A Place to Write
Handwritten notes aboard Apollo 11 reveal the human side of spaceflight: practical reminders, daily routines, and affection for the machines that carried the crew.
Human Spaceflight
25posts
Three Rockets. One Thursday.
Three rockets, one Thursday: SpaceX makes the extraordinary routine, while its achievements test the media’s ability to applaud an inconvenient billionaire.
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.
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.