drew@drewexmachina.com
Today we have a veritable fleet of spacecraft from nations around the globe studying Mars from orbit and its surface. But just over half a century […]
Most space exploration enthusiasts are familiar with the story of Mariner 4: On July 15, 1965 (Universal Time), Mariner 4 made the first close encounter of […]
An advanced spacecraft streaking towards the most distant planetary encounter to date finally reaches its destination. As the spacecraft nears its closest approach to its target, […]
The history of spaceflight is littered with projects that never flew. Many projects never get past the concept stage while a few were cancelled only months […]
With so many spacecraft currently operating in orbit and on the surface of Mars today, it seems hard to believe that just a half a century […]
The 1976 Viking missions to Mars have been our only attempts to date to search directly for life on another planet. The pair of identical Viking […]
Entering orbit around another planet from an interplanetary approach trajectory is probably one of the most critical phases in a planetary mission. Everything must come together […]
The Soviet planetary probe, Mars 1, was the first spacecraft to survive launch to be sent on its way to the Red Planet. Although Mars 1 […]
Back in the 1990s, there was a veritable flood of new information about the once secretive Soviet space program including details of their early failed planetary […]