SpaceX Dragon Capsule Catastrophe After Launch

I was downtown Toronto this morning, dressed in a suit and holding my umbrella to stay dry and navigate the city streets as they were soaked with rain.  I was headed to the CBC building on John street to do an interview about the SpaceX CRS-7 mission that would launch an hour later.  This would be a very important mission, the seventh of twelve ISS resupply missions contracted by NASA. It was also the third attempt at a secondary goal – landing the first stage launch vehicle, the Falcon 9 rocket, upright on an ocean platform, a feat that had...

Space Station Docking Video

One of the most difficult maneuvers I can imagine is the rendezvous and docking connection of two spacecraft in orbit.  They’ve launched at different times, they are travelling several thousand kilometers per hour, and they are orbiting the Earth 400 Km above the surface.  And yet human ingenuity has prevailed and allowed us to not just perform this procedure, but to experience it as humans trapped on the surface.  This NASA video shows a real time docking procedure. I can’t help but think of the video game Kerbal Space Program, an excellent space program simulator for anyone who loves the...