Author Archives: Gray Rinehart

Of X-Planes and Moon Rocks

By | |
Comments Off on Of X-Planes and Moon Rocks

Fifty years ago today — September 17, 1959 — Scott Crossfield made the first powered flight in an X-15, dropped off the wing of NASA’s B-52 flying out of Edwards AFB, CA.


(Cutaway drawing of the X-15. NASA Photo E62-7893.)

Here’s a NASA story commemorating the first flight, and a nice feature on Crossfield and his career.

And forty years ago today, the Smithsonian Institution unveiled the first lunar rock ever put on public display: brought back by Apollo-11, of course. Today I wonder if we have the national will to go back to the moon, or to go anywhere; the recent Augustine Panel noted that it’s technically feasible, but by damn it better be technically feasible by the 2020s if we did it back in the 1960s. It’s all a matter of money, and whether we see it as a cost or as an investment.

For the moment we have to content ourselves with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission, due to smash into crater Cabeus-A in about three weeks to try to verify if the hydrogen concentrations detected on the moon are in the form of water ice.

I hope LCROSS finds water, and more than expected . . . but even if it doesn’t, that’s only one spot in one crater. It will take other investigations to prove whether the moon is completely devoid of water. (Why I care: The characters in my novel collect ice that’s been dredged up microgram by microgram out of the bottom of Faustini crater, and since Faustini was on the “short list” of possible LCROSS impact points [according to a graphic shown during the 11 September press conference] I think my fictional world is still plausible for now.)

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

National Aerospace Day

By | |
Comments Off on National Aerospace Day

Happy Aerospace Day to one and all!

That’s right: September 16, 2009 was designated National Aerospace Day by resolutions passed in the House and the Senate. (See this Reuters article.) Key passages of the resolution say,

  • “… the United States aerospace industry is a powerful, reliable source of employment, innovation, and export income, directly employing 831,000 people and supporting more than 2,000,000 jobs in related fields”
  • “… aerospace education is an important component of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and helps to develop the science and technology workforce in the United States”
  • “… aerospace innovation has led to the development of the Global Positioning System, which has strengthened national security and increased economic productivity”
  • “… the aerospace industry assists and protects members of the Armed Forces with military communications, unmanned aerial systems, situational awareness, and satellite-guided ordinances”

and the resolution “recognizes the contributions of the aerospace industry to the history, economy, security, and educational system of the United States.”

I’m happy to bring you this announcement, and to be part of the growing aerospace industry in the state of North Carolina as the Associate Director of the North Carolina Aerospace Initiative. If you know anyone working in aerospace in North Carolina, or a young person interested in an aerospace career, send them my way and let them know we’re here to help!

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

50 Years Ago: World's First Lunar Probe

By | |
Comments Off on 50 Years Ago: World's First Lunar Probe

Fifty years ago today — September 12, 1959 — the Soviet Union launched the Luna-2 mission on a Vostok rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. As noted, Luna-2 was the first probe to hit the moon: it impacted east of the Sea of Serenity (Mare Serenitatis).


(Luna-2. Image from NASA’s Space Science Data Center.)

One interesting element: Luna-2 carried a flag with the USSR’s hammer-and-sickle and a “September 1959” banner, making it the first mission to plant a flag on the moon.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Space History: Big Joe 1 and STS-64

By | |
Comments Off on Space History: Big Joe 1 and STS-64

Fifty years ago today — September 9, 1959 — the Mercury capsule test “Big Joe 1” launched from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas rocket. The booster operated nominally but its two outboard engines didn’t separate as planned, which left the payload 500 miles short of the predicted impact point; the overall test flight was still considered a success.

(Big Joe launch vehicle. Click to enlarge. USAF photo from the Johnson Space Center image collection.)

And fifteen years ago today, in 1994, Richard N. Richards, L. Blaine Hammond, Jr., Jerry M. Linenger, Susan J. Helms, Carl J. Meade, and Mark C. Lee launched from the Kennedy Space Center aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-64.


(STS-64 mission patch, from NASA.)

The STS-64 mission was the first flight of the LIDAR (i.e., light detection and ranging, like radar but with lasers instead of radio) In-Space Technology Experiment, or “LITE.” Astronauts Lee and Meade accomplished the first untethered U.S. space walk in 10 years.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Genesis Crash

By | |
Comments Off on Genesis Crash

Five years ago today — September 8, 2004 — NASA’s Genesis sample return capsule crash-landed in the Utah desert. The spacecraft was returning with samples collected from the solar wind, but its drogue parachute failed as it descended. It hit the ground traveling 311 km/hr.

(Genesis sample container crash site. Click to enlarge. USAF photo from NASA web page.)

The damaged container was taken into a clean room as soon as possible so NASA scientists could analyze the sample fragments. This page explains how some of the Genesis findings solved a mystery about the isotopic composition of lunar rocks brought back by the Apollo missions.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Zombie Haiku

By | |
Comments Off on Zombie Haiku

Friday afternoon at Dragon*Con I went to “Princess Alethea’s Traveling Road Show,” in which my friends Alethea Kontis, Ada Milenkovich Brown, and James Maxey read some of their work. Before the show began, Alethea invited the audience to compose their own “Zombie Haiku” to share with everyone.

I had never written a haiku before, though I know the 5-7-5 syllable pattern. And I am not particularly a fan of the zombies, vampires, etc., that are all the rage these days. But, game for a challenge, I put one together. (I wrote it on the back of one of my business cards.)

My Zombie Haiku:

Delicious brains,
Still warm, though a little dry.
Need more blood. And salt.

For what it’s worth . . . .

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Problems in the Search for Lunar Ice

By | |
Comments Off on Problems in the Search for Lunar Ice

Last week controllers lost contact with the Indian lunar probe Chandrayaan-1, which was about to embark on a new series of observations in conjunction with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Now those radar observations won’t happen, as explained in this New Scientist article.

That sets back the search for ice in lunar craters, which will be vital to future lunar outposts. But this passage especially caught my eye:

Chandrayaan-1 flew over “a lot of little craters that looked like they had ice” and mapped 95 per cent of the polar regions before its mission ended,

according to Stewart Nozette of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. That sounds encouraging.

And provided that LCROSS — the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite — doesn’t experience another in-flight emergency, we should get a closer look at the contents of one crater in just a few weeks.

But no matter what any of these probes reveal: in the world of my novel, WALKING ON THE SEA OF CLOUDS, the colonists retrieve ice from the permanently shaded floor of Faustini Crater.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Blog Link: The Next Dimension

By | |
Comments Off on Blog Link: The Next Dimension

The Next Dimension

To me, “The Next Dimension” is a VIB — Very Important Blog.

To you, maybe, the adventures of a U.S. student studying abroad in Japan may not be so important, but to me it’s a great source of excitement and pride. Then again, I’m always excited about and proud of my children’s accomplishments — what parent isn’t?

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Pioneer-11's Saturnian Encounter — PLUS, A Scavenger Hunt

By | |
Comments Off on Pioneer-11's Saturnian Encounter — PLUS, A Scavenger Hunt

Thirty years ago today — September 1, 1979 — Pioneer 11 became the first spacecraft to fly by Saturn. It flew past Saturn’s rings, passing 13,000 miles above the planet’s cloud tops.


(Pioneer-11 image of Saturn during its approach to the planet on August 26, 1979, from a distance of 1,768,422 miles. Saturn’s moon Titan is visible in the upper left. NASA image.)

[BREAK, BREAK]

Dragon*Con is coming!

For those of you who may be interested, Anthology Builder is sponsoring a scavenger hunt at the con. Nancy Fulda, the founder and high potentate of Anthology Builder — where, as the name implies, you can build your own anthology of (mostly science fiction and fantasy) short stories — produced a series of badges which con-goers can collect and display to win a free anthology. Details of the scavenger hunt are on this page, and here’s the badge for yours truly — not sure why the first version stopped working —

(Click to enlarge.)

— made to come as close as possible to the grandmother who is the lead character in “The Rocket Seamstress,” my story on the site.

So if you’re going to Dragon*Con, look for the badges … and if you’re not, pop on over and see all the stories that are available on Anthology Builder.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather