A Geek and Freelancer Writing About the Awesomeness of Science
From humble beginnings, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth in Vostok 1 on 12 April, 1961. The flight lasted a short 108 minutes and he would become a world hero afterwards. Sadly, his life was cut short in the years that followed. Gagarin was born on 9 March, 1934, and was... Continue Reading →
On May 30, NASA and SpaceX launched astronauts from American facilities for the first time in nine years. The flight, part of the Commercial Crew Program, was a success. It was the culmination of many years of research and design of new state-of-the-art rocket technology. Aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft were astronauts Doug Hurley and... Continue Reading →
July 20 marks the fiftieth anniversary of humankind’s first steps on the Moon. Apollo 11—crewed by Neil Armstrong, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins—left Earth four days earlier, travelling 384,400 kilometres to make the historic landing. In a feat of engineering and accomplishment that had never been seen before, the landing was a climactic symbol... Continue Reading →
Rockets have made it possible for humans to travel into space. The technology has taken us to the Moon and sent robotic probes to every planet in the solar system. They’ve helped us to better understand the universe and our place in it. The concept dates back nearly 2000 years and was originally conceived as... Continue Reading →
People have been looking up at the night sky for thousands of years but radio astronomy was new in the 1950s. One of the first fully functioning radio telescopes in the Southern Hemisphere was the one at Parkes Observatory. It is located 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) north of the town of the same name and... Continue Reading →
On Saturday (September 28th), SpaceX CEO Elon Musk held a press conference in Boca Chica, Texas, and announced that the company’s next generation rocket, Starship, will start test flights next year. Starship will be the world’s first fully reusable rocket. Initially, it will be capable of getting a 100-ton payload to orbit, but Musk is... Continue Reading →