#john holst

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Stage Two Engine Test

Stage Two Engine Test

Right stage, wrong year. That is a Saturn V second stage in the hoist, but the picture was taken in 1967. Image is from NASA. I wrote this “Apollo 50th Anniversary Moment” prior to the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium this year. While a lot of important things happened in April 1966 for the Apollo program, I thought the Saturn V second stage engine test was worth focusing on–especially since it…

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The Military Space Operator--After the Military

The Military Space Operator–After the Military

Transitioning as The New Civilian When I left the U.S. Air Force, I was a space operator. After working in the military space world for 11 years, it seemed very obvious to me and the Air Force, that I was a space operator, but not to anyone in the civilian world. I spent nearly six months applying for related positions, trying to convince others of my qualifications, before I found work. It was…

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Gemini V

Gemini V astronauts Conrad and Cooper, practicing for yet another thing that could go wrong in a mission (but didn’t). Image from NASA JSC archive. Last August was the 50th anniversary of the Gemini V mission. For this blog, the Gemini V mission begins a theme for a small series of stories about astronauts and their character. As my Apollo 50th Anniversary Moment article from August describes,…

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Moving Big Things with, um, Big Things?

Moving Big Things with, um, Big Things?

It’s been a fairly hectic few weeks with not so much spare time–relatives were visiting. Which is great, but didn’t leave much for posts. For now, I leave you all with another of my Apollo 50th Anniversary Moment posts for the Space Foundation’s Space Watch. The crawler-transporter is what carried the Apollo Saturn V rockets, and the Space Shuttle–as seen above. Image from NASA. I know everyone…

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Another Apollo-related post

If you’ve been following this blog for a bit, then you know that about once a month I write a little history article for the Space Foundation’s “Space Watch” e-mail newsletter. Now’s the time to lead you to my most recent article for them: From Underneath Apollo’s Boilerplate, a Pegasus Emerges. 

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Amazoom? Blue Origin launches a rocket

Amazoom? Blue Origin launches a rocket

It does look a little…weird. But this is what Blue Origin’s rocket looks like. Picture from Blue Origin’s site.

Blue Origin is one of those companies that’s been fairly secretive in its activities. But it’s very difficult, unless you’re Russia or China, to secretly shoot a rocket 307,000 feet (58 miles) into the sky. But launch is just what Blue Origin did last week, on 29 April.

The company not…

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Baikonur Cosmodrome

There’s something kind of beautiful about this old Soviet rocket design. Notice the arms protruding from the ground? Those arms are what hold the rocket up before launch, using the rocket’s weight to “clamp” it into place. Image from Wikimedia.

I found this 2001 Air & Space article during my research about Sputnik-1, the world’s first artificial satellite. It’s a very good first person account of…

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Here's a bit about Apollo

Here’s a bit about Apollo

I do write for other sites/organizations. In this instance I’m sharing one of the Apollo 50th anniversary moments. Of course, the 50th of Apollo 11’s launch is a few years down the road still, but Gemini, the “bridge” program between NASA’s Mercury and Apollo programs, was very interesting and active 50 years ago.

NASA was using Gemini to answer some very important questions, and learn some very…

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