Stephen Smith 🇺🇦
I am a long-time advocate of space exploration, settlement and commerce. Migrated from @WordsmithFL on Twitter.
Joined Nov 2022
The #Trump #MAGA lies about the government controlling the #Weather reminded me of, when I worked #NASA education at #KSC, how I'd be asked "where are the NASA weather machines." People insisted NASA had weather machines on the coastline controlling the weather!
I'd tell them there's no such thing, go see for yourself, but they wouldn't believe me.
It didn't happen often, maybe five times a year, but it *did* happen.
#Weather #Hurricane #Florida #SpaceCoast
#NASA has postponed Thursday's #SpaceX #FalconHeavy Europa Clipper launch from #KSC Pad 39A due to #Milton.
#Weather #Hurricane #Florida #SpaceCoast #NASA #KSC #CCSFS #Milton
I found this on the 45th weather squadron's website. It suggests we'll have 34 knot (40 mph) winds but not much more.
We're going to have lots of rain, but 40 mph winds is quite survivable.
#Weather #Hurricane #Florida #SpaceCoast #NASA #KSC #CCSFS #Milton
We have two launches scheduled for this week. Both the civilian and military spaceports rely on the 45th weather squadron for forecasts.
If you want a peek behind the scenes, here are two useful links:
The home page for the 45th weather squadron: https://www.patrick.spaceforce.mil/About-Us/Weather/
The hurricane page for the squadron: https://www.patrick.spaceforce.mil/HurricaneInformation/
Right now they're at HURCON 5, meaning, "Something wicked this way comes." 🌀
Happy 66th birthday #NASA! The agency began on October 1, 1958.
This is a film sent out to employees of its predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, just before the switchover. It features outgoing NACA director Hugh Dryden and incoming NASA administrator Keith Glennan. Glennan kept on Dryden as NASA deputy administrator.
Six years ago, #KSCVC refurbished our Saturn IB, which is now the only one left in the world. It was a rare opportunity to look inside, for the first time since the 1970s.
Von Braun used fuel tanks from Redstone and Jupiter for his Saturn IB boosters. We could see them for the first time, labelled FUEL and LOX.
For NASA historians, this was a privilege to peek back into time.
#Space #SpaceCoast #NASA #CCSFS
This is a 1963 #Florida Development Commission film promoting how the federal and military space programs were growing the local and state economies.
As I write in my book (under submission), this had the consequence of making the local economy dependent on federal spending, like making an addict dependent on his next heroin fix.
But it's 1963, so enjoy the Wayback Machine.
The latest on nascent #Helene ... The forecast continues to worsen, now possibly a Category 4 for the Panhandle.
The final panel is the ten-day forecast for Merritt Island, where I live (as well as #NASA #KSC). The winds are now forecast as 29 MPH, higher than last night's 27 MPH.
The four-leaf panel model suggests this will be an event for almost all of Florida, catastrophic for some.
Images from Tropical Tidbits, Mike's Weather Page, and Weather.com.
#Weather #SpaceCoast #NASA #KSC
No particular reason other than a random distraction ... That time I caught lightning striking the faux external tank outside the #KSCVC Atlantis exhibit.
The storm was passing west-east through the park. It hit the entrance and then the rocket garden. Strike Three was the external tank.
#Space From #ArsTechnica
#AxiomSpace is having financial problems because its recently departed CEO tried to run it like #NASA -- lots of employees with little to do.
Axiom is planning a commercial space station by decade's end and developing lunar spacesuits for NASA.
Nice opinion column about #JPL in Pasadena's search for extraterrestrial life.
I'm sometimes asked how NASA decides what to do. The National Academies of Science provide NASA with a "decadal survey" as overall guidelines. The Academies declared several decades ago that the search for extraterrestrial life should be the priority.
In the end, though, it's up to Congress, which is more interested in protecting jobs in their districts/states.
For years, part of my spiel at #NASA #KSCVC was to tell guests that constellations such as #SpaceX #Starlink will one day give you the ability to access the Internet anywhere on planet Earth, including airplane flights, "so you can watch your cat videos on YouTube."
I'm declaring victory.
"The Inflight Wi-Fi Revolution Now Arriving: United Signs Starlink Deal to Provide Industry-Leading Connectivity in the Sky - For Free"
https://www.united.com/en/us/newsroom/announcements/cision-125346
A House hearing is underway to discuss the safety of commercial space.
A decade ago, they would have been falling over each other trying to protect NASA's legacy contractors.
#SpaceX is about the launch the crewed #PolarisDawn mission from #NASA #KSC Pad 39A., targeting 5:23 AM EDT. Watch live on Spaceflight Now.
Stephen Smith 🇺🇦
I am a long-time advocate of space exploration, settlement and commerce. Migrated from @WordsmithFL on Twitter.
Joined Nov 2022