NASA Archives

Space and Technology

In 1971 a Soviet capsule landed on target, outwardly perfect — but when recovery crews opened the hatch, all three cosmonauts inside were dead, killed by a single valve.

On June 30, 1971, the Soyuz 11 capsule landed on target in Kazakhstan, ending a triumphant mission: its three cosmonauts had just completed humanity's...

Harrison KassJuly 2, 2026

Space and Technology

Voyager 1 isn’t dying because anything broke — after almost 50 years it’s simply running out of power, and NASA is shutting off its instruments one by one until the signal goes silent.

Nearly fifty years after launch, Voyager 1 is approaching the end, but not because anything is breaking. It is simply running out of electricity....

Harrison KassJuly 2, 2026

Space and Technology

Voyager 1 launched in 1977 on a four-year mission, and in November 2026, nearly half a century later, it will become the first object ever to reach one light-day from Earth — so distant that a signal now takes a full 24 hours to cross the emptiness back home

In November 2026, a spacecraft launched during the Carter administration will cross a threshold no human-made object ever has: one light-day from Earth —...

Jack BuckbyJuly 2, 2026

Vega Space Probe 19FortyFive Photo From Smithsonian Taken on June 30 2026

Space and Technology

In June 1985 the Soviet Union flew two balloons through the sulfuric-acid clouds of Venus, riding 150-mph winds a third of the way around the planet — the only aircraft ever flown in another world’s atmosphere until a helicopter lifted off on Mars 36 years later, and the “Soviet” triumph was secretly French-built and tracked by American dishes.

In June 1985 the Soviet Union did something that still sounds impossible: it flew two balloons through the clouds of another planet. Released into...

Harry J. KazianisJuly 2, 2026

Space and Technology

NASA’s 1997 return to Mars came down to one wild idea: wrap the spacecraft in airbags and bounce it across the surface, then unfold to release Sojourner, the first Mars rover.

If you've seen the 2015 film The Martian, you've already met NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission: it's the antique 1997 lander Matt Damon's stranded astronaut...

Brandon WeichertJuly 1, 2026

Space Shuttle Atlantis from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Image Taken by 19FortyFive.com on 6/28/2026.

Space and Technology

The Space Shuttle was not really a spaceplane but an unpowered glider with a single shot at landing — it hit the atmosphere at 25 times the speed of sound, flew so poorly that astronauts called it a flying brick, and dropped toward the runway on a slope seven times steeper than an airliner’s, with no chance of a second try.

For all its power at launch, the Space Shuttle came home as something far humbler: an unpowered glider. Once its main engines shut down...

Brandon WeichertJune 30, 2026

Space and Technology

The Saturn V remains the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown, so violent at liftoff that its first launch shattered ceiling tiles in a control room three miles away — and more than half a century after it carried astronauts to the Moon, nothing humanity has built has matched it.

19FortyFive recently went to the Apollo/Saturn V Center at Kennedy Space Center for a firsthand look at the most powerful machine humanity has ever...

Brandon WeichertJune 30, 2026

Space and Technology

The Soviets Sent a Spacecraft to a Moon of Mars. One Wrong Command From Earth Killed It Forever

In 1988 the Soviet Union launched two ambitious spacecraft toward Phobos, a tiny moon of Mars, carrying what would have been the first robot...

Brandon WeichertJune 28, 2026

Space and Technology

Britain’s Mars Lander Was Declared a Failure for 11 Years: Then NASA Found It Sitting Upright on Mars

On Christmas Day 2003, Britain's Beagle 2 reached Mars and went silent. For more than a decade it was written off as destroyed. Then...

Brandon WeichertJune 26, 2026

Space and Technology

NASA Captured Pieces Of The Sun And Flew Them Back To Earth. Then The Capsule Crashed At 200 MPH Because A Part Was Installed Backward

NASA's Genesis spacecraft did something no mission had done since Apollo. It flew out beyond the Moon, spent more than two years catching atoms...

Harry J. KazianisJune 26, 2026

19FortyFive

All posts tagged "NASA"

Space and Technology

In 1971 a Soviet capsule landed on target, outwardly perfect — but when recovery crews opened the hatch, all three cosmonauts inside were dead, killed by a single valve.

Space and Technology

Voyager 1 isn’t dying because anything broke — after almost 50 years it’s simply running out of power, and NASA is shutting off its instruments one by one until the signal goes silent.

Space and Technology

Voyager 1 launched in 1977 on a four-year mission, and in November 2026, nearly half a century later, it will become the first object ever to reach one light-day from Earth — so distant that a signal now takes a full 24 hours to cross the emptiness back home

Space and Technology

Space and Technology

NASA’s 1997 return to Mars came down to one wild idea: wrap the spacecraft in airbags and bounce it across the surface, then unfold to release Sojourner, the first Mars rover.

Space and Technology

Space and Technology

The Saturn V remains the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown, so violent at liftoff that its first launch shattered ceiling tiles in a control room three miles away — and more than half a century after it carried astronauts to the Moon, nothing humanity has built has matched it.

Space and Technology

The Soviets Sent a Spacecraft to a Moon of Mars. One Wrong Command From Earth Killed It Forever

Space and Technology

Britain’s Mars Lander Was Declared a Failure for 11 Years: Then NASA Found It Sitting Upright on Mars

Space and Technology

NASA Captured Pieces Of The Sun And Flew Them Back To Earth. Then The Capsule Crashed At 200 MPH Because A Part Was Installed Backward

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