The Republic of Tiny Flashes
From the ISS, Fourth of July fireworks become tiny flashes on Earth’s night side - visible, beautiful, and humblingly unresolved.
Human Spaceflight
23posts
Space Gorillas, Space Baboons, and the Thin Veneer of Astronaut Dignity
A playful look at what space pranks reveal about astronauts, isolation, and the fragile dignity of life in orbit.
Starliner’s Type A Wake-Up Call: When “Two Providers” Becomes a Safety Variable
Starliner’s upgraded incident classification turns commercial crew redundancy from procurement theory into a concrete safety question.
ISS Medical Return: Crew-11 Back
A medical return from the ISS shows how quickly orbital routine becomes a test of planning, trust, and contingency.
A Medical Situation Aboard the ISS: Putting Crew Health First in Space
An ISS medical situation reminds us that human spaceflight remains, above all, a discipline of crew survival.
A New Chapter at NASA: Welcoming Jared Isaacman
Jared Isaacman’s arrival at NASA signals a possible shift in how public ambition and private speed meet in space.
Landing on Mars: No Chopsticks, No Problem! How Starship Will Stick the Landing Without a Red Carpet
Landing Starship on Mars will not need launch-tower chopsticks, but it will demand a very different kind of precision.
NASA's 5 x 5 Risk Matrix Scorecard: A Powerful Tool for Space Safety
NASA’s risk matrix looks simple, but it reveals how space programs turn uncertainty into decisions.
Small Steps, Giant Leaps: The Dawn of Commercial Spacewalks
Polaris Dawn’s commercial spacewalk marks a small step outside the capsule and a large shift in who gets to do it.
The Tale of Two Satellites: Kalamsat and TerreStar-1
Two very different satellites show how space innovation can come from student ambition as well as commercial scale.
The Upside of Upside-Down: Could Weightlessness Be a Boon for Your Heart?
Weightlessness harms many systems, but its effects on the heart raise a more nuanced and surprising medical question.
The Lunar Rover: Driving on the Moon's Surface
The lunar rover turned walking distance into exploration range, changing what astronauts could actually do on the Moon.
Cosmic Colognes: The Scent-sational Journey of Outer Space!Cologne
The smell of space becomes a playful doorway into chemistry, astronaut reports, and the marketing of cosmic wonder.
From Bookshelves to the Cosmos: Unraveling the Mysteries of Space Nutrition
Space nutrition turns food into engineering, psychology, medicine, and comfort packed into every mission plan.
Burping in Space: The Galactic Challenges of Raising Infants in Microgravity
Raising infants in microgravity sounds whimsical until biology, caregiving, and spacecraft design make it deeply complicated.
Turning Screws, Pressing Buttons: The Intricacies of Tool Use in Space
Even simple tools become complicated in microgravity, where every push, screw, and button press has consequences.
Beyond the Stars: The Confluence of Function, Fashion and Fantasy in Spacesuit Design
Spacesuits sit at the intersection of survival engineering, public symbolism, design language, and science-fiction expectation.
The Astonishing "Superpowers" of Astronauts in Space: Enhanced Vision and Beyond
Space can change human perception in surprising ways, turning astronaut health into a source of strange discoveries.
Women in Space: The Future of Long-Term Space Missions and Interplanetary Colonization
Long-term space settlement raises questions about women’s health, reproduction, crew design, and who exploration is built for.
Microscopic Threats in Space: Dust, Mold, Bacteria, and Viruses
Microbes, dust, mold, and viruses become more serious when sealed habitats make Earth’s smallest threats hard to escape.
The Building Blocks of a Spaceship: A Material Perspective
A spacecraft is only as good as its materials, from structural strength to sustainability and long-duration reliability.
TGIF: Do Astronauts Need a Vacation?
Even astronauts need rhythms of rest, making weekends and downtime surprisingly important in orbit.
NASA's "Snoopy" Award: Honoring the Heroes Behind the Scenes
NASA’s Snoopy Award honors the quiet excellence behind missions, where small decisions can protect lives.