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Tag Archives: human space flight
The Calculating Stars
The night is young and you’re so beautiful, can’t we get into the swing of – what was THAT?! The Calculating Stars opens with a rocket scientist and a math genius/former WASP pilot having a romantic night in the mountains, … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, science fiction
Tagged 1950s, alt-history, disaster, human space flight, Mary Robinette Kowal, science fiction, The Lady Astronaut, women
11 Comments
MOON DAY!
On this date, men from Earth, having ventured forth by the power of math and sheer chutzpah, landed on the surface of another cosmic body and stepped foot on the Moon. It’s been fifty-five years but I think that’s still … Continue reading
Space Camp Readings
Ever since 2021 I’ve set aside a week in July to celebrate human spaceflight, inspired by the lunar landing on July 20, 1969. I just realized it’s the 17th and my TBR pile has nothing spacey in it, so I’m … Continue reading
Recoding History
A few years ago I read Broad Band, a history of women in early computing, which blew my mind. I’d taken for granted that computers and the early internet were wholly the domain of socially awkward dudes with glasses wearing … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged AI, audiobook, digital world, history, human space flight, Technology and Society, women
1 Comment
The Eighth Continent
Nick is a commercial diver who, as a side gig, volunteers with a rescue organization to save people during flood disasters. There are a lot of those these days: rising waters, frequent hurricanes, and people who continue to build houses … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, science fiction
Tagged human space flight, Rhett C Bruno, science fiction
2 Comments
America’s first female astronauts
When NASA was formed and began looking for astronauts, they settled on test pilots as the initial base: such men were already known quantities, with proven physical and intellectual gifts that could be applied to the pioneering work of Mercury and beyond. Although … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged 1970s, 1980s, history, human space flight, quotations, women
4 Comments
Of bones and marooned astronauts
Out of Orbit proved, despite the small scope of its subject, to be a most interesting and wide-ranging little history. When Columbia disintegrated in the skies above Texas and Louisiana in February 2003, it not only took with it seven … Continue reading
Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard Mir
When Jerry Linenger first boarded the Space Station Mir for a five-month stint working with Russia’s finest, the master alarm was blaring. It was a sign of things to come. The aging space station had been continually modified and jury-rigged … Continue reading
We Have Capture
Tom Stafford is the last man of Gemini, having outlived all of his previous colleagues. Born in 1930 on the Oklahoma plains, he sought escape from poverty like many through the armed forces. Though too young for World War 2, … Continue reading
Carrying the Fire
Yet a higher call was calling, and we vowed we’d reach it soonSo we gave ourselves a decade to put fire on the moonAnd Apollo told the world, we can do it if we try —There was One Small Step, … Continue reading
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