Bob Granath

Soviet’s Voskhod Launch was ‘Undoubtedly a Greater Risk’

By Bob Granath | October 15, 2024

In the autumn of 1964, the Soviet Union achieved another space spectacular with the flight of the first multi-person spacecraft. On board was a pilot cosmonaut and the first civilians to fly in space – a physician and an engineer. Russia’s stated confidence in the reliability of their technology noted that there was no need for pressure suits. However, in the years since the fall of the Soviet regime, Russian space experts confirmed the mission was primarily for propaganda and included significant risks.

Crew-9 Demonstrates Flexibility of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program

By Bob Granath | September 29, 2024

On Sept. 28, 2024, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia. Launching the Crew Dragon with two unoccupied seats is part of the agency’s decision to return the Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft uncrewed demonstrating the flexibility of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Quick Thinking Demonstrated Value of the Human Element

By Bob Granath | July 1, 2024

In late 1966, the final Gemini mission was launched into the skies over Cape Kennedy Air Force Station. At Mission Control in Houston, Dr. Chris Kraft, NASA’s director of Flight Operations, turned to Dr. Robert Gilruth, director of the agency’s Manned Spacecraft Center, and said, “Thank God we never had to use those ejection seats.” But, if not for a test pilot’s quick thinking, two astronauts would have during an attempt to launch a Gemini mission a year earlier.

Crew Flight Test a ‘Tremendously Historical Marker’ for NASA

By Bob Granath | June 5, 2024

In a crucial milestone for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner launched into the Florida Space Coast skies at 10:52 a.m. EDT on June 5, 2024. The agency now has a second vehicle to send astronauts from American soil to and from the International Space Station. With two agency astronauts aboard, the Crew Flight Test (CFT) lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Pioneering Mercury Astronauts Launched America’s Future

By Bob Granath | April 9, 2024

From ancient astronomers to fantasy authors to modern-day scientists, visionaries dreamed for centuries about travel beyond Earth into outer space. On a spring day in 1959, America’s fledgling space agency introduced seven military test pilots who would turn the stuff of science fiction into the “right stuff,” launching the nation into the future.

Crew-8 Launched for Six-Months of Research Aboard the Space Station

By Bob Granath | March 5, 2024

A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off on March 3, 2024, with three Americans and one Russian for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Ongoing research aboard the orbital laboratory is designed to benefit humans living on and off the Earth. What is learned in orbit also will help NASA prepare for long-term operations on and around the Moon and eventual exploration of Mars.

Legendary Countdown Preceded the First Moon Landing Mission

By Bob Granath | February 8, 2024

A countdown first was used as part of a rocket’s launch to the Moon in the 1929 science-fiction movie “Frau im Mond” (Woman in the Moon). Ironically, a countdown led to the voyage of Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins and Buzz Aldrin completing the first mission to actually land humans on the Moon 40 years later. The day Apollo 11 lifted off on its extraordinary flight, July 16, 1969, hundreds of millions on every continent around the world watched and listened on live television to what became the most famous countdown.

Launch Countdown Tradition Began with a Silent Movie

By Bob Granath | January 26, 2024

The familiar count backwards to zero leading to the launch of a rocket did not originate with missiles fired from Cape Canaveral. It began with an Austrian filmmaker recruiting a spaceflight pioneer to recommend ways to add drama and realism to a 1929 science-fiction movie about a fictitious trip to the Moon. German rocket enthusiasts soon began including countdowns to their rocket tests. It later continued in their work in the U.S. leading to the historic first actual lunar flight by humans.

Premier, Multi-User Spaceport Sets Record for Launches During 2023

By Bob Granath | December 26, 2023

During 2023, 72 rockets launched into the skies regularly rumbling windows along Florida’s Space Coast proving, again, that NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station have been established as America’s premier multi-user spaceport. The new record shattered the previous number set only last year during which 57 rockets lifted off.

Artemis II to Launch New Era in Human Presence Beyond Earth

By Bob Granath | November 20, 2023

In November of 2024, NASA will renew human exploration beyond Earth as four astronauts travel to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Aboard an Orion spacecraft, four astronauts will loop beyond the lunar surface venturing farther away than humans ever traveled before. Plans call for the Artemis II flight test to pave the way for landing the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon for long-term presence for science and exploration.

Author: Bob Granath