Year: 2021

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station

Nauka Module Launched

  • July 21, 2021

Nauka launchRussia launches the Nauka Multipurpose Logistics Module Upgrade component of the International Space Station. Part of the original design for the ISS, Nauka was built in time to be launched in 2007, but its addition to the station was repeatedly delayed, missing planned launch windows in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020. Parts of Nakua required upgrades and replacements over the years that it awaited launch, as these parts began to fail certification due to their age. (Much of the module was 14 years old before it ever made it to the launch pad.) Nakua, designed to automatically rendezvous and dock with the station, begins encountering technical problems once it is in orbit, delaying the docking maneuver. It replaces the Russian Pirs module, which becomes the first ISS module to be detached and allowed to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station

Nauka Module docks with International Space Station

  • July 29, 2021

Nauka docking time lapseDelayed several days due to technical glitches that occurred after its launch, the Russian Nauka Multipurpose Logisitics Module Upgrade docks with the International Space Station. Some glitches continue to occur during the modules approach and docking phase, with the Russian crew members aboard the station manually intervening when necessary. After docking, however, Nauka’s thrusters begin firing, rotating the station 45 degrees off-axis, eventually exhausting its fuel supply. Once its thrusters are no longer capable of moving the station, the station is restored to its original orientation, with NASA reassuring the public that the event posed no danger to the crew. Some spacewalks will be required to fully connect Nauka’s systems to those of the rest of the station, but it is expected to become the hub of Russia’s research activity aboard the ISS.

Categories
Franchises Marvel Cinematic Universe Television

What If…?: What If…Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?

  • August 11, 2021

What If...?The first episode of the Marvel animated series What If…? premieres on the Disney+ streaming service, featuring the voices of Jeffrey Wright (Westworld), Hayley Atwell (Captain Carter), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), and Samuel L. Jackson (Captain Marvel).

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Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight SpaceShip Two

Virgin Galactic grounded

  • September 2, 2021

Virgin Galactic SpaceportThe Federal Aviation Administration grounds the Virgin Galactic fleet following irregularities in the recent VSS Unity flight carrying Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson into suborbital space. The FAA notes that deviations from the filed flight plan occurred during that flight, briefly taking the spacecraft into civilian commercial airspace during its ascent. An agreement will eventually be reached to expand the airspace surrounding Virgin Galactic’s New Mexico Spaceport America facility for future flights; commercial flights will not resume until 2023, allowing for upgrades to the vehicles.

Categories
Deaths Doctor Who Franchises Matters of Life & Death

Tony Selby, actor, dies

  • September 5, 2021

Tony Selby as Sam in Ace Of WandsActor Tony Selby, known to British sci-fi and fantasy fans both as recurring rogue Sabalon Glitz in Doctor Who and as series regular Sam Maxsted in the first two (now missing) seasons of Ace Of Wands, dies of COVID-19-related complications at the age of 83. With his first credited TV role at the age of 13, Mr. Selby was a frequent fixture in British TV and films. He made numerous appearances in The Wednesday Play, and appeared in The Avengers, Department S, Callan, Special Branch, and Crown Court. He also made movie appearances, in such films as Villain, Adolf Hitler – My Part In His Downfall, and uncredited roles in Alfie and Superman. His 21st century TV appearances included Dream Team, New Tricks, and Doctors.

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station Movies Soyuz

Soyuz MS-19

  • October 5, 2021

Soyuz MS-19 crewSoyuz MS-19 is launched to the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying a three-person crew (the first all-Russian Soyuz crew since Soyuz TM-30 in 2000) to a brief stay aboard the International Space Station. Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three previous flights, commands and pilots the mission, whose other crewmembers, film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild, are passengers visiting the station to shoot approximately 40 minutes of footage for a movie to be released at a later date. The revival of “space tourism” aboard the ISS sparks new controversy about the topic, particularly within the Russian space program, mirroring similar controversy surrounding the burgeoning suborbital passenger spaceflight industry. Shipenko and Peresild return to Earth after 12 days aboard the ISS, catching a ride home aboard Soyuz MS-18 alongside returning ISS Commander Oleg Novitskiy; Shkaplerov remains aboard the ISS to assume command. Soyuz MS-19 will return the current ISS crew to Earth in March 2022.

Categories
Franchises Marvel Cinematic Universe Television

What If…?: What If…The Watcher Broke His Oath?

  • October 6, 2021

What If...?Disney+ streams the ninth episode of the Marvel animated series What If…?, featuring the voices of Jeffrey Wright (Westworld), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), and Hayley Atwell (Captain Carter). This is the first season finale, and Boseman’s final acting performance prior to his death in 2020.

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Categories
Crewed Spaceflight Franchises New Shepard Star Trek

Blue Origin NS-18

  • October 13, 2021

William Shatner in spaceThe second crewed flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital space capsule lifts off on a ten-minute parabolic trajectory. Of major interest to the press is the presence of Star Trek actor William Shatner aboard the flight, riding in a seat donated by Blue Origin. At 90 years old, Shatner replaces previous New Shepard passenger Wally Funk as the oldest human being in space, and returns from his trip visibly moved by the experience. Along with Shatner for the ride are Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s VP of mission and flight operations, former NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen, and Dassault Systèmes executive Glen de Vries. (The latter two each paid $250,000,000 for their seats.)

Categories
Astronomy Hubble Space Telescope Science & Technology Uncrewed Spaceflight

Charging the view of distant atmospheres

  • October 14, 2021

Jupiter and Europa as seen by Hubble in August 2020NASA and ESA announce that spectrographic analysis of Hubble Space Telescope data gathered during observations of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa reveals that Europa has a persistent atmosphere of water vapor, but only on the hemisphere of the moon that is opposite of the direction of its orbital motion. (This unusual effect had been predicted in computer modeling, but had not been directly observed until now.) The atmosphere is present in Hubble spectroscopy data as old as 1999 and as recent as 2015. The stability of the water vapor in the atmosphere is the real surprise find, since surface-based water was assumed to be in solid ice form.

Categories
Deaths Matters of Life & Death

Joanna Cameron, actress, dies

  • October 15, 2021

Joanna Cameron in The Secret of IsisActress Joanna Cameron, perhaps best known for starring in the cult classic 1970s live-action kids’ superhero series Isis (a.k.a. The Secret of Isis), dies at the age of 70s after suffering complications from a stroke. Launching her career in 1969 at the behest of family friend Bob Hope, Cameron at one point held the Guinness World Record for the most commercial appearances for a single actor. Following her two-season stint as Isis, she moved on to TV guest roles in The Amazing Spider-Man, McMillan & Wife, and Switch, with her last TV credit in the appropriately titled 1980 made-for-TV movie Swan Song. After leaving Hollywood, she produced and directed promotional films for the U.S. Navy, and then moved into careers in health care and hotel marketing.