Public Policy and Executive Branch Agencies-

The operation of NASA has always been intertwined with Presidential politics. Since its inception, NASA has been an independent agency that is part of the executive branch. For better or worse, this has meant that each President can impart their legacy on the agency. Some Presidents like Ford and Carter took a more hands-off approach, so I’ll be skipping them for now.

Space became a defining part of President Kennedy’s legacy, even if he had not intended to make it so upon entering office. …

On July 29th, 1985, the Space Shuttle Challenger launched on the STS-51F mission, successfully completing an Abort to Orbit. An early shutdown of one of the RS-25 engines meant that the Challenger wasn’t able to reach as high of an orbit as planned, but the mission was still Go.

A dramatic camera angle framed this picture of Challenger, as it rose from the Pad 39A. Challenger carried experiments studying life sciences, plasma physics, solar physics, high-energy astrophysics, astronomy, and some cans of soda.

This weird payload, part of the “Cola Wars,” flew on STS-51F. The crew of the Challenger performed taste tests on Pepsi and Coca-Cola while in orbit. It seems that neither cola won accolades from the crew. The cans pictured here are on display at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas. The item description for these artifacts notes, “Both colas tasted like a bottle that had been opened and then forgotten about.” …

Update- SpaceX successfully launched and recovered the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. Yesterday’s recovery was the first time that SpaceX recovered a booster for the fifth time. This will help pave the way to continued reusability of the Falcon 9 rocket. The 60 Starlink satellites have also been deployed. Congratulations to SpaceX on another successful mission, which launched a day before the first launch of the Falcon 9 in history.

SpaceX will launch the latest batch of 60 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket later tonight. Liftoff is scheduled for 9:25 p.m. …

NASA’s final Space Shuttle mission lifted off on July 8, 2011. The final flight of Atlantis started the longest gap between crewed missions launching from the United States in the history of NASA.

SpaceX and NASA are slated to fly the first crewed mission with the Crew Dragon capsule on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will launch from Pad 39A, the same site of the final flight of Atlantis in 2011.

In no particular order, here are ten pieces of news, pop culture, and space history that took place the last time humans lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in 2011. …

Today is the 47th anniversary of the launch of Skylab, America’s first space station. This picturesque launch would soon turn dangerous, roughly a minute into the flight, but before we get to the hair raising launch, let’s talk about Skylab and the last Saturn V rocket.

Skylab fits in a class all of its own. The station itself was massive, and it had a habitable volume nearly the size of the International Space Station (ISS). What’s even more impressive is that Skylab launched on one mission, instead of over 42 assembly missions like the ISS.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off for the first time on May 7th, 1992. Endeavour was the last of the Shuttles to be built; NASA ordered the creation of the new Shuttle after the loss of the Challenger.

Interestingly, the delivery of Endeavour to Kennedy Space Center took place exactly one year before its first launch. On May 7th, 1991, Endeavour arrived at KSC atop one of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Before we get to STS-49, Endeavour’s first mission, let’s go over a brief history of the Shuttle program. …

When I purchased my used 5th generation iPod, it came with 2277 songs, from artists ranging from Abba to The Zombies. Frankly, I was not expecting anything on the iPod, and I plan on erasing the contents of this iPod once I complete this series. You can read Part 1 here.

However, for the time being, I have taken advantage of listening to an eclectic collection of music, some of which is familiar, while other songs are entirely new.

It is like tuning into a random radio station that you have never heard before. One of the things I have come to love about the iPod is the main menu option to “Shuffle Songs” and its something I’ve taken full advantage of over the past week. …

Getting up early or staying up late to watch a meteor shower can be an awe-inspiring experience. Here are five resources to help you observe some of the wonders of our solar system.

1. Find a dark patch of sky

Light pollution sucks. Find a spot away from the light pollution of cities and urban areas. Sadly, this is tricky for a lot of us. Driving to the countryside or heading up to the Rocky Mountains for those of us in Colorado is not always something we can do. …