Category Archives: space race

Relativity Space’s Quest to 3D Print Entire Rockets

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While the jury is still out on 3D printing for the consumer market, there’s little question that it’s becoming a major part of next generation manufacturing. While we often think of 3D printing as a way to create highly customized one-off objects, that’s a conclusion largely based on how we as individuals use the technology. When you’re building something as complex as a rocket engine, the true advantage of 3D printing is the ability to not only rapidly iterate your design, but to produce objects with internal geometries that would be difficult if not impossible to create with traditional tooling. …read more

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The Flight of the Seagull: Valentina Tereshkova, Cosmonaut

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That the Cold War was a tense and perilous time in history cannot be denied, and is perhaps a bit of an understatement. The world stood on the edge of Armageddon for most of it, occasionally stepping slightly over the line, and thankfully stepping back before any damage was done.

As nerve-wracking as the Cold War was, it had one redeeming quality: it turned us into a spacefaring species. Propelled by national pride and the need to appear to be the biggest kid on the block, the United States and the Soviet Union consistently ratcheted up their programs, trying to …read more

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Spy Tech: Stealing a Moon Probe

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Ever hear of the Soviet Luna program? In the west, it was often called Lunik, if you heard about it at all. Luna was a series of unmanned moon probes launched between 1959 and 1976. There were at least 24 of them, and 15 were successful. Most of the failures were not reported or named. Luna craft have a number of firsts, but the one we are interested in is that it may have been the first space vehicle to be stolen — at least temporarily — in a cold war caper worthy of a James Bond novel.

Around 1960, …read more

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How Dreams of Spacefaring Zombies Led to the Launch of Sputnik

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What, you think there’s enough room on Earth for everyone who has ever lived? No way, we need a spaceship stat. Continue reading How Dreams of Spacefaring Zombies Led to the Launch of Sputnik→

How Dreams of Spacefaring Zombies Led to the Launch of Sputnik

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What, you think there’s enough room on Earth for everyone who has ever lived? No way, we need a spaceship stat. Continue reading How Dreams of Spacefaring Zombies Led to the Launch of Sputnik→

Beyond a Boot Print: The Lasting Effect of Apollo on Humanity

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July 20th, 1969 was the day that people from Earth set foot on different soil for the first time. Here we are 48 years later, and the world’s space programs are — well — not very close to returning to the moon. If you aren’t old enough to remember, it was really amazing. The world was in a lot of turmoil in the 1960s (and still is, of course) but everyone stopped to look at the sky and listen to the sound of [Neil Armstrong] taking that first step. It was shocking in a good way and almost universally observed. …read more

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