Space Race

On July 21st, 1969, human history changed forever.  With a single step, Neil Armstrong became the first human in history to set foot on another world; a feat man had dreamed of accomplishing since time immemorial. Only eight years prior, President John F. Kennedy assumed the responsibility of convincing Congress that sending a manned mission […]

China has announced plans to launch the core module for their own space station next year, with additional modules intended to follow soon thereafter. Once completed, China’s space station will be smaller than the current International Space Station, but with the ISS slated for retirement in 2024, China may be the only nation with a […]

The United States and Russia have a long and illustrious history of competition that is best summed up as “war-adjacent.”  For decades, we competed with one another in battles of influence, economics, and even other nations’ armies, but when we think back to the Cold War, it’s hard not to think of the space race.  […]

On April 12th, 1961, a Russian man named Yuri Gagarin made history aboard a Soviet Vostok 3KA-3 spacecraft.  For years, the United States and Soviet Union had been using the barrier between our world and beyond as a benchmark to test each nation’s greatest technological and engineering advances, and on that day, Gagarin achieved an […]

We’ve all heard the story. Back in the 1960s, as the Americans and Soviets were competing for space (and global) supremacy, the United States supposedly spent millions to develop a pen that their astronauts could use in space. The Soviets, meanwhile, “just used a pencil.” It’s a classic tale used to criticize government spending and […]

China’s launch of the first quantum satellite Tuesday will push forward efforts to develop the ability to send communications that can’t be penetrated by hackers, experts said. The satellite launched into space from the Jiuquan launch base in northwestern China’s Gobi desert will allow Chinese researchers to transmit test messages between Beijing and northwestern China […]

While Russia races to catch up to the United States in one particular aspect of orbital reconnaissance—that is, imagery detail—the United States is plotting a sort of technological sidestep that could actually extend its lead over its rivals in space-based espionage.

In 1975, the USSR actually fired a cannon from an orbiting space station. Forty years later, we finally got a good look at this gun. A quarter of the century after the end of the Cold War, the only cannon that has actually fired in space finally comes to light. Installed on the Almaz space […]