H.A.L.O. Jump...

Today marks one year since I did a 30,000-foot tandem skydive above Whiteville, Tennesee—courtesy of the awesome folks at HALOJumper.com. This was no doubt one of the coolest experiences of my life... Can't wait to supplement this by winning the lottery one day and affording the money to pay for a trip (which costs more than $200,000) aboard Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, hah. Anyways, play the video below to see my HALO jump!

Virgin Galactic / Clay Center Observatory

SPACESHIPTWO Update...

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SpaceShipTwo's First "Feathered" Flight Marks Latest Milestone for Virgin Galactic (Press Release)

Early on Wednesday 4th May 2011, in the skies above Mojave Air and Spaceport CA, SpaceShipTwo, the world’s first commercial spaceship, demonstrated its unique reentry ‘feather’ configuration for the first time. This test flight, the third in less than two weeks, marks another major milestone on the path to powered test flights and commercial operations.

SpaceShipTwo (SS2), named VSS Enterprise, has now flown solo seven times since its public roll-out in December 2009 and since the completion of its ground and captive-carry test program.

This latest flight saw a 6:43 AM (local) runway take off for VSS Enterprise, attached to its WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft, VMS Eve. At the controls of the of the spaceship were Scaled Composites’ test pilots Pete Siebold and Clint Nichols whilst Mark Stucky, Brian Maisler and Brandon Inks crewed the purpose built, all composite, twin fuselage WK2.

After a 45 minute climb to the desired altitude of 51,500 feet, SS2 was released cleanly from VMS Eve and established a stable glide profile before deploying, for the first time, its re-entry or "feathered" configuration by rotating the tail section of the vehicle upwards to a 65 degree angle to the fuselage. It remained in this configuration with the vehicle’s body at a level pitch for approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds whilst descending, almost vertically, at around 15,500 feet per minute, slowed by the powerful shuttlecock-like drag created by the raised tail section. At around 33,500 feet the pilots reconfigured the spaceship to its normal glide mode and executed a smooth runway touch down, approximately 11 minutes and 5 seconds after its release from VMS Eve.

All objectives for the flight were met and detailed flight data is now being analysed by the engineers at Scaled Composites, designers and builders of Virgin Galactic’s sub-orbital spacecraft.

George Whitesides, CEO and President of Virgin Galactic, said: "This morning’s spectacular flight by VSS Enterprise was its third in 12 days, reinforcing the fast turnaround and frequent flight-rate potential of Virgin Galactic’s new vehicles. We have also shown this morning that the unique feathering re-entry mechanism, probably the single most important safety innovation within the whole system, works perfectly. This is yet another important milestone successfully passed for Virgin Galactic, and brings us ever closer to the start of commercial operations. Credit is due to the whole Scaled team, whose meticulous planning and great skill are changing the course of history."

Pete Siebold, who along with Clint Nichols piloted the spaceship added: "In all test flight programs, after the training, planning and rehearsing, there comes the moment when you have to go up there and fly it for real. This morning’s flight was a test pilot’s dream. The spaceship is a joy to fly and the feathered descent portion added a new, unusual but wonderful dynamic to the ride. The fact that it all went to plan, that there were no surprises and that we brought VSS Enterprise back to Mojave safe and sound is a great testament to the whole team."

Wing Feathering for Re-Entry

Perhaps the most innovative safety feature employed by SpaceshipOne and now SpaceShipTwo is the unique way it returns into the dense atmosphere from the vacuum of space. This part of space flight has always been considered as one of the most technically challenging and dangerous and Burt Rutan was determined to find a failsafe solution which remained true to Scaled Composite’s philosophy of safety through simplicity. His inspiration for what is known as the feathered re-entry was the humble shuttlecock, which like SpaceShipTwo relies on aerodynamic design and laws of physics to control speed and attitude.

Once out of the atmosphere the entire tail structure of the spaceship can be rotated upwards to about 65º. The feathered configuration allows an automatic control of attitude with the fuselage parallel to the horizon. This creates very high drag as the spacecraft descends through the upper regions of the atmosphere. The feather configuration is also highly stable, effectively giving the pilot a hands-free re-entry capability, something that has not been possible on spacecraft before, without resorting to computer controlled fly-by-wire systems. The combination of high drag and low weight (due to the very light materials used to construct the vehicle) mean that the skin temperature during re-entry stays very low compared to previous manned spacecraft and thermal protection systems such as heat shields or tiles are not needed. During a full sub-orbital spaceflight, at around 70,000ft following re-entry, the feather lowers to its original configuration and the spaceship becomes a glider for the flight back to the spaceport runway.

Source: Virgin Galactic

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HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!! Personally speaking, 2011 looks to be waaay more action-packed and exciting than last year...at least in terms of movies and space exploration. I’m looking forward to the releases of Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Battle: Los Angeles, while filming for Christopher Nolan’s final flick in the Batman franchise, The Dark Knight Rises is scheduled to start by this May. With regards to space exploration, NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover is scheduled for launch to the Red Planet this November, the Juno spacecraft is set to launch towards Jupiter this August, the twin GRAIL spacecraft are set to launch to the Moon this September, The Planetary Society’s Lightsail-1 spacecraft should fly by the end of this spring, the Glory spacecraft is set to launch on its long-awaited Earth science mission next month, the space shuttle fleet will finally retire by April (if the STS-135 mission that is scheduled for June doesn’t end up receiving funding by Congress), the Dawn spacecraft will arrive at its first destination—asteroid Vesta—this July, the MESSENGER spacecraft will enter orbit around Mercury in March, SpaceX will finally be sending its Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station and Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo might be ferrying paying passengers on suborbital flights as early as the end of this year.



On a more personal level, I should be able to pay off my credit card debt and close the account by this Spring...assuming my tax refund this year is as high as I hope it to be. Um, should I have divulged this information to y'all? Oh well.




January 2011
-Partial solar eclipse over much of the Eastern Hemisphere (Jan 4)
-BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona: Auburn vs. Oregon (Jan 10)
-The Green Hornet (Jan 14)
-68th Annual Golden Globe Awards (Jan 16)
-Season 10 premiere of American Idol (Jan 19)
-Launch of Japan’s second H-2 Transfer Vehicle to the International Space Station (Jan 20)



February 2011
-Mission STS-133... Space shuttle Discovery (Feb 3)
-Super Bowl XLV in Texas (Feb 6)
-53rd Annual Grammy Awards (Feb 13)
-Launch of Europe’s second Automated Transfer Vehicle, Johannes Kepler, to the International Space Station (Feb 15)
-53rd annual Daytona 500 in Florida (Feb 20)
-2011 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles, California (Feb 20)
-Launch of NASA’s Glory spacecraft into Earth orbit (Feb 23)
-83rd Academy Awards (Feb 27)



March 2011
-Apollo 18 (Mar 4)
-Rango (Mar 4)
-Battle: Los Angeles (Mar 11)
-2011 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament begins with Opening Round Game (Mar 15)
-NASA’s Messenger spacecraft enters orbit around Mercury (Mar 18)
-NASA’s Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft crosses Uranus’ orbit (Mar 18)
-Conclusion of the March Madness tournament prior to the 2011 Final Four games in Texas (Mar 27)



April 2011
-Mission STS-134... Space shuttle Endeavour (Apr 1)
-2011 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in Houston, Texas (Apr 2)
-NCAA Final Four Championship Game in Houston, Texas (Apr 4)
-Scream 4 (Apr 15)
-Fast Five (Apr 29)
-NFL Draft (TBA)



May 2011
-Thor (May 6)
-Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (May 20)
-Start of the 2011 French Open tennis tournament (May 22)
-The Hangover 2 (May 26)
-95th Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (May 29)



June 2011
-Partial solar eclipse in the Arctic (Jun 1)
-X-Men: First Class (Jun 3)
-Conclusion of the 2011 French Open (Jun 5)
-Super 8 (Jun 10)
-Total lunar eclipse; viewable in Africa, India and Middle East (Jun 15)
-Cars 2 (Jun 24)
-Mission STS-135... Space shuttle Atlantis (Jun 28 - Tentative)



July 2011
-Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Jul 1)
-Partial solar eclipse off the coast of Antarctica (Jul 1)
-Start of the 2011 Tour de France (Jul 2)
-International Olympic Committee announces host city for 2018 Winter Olympics (Jul 6)
-NASA’s Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around asteroid Vesta (TBA)
-The planet Neptune completes its first full orbit since being discovered in 1846 (Jul 10)
-2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Phoenix, Arizona (Jul 12)
-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (Jul 15)
-Captain America: The First Avenger (Jul 22)
-Conclusion of the Tour de France (Jul 24)
-Cowboys and Aliens (Jul 29)



August 2011
-The Smurfs (Aug 3)
-Launch of NASA’s Juno spacecraft to Jupiter (Aug 5)
-Start of the XXVI World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain (Aug 15)
-Conclusion of World Youth Day (Aug 21)
-Start of the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Slovenia (Aug 28)
-Analog TV stations in Canada required to complete transition to digital (Aug 31)



September 2011
-Conclusion of the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Slovenia (Sep 4)
-Launch of NASA’s twin GRAIL spacecraft to the Moon (Sep 8)
-Start of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand (Sep 9)



October 2011
-Real Steel (Oct 7)
-First flight of SpaceX’s Dragon ship to the International Space Station (Oct 8)
-Paranormal Activity 3 (Oct 21)
-Conclusion of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand (Oct 23)



November 2011
-The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Nov 18)
-Launch of NASA’s Curiosity rover to Mars (Nov 25)
-Partial solar eclipse in Antarctica (Nov 25)



December 2011
-The Ides of March (TBA)
-SpaceX’s Dragon ship launches cargo to the International Space Station (Dec 7)
-Total lunar eclipse; visible in Asia, Australia and Alaska (Dec 10)
-Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus freighter launches to the International Space Station (Dec 14)
-Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (Dec 16)
-A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (Dec 23)
-Launch of Russia’s Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module to the International Space Station (TBA)
-All United States troops are scheduled to leave Iraq (Dec 31)

Mark Greenberg - Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites

PHOTOS OF THE DAY... The VSS Enterprise, a.k.a. SpaceShipTwo, conducted its first solo flight above the Mojave Desert in Southern California today. Click here to read more. Now if only I had $200,000 to make this historic commercial spaceflight news relevant to me...


Clay Observatory - Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites


Mark Greenberg - Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites


Bill Deaver - Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites

PHOTOS OF THE DAY... Yesterday, Scaled Composites’ White Knight II (a.k.a. VMS Eve) and SpaceShipTwo (a.k.a. VSS Enterprise) took off on their very first "captive carry" flight from an airfield in California’s Mojave Desert. This 2-hour, 54-minute flight started what is scheduled to be a year-long series of airborne tests for the private spaceliner. If things go well, SpaceShipTwo will begin suborbital flights into space in 2011...and the vehicle should begin ferrying paying customers 68 miles above Earth later that year, or early 2012.

If I was one of those 300+ lucky SOBs who already shelled out $200,000 to ride onboard the Enterprise, I’d totally be more ecstatic. But I didn't, so I won't. But these vehicles sure are cool.









All images courtesy of Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites

Alan Radecki / BoingBoing.net

SPACESHIPTWO Revealed... The new spacecraft, dubbed Virgin Space Ship (VSS) Enterprise, made its official debut at its manufacturing facility in California’s Mojave Desert tonight. So who here has $200,000 to spend on a supersonic flight to the edge of space? (I wish I did... Duh.) This excludes the price of the plane ticket to New Mexico...where SpaceShipTwo and its sister vehicles will be based (at Spaceport America). Sir Richard Branson's company Virgin Galactic owns the spacecraft.







All three images courtesy of Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites

SpaceShipTwo unveiled... Do you think traveling 60 miles into space will one day cost as much as doing a tandem skydive (usually around $300), or at least a HALO tandem dive (around $3,000)? $200,000—the current asking price by Virgin Galactic, which owns SpaceShipTwo—is a bit out of my price range...for now.




SpaceShipTwo and White Knight II undergoing construction at the Scaled Composites facility:



All images courtesy of Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites

Yesterday, British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, who owns Virgin Atlantic and the recently-created Virgin Galactic, unveiled in New York City the mock-up of SpaceShipTwo (SS2)...which will be a longer version of the SpaceShipOne vehicle that flew into space in October of 2004. SS2 will ferry eight people (two pilots and six passengers) into suborbital space. Of course, unlike the $300 to $400 plane ticket that you would have to spend going to, say, the Big Apple, you would have to dish out $200,000 to reserve a seat on SS2. Now let’s see— On one hand a person could probably spend that dough on a decent-size house somewhere here in Cali (or a 2006 Ferrari F430 or an ’06 Lamborghini Gallardo), and on the other hand, he or she could join the likes of Paris Hilton and soar nearly 70 miles above Earth. Overlooking the Hilton part (Note to Paris: Don’t try being the first person to have nookie in outer space), I’d choose the latter.



On the government side of space travel, NASA officials on Tuesday re-opened the high bay on the western side of the Operations and Checkout Building (OCB) at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC). So what’s so significant about this, you ask? The high bay was the site where the Apollo spacecraft were assembled and tested in the late 1960’s/early 70’s...and it will now be the area where Lockheed Martin conducts the final assembly on the Orion spacecraft. And yesterday, the first component for the Ares I-1 flight test vehicle (the component being the aft skirt belonging to the first stage solid rocket booster), slated to launch in April of 2009, was placed in the Assembly and Refurbishment Facility at KSC (shown in the picture below). Indeed, right now is a very exciting time to be a space enthusiast...unless you’re a "cynical young adult". Bastards. By the way, did you notice that once I started talking about NASA, a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo started cropping up in this journal entry? Nice.

ABOVE: The green line marks the path traveled by the New Horizons spacecraft as of
8:00 PM, Pacific Standard Time, on April 12, 2006. It is 64,884,826 miles from Earth.
Click here to view the official webpage showing where New Horizons is in space.

NEW HORIZONS Final Update (For Now)... As of right now, the Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft is flying past Mars’ orbit...being at a current distance of 65 million miles from Earth and speeding its way towards an encounter with Jupiter on February 28 of next year. All but one of Horizons’ seven instruments have now been checked out and will begin making observations within a few months [two instruments, the Student Dust Counter (built by the University of Colorado) and the Solar Wind At Pluto (SWAP) device, have already made "first light" observations]. The final instrument to be checked out, the LORRI (LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager) camera, will not open its lens cover and be tested till later this Fall...since the instrument is extremely sensitive to light, and mission engineers don’t wanna risk damaging it if the camera was accidentally pointed at the Sun. In terms of the Jupiter flyby in 2007, the planned observation list for the giant planet will be finalized by October, 2006. New Horizons has already made three trajectory correction maneuvers (TCMs) to fine-tune its flight path to Jupiter and Pluto...two thruster burns on January 28 and 30, respectively, and the third one on March 9.



In terms of mementos that New Horizons is carrying onboard during its journey out of the solar system, it bears a canister holding the ashes of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh (shown above), a piece of material from the experimental SpaceShipOne vehicle and a Florida coin commemmorating the U.S. space program (both shown below).



Unless events warrant it, I probably won’t talk about New Horizons again till the few months leading up to the Jupiter flyby. See ya!



NEW HORIZONS Blog Entries Archive:

September 26, 2005
December 19, 2005
January 7, 2006
January 17, 2006
January 19, 2006
April 12, 2006

UPDATE: Today also marks the 25th anniversary of the very first space shuttle launch. Hail Columbia!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PARNO!!! That would be me by the way, hahaha. Anyways, if you live on the West Coast of the United States, specifically in Southern California, then here's a photo montage of a couple of things that you ABSOLUTELY DON'T give a damn about (well, maybe except about the Dodgers and the Angels)...but made headlines the past week anyway: SpaceShipOne winning the $10 million Ansari X Prize today, and the Dodgers and the Angels each clinching the MLB west division titles last Saturday. And of course, if you're living in Washington State, then you should be caring about Mt. St. Helens blowing its load in a big way any minute now. And of course, the biggest headliner last week was the Presidential Debate on Thursday. Didn't watch it (since I was at work), so I can't comment on anything, hahaha.