Mars 39% Farther Away After New Budget

As an update to the previous blog post on the 12th which talked about potential decreases to the Mars Exploration project, it seems that the predictions about budget cuts to this project have indeed occurred.  The Article from the BBC explained that NASA’s planetary science budget loses 20% of its current 1.5 Billion. Mars exploration, which is a part of that …

Next “Giant Leap” Not Worth It?

Tomorrow, February 13th, US President Obama is scheduled to make an announcement surrounding budget cuts that will most likely result in NASA’s withdrawal from a human flight to Mars. Furthermore, it is expected that the projected budget cuts will result in a significant reduction in funding for future robotic missions. The funding for space exploration has always been controversial. Why reach to the …

Big Bang Theory hosts Astronaut Mike Massimino

In an conflation of comedy, science and science fiction, astronaut Mike Massimino will be joining the cast of Big Bang Theory tonight. Episode 515, The Friendship Contraction, will host Massimino, a past Atlantis and Columbia veteran. Massimino’s STS 125 Atlantis mission in May of 2009 was the final Hubble servicing mission featured in the IMAX documentary Hubble; one of the …

Atlantis Moves to the Vehicle Assembly Building

At 8:30am EST today, Space Shuttle Atlantis was moved from the processing hangar, where it was stationed after completing its final mission, to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). It was in the VAB this past October that we were up close and personal with Endeavour. The enormous structure, one of the largest in the world, dwarfed the shuttle when we …

Help Find Bubbles in Space!

Hey Chasers! I found this amazing project today and just had to share it. The Milky Way Project is a citizen participation initiative that allows you to identify bubbles in stellar gas created by massive stars through images from the Spitzer Space Telescope Images are provided to you to mark what you believe to be these stellar bubbles that are …

The Faces of Chasing Atlantis

Fellow Chasers, Here is a first look at “Chasing Atlantis.” I hope that you enjoy this teaser. It won’t be the last! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. – Paul

Preparing for Our Own Liftoff

Hey Chasers, It’s been two months now since our return journey to the Kennedy Space Center. Yesterday Paul and I, over Skype across the country, looked at the first rough cut that he had put together for our first trailer called the “Faces of Chasing Atlantis” that highlights some of the key interviews during our first journey in July and …

Curiosity Prepares for Journey to Mars

Largest vehicle we are planning on sending to the Red Planet yet. Curiosity’s revolutionary landing system may be the step we need to one day have somebody from our own Blue Planet settle on Mars. Rather than the rover being couched in an airbag deployed shell which looses energy gradually by bouncing across the Martian surface on landing, curiosity will …