Q&A: Space Shuttle Trainier set to make its Seattle debut

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On Saturday, the Space Shuttle Trainer will make its official debut at the Museum of Flight in Seattle — giving the public an up-close look at the full-sized Space Shuttle replica that served as the training ground for every astronaut in the Space Shuttle’s three decades. The museum and the region have been preparing for this milestone for… Read More…

Podcast: Space Shuttle Trainer and beyond, with Museum of Flight CEO Doug King

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A week from today, on Nov. 10, the Space Shuttle Trainer will make its official debut at the Museum of Flight in Seattle — giving the public an up-close look at the full-sized Space Shuttle replica that served as the training ground for every astronaut in the Space Shuttle’s three decades. The museum and the region… Read More…

No borders: Space heroes join together for epic night

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They were all up on stage when the cosmonaut Valery Kubasov was introduced. With a lapel full of medals he strode across stage. As he walked past Buzz Aldrin, Jim Lovell, and almost every other living American space hero, the Soviet anthem blared out over the audience. Soyuz nyerushimyy respublik svobodnykh / Splotila naveki Velikaia Rus. I wasn’t… Read More…

Museum of Flight lands trove of personal papers from NASA icon George Abbey

Former NASA Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey at the JSC ceremony handing over the "keys" to the space shuttle Full Fuselage Trainer to The Museum of Flight in January, 2012. (Ted Huetter/Museum of Flight)

They arrived at Seattle’s Museum of Flight in more than 100 boxes — nearly four decades worth of personal papers from George Abbey, the Seattle native and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center who was a key figure behind the Apollo program, the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle program and many other landmark… Read More…

Photos: A rare peek inside the Space Shuttle trainer

The coolest room ever!!!

Some people in the Seattle region might have been disappointed last year when we didn’t land a real Space Shuttle. But after getting a behind-the-scenes look at the Space Shuttle trainer being assembled at Seattle’s Museum of Flight, I walked away feeling like we got lucky. This thing is awesome. Over the 30-year life of… Read More…

Space elevators: 5 questions for conference chair Bryan Laubscher

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The Space Elevator Conference is in town this weekend. Intrigued by the concept, we talked to the general chair of the event, Bryan Laubscher, who also owns Odysseus Technologies located right here in Washington state. Laubscher answered five quick questions on why space elevator technology matters: What are the top three things you wish to… Read More…

Going up? Space Elevator dreams will be alive in Seattle this weekend

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Space elevators may not be a reality — yet — but if you want to revel in talks about these awesome lifts to the sky and beyond, then this is your weekend. The 2012 Space Elevator Conference is landing at the Museum of Flight right here in Seattle. That’s right, Saturday through Monday, scientists, engineers… Read More…

Curiosity packs the house for a perfect landing on Mars

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Will you remember where you were when Curiosity landed? I know I will! I was among more than 600 people who showed up to the Museum of Flight in Seattle on a hot summer evening, waiting for those “7 minutes of terror.” The museum was packed as more people crammed in to watch the events… Read More…

Super awesome ‘Curiosity’ approaches Mars, set for ‘Seven Minutes of Terror’

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The plan to land the roving space lab Curiosity on Mars this weekend is the stuff of the wildest imaginations. Seriously, Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick would’ve killed for this storyline in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” In what is being hailed as one of the most challenging space maneuvers ever, NASA’s Curiosity will endure… Read More…

The Super Guppy has landed: Scenes from the delivery of our Space Shuttle replica

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Updated at bottom with picture of the crew compartment after it was unwrapped. We (and our kids) had a great time today down at the Museum of Flight, where NASA’s freakishly cool Super Guppy cargo plane delivered the crew compartment of the Full Fuselage Trainer — the replica Space Shuttle orbiter that will have a… Read More…

Space Nerds Rejoice! The Super Guppy is on its way

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Calling all space-exploration enthusiasts, aerospace aficionados and other flight geeks: the Museum of Flight announced today that a vital piece of its full-scale Space Shuttle Trainer, the crew cabin section, will arrive June 30 via the NASA plane dubbed the “Super Guppy.” Personally, we were kind of hoping that NASA would’ve come up with something more… Read More…

First piece of Seattle’s Space Shuttle Trainer arrives

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Seattle’s Museum of Flight today unpacked the first piece of its new Space Shuttle Trainer, unveiling one of three engine bells from the full-scale orbiter replica, which was used as a simulator to train every astronaut since the 1970s. First impression: This is going to bigger than I had imagined. The replica engine bell alone… Read More…

Space Shuttle Day: Seattle gets peek at trainer as Discovery descends on D.C.

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It’s a big day for space nerds. On the East Coast today, Space Shuttle Discovery is making its final flight this morning – going from Florida to Washington, D.C., on the back of a Boeing 747, to a new home at the Smithsonian. And later this morning in Seattle, officials at the Museum of Flight will take… Read More…

Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos plans historic deep-sea Apollo 11 engine recovery

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A massive bit of space history that inspired an entire generation of geeks has been found by Jeff Bezos — and ideally would be headed to Seattle’s Museum of Flight. The Amazon.com founder’s Bezos Expeditions has announced it’s identified, under 14,000 feet of water, the huge F-1 engines that powered the initial stage of Apollo… Read More…

Q&A: Charles Simonyi on the magic of space and the ‘coziness’ of the trip home

Charles Simonyi (GeekWire File Photo)

Seattle’s Museum of Flight this week dedicated its new Charles Simonyi Space Gallery, named after the former Microsoft engineer and two-time space traveler. When it opens this June, the new gallery will house a Soyuz capsule in which Simonyi returned to Earth for the second time, given to the museum by Simonyi on a long-term… Read More…

Congratulations, Seattle: You’re getting a space toilet

Charles Simonyi (GeekWire File Photo)

It just kept getting better and better at Seattle’s Museum of Flight today. First former, Microsoft engineer Charles Simonyi announced that he would be donating the Soyuz TMA-13 Reentry Module that returned him safely to Earth after his second trip to the International Space Station. He’ll be making the spacecraft available on a long-term loan to… Read More…

Seattle’s Museum of Flight getting a Soyuz spacecraft, courtesy Charles Simonyi

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Seattle’s Museum of Flight lost out in the competition to exhibit a Space Shuttle orbiter, but it turns out it will be getting a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to display. Charles Simonyi, the former Microsoft executive who twice traveled to space as a tourist, will be contributing a Soyuz TMA-13 Reentry Module for the museum to… Read More…

Wash. governor to NASA: We’re ready for Space Shuttle, while L.A. and NYC futz around

Atlantis lifts off. (NASA photo)

NASA’s selection of new homes for the retired Space Shuttles has been more than a little messy. The space agency’s own inspector general found multiple mistakes in the selection process, but NASA insisted that it didn’t affect the outcome. Seattle’s Museum of Flight, which came up just short of landing one of the Space Shuttles, recently raised… Read More…

Seattle’s Museum of Flight questions data used by NASA to pick homes for retired shuttles

Atlantis lifts off. (NASA photo)

NASA staffers understated attendance for Seattle’s Museum of Flight and didn’t count Canadian visitors in their measure of the region’s international tourism during the site selection process for the retired Space Shuttle orbiters earlier this year. Those are the new assertions from Museum of Flight officials, as reported by the Seattle Times today. The paper… Read More…

NASA report shows why Seattle didn’t land a Space Shuttle

Atlantis lifts off. (NASA photo)

Seattle’s Museum of Flight was among the top contenders this spring for a decommissioned Space Shuttle — placing well ahead of many other locations and just slightly below the eventual winners in NASA’s internal scoring matrix, according to data from a new report issued by the space agency’s Office of Inspector General. The biggest shortcoming: Our region… Read More…