Akron Classmates Achieved High Flying Jobs as Astronaut, Blue Angel

AKRON, OHIO -- Two high school classmates driven early by different goals found themselves a decade later working in similar career fields -- one a top naval aviator and one a NASA astronaut.

On June 6, 1966, Stuart Robinson Powrie and Judith Arlene Resnik graduated with their senior class from Firestone High School. Their families and the educators at the Akron, Ohio school had inspired the two to climb higher and travel farther.

Stu (as he liked to called) was a competitive swimmer during high school, a sport he continued during his years at the U.S. Naval Academy. In 1970, Powrie graduated from the academy, but not before he set two Navy records as a competitive swimmer.

Judy loved classical piano, however she loved mathematics even more during high school. She even earned a perfect score on her SAT exam. In 1970, she graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering.

SpaceX Launches 60 Starlink Internet Relay Satellites into LEO

SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts-off from Cape Canaveral AFS on January 6. (SpaceX)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A new decade of rocket launches began Monday evening as a SpaceX Falcon 9 thundered away from America's Space Coast to place 60 internet-relay satellites into orbit.

This launch was confirmed as the first official rocket launch under the new U.S. Space Force.

SpaceX is in the midst of building and launching their own network of data and Internet spacecraft known as Starlink. The commercial company hopes to blanket the Earth with thousands of Starlink spacecraft located at about 350 miles above.

Four-Time Shuttle Astronaut Inspiring Today's Youth at SpaceCamp

Dr. Don Thomas stands near space shuttle Pathfinder in Huntsville. (Atkeison)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The early days of America's space program inspired a future four-time space shuttle astronaut who now works to inspire the youth of today to reach for their goals -- including a voyage to Mars.

Dr. Donald Thomas ventured into space during four flights on the space shuttle. Each flight was a personal hallmark of achievement and a passion he shares with children and teens around the globe.

On Friday, Thomas will visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center -- home to the popular SpaceCamp and Aviation Challenge STEM-related camps. He hopes to inspire future engineers, pilots, and astronauts on the day they graduate from SpaceCamp.

"I was inspired to become an astronaut when I was just six years-old as I watched the launch of Alan Shepard," Dr. Thomas said as he stood near a large scale mock-up of the space shuttle. "That forever changed my life and career direction and motivated me to become an astronaut."

Two Americans, One Russian Lift-off to the Space Station

A Soyuz FG lifts-off from Kazakhstan with a new space station crew. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Two Americans and their Russian spacecraft commander launched a top a Soyuz rocket on Thursday to begin a four-orbit voyage to catch-up with and dock to the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch, and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin will spend six-months living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory 255 miles up. Once the crew docks on Thursday evening, the station will return to a full compliment of six crew members.

A Russian Soyuz FG rocket lifted-off on March 14 -- Pi Day -- at 3:14:08 p.m. EDT (12:14 a.m. on Friday, local time) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crew's Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft is scheduled to dock at 9:06 p.m. to the space station's Rassvet module. (NASA-TV will air these events live.)

Challenger's Final Flight Begins Enduring Mission of Inspiration

The tenth flight of Challenger lifts off on Jan. 28, 1986. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- As the space shuttle Challenger rose into a cold blue sky over America's Space Coast, excitement for the first teacher to travel into space turned to stunned disbelief as the vehicle suddenly broke apart - a crew lost - in an event which changed both NASA and the nation thirty-two years ago.

The frigid cold weather created a launch pad coated in thick ice which wrapped itself around the fully fueled space shuttle on the morning of January 28, 1986. Challenger's tenth crew, led by commander Francis Dick Scobee, included NASA's Teacher in Space representative, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, on a very publicized mission flying the first average citizen into space.

America's first "teachernaut" planned to conduct two live classroom sessions, including "The Ultimate Field Trip", a tour through the orbiter; and a lesson on why people explore and work in space from 176 miles above. The broadcasts were to be shown in classrooms around the planet on NASA-Select TV. Christa's excitement and enthusiasm made her a popular role model both in the public school systems and with the media.

This shuttle stack was the heaviest to launch weighing 4.53 million pounds, and carrying the second massive Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS). The SPARTAN satellite, designed to be placed over the side of the shuttle for a free flight close study of the popular visit by Haley's Comet, was to be deployed on day three of the mission and retrieved twenty orbits later.

John W Young recalled life from Georgia to Walking on the Moon

John Young gives a Navy salute during a Moon bounce in 1972. (NASA)

He was known as the astronaut's-astronaut.

A depression-era youth who grew up in northwest Georgia to become the seventh man to walk on the moon discussed his life in his recently released autobiography.

As a young boy attending school in Cartersville, located 40 miles north of Atlanta, John W. Young wrote about his meager life in the small town. And, how his strengths carried him on to college and into a flying career with the U.S. Navy and later upward to NASA.

Forever Young: A Life of Adventure in Air and Space is the book on the life of a true American hero, John Watts Young. Co-authored by James R. Hansen, Forever Young puts you on the flight deck and in the cockpit as Young prepares to push America forward in the space race and toward space research.

Young described his father's job at a Cartersville filling station as a temporary one after being laid off from a prominent job as a world traveling civil engineer during the height of the economic collapse.

Marine Test Pilot, Russian and Italian Launch to International Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An American Marine Top Gun test pilot, a Russian biochemist, and an Italian Special Forces parachutist lifted off on Friday a top a Russian Soyuz rocket beginning a voyage to rendezvous and dock with International Space Station.

Nearly six hours later, the crew of three successfully docked to the Russian Rasvet module on the Earth facing side of the space station at 5:54 p.m. EDT -- seven minutes earlier than planned.

NASA astronaut Randy J. Bresnik, Russian Soyuz commander Sergey Ryazanskiy, and Europe's Paolo Nespoli, all three space veterans, will be busy with a multitude of science experiments; the arrival and undocking of several unmanned cargo crafts; and spacewalking as they prepare the orbital outpost for new hardware.

Launched from the historic launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:41 a.m. EDT (9:41 p.m. local), today's lift-off occurred from the same pad Russia's Sputnik 1 launched from sixty years ago this October. That successful satellite launch in 1957 heralded the dawn of the space age.

As the Soyuz soared skyward into the darkening skies of sunset, a 400-foot golden flame pushed the rocket higher as it traveled eastward. Nearly nine minutes later, a strong jolt was felt by the crew as their Soyuz spacecraft separated from the rocket's third stage upon reaching orbit 125 miles above.

Space Station to Perform Three Orbit Chase of Solar Eclipse

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronauts aboard the International Space Station may have the best windows for viewing the Great American Eclipse as they photograph and record August's astronomical event during three consecutive orbits.

Soaring 255 miles above, the six person crew of Expedition 52 will have detailed observation objectives in place as they point cameras from the Cupola's windows while they trek across North America once every 91 minutes. They will also be the first humans to witness this solar eclipse thanks to orbital mechanics.

In May 2012, NASA astronaut Don Pettit witnessed a solar eclipse from Earth orbit. "It is amazing to see an eclipse from orbit," Pettit recalled. "The shadow on Earth looks just like what you see in the physics and astronomy books."

Newly released ground tracks by NASA provided to AvGeekery.com show the space station's three positions as it passes through the Moon's penumbra during the midday hours of August 21 -- the height of solar eclipse across America. Astronauts will attach special solar filters to their 400 mm and 800 mm cameras as they approach their first observation's over the Pacific Ocean.

NASA astronaut and American legend John Glenn dies at 95

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Col. John H. Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth and long time senator from Ohio, died on Thursday at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He was 95.

John Glenn last week in Washington, D.C. (NASA)

On February 20, 1962, John Herschel Glenn, Jr. became a national treasure as he lifted-off inside his cramped Mercury spacecraft known as Friendship 7 to begin America's first three orbits of manned spaceflight.

“The Ohio State University community deeply mourns the loss of John Glenn, Ohio’s consummate public servant and a true American hero," said Ohio State University President Michael V. Drake. "He leaves an undiminished legacy as one of the great people of our time."

A Marine fighter pilot during World War II, Glenn began his aviation career in 1943 and flew nearly sixty combat flights over the southern Pacific waters. He also served during the Korean War piloting ninety combat flights in both a F9F Panther and a F-86 Sabre jet.

Later at age 77, Glenn became the oldest person to fly in space as "six astronauts and one American legend" launched aboard space shuttle Discovery in October 1998. The senior astronaut had remained active in promoting America's space future through 2016, including speaking out on the "premature" cancellation of the shuttle program.

Born in Cambridge, Ohio on July 18, 1921, Glenn later attended Muskingum College earning a Bachelor of Science degree. He is survived by his childhood sweetheart, Anna M. (nee Castor). The couple were married for seventy-three years, resulting in two children and two grandchildren.

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex announces new summer highlights

Exploring space with new simulators and witnessing the thundering launch of a rocket are a few of this summer's highlights designed to educate and excite the public as NASA prepares for interplanetary travel, the Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex announced on Sunday.

Summer plans are in full swing as families look toward America's Space Coast for the excitement of the beaches, and the educational interest of the Kennedy Space Center. The next generation of space explorers are leaving their princess dresses and superhero outfits behind for flight suits and NASA caps to get an up close presence with the strong core STEM (Science, Technology, engineering and Math) values taught in school.

The warm space coast weather will give visitors chills of excitement as no less than eight major rocket launches are planned between June 1 and Labor Day weekend. The first rocket poised to lift-off is the massive Delta IV-Heavy on June 4 with a military payload on board. Space center visitors will be updated on launch times and given suggested locations to view each flight.

London's Sky News Tim Peake Space Mission with Charles Atkeison

London's Sky News presenter Gamal Fahnbulleh and aerospace journalist Charles Atkeison discuss astronaut Tim Peake's launch and mission aboard ISS.

NASA Pluto flyby honored with USPS stamp series

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday previewed a new series of 2016 space-themed stamp sets honoring both the planetary discoveries made by NASA and a stand alone set honoring the exciting views of the dwarf planet Pluto.

One of the space milestones of 2015 was the arrival and flyby of Pluto by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. New Horizons captured thousands of colorful photographs of the farthest planet from the Sun, a place yet unseen by human eyes until last July.

A four stamp sheet will feature two of the color enhanced view of Pluto highlighted by the popular heart shaped region named Tombaugh Regio. The second stamp is an artist's depiction of the spacecraft soaring through space. The Pluto stamps will be available in June.

“The New Horizons project is proud to have such an important honor from the U.S. Postal Service,” New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern said on Wednesday. “It’s a wonderful feeling to see these new stamps join others commemorating first explorations of the planets.”

The Pluto stamps will arrive 25 years after the Postal Service released the first Pluto stamp which featured an artist's rendition of the unseen planet. The 29-cent stamp was titled "Pluto Not Yet Explored". In 2006, NASA launched that stamp aboard New Horizons and today that stamp

International space station crew safely returns to Earth

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An American, Russian and Japanese astronaut concluded a five month working voyage aboard the International Space Station with the dynamic touchdown of their Soyuz taxi Friday upon the snowy steep of Kazakhstan.

Blowing snow flurries and overcast skies greeted the returning Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft as it landed with a thud in thick snow cover at about 8:12 a.m. EST (7:12 p.m. local time) nearly 80 miles northeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. Heavy winds then took hold of the craft's parachutes and toppled the Soyuz over dragging it a short way.

The crew's return was not telecast live as normal due to the inclement night time weather. Confirmation of the official landing time and exact location was delayed nearly eight minutes from the isolated site.

"They arrived in space like baby birds barely able to fly, and now they soar home as eagles," Space Station Commander Scott Kelly stated via Twitter following the crew's departure. "Great job Kjell and Kimiya!"

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, and Kimiya Yui of Japan separated their Soyuz spacecraft from the orbiting laboratory, and performed an engine burn to begin their journey home. Undocking occurred on time at 4:49 a.m., 252 miles above eastern Russia.

NASA New Horizons historic flyby of Pluto underway

New Horizon images of the icy dwarf planet Pluto. (NASA)

After traveling over three billion miles a small NASA spacecraft is making a historic fly-by of the icy dwarf planet Pluto and returning the first up close images and science data ever recorded.

Soaring at the edge of our solar system at 30,802 m.p.h., New Horizons closest approach to Pluto occurs at 7:49 a.m. EDT on Tuesday. However, new color images and scans of the small planet by a host of science instruments have already giving scientists a fresh look at the size of the unknown celestial body.

(NASA is live streaming video and images of the Pluto encounter here. You can also have real time access to exactly where the space craft is here. Follow the mission on social media via #PlutoFlyby.)

New Horizons mission scientist Bill McKinnon stated on Monday that the decades old debate on the size of Pluto has been answered -- 1,473 miles in diameter. "The size of Pluto has been debated since its discovery in 1930. We are excited to finally lay this question to rest,” McKinnon added.

New images are making NASA scientists grin. "For the first time on Pluto, (new) views reveals linear features that may be cliffs, as well as a circular feature that could be an impact crater," NASA Spokesperson Tricia Talbert discussed on Monday. "Rotating into view (above) is the bright heart-shaped feature that will be seen in more detail during New Horizons’ closest approach."

Pluto (right) and its moon Charon from New Horizons (NASA)

The size of three of the planet's five moons were also discovered, including its largest moon Charon at 751 miles. McKinnon said that the moon's atmosphere does not have a substantial atmosphere.

NASA is referring to Pluto and Charon as the "dynamic duo". Principal Investigator Alan Stern of Boulder, Colorado explained, “These two objects have been together for billions of years, in the same orbit, but they are totally different."

Pluto's smaller moons Hydra and Nix -- 30 miles and 20 miles in diameter, respectively -- likely have icy surfaces giving the two a brilliantly light surface as seen from a distance. These two moons were discovered in 2005 during an observation by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Tellus Museum adds historic space artifacts, new exhibits in 2014

ATLANTA -- Science exhibits from space and a clearer view into the celestial heavens were only a few of the top events occurring at the Tellus Science Museum near Atlanta during a fast-paced 2014.

The fourteenth year of the 21st century opened at Tellus with the introduction of the largest Moon rock to go on public display in Georgia. Cut from a larger rock collected during NASA fourth manned lunar landing, the four-ounce piece of the "Great Scott" rock drew large crowds to the museum's expanding space flight exhibit. NASA listed "Great Scott" as the second largest moon rock ever recovered during the six lunar landings.

"Tellus is proud to display a lunar sample retrieved during Apollo 15," Tellus Museum's curator Julian Gray said in January. "The sample is the largest on display in Georgia and is the centerpiece of the new Apollo exhibit."

Tellus also received for display from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum a real lunar module engine which was test fired by the space agency in Mississippi in 1972. The lunar module was used to taxi two astronauts to the Moon's surface and back from the command ship soaring in lunar orbit.

The science museum received a new eye on the sky in February as the planetarium's forty-foot wide dome upgraded to the Media Globe III HD projector. The new Konica Minolta-built projector provides a stunning view of our galaxy on the museum's dome at nearly 1.9 million dome pixels -- an increase of one million pixels over the previous system.

"We are very excited about our new planetarium projector – the graphics and image quality is going to blow everyone away!", Tellus Museum's Executive Director Jose Santamaria said. The new projector has allowed Tellus to conduct daily in depth astronomy presentations and showcase movie shorts which simulate a space flight. 

NASA to launch uncrewed Orion on orbital test flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The future of NASA crewed spaceflights beyond Earth orbit will be put to the test Thursday as the space agency launches a new spacecraft to qualify it's performance in space and the capability of its heat shield during its return to earth.

Built by Lockheed Martin, the cone-shaped Orion spacecraft will fly uncrewed during this first test flight -- NASA's first step in returning Americans to the Moon in the 2020's and later an asteroid and on to Mars.

"This is special. This is our first step on that journey to Mars," exclaimed Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana on Monday. "This is a huge first step to be able to check out the vehicle on the Delta IV."

The success of this $370 million mission will weigh heavily for NASA as the space agency looks to recapture the glory days of human spaceflight. The end of the space shuttle program in 2011 marked the last time Americans soared into earth orbit from the United States. Orion will allow four astronauts to fly beyond low earth orbit beginning with the first crewed flight in 2021.

Private American companies are moving forward under NASA's leadership to prepare in launching astronauts to the space station a few years earlier, while NASA focuses on launching beyond earth orbit.

"We are going to test the riskier parts of the mission with ascent and entry," said NASA Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer. "Things like the faring separation, heat shield, parachutes, guidance... those kinds of things. As well as flying into deep space and examining the radiation effects on the avionics."

NASA LADEE spacecraft lifts-off to study earth's moon

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A low cost NASA spacecraft designed to study the moon's thin atmosphere darted into a midnight sky over Virginia on Friday to begin a science gathering mission in lunar orbit.

NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft is a $280 million mission to help scientists learn more about the moon's atmosphere and the conditions near and on the lunar surface.

One question the space agency would like to know is if lunar dust is being kicked up into the very thin lunar exosphere.

The LADEE mission will be one of the first by the space agency to launch and operate a low cost exploration mission.

"(LADEE) is really designed to try to lower the cost and speed up the ability to put together a spacecraft," Dr. Pete Worden, Director of NASA Ames Research Facility, explained on Thursday. " We are very, very excited about (LADEE) and we're looking forward to a great mission."

Dr. Worden and Ames added they are serious about performing "a number of low cost, rapidly producible space missions" over the next decade.

Ames will manage the spacecraft's entire six month mission.

A brief flash of daylight heralded the maiden launch of Orbital Sciences Corp. Minotaur 5 rocket as it lept into the black sky late Friday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at 11:27 p.m. EDT.

NASA schedules spacewalks to repair space station cooling system

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On the heels of Christmas week NASA on Tuesday decided to delay this weeks launch of a resupply ship to the orbiting International Space Station in hopes to perform three spacewalks to repair a broken cooling system.

A failed valve on a pump module which controls the flow of coolant through lines to keep the space station's electrical systems cool stopped functioning on December 11 prompting NASA and the international partners to troubleshoot the exact cause and how to repair the issue.

"The pump is associated with one of the station's two external cooling loops, which circulate ammonia outside the station to keep both internal and external equipment cool," said Brian Dunbar, a spokesperson at the Johnson Space Center near Houston. 

Three 6 hour space walks by two NASA astronauts will allow the space agency to uninstall the failed cooling pump module with a spare located on the Starboard Truss segment of the station. 

The first spacewalk is planned to start on Saturday at 7:10 a.m. EST, and will see Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins translate over to the external stowage platform to retrieve the replacement pump module.

NASA confirms Voyager 1 has left the solar system

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In what NASA calls a historic moment, the space agency announced on Thursday that the first human-made object has officially left our solar system and crossed into interstellar space.

NASA scientists who continue to track the 36 year-old planetary space probe Voyager 1, discovered that new transmissions from the craft indicate it left the "solar bubble" in August 2012.

However, Voyager is still under trace influences of our Sun.

"No one has been to interstellar space before, and it's like traveling with guidebooks that are incomplete," Voyager project scientist Ed Stone of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena said. "Still, uncertainty is part of exploration. We wouldn't go exploring if we knew exactly what we'd find."

Due to the craft's age and older technology, Voyager cannot tell NASA exactly where it is nor does it have an operating plasma sensor to detect recent output from the Sun's Heliosphere.

Instead, scientists used a powerful burst of solar wind from the Sun which occurred in March 2012. Thirteen months later, the the solar burst eventually reached Voyager and the craft detected that it was forty times denser. They compared this data with a similar solar wave during 2012.

"Now that we have new, key data we believe this is mankind's historic leap into interstellar space," Stone explained. "The Voyager team needed time to analyze those observations and make sense of them. But we can now answer the question we've all been asking, 'Are we there yet?' Yes, we are."

Space station trio set to return to earth Tuesday

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Three of six crew members living aboard the International Space Station are poised to undock and return to earth on Tuesday after 168 days in space.

Outgoing Expedition 36 space station commander Pavel Vinogradov handed over command of the orbiting outpost to fellow cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin on Monday in preparation for his crew's planned departure.

Russians Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin and American Chris Cassidy, who arrived aboard the space station on March 28, are due to board their Soyuz TMA-08M craft at about 4:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday in preparation for the craft's hatch closure at 4:20 p.m.

They will leave behind Yurchikhin, NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano who will stay aboard the space station until their departure in November.

Cassidy, along with Luca, performed two spacewalks during his stay to prepare the orbiting outpost for an upcoming Russian research module this December.

Based on the Russian timeline, the Soyuz spacecraft will undock from the Poisk docking port at 7:35 p.m., and slowly back straight out to a distance a few hundred feet out before circling around the station and departing.