Latest news with #SpaceRace
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
New interactive exhibit launches at New Mexico Museum of Space History
ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (KRQE) – A new interactive exhibit in New Mexico is helping people tap into the past and future of space. The 'Wall of Firsts' at the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo takes visitors on a journey through time using touchscreen technology created by Corrales-based company Ideum. A downtown Albuquerque shoe shine parlor is still serving patrons after nearly a century The exhibit follows a timeline starting when the man known as the father of modern rocketry moved to Roswell. 'We start with early rocketry, so 1900 is the earliest, so that's more of like Dr. Goddard and him coming up with liquid fuel propellant. And then we go into post-war, so 1946-55, that's when they building all the missiles and building that technology,' said Brianna Buller, curator supervisor at the New Mexico Museum of Space History. The exhibit also explores the Space Race, the Space Shuttle Era, the modern era, and the future of space. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Verge
7 days ago
- General
- The Verge
SpaceX's ninth Starship flight test ends in another explosion.
The space race heats up: all the news on the latest rocket launches See all Stories Posted May 28, 2025 at 1:23 AM UTC SpaceX's ninth Starship flight test ends in another explosion. For the third time in a row, a Starship test ended in a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly,' after tumbling toward the Indian Ocean rather than making the planned controlled descent and soft splashdown. As noted by , this mission ran into issues trying to achieve several goals: the reused Super Heavy booster rocket broke up about six minutes into the flight instead of splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico, they were unable to test deploying eight Starlink satellite dummies, and then the ship lost control about a half-hour after launch due to a leak in its fuel tank systems.
Mint
09-05-2025
- Science
- Mint
5 legendary wristwatches that went to space
Not so long ago, the wristwatch used to be a proper tool. Used by professionals in different environments, and for a wide variety of jobs, the watch wasn't just part of someone's 'look", but also an essential item. A recreational diver (as well as a professional one) would use their dive watch, while a scientist working in a laboratory might use a watch with extra magnetic resistance. In fact, wristwatches used to be marketed as such, e.g. chronographs with a pulsometer scale on the bezel were pitched to doctors, because they would use one to calculate the pulse rate. And once recreational sports like mountaineering, diving and spelunking took off in the 1950s and 60s, purpose-built watches like the Seiko Willard, or the Rolex Explorer II were marketed as kit essentials. In fact, watches were important enough that when the 'Space Race" between the Soviet Union and the US began in the 1960s, watches became an important part of the story. So, what are the watches that went to space? Well, there are many including, in modern times, Casios and Apple Watches. But for sheer iconic status, you can't beat these five. Also Read 8 best GMT watches for your summer holidays A post shared by Galin Russev (@gallianoo) Strela Chronograph If the narrative of space exploration is too US-centric, then so is the story of watches in space. And while everyone knows that the Omega Speedmaster was the first watch on the moon in 1969, in 1965, Russian-made Strela became the first watch to be worn during a spacewalk, by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Built by the Moscow Watch Factory (which had also supplied the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, with his Sturmanskie watch). A chronograph was an indispensable tool for the space-men, since so much of their work had to be meticulously timed, from oxygen levels to timing rocket burns. A post shared by Gabriele (@isignorideltempo) Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute By the early 1960s, the Breitling Navitimer had been established as one of the most trusted aviation watches for pilots. The key factor that made the watch a hit with the pros was its circular slide rule, allowing pilots to make on-the-fly in-flight calculations. In 1961, US cosmonaut M. Scott Carpenter approached Breitling to make him a purpose-built Navitimer, this one with a 24-hour chronograph scale (instead of the standard 12-hour scale), because it's impossible to otherwise tell morning from night in space. Breitling obliged, and in 1961, the Cosmonaute became the first Swiss chronograph in space, when Carpenter flew to space on the Aurora 7 rocket. A post shared by Neyra Official (@ Omega Speedmaster Professional NASA had been tinkering with the idea of selecting an official watch—a chronograph of course—for its astronauts, and the process speeded up once Carpenter took the Navitimer to space. The space organization invited brands to participate, and received watches from Omega, Rolex and Longines. After rigorous durability tests, NASA settled on the Omega Speedmaster, a watch released in 1959 for motorsport enthusiasts and drivers. From 1965, the Speedmaster Professional became a part of the official gear issued to astronauts of the Gemini and Apollo missions. Thus, the watch featured on the wrists of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when they touched down on the moon in 1969. A new horological icon was born. Also Read 5 horology YouTube channels you should follow A post shared by 𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚏𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 (@lowgradewatchfiend) Bulova Lunar Chronograph While the official Speedmasters issued by NASA had to be returned to the organization once astronauts returned to Earth, members of the expeditions were allowed to carry personal watches too. During the Apollo 15 mission in 1971, astronaut Dave Scott's Speedmaster's crystal popped out during an EVA (extra-vehicular activity) on the Lunar Rover. He put on his personal Bulova chronograph to help him finish the mission. Thus, it became the only other known watch to be worn on the moon's surface. A post shared by WYD (@ Seiko 6139 'Pogue" It wasn't just Swiss watches that were worn in space, but a Japanese trailblazer made it there too. In 1969, Seiko had become one of three brands to successfully release an automatic chronograph—the others were Zenith and Heuer—and it was thefirst of the three to come out that year. By the early 70s, automatic chronographs were the rage—the Speedmaster was a mechanical chronograph—and surely enough, these watches were favoured by aviators and astronauts because these didn't need to be manually wound each day. In the 1970s, NASA's focus shifted from moon landings to space stations, and the first of these was the Skylab. Astronauts would stay in these stations and conduct scientific experiments for months on end, in a testament to new space tech and human endurance. During its final crewed mission between November 1973-February 1974, William R. Pogue wore the Seiko 6139-6005, making it the first automatic chronograph in space. This funky watch, with its cushion case, brilliant gold dial and a 'Pepsi" blue-and-red bezel, attained iconic status. Fittingly, fans call it the 'Pogue". Once, wristwatches were more than accessories—they were essential tools built to withstand the harshest environments imaginable. Nowhere was this truer than in space, where extreme temperatures, zero gravity, and relentless radiation demanded unwavering precision and resilience. These timepieces weren't worn for style; they were mission-critical instruments, used to measure experiments, time rocket burns, and track day and night in a place where such markers vanish. In the golden age of space exploration, watches were engineered as tools for human endeavour—purposeful, reliable, and tough. Their presence in space serves as a powerful reminder of when function, not fashion, defined what we wore on our wrists. Handwound is a monthly column on watches and watchmaking. Also Read From oyster to jubilee: The importance of watch bracelets
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
OTD In Space - April 19: World's 1st Space Station Launches Into Orbit
On April 19, 1971, the Soviet Union launched the world's first space station, Salyut 1. This space station was a modified version of the Soviet Union's Almaz space station, which was part of a highly classified military program and was still under development at the time. After NASA managed to put astronauts on the moon, the Soviet Union decided that its next big feat in the Space Race would be to put a crewed space station in orbit. The first crew to visit Salyut 1 in orbit launched just four days after the space station did. However, that crew had some technical problems while trying to dock with the space station in their Soyuz spacecraft, so they went back home without ever actually entering the station. Another crew launched two months later, and after a successful docking, they spent 23 days aboard the station.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Why people claim Yuri Gagarin wasn't the first man in space – and why they're wrong
There's nothing dumber than a technicality, especially when people are putting their lives on the line to do something incredible. If there's ever a clearer illustration of the critics against Theodore Roosevelt's 'man in the arena,' it's Soviet space pioneer Yuri Gagarin and the naysayers who believe he wasn't the first human to break the surly bonds of Earth. On April 12, 1961, after saying the epic line, 'Poyekhali!' ('let's go!') Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Vostok 1 capsule, notching a win for the Soviet Union during the Space Race and a huge victory for humanity. Even if it didn't seem that way at the time, the world would never be the same. His flight would last just 108 minutes, and he would experience weightlessness and get a look at the planet. It would make Gagarin an international celebrity and truly be one for the record books. With all this information in mind, we know definitively that Gagarin was the first man in space. But it's the record books that have doubters keeping the bizarre technicality that dogged the achievement for more than six decades. It was the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI – or International Air Sports Federation in English), the governing body for all aeronautical records. Founded in 1905, the nonprofit FAI doesn't belong to any government and exists to certify and register world records, as well as arbitrate any disputes over those records. Manned spaceflight didn't exist when the FAI was founded in 1905. Some scientists still believed that space was filled with an invisible medium that carried light from the sun to Earth. There was no term for a galaxy, and some believed what we see as galaxies were just nebulae, part of the Milky Way – and that the Milky Way was the known universe. So the idea of going to space in 1905 was a little absurd. Fast-forward a few decades, and it's suddenly an issue the FAI has to contend with. The Soviet Union and the United States were making incredible strides toward manned spaceflight, so it became clear that records were about to be set and broken. The FAI was respected by both countries and thus became the one who would certify any achievements made by either side in the Space Race. The FAI apparently decided to make it easy on themselves and rolled a number of rules and stipulations from air travel to space travel, and this is where some people get stuck on Yuri Gagarin. The FAI's rules for manned spaceflights stated that, just like the aircraft pilots had to land inside their craft in order for the record to be valid, space pilots would also have to land inside their craft for valid records. It's an understandable rule for aircraft pilots, especially when the FAI was founded. Parachutes were an emerging technology and not landing an aircraft pretty much meant certain death. Of course by the 1960s, parachutes were better and so were airplanes, but still: not being able to land an aircraft doesn't really advance aviation technology or performance. There was no trophy for 'most spectacular crash landing,' and if there was, it was set by the Hindenburg when it went up in flames in the FAI's rules on landing the spacecraft remained fully in place – but Yuri Gagarin didn't land in his spacecraft. The Soviet Union had the technology to send a man safely to space, but not to land him back on Earth in the same vehicle in which he left. The USSR's scientists never planned for him to come back in the Vostok capsule, because there was no way for them to slow its velocity enough for a human to survive inside. Yuri Gagarin ejected from the spacecraft at 20,000 feet and thus did not land with the craft, technically, some say, not setting the record as per FAI rules. The Soviet Union kept Gagarin's ejection a secret for months, letting the world assume he landed with the capsule. But the FAI isn't Major League Baseball and was willing to change the rules for their Pete Rose. It recognized that launching a human into space and successfully returning him to Earth without killing him was a monumental achievement, one worthy enough to change the rules for. The only method of landing worth considering, the FAI agreed, was that the pilot or crew was still among the living. So, despite the fact that the arbitrary rules for setting a record were changed to fit the achievement, it was still quite an achievement and Yuri Gagarin was undoubtedly the first human in space.
