2021 to 2031) - by End-user, Application, Solution, Component, and Range - ResearchAndMarkets.com -...

One hundred years ago Sunday, Ohio's native son and American hero John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born in Cambridge.

Glenn lived a remarkable life that brought him fame, adoration and awe and set the gold standard for public service.

He was a small-town Ohio boy who married his childhood sweetheart and went on to become a fighter pilot in two wars, a test pilot, an astronaut, U.S. senator and a statesman. Some men would feel entitled to brag about any of these achievements but the hallmark of Glenn washumility.

Obituary: John Glenn, American hero and former U.S. Senator, dies at 95

"Dad and mother remained very humble," Lyn Glenn, the couple's daughter, said in a recent interview. "They definitely remained to be very much likepeople they might have been had they stayed in New Concord. Because their lives were so different, they became very worldly. But they both could walk with paupers and with kings and that's not something that can be done by everyone."

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brownfirst met Glenn in 1969 when Glenn spoke at his Eagle Scout ceremony in Mansfield.Brown, who now occupies Glenn's old Senate office in the Hart Building, became friends with Glenn over the years.

"He had an absolute sense of decency. That's probably the best description. He had a real sense of decency in everything I saw him do," Brown said.

Glenn, who received his pilots license in 1941, logged roughly9,000 hours of flying time and in July 1957 he set a transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to New York 3 hours and 23 minutes. It was the first transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed, according toNASA's biography of Glenn.

The fame from that flight landed him an appearance on "Name That Tune," a popular game show. Glenn won a $25,000 grand prize,which became a startup college fund for his two children.

On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in a 4 hour and 55 minute flight. Two malfunctions a loose heat shield and failure of the automatic control system had Americans holding their breath, according to NASA.

John Glenn: Photos of the remarkable life of John Glenn

Glenn rocketed to American hero status. He got a ticker tape paradein front of 4 million people inManhattan and a smaller parade in his hometown of New Concord. President John F. Kennedy invited Glenn to give an address to a joint session ofCongress and he became a personal friend to Robert F. Kennedy.

Lyn Glenn said her father was recognized around the globe.

"Our family camped clear across the country. We were big campers. And there wasn't a campsite we pulled into or a gas station where he wasn't recognized. I think that was the beginning of knowing and beginning the acceptance that our privacy as a family was changing dramatically," Lyn Glenn said.

He resigned his post as an astronaut in January 1964 and retired from the Marine Corps in January 1965, capping a 23 year military career.

Robert F. Kennedy was among those who urged Glennto run for U.S. Senate. In June 1968, John and Annie Glenn were on the campaign trail with RFK in California when he was shot. Ethel Kennedy asked the Glenns to escort their children back to Virginia and later tell the Kennedy children their father had died.

"That was tough. That was really tough," Glenn said in a 2012 video interview.

After a bad fall put his political ambitions on hold for several years, Glenn's first bid for office ended in defeat tofellow Democrat Howard Metzenbaum in the 1970 primary. But he won a seat in 1974,the first of four consecutive terms.

As a senator, Glenn focused on nuclear non-proliferation and pushed for more funding for space exploration, education and scientific research.

His political career had its limits.Glenn entered the1984 presidential race, but he failed to gain traction in the early primaries. He withdrew.

He returned to space in October 1998 at age 77 when he joined the crew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery for a nine-day mission. He became the oldest human ever to fly in space. Glenn was used as a test subject to study the effects of space flight on an older human.

Glenn was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on August 7, 2009, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 29, 2012.

Glenn dedicated his time toward civics, science and technology education.In 1999, Glenn donated his archives to Ohio State University and founded the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy, which later became the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.

If there is one thing Ive learned in my years on this planet, its that the happiest and most fulfilled people Ive known are those who devoted themselves to something bigger and more profound than merely their own self interest," Glenn said when he donated his papers to OSU.

The Glenn College will mark his 100th birthday with a series of events that reflect on Glenn's legacy, including a campus celebration Aug. 27 when students return to campus and a special exhibit of Glenn memorabilia at Page Hall.

Always by his side in aviation, politics and education was his wife, Annie Castor Glenn.

The couple met as toddlers in New Concord where their parents were friends. "She was part of my life from the time of my first memory," Glenn wrote of Annie in his autobiography.

They married in April 1943. Whenever Glenn embarked on a perilous mission, the couple exchanged the same lines. "I'm just going down to the corner store to get a pack of gum," Glenn would say. "Don't be long," she would reply.

"They were a unit. They turned to each other. They relied on each other," Lyn Glenn said.

Glenn diedDecember 8, 2016 at age 95. Annie Glenn, died May 19, 2020 ofCOVID-19 at age 100.

Godspeed, John and Annie.

Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

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Ohio native son and American hero John H. Glenn Jr. born 100 years ago - The Columbus Dispatch

Joan Lappin| Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Im old enough to have cut my space travel teeth in the 1940s with "Captain Video and His Video Rangers." Through the decades there have been "Star Wars," "Star Trek" and Spock, R2D2 and C3PO pervading our culture. All that changed from science fiction to reality when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin successfully orbited earth on April 12, 1961.Communications systems were primitive to say the least.

Alan B. Shepard flew his Mercury capsule Freedom 7 on a suborbital flight threeweeks later but America was embarrassed that the Soviets had beaten us to space. John F. Kennedy immediately seta mission to put a man on the moon, Not because it is easy but because it is hard. Seven years later, Apollo 8 circled the moon on Christmas Eve 1968 with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders on board. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module Eagle on the moon on July 20, 1969, fulfilling Kennedys challenge.

Fast forward to 1990 when Gramercy Capital invested in a space pioneer called Orbital Sciences. Orbital had designed a small rocket to place communications satellites into low earth orbit. To test the concept, NASA carried the Pegasus rocket off the ground attached under the wing of a modified B52 bomber. It worked so Orbital bought its own Lockheed L1011 and modified it for future launches. The approach, which Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic has mimicked, is to carry the rocket and its payload up to 45,000 feet and release it when it is already traveling at 500 mph. The smaller rocket is much cheaper but it is not sufficient to blast a payload to the moon or Mars.

Orbitals goal was to offer vehicle tracking to trucking, maritime and persons from a constellation of 98-poundsatellites placed in low earth orbit. Qualcomm and Loral started a similar activity called Globalstar in 1991, also aimed at voice and tracking services. It spent $4.3 billion over a decade before it went bankrupt in February2002. Motorola embarked on a global voice system in 1987 called Iridium with a more daunting concept to switch phone calls in the sky between 66 satellites without using any ground stations. Then and now, the Pentagon is Iridiums principal customer for secure global communications. Iridium was and remains a technological marvel but it was obsolete by the time it was deployed as cellphones had become ubiquitous. After spending $5 billion on six groups of eleven 1412-poundsatellites, Iridium filed for bankruptcy in August 1999. Orbcomm Global filed for bankruptcy in 2000 although Orbital Sciences continues in the rocket business as part of Orbital ATK.

In this week of great excitement about space travel (if you can afford a ticket for $250,000 for a short ride like Yuri Gagarins), it is important to realize that JFK had it right: Space is hard. It is also expensive, fraught with scientific challenges and risk of loss of life in environments not suited for humans. Thirty years ago, three companies with smart managers embarked on a simpler task of just communications from low earth orbit. All three went bust.

Keep that in mind as you race to speculate in the latest iteration of space exploration. It is truly exciting for mankind but, if the past is prologue, it is not likely to be rewarding for your portfolio over time.

Joan Lappin CFA has been called an investment guru by Business Week and a top manager by the Wall Street Journal. The Sarasota resident founded Gramercy Capital Management, a registered investment adviser, in 1986. Email her atJLappincfa@gmail.com. Follow her on twitter: @joanlappin. Her past columns appear atheraldtribune.com/business/columns.

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DEDUCED RECKONING: Space business is hard, risky, and unprofitable - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

At the end of July the second richest man in the world, Amazons Jeff Bezos, plans to blast himself into space, a project that has prompted a satirical global petition asking him to stay there. If the history of human space exploration ended at that moment, with the phallic self-launch of a narcissistic tax avoider, it would be a bathetic endpiece to a remarkable story that began with Nazi weaponry and has encompassed arguably the greatest achievement to date of human civilisation.

It is nearly 50 years since people last walked on the surface of the moon the moon! in an age with no internet or smartphones, driven there in rattling tin cans at unimaginable speeds by huge controlled explosions. Boosters of the modern app economy love to claim that right now the pace of technological change is the fastest it has ever been, but they are somehow forgetting the period between 1957, when the USSR put the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit, and 1969, when three men flew to the moon and two of them descended in a separate spacecraft, walked around collecting rocks, and then blasted off again, docking with the original spacecraft, before flying back to Earth and splashing down safely in the ocean.

The vehicle that had pushed them laboriously out of Earths gravity well was the Saturn V, still the largest rocket ever built, a 36-storey-high behemoth designed under the guidance of Nazi rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. The inventor of the V2 rocket, which terrorised London from late 1944, Von Braun surrendered to the Americans at the end of the war, was gratefully transported to safety in the US and put in charge of designing rockets for ballistic missiles with which to nuke the Soviets.

But Von Braun still dreamed of less unpleasant ways to use his rocket science. Between 1952 and 1954 he wrote a series of articles for Colliers Magazine under the rubric Man Will Conquer Space Soon! Then came Sputnik and, in 1961, the first human being in space: Yuri Gagarin. The US military was alarmed. A month later, President Kennedy announced that the Americans would put someone on the moon by the end of the decade, and the space race was on.

It is this era that forms the narrative core of Australian space historian Colin Burgesss book, with each and every Nasa mission in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programmes described in detail loving enough to thrill space nerds of all ages. But he also pays due homage to the remarkable achievements of the Soviets, who for much of the space races duration were still winning it, until suddenly they werent. This he attributes to the untimely death in 1966 of the Russian genius Sergei Korolev, an engineer who had survived two years in the Gulag after one of Stalins purges, worked on rockets during the war, and rose to become chief designer of the Soviet space programme.

It was Korolev who, in the mid-1950s, began firing dogs into the upper reaches of the atmosphere without asking them, to check the bio-effects of very high-altitude flight. In November 1957, just a month after Sputnik 1, Korolev launched the much bigger Sputnik 2, final home of the plucky cosmodog Laika, the planets first life-form to experience spaceflight, sent up there with bio-sensors to beam back data but no plans to bring her home. Dog lovers the world over protested at the cruelty of leaving her up there to circle the planet until her air ran out. The well-connected Burgess, though, has it on the authority of two Russian sources that Laika probably expired of heat exhaustion only a few hours into the flight, which might have been a relative mercy.

While the USSR were firing the first object, first animal, and then first human into space they got the first woman into space too, Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 the Americans were racing to catch up, eventually boosting a bunch of monkeys into the high atmosphere. In 1958 Nasa was formed, and the term astronaut (Greek for star sailor) officially adopted, the first American astronaut being a squirrel monkey named Miss Baker, who completed a short ballistic flight into space in 1959.

Burgess tells the subsequent tales of crewed spaceflight on both sides of the iron curtain with great verve, and a suspenseful narration of unheralded near-disasters. Gagarins spacecraft, for instance, only just avoided burning up on re-entry, as did John Glenns Friendship 7 craft on an early Mercury mission. Theres a nail-biting story of one cosmonaut whose suit ballooned and nearly prevented him from getting back through the airlock. On the Apollo 10 mission, the lunar lander nearly crashed because its radar locked on to the actual moon instead of the command module it was meant to rendezvous with. And Apollo 11 only landed safely because crack pilot Neil Armstrong overrode the automatic systems that were trying to set down on dangerous rocks and flew to a better landing zone with seconds of fuel left.

There are, too, sober analyses of the actual disasters, including the fatal fire in the command capsule of the first Apollo mission during a test on the ground, later found to be partly due to cost-cutting by a contractor (plus a change), and the loss of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, owing to a frozen O-ring in a rocket booster. (Its silly no? / When a rocket-ship explodes / And everybody still wants to fly sang Prince a year later.)

Nasa now plans, though, to put people back on the moon by the middle of this decade, which rather prompts the question: why did moon-going stop nearly half a century ago? The answer seems to be, astonishingly in hindsight, that we just got bored of it. The sight of astronauts gleefully bouncing around in one-sixth gravity had become tiresome for many, Burgess notes, and public support for the space agencys lunar missions had plummeted.

So what has changed? Well, China landed a robot on the moon last year, and more recently announced plans to build a joint moon base with Russia. So some of Donald Trumps Space Force might want to be there jockeying for position too. But more generally space seems cool again, partly thanks to the antics of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, of Tesla and SpaceX fame, who builds rockets for Nasa and used one of them to blast a red Tesla into orbit. (In the drivers seat is a mannequin called Starman, in homage to the David Bowie song.) Blinking in Musks authentic rocket exhaust are the minnows with vanity space companies, such as Bezoss Blue Origin and Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic, which is most notable for the fact that it has been promising its first tourist flights into space are just around the corner for more than a decade.

But does space exploration actually matter as something more than a dick-waving contest for plutocrats? Space exploration is a human imperative, Burgess writes, and travelling further afield in space is our undeniable destiny, but he might have offered a more full-throated defence of it. Some argue that space exploration is a waste of money while we still have problems to fix on our own planet, but that has never been an either/or proposition, just as it was not a binary choice for the UK between staying in the EU or spending more money on the NHS. The pure-science justification alone is strong, taking into account the cosmological discoveries that flowed from the Hubble telescope, and will do so from its successor, the James Webb space telescope, to be launched later this year.

But possibly the best reason is that, even if we decide to act as better stewards of the Earth, it could be rendered uninhabitable through no fault of our own. Perhaps a large asteroid strike, or a gamma-ray burst from a nearby star collapsing into a black hole, which would destroy the atmosphere. In that case, it might be nice to have a spare planet, and we might feel grateful to the pioneering space-sailors who helped make evacuation a possibility.

The Greatest Adventure: A History of Human Space Exploration is published by Reaktion. To support the Guardian and the Observer buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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The Greatest Adventure by Colin Burgess review a history of human space exploration - The Guardian

The last Apollo mission to the Moon was almost 50 years ago and in that time no human has set foot on any celestial body outside of Earth. In those intervening decades, we have made advances in space science, engineering and commerce but, when it comes to hands-on experience in exploring another world, humanity is only now about to break the half-century mark of inaction. The Artemis Program aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon in preparation for missions to Mars and here Gabriel Swiney describes the journey to the creation of the Artemis Accords and why he believes these sometimes controversial commitments are vital for the long-term sustainability of Artemis.

The Artemis Program, first announced by the Trump Administration and endorsed in January 2021 by the Biden Administration, is a comprehensive plan by NASA to return humans to the Moon, build a sustainable architecture for lunar exploration, and leverage that experience to explore Mars.

Although the celestial destination is the same as Apollo, the programmes could not be more different. While Apollo was a purely US activity, Artemis will involve a coalition of partner countries and space agencies. Apollo hardware, from the Saturn V rockets to the lunar landers, was designed, owned and operated by the US government; for Artemis NASA is contracting commercial services, relying on private industry to design and provide the bulk of exploration hardware. The United States and its partners are not likely to be the only ones in the neighbourhood, as other countries, such as China and Russia, are also planning lunar exploration programmes.

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