Facebook Feed
Below Posts from our Facebook
Jim Banke, Honored Communicator![]()
Jim Banke is welcomed as a four-decade aerospace communicator who has earned the highest awards in the industry. .
Jim Banke, Honored Communicator
www.youtube.com
Jim Banke is welcomed as a four-decade aerospace communicator who h...
VETERAN SPACE JOURNALIST JIM BANKE today 4 pm EDT or anytime on YouTube www.youtube.com/@AmericanSpaceMuseum/streams![]()
Jim Banke is an award-wining veteran aerospace journalist for four decades, and he shares his remarkable story to bridge the space between us.
SPACE PHOTOJOURNALIST CARLETON BAILIE SURPRISED WITH LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT "KOLCHUM AWARD" FROM NATIONAL SPACE CLUB, FLORIDA![]()
A group of friends that included three former recipients, surprised ASM partner and 5-decade long space photographer Carlton Bailie with the announcement he will be awarded the prestigious Harry Kolchum award at a banquet in October. ![]()
![]()
National Space Club board member Jim Banke "snuck" in an after party from Saturday's collectible show at Sands Museum to make the surprise announcement in person. ![]()
![]()
ASM partners, brothers Tom and Mark Usciak made a road trip from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to honor their photo colleague. The surprise meal was at popular Zarrella's Italian & Firewood Pizza in Cape Canaveral. ![]()
![]()
Joining were previous Kolchum winners Jim Banke, John Zarrella of CNN News and Mark Marquette, ASM director. ![]()
![]()
Bailie's first assignment at Kennedy Space Center was the tragic Challenger accident in January 1986. He has photographed more than an estimated 750 rocket launches, hundreds of press events, and dozens of satellites in their white room environment.![]()
![]()
Nicknamed "CB," the Richmond, Virginia native was one of the top photographers for Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine, working for Senior Editor, none other than Harry Kolchum. The award in his name is the highest honor a space professional can achieve.![]()
![]()
Now living semi-retired in Canaveral Groves, Florida, Bailie nabbed the cover for the AWST with his Artemis II launch to the Moon last year. "CB" also nailed the first rocket passing in front of the Full Moon back in the film days decades ago, just another of his dozens of magazine covers for the popular space magazines of the day. ![]()
![]()
Bailie will be feted with other National Space Club annual award winners at a dinner in October.![]()
![]()
Congratulations Carlton from all your friends at the American Space Museum family!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEE O’HARA, 90 ,FIRST ASTRONAUT NURSE![]()
(photo Dee and Wally Schirra)![]()
The only one allowed to draw blood from the Mercury astronauts, the first NASA astronaut nurse Dee O’Hara is 90 years old today--and still promises not to write anything about her confidential knowledge about America’s space heroes. ![]()
![]()
Dolores B. "Dee" O'Hara was born August 9, 1935 in Nampa, Idaho. She was the first aerospace nurse to NASA's first astronauts, laying the foundation to the field of Space nursing. O'Hara was the official nurse to the Mercury Seven astronauts and their families, continuing to support the Gemini Program, Apollo astronauts and Skylab.![]()
![]()
She is a popular speaker at space events, where she enjoys telling some of the well-known stories about her and astronauts.![]()
A 1965 book written about her is hard to find and sells for $40-$50, “Dee O’Hara, Astronauts’ Nurse.” She has not written any memoirs of her experience, a promise she has kept to the astronauts and their families.![]()
![]()
Her bio on "Working Nurse" www.workingnurse.com/articles/dolores-dee-ohara-1935-first-nasa-space-nurse/
"BIG JON" McBRIDE 5 MINUTE VIDEO PROMOTING ASTRONAUT SELECTION![]()
Fans of Big Jon, who was pilot for STS-41G in 1984, will enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at the man who was the resident astronaut for 20 years at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex![]()
Digitized from Official NASA film 2026 by Jon's son, Jon McBride II. To quote Jon "I am digitizing some old family film reels. While not the most exciting thing in film, it has certainly been an odyssey. This was circa late 1977, early 1978 - just after my dad was selected by NASA for the Space Shuttle Program - when we still lived in California and he was with VX-4, The Evaluators.![]()
From hearing my dad say his trademark "how ya doin' pahdna," to seeing my mom, sister, and me while my dad, brother, and friend played basketball brings back memories."![]()
![]()
1978 Jon McBride NASA Astronaut Candidate Film
www.youtube.com
Digitized from Official NASA film 2026 by Jon's son, Jon McBride II...
ANOTHER GREAT "BILINGUAL STEAM SATURDAY!![]()
Thanks to volunteer Natalia Sepúlveda and guest Mahiette Tarrajo of Creative Ones Art.![]()
![]()
Made possible by a grant from Nasa Alumni League.
Perseid Meteor Shower in Your Backyard![]()
Stargazer MarQ takes you under the night sky to catch some "falling stars" the next few weeks as Earth plows through debris of the Perseid Meteor Shower. .43
Perseid Meteor Shower in Your Backyard
www.youtube.com
Stargazer MarQ takes you under the night sky to catch some "falling...
SEE SHOOTING STARS FROM YOUR BACKYARD live at 4 pm EDT or anytime on YouTube www.youtube.com/@AmericanSpaceMuseum/streams![]()
Stargazer MarQ shares the Perseid Meteor Shower, which peaks next Wednesday morning, but plenty of "shooting stars" can be seen the weekbefore and after!
WEDNESDAY'S SPACEX MOON IMPACT AND LOCATION PHOTOGRAPHED!![]()
from spaceweather. com![]()
It really happened. On Aug. 5th (0635 UTC), a dead Falcon 9 upper stage slammed into the Moon near Einstein crater at 5,400 mph. The impact was recorded from lunar orbit and from Earth.![]()
![]()
South Korea's Danuri spacecraft (the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter) flew ~350 km over the impact site, post crash, and secured this high-resolution image of a fresh black scar on the lunar surface. Before images show no such mark.![]()
![]()
Back on Earth, astronomers struggled to record the crash because it occurred on the brightly-lit edge of the Moon. The explosion was overwhelmed by glare.![]()
![]()
Astronomers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Spain focused instead on the plume of debris--and they caught it. This video shows the ejecta rising into space. www.spaceweather.com/images2026/05aug26/press_1_IAA-CSIC.mp4![]()
![]()
The plume is diffuse, but massive: Theoretical pre-impact models predicted as much as 800,000 pounds of debris (400 tons of pulverized moondust) would emerge from the new crater.![]()
![]()
"The black area corresponds to the lunar disk," notes team member José María Madiedo. They blocked the glare from the Moon's daylit disk using an occulting device--a kind of "lunar coronagraph" trick we described before the crash. It worked.![]()
![]()
Congratulations to the observers who caught this rare event!
5-TIME SHUTTLE FLIER KENT “ROMMEL” ROMINGER IS 70 TODAY![]()
Happy 70th birthday to Kent Vernon Rominger, a former NASA Space Shuttle pilot/commander with the nickname “Rommel,” born Aug. 7, 1956 in Del Norte, Colorado. ![]()
![]()
Rominger’s 67 days on the Space Shuttle during 5 mission is the most time spent by any other astronaut in an Orbiter (beating by one day NASA seven-time flier Franklin Chang-Diaz)![]()
![]()
Selected as an astronaut in 1992, Rominger flew as pilot on STS-73 (Columbia, 1995), STS-80 (Columbia, 1996) and STS-85 (Discovery, 1997), and was the crew commander on STS-96 (Discovery, 1999) and STS-100 (Endeavour, 2001). These were missions that bridged the gap between payload bay science and science on the young International Space Station. ![]()
![]()
Rominger’s mission highlights from 67 accumulative days in space were as diverse as the U.S. Microgravity Lab on STS-73 to a major robotic arm installation on the ISS on STS-100. His last command on Endeavour and STS-100 was docked 8-days on the most complex robotics flight in the history of the Space Shuttle program and was made up of a very diverse international crew, representing the United States, Russia, Canada and Italy.![]()
![]()
In April 2005 he retired from the Navy. Rominger retired from NASA in September 2006 to accept a position as Vice President of Advanced Programs. with ATK Launch Systems, Utah.![]()
![]()
Rominger Graduated from Del Norte High School, Del Norte, Colorado, in 1974; received a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Colorado State University in 1978; a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1987
HAPPY 64th BIRTHDAY TO JOSE HERNANDEZ, MIGRANT WORKER TURNED ASTRONAUT![]()
Jose Moreno Hernández was born Aug. 7, 1962 in French Camp, California, but he considers Stockton, California, his hometown. His family is originally from La Piedad, Michoacán, Mexico.![]()
(photo with Marty Winkel, Stay Curious co-producer)![]()
![]()
Hernández is the subject of the 2023 biopic, "A Million Miles Away" on Netflex, in which he is portrayed by Michael Peña. The film was based on Hernández’s 2012 autobiography, “Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut.![]()
![]()
Jose has confirmed his appearance at ShuttleFest next June, and will have a wine tasting party at the Museum during the event. Hernández owns a 20-acre vineyard near Lodi, California, and in 2021 began bottling wine under the Tierra Luna Cellars label. ![]()
![]()
As a child, Hernández worked alongside his family and other farmworkers throughout the fields of California, harvesting crops and moving from one town to another. He attended many schools and didn't learn to speak English until he was 12. His first memory of space is about adjusting the television in order to watch the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.![]()
![]()
Rejected 12 times trying to become a NASA astronaut, Hernandez finally made it in the last astronaut group to fly the Space Shuttle, Group 19 “The Peacocks.” He got his only flight to Earth orbit in September 2009 for 13 days on STS-128. ![]()
![]()
Hernández worked from 1990 to 2001 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California and developed the first full-field digital mammography imaging system for breast cancer detection. In 2006, Hernández was an aquanaut during the NEEMO 12 mission, underwater for 12 days. ![]()
![]()
Hernández was launched as a mission specialist on the STS-128 mission on August 28, 2009. While in orbit, Hernández became the first person to use the Spanish language in space while tweeting. The STS-128 mission ended its 13-day journey on September 11, 2009, landing at Edward Air Force Base near his California roots. ![]()
![]()
Hernández and his wife Adela have five children. For several years, his wife, ran a Mexican restaurant just outside the Johnson Space Center gates, called Tierra Luna Grill, which is Spanish for Earth Moon Grill. ![]()
![]()
Here's Jose's vinyard: tierralunacellars.com/
Cosmonaut Titov Amazing Spaceflight![]()
Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov was the first human to orbit Earth a full day, experiencing sleep and space sickness.
Cosmonaut Titov Amazing Spaceflight
www.youtube.com
Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov was the first human to orbit Earth a...
Cosmonaut Titov Amazing Spaceflight![]()
Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov was the first human to orbit Earth a full day, experiencing sleep and space sickness.
Cosmonaut Titov Amazing Spaceflight
www.youtube.com
Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov was the first human to orbit Earth a...
THE COMPLEX COSMONAUT, GHERMAN TITOV, FIRST TO "LIVE" IN SPACE live at 4 pm EDT or anytime in YouTube www.youtube.com/@AmericanSpaceMuseum/streams![]()
Enjoy a look into the Soviet space program of the early 1960, filled with propaganda and innuendos in the Moon Race with America.
RUGGED MARS ROVER CURIOSITY AT 14 YEARS ON RED PLANET![]()
NASA’s Curiosity rover has been active on Mars for 14 years, having landed in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012 ![]()
![]()
In 14 years Curiosity has traveled more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) across the Martian surface. Recent close-up images reveal significant denting and wear-and-tear on the rover's aluminum wheels, though it remains fully functional.![]()
![]()
Key scientific achievements include: Confirmed that ancient Mars possessed the chemical and mineral conditions needed to support microbial life. Curiosity has collected dozens of powdered rock samples using its robotic arm drill to analyze strata on Mount Sharp. The nuclear-powered rover continues to explore young terrain features, including unique honeycomb-textured surface polygons
HAPPY 76th BIRTHDAY TO ASTRONAUT WINSTON SCOTT![]()
A good friend of American Space Museum, Winston Elliott Scott was born Aug. 6, 1950 in Miami (Coconut Grove), Florida. ![]()
![]()
His two Space Shuttle missions were STS-72, Endeavour, in January 1996 and STS-87, Columbia, in November 1997. On STS-72 he conducted two spacewalks to demonstrate and evaluate techniques to be used in the assembly of the International Space Station. He was exposed to the coldest temperatures every by a space-suited astronaut, more than 200 below zero. On STS-87, he and astronaut Doi captured in their gloved hands a satellite called Spartan to be brought back to Earth for repair. He also tested EVA tools and procedures for future Space Station assembly. ![]()
![]()
Selected as a NASA astronaut in August 1992, Scott has logged a total of 25 days in space, including three spacewalks.![]()
Scott has written a book about his experiences in space, "Reflections From Earth Orbit," published by Apogee Books.![]()
![]()
Pictured with his wife, Marilyn, the Scotts have helped ASM in many fundraisers for our non-profit foundation, U.S. Space Walk of Fame. Winston plays his jazz trumpet in a couple of bands on the Florida Space Coast.![]()
![]()
Semi-retired, he was the senior advisor to the president of Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. Today his is the chief astronaut of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex, tasked with getting an astronaut every day to talk to the public at two free presentations and autograph sessions. ![]()
![]()
Scott wanted to be a musician, graduating from the integrated Coral Gables Senior High School as an honored band trumpeter. He received a music scholarship and earned his BA in Music at Florida State University in 1972, and an MS degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Navy Post Graduate School in 1980. He became an expert flying the SH-2F Helicopter in the anti-submarine squadron. During his Naval flight career, he became a Top Gun, and has more than 200 shipboard landings.![]()
![]()
We’re gonna listen to a little “In a Silent Way” by trumpet-master Miles Davis and celebrate our wonderful friend of ASM. Scott says that the album reminds him of spacewalking. Happy Birthday, Winston!
Elizabeth Schneider, a Tour Entrepreneur![]()
Elizabeth Schneider shares her Space Coast insight as a business leader with two tour companies.
Elizabeth Schneider, a Tour Entrepreneur
www.youtube.com
Elizabeth Schneider shares her Space Coast insight as a business le...