The Moon, Europa

The Moon, Europa

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Chutes and Rockets

There are two significant high altitude/low orbit activities taking place in the next 38 hours:


Today at 8:35 p.m. EDT (7:35pm Central) SpaceX is scheduled to launch their Dragon capsule atop the Falcon 9 rocket. The unmanned capsule is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station and deliver 1,000 pounds of supplies (about 3 days after launch). There has already been a test run by the Dragon capsule and it successfully docked with the ISS and delivered a few supplies as proof of concept. However, today’s launch will be the first official delivery by SpaceX under their contract with NASA. Coverage is on NASA TV (available on Roku and Apple TV) or at: Space.com

Tuesday October 9, 2012, At 6:00 a.m. MDT, skydiver Felix Baumgartner will attempt to break the sound barrier by freefalling from an altitude of 100,000 feet. Baumgartner, wearing a specially developed pressure suit, will step from a capsule attached to a helium balloon when he reaches his target altitude. If all goes well the lack of atmosphere will allow him to accelerate significantly beyond terminal velocity and reach super sonic speed before he is slowed by the Earth’s atmosphere. The event will be covered live via webcast at: redbullstratos.com