My word, there's some spectacular imagery coming down from Artemis II. Truly awe-inspiring.
Posts by Pete Harding
I can't quite believe it - we're actually doing it. We're doing exploration! Congrats to the teams.
Best of luck to the crew of Artemis II. I've waited a long, long time for this. Let's go and explore space once again. I'm ready. Godspeed!
NASA have had a few close calls in recent years (e.g. Starliner), which could have ended much worse than they did. And whilst an exciting new dawn of human exploration is almost upon us, we must remember to guard against "Go Fever" like the plague.
Those lessons are that NASA must never again compromise on diligence or flight safety. Whilst it's true that NASA must become more accustomed to risk than in the past, now is not the time to have a bonfire of regulations, nor is it NASAβs job to coach industry through requirements.
Rest In Peace to the crew of STS-51L Challenger on the 40th anniversary of their passing. As NASA stands on the precipice of the most risky human spaceflight mission of the past half century, we remember not only the Challenger crew, but also the hard learnt lessons of the Challenger disaster.
NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim (who landed from space this morning aboard Soyuz MS-27) is currently over Turkey en-route back to Houston aboard NASA's Gulfstream V jet. He'll be making a fuel stop in Glasgow, Scotland.
Great photo of HTV-X and Cygnus XL together in space.
Today on the ISS, for the first time ever, all 8 available Visiting Vehicle ports (x4 on Russian Segment, x2 berthing and x2 docking on US Segment) are in use simultaneously! (Image credit: orbital-velocity.com)
Congrats to Blue Origin for the landing/recovery of New Glenn's 1st stage! It's good to have more than one company that can now do this!
Today marks 25 years of humans' permanent presence in low Earth orbit. Via #NASA βan overview of how the International Space Station program started. www.nasa.gov/reference/in...
Views of HTV-X1 berthed to Node 2 Nadir
Hi! Apologies, but I prefer not being on camera. I'm happy to share my text-based thoughts if that's of any use to you. Many thanks.
HTV-X1 was captured and berthed to ISS today! There are now 7 vehicles docked/berthed to Station (tied record from 2024). If schedules hold, when Soyuz MS-28 docks in late November, all 8 available ports will be occupied for the first time -- a new record!
Great to see HTV-X arrive at the ISS (and by my count, this is the last ever time we'll see a brand new type of Visiting Vehicle arrive at the ISS).
For my American followers - VPNs are your friend. π
I highly recommend watching "Once Upon A Time In Space" on the BBC - a great series documenting the early Shuttle years all the way through to today. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
This is a fantastic resource
The evolution of Cygnus 2014-2025
Great photo of the UK at night with the SSRMS in the foreground! (Image taken 14/9/25 @ 00:38 UK time)
Amazing video of CRS-33 Dragon docking with PMA-2/IDA-2 in 4K!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmDB...
An absolutely stupidly crazy decision by our government. Once again the UK sabotages its own space sector. History on repeat.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
RIP Jim Lovell
NASA is now faced with the perfect storm: Russia effectively at war with the west, Musk gone off the rails, radio silence on Starliner, Artemis still not operational, and an administration intent on killing science.
Hopefully we are witnessing the downfall of Elon Musk. I don't think there's any way back for him now in the court of public opinion - he's alienated himself from pretty much all sides, apart from his wacky die-hard fans on X. I only hope that SpaceX can decouple from him in time - but I fear not.
I used to be attracted to the idealism of it, but now it's been politicised and weaponised like never before, and become a pursuit of manchild billionaires.
I think Russia & Soyuz are beginning to look like a more reliable "partner" at this point! Wow, what a complete dick Musk has turned out to be. The wheels are coming off for SpaceX, and NASA is done IMO. And I think I'm just about done following space.
Wow, who could have foreseen that Musk & Trump, two of the biggest narcissistic, egotistical assholes to walk the earth, would fall out? No-one saw that one coming. It's almost as if the "smartest man alive" isn't actually that smart... π
And BTW, I'm rapidly running out of space exploration entities that I can support - it seems to be a choice now between tyrannical governments or the obscenely wealthy. Not exactly in the spirit of "for all mankind".
Well, that's the end of NASA I think. RIP. Space exploration is now in the hands of billionaires and China.