Category Archives: News

Crew Dragon: The First Test Flight

Posted on February 28, 2019 by R.J. Southworth

Since the Space Shuttle program ended in July 2011, the United States has had no way to get its astronauts into Earth orbit besides paying for seats on the Russian Soyuz. In fact, when Virgin Galactic’s sub-orbital spaceplane VSS Unity … Continue reading →

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A Baby Snake in Amber!

Posted on July 21, 2018 by R.J. Southworth

Amber, or fossilised tree sap, has the ability to beautifully preserve the remains of animals and plants that become trapped in it. In the film Jurassic Park (and the novel it was based upon), the whole concept of bringing dinosaurs … Continue reading →

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Falcon Heavy: About to Launch!

Posted on February 5, 2018 by R.J. Southworth

Tomorrow, at 1:30pm EST, we are hopefully going to see another milestone in modern spaceflight as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket makes its first launch from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Admittedly, there is no guarantee that the … Continue reading →

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Manchester

Posted on May 23, 2017 by R.J. Southworth

Today has been a dark day. As I write this, 22 people are confirmed dead from last night’s Manchester Arena suicide bombing, one of them an eight-year-old girl. Any terrorist attack is a awful, frightening thing, but it causes a … Continue reading →

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New Horizons: Pluto Revealed

Posted on July 14, 2015 by R.J. Southworth

Eight months after Philae landed on a comet, and four months after Dawn went into orbit around Ceres, space history is once again about to be made. Today, having travelled for nine and a half years, and over three billion miles, the … Continue reading →

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(Almost) Total Eclipse of the Heart

Posted on March 20, 2015 by R.J. Southworth

In 1760, a French astronomer named Guillaume le Gentil set out to India with the intention of observing the 1761 transit of Venus – that is, Venus moving over the Sun from Earth’s perspective. A great number of astronomers at … Continue reading →

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Goodbye to Dippy

Posted on January 30, 2015 by R.J. Southworth

I love going to London – and one of the things I’ve always loved most about it is the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Most times that I go to London, I try to make time to take a look … Continue reading →

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Update: landing on a comet and reaching 25,000 words

Posted on November 15, 2014 by R.J. Southworth

On Philae I spent Wednesday constantly checking for updates on the progress of the Philae comet lander, with the BBC happily setting up a live feed to make it easy. It was a day of tense moments: first we had to … Continue reading →

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Good luck, Rosetta and Philae!

Posted on November 11, 2014 by R.J. Southworth

Tomorrow, I’m going to be keeping a close eye on the news. Tomorrow, around 4pm GMT, we will hopefully be receiving confirmation that the European Space Agency have actually landed a spacecraft on a comet. The probe Rosetta, which went … Continue reading →

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A Sad Reminder: Going Into Space Still Isn’t Safe

Posted on November 3, 2014 by R.J. Southworth

I was shocked and saddened to check the news on Friday night and learn that Richard Branson’s planned sub-orbital rocket plane SpaceShipTwo had crashed on a test flight, killing one of its pilots and injuring another. Obviously, this tragedy is going to … Continue reading →

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