Space Shuttle

Analysis and Comment (7)

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If you’re expecting the next few decades to yield many crewed space missions, you shouldn’t hold your breath. pasukaru76

The best of human spaceflight won’t happen in our lifetimes

By Brett Biddington

The recent passing of Neil Armstrong – the first human to step foot on the moon – combined with recent Russian plans to build a base on the moon, provides a good opportunity to pause and consider the future…
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Russia is no stranger to ambitious space exploration – and has produced several notable firsts. Maxim Shipenkov/ EPA

Space Race reloaded: will Russia send cosmonauts to the moon?

By Malcolm Walter

For decades, the Soviet Union was a major player in the exploration of space, famously locking horns with the US in the “Space Race” – a competition for orbital supremacy and solar system exploration throughout…
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Could Stanley Kubrick’s classic offer direction for the future of space travel? slagheap

2011, a space odyssey – what comes after the Shuttle program?

By Michael Smart

Tomorrow morning (AEST), weather depending, the Space Shuttle Atlantis will blast off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, marking the end of NASA’s 30-year-old Space Transportation System. But as the…
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A computer-generated artists impression of the thousands of objects in orbit around Earth. AFP

Space junk and the environment: it’s a very dark picture indeed

By Fred Watson, Australian Astronomical Observatory

Since the launch of the first artificial satellite in 1957 – the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 – countries around the world have been putting satellites and spacecraft into Earth orbit. While the majority…
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Keeping the space shuttle together is a tremendous feat of engineering. Stan Honda/AFP

The shuttle launch: delayed (but still worth the Endeavour)

By Michael Smart

The Space Shuttle Endeavour, one of the most complex machines ever created, is about to take its last trip into space. But not just yet. The countdown to Endeavour’s final flight began a few days ago…

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