The UK Space Agency confirmed last week that it will award £7.35 million to Virgin Orbit UK Limited, the UK branch of US launch operator Virgin Orbit, to enable horizontal launch of small satellites from Spaceport Cornwall at Newquay Airport. ‘Horizontal launching’ means taking a rocket to...
Space Center Houston¹ re-opened the Apollo Mission Control Center to the public yesterday, after a two-year restoration programme. The mission control room, which was used during the Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle eras and became a National Historic Landmark in 1985, has been returned to the state it...
Apollopalooza is a week-long celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the future of human space exploration, held by the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver, Colorado between 17 – 20 July. Each day will feature a lineup of content punctuated...
The Chinese city of Chengdu has announced plans to replace street lighting with the ‘light of a silvery moon’¹ reflected down from a satellite with a large mirror. According to People’s Daily Online, the Chairman of the Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute Co,...
Barbados is home to many obvious things; palm trees, beaches, rum and Bajan cuisine, but nobody expects a Cold War relic like the massive HARP space gun. Nor are they likely to stumble across it accidentally. You have to go and find it. The High Altitude Research...
Virgin Galactic has just successfully tested its new spaceship, Unity. Yesterday’s flight was the first powered flight for a Virgin Galactic spaceship since the fatal accident on a test flight in 2014. VSS Unity took off from their base in the Mojave desert at 8:02am with...
This is a niche blog about technically-minded travel. It reflects my own interests in the mechanical, technical, historical, engineering, transport and military world.
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