The Voices in Frank's Head

NASA brought the Space Shuttle program to an end this July after more than 30 years of service to the nation and to cause of space exploration. Since I continue to hear the occasional complaint from one person or another about why NASA brought this program to an end, I thought I would write this post so I easily link to it later when I might need it. The Space Shuttle was a terrific vehicle for taking us into Earth's orbit. It enabled us to launch and repair satellites and to build the International Space Station. Those were fantastic missions, but they're done. It's time for NASA to move onto the next level of exploring space. Unfortunately, the Space Shuttle simply isn't the right vehicle for our next steps in space exploration. As an example, former Presidents George H. W. Bush , Bill Clinton , and George W. Bush , as well as President Barack Obama , all endorsed the long-term goal of a manned mission to Mars during each of the respective tenures in the Whit...

Atlantis and the STS 135 crew returned safely home to Earth early this morning. They arrived at the Kennedy Space Center just before dawn today. Their safe return brings to a close the 30 year long space shuttle program. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden  outlines what is next for the space agency here . It is an ambition agenda of leveraging partnerships with the private sector, sending a manned mission to explore Mars, continuing the success of the International Space Station, conducting a multitude of scientific research missions, and maintaining its leadership role in aeronautics research. I look forward to the next chapter in NASA's great story.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis is getting ready for her final voyage into space. The folks at NASA posted a photo of her being hoisted in the Vehicle Assembly Building. yfrog Photo : http://yfrog.com/h2r1t1j Shared by NASA

The Space Shuttle Endeavor launched this morning in a textbook perfect launch from the Kennedy Space Center. This was the final launch of Endeavor before it is retired and the second to last launch of shuttle program. For anyone who missed it, video from the Endeavor launch is available below.

It's official. Prince William and Kate Middleton are now husband and wife. They will be henceforth the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Her dress, by the way, looked spectacular this morning. I believe that is the most important part of any wedding. Our British friends will likely spend the next several days in the midst of an incredible party that, quite frankly, leaves a lot of Americans a bit confused. We rejected the idea of a monarchy long ago, preferring instead to base our culture around Justin Bieber and an assortment of reality television stars. I'm quite certain this justifies all of the sacrifices that our Founding Fathers made in separating this nation from Great Britain more than two centuries ago. In the meantime, we have a space shuttle launch in a few hours. Plus, the High Holy of Geek Holidays (a.k.a. Free Comic Book Day ) is a mere eight days away.

The Space Shuttle Endeavor is scheduled to make its final flight into space this Friday, with a launch scheduled for 3:47 p.m. This is also the second to last launch for the space shuttle, as NASA is bringing the space shuttle program to an end after more than 30 years. Commanding this mission will be Captain Mark Kelly of the U.S. Navy. His wife, wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords  of Arizona, will be in attendance to watch this historic launch. Joining her at Cape Canaveral will be President Barack Obama , several other members of Congress, and an estimated 40,000 other spectators. Needless to say, I will be glued to my television set this Friday afternoon for this space shuttle launch. Every launch is impressive, in my opinion. This one, however, will be extra special because Ms. Giffords's ordeal following her shooting in Tuscon this past January and the fact that this will be the last launch for Endeavor. Godspeed to the Endeavor and her crew.

International Space Station The Space Shuttle Discovery arrived at the International Space Station this afternoon as part of the STS-133 mission. This will be the last time that Discovery will dock at the station since the shuttle program is now being phased out. Discovery was the first shuttle to ever dock at the International Space Station and now it's time for her to retire. It has been an amazing 27 year long career for her.

I love this photo. It's NASA's image of the day for today.  Their description of it follows. At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an adult osprey guards its young in a nest built on a platform in the press site parking lot, backdropped by the 209-foot by 110-foot American flag painted on the side of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge coexists with Kennedy Space Center and provides a habitat for 330 species of birds, including the osprey, and a variety of other wildlife. Kennedy's press site is located at the turn basin in Launch Complex 39, making it an ideal osprey nesting place.

The space shuttle Atlantis landed this afternoon; bringing an end to its career after 32 missions that covered more than 120 million miles. This makes me wonder: what kind of a retirement party does one throw for a space shuttle? Thank you, Atlantis, for bringing our astronauts home safe and making the vastness of space a little bit smaller.

Endeavor lifted off early this morning from Cape Canaveral. This will likely to be the last nighttime launch of a space shuttle as NASA is retiring the space shuttle at the end of this year. Her six astronauts will deliver a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station before returning in two weeks. I wish them well in their mission. Space shuttle blasts off on last night flight - Yahoo! News

The crew from the space shuttle Endeavor returned home this morning in a textbook perfect landing at the Kennedy Space Center, completing a mission to the International Space Station that lasted sixteen days. I still get goose bumps every time I see one of the space shuttles take off or land. Congratulations to everyone who was a part of the STS-127 mission, both on the shuttle and back on ground, for a job well done. Welcome home, Endeavor. Next up: the launch of Discovery, which is currently targeted for Tuesday, August 25 as part of the STS-128 mission .

The space shuttle Endeavor made a text book perfect landing this afternoon. They completed their 16-day mission to continue improvements at the International Space Station . It's hard to explain, but watching this video just makes me smile. Welcome home, Endeavor. Congratulations on a job well done.

For the past several years, we as a nation have been spending a lot of money on a lot of things, the war in Iraq, rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina and so on. The one thing that we haven't been doing is exploring outer space with the same earnest that we once did. NASA's budget, for example, has fallen 20% in real dollars from it's 1992 levels. It now only makes up 0.6% of the federal budget. Of course, while the United States has been doing other things, the rest of the world has been going full steam ahead . This creates a situation where the U.S. is no longer the world's undisputed leader in space exploration and we may soon be playing second fiddle to the Chinese, Indians and others. I'm all in favor of sharing outer space. There's clearly enough of it to go around. However, the idea that the U.S. is no longer at the cutting edge is irritating. Really, really irritating.

Atlantis made another perfect landing in Florida at 9:07 this morning. This brings their 13-day mission at the International Space Station to a successful conclusion. It also means that astronaut Dan Tani is once again on solid ground after spending 4 months in outer space. Welcome home everyone!

Today has been one of those good news/bad news days. The good news is that astronauts from Discovery added a new room onto the International Space Station today. It's been named Harmony. My first thought was that they should have changed a few letters and named it after a Harry Potter character instead. In fact, I think every room on the International Space Station ought be named after a character from the Harry Potter books. That or one from a Mark Twain novel. Anyway, the bad news is that they also found metal shavings inside of a joint that is needed to turn solar panels. I know it's bad when I forget to do the dishes and they get kind of crusty. It's a pain in the butt to clean them. I'm just imagining the challenges associated with cleaning metal shavings out of a metallic joint while traveling at 1,000+ m.p.h. in outer space.

Every time the space shuttle lifts off, it always carries some special cargo with it. When it lifts off this coming October, however, it's going to carry one of the coolest pieces of cargo ever. NASA is actually going to carry the lightsaber that Mark Hamill used in the original Star Wars movie up to the International Space Station. Yes, I know this is a publicity stunt. 100% stunt. But it's so darn cool!

I was surfing on-line and found NASA's press kit for the current space shuttle mission (officially known as STS-116 , which is the 117th mission for the space shuttle program). Included in this 135 page press kit is the to-do list (or as they prefer to call it "mission priorities") for the current flight. I have my own to-do list for the day (pay a few bills, a half dozen or so phone calls to make). Their mission priorities, however, kick butt. It's interesting that I have three college level physics courses under my belt as well as a semester of Air Force ROTC behind me and I only understand about half of what they are doing on this twelve day mission. For the curious amoung us, here is their list. It consists almost entirely of things that are happening on-board the International Space Station. Perform inspection of space shuttle heat shields and downlink sensor data for evaluation on the ground; Document space shuttle tile during rendezvous with station using i...

NASA lauched the Shuttle Discovery into space tonight at 8:47 p.m. from the Kennedy Space Center. The whole launch just looked so darn cool! It was America's first nighttime launch in four years; the lastest step in NASA's rather ambitious schedule to finish the International Space Station. Best of luck, guys!