His commander aimed to go skiing after their space shot. But John Young didn’t want R&R. All he wanted was to go back up. As soon as possible. As often as possible. “I’ll be ready to go again as soon as I hit the water with Gemini 3,” the 34-year-old rookie astronaut promised before blasting off with Gus Grissom on America’s first two-man space flight.
April 21st, 2000
The Ultimate E-Ticket: Disney World Gets Rocket Fever
Disney announced Thursday that upcoming attraction Mission: SPACE will offer visitors to Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center simulated space adventures and “astronaut-like” thrills.
April 10th, 2000
NASA Selects New Mars Manager Yahoo! News
Spurred by criticism over failed missions, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has chosen scientist Firouz Naderi to head a newly formed Mars program aimed at improving future robotic explorations. Naderi was previously the manager of NASA’s Origins Program, which specializes in searching for signs of life beyond the solar system.
April 8th, 2000
NASA Ames man joins Mars projects San Francisco Examiner
Scott Hubbard — associate director of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View — has helped send highly successful robotic NASA probes into the solar system. NASA hopes his good luck will rub off on its embattled Mars program. Embarrassed by the recent loss of two expensive Mars probes, NASA has named him the new Mars program director — their Mars czar, if you will.
April 5th, 2000
Planetary Alignment: Feast For The Naked Eye
Astronomers sometimes call it a naked-eye event, and while it has little significance for the experts, this week’s sky show involving four heavenly bodies is one anybody can enjoy. On Thursday, April 6, three planets and the moon will all huddle together in a small patch of the late evening sky. In astronomical terms, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and our only natural satellite will be within 9 degrees of each other (a degree is about the width of two full moons as seen from Earth.)
April 3rd, 2000
When Planets Align
An eye-catching group of three planets shines in the western sky at dusk during the first half of April. Anyone with an open view toward the west can watch Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn work through a slow dance of changing configurations from one evening to the next.
April 2nd, 2000
NASA reaction to failures wrong, scientist says Space Today
The man who took NASA back to the moon with a low-budget spacecraft after a 25-year hiatus fears the nation’s civilian space agency is taking the wrong steps in reacting to the failures of two high-profile Mars missions. Alan Binder, a lunar and planetary scientist, said NASA should turn its space science missions over to small teams of experienced scientists and aerospace engineers who have sole responsibility for their project from conception through design, construction, launch and ultimately operations.
March 28th, 2000
Brick Walls In Deep Space
An in-depth review of NASA’s Mars exploration program, released today, found significant flaws in formulation and execution led to the failures of recent missions, and provides recommendations for future exploration of Mars.
March 28th, 2000
Scathing Reports Take NASA to Task Over Mars Missions
In two scathing reports released Tuesday, the failure of NASA’s two latest Mars missions — the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander (MPL) — has been attributed to a combination of bad management, a lack of training and an inadequate system of checks and balances.