“It never goes smooth. How come it never goes smooth?”

Posted by Chris Tobias on December 17, 2014
Posted in: Launches, Updates. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

by Jeff Cunningham

Those words of Malcolm Reynolds in the Firefly episode “Safe” came to mind earlier today as we regrettably had to announce that, due to a personal emergency, the correspondent who was to cover this weekend’s Dragon launch in person won’t be able to attend.  (Well, that and the words of Jayne Cobb in the movie Serenity when he said, “Well, what you plan and what takes place ain’t ever exactly been similar.”)

Needless to say, we are as disappointed by this development as we were excited when we first learned we had been awarded press credentials to cover the launch by NASA.

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Since we’ll no longer be live-tweeting the events leading up to the launch, the hashtag #BrowncoatsAskNASA is also unfortunately no longer going to be in play prior to or during the launch broadcast.

You can still watch the live stream of the launch, however, starting before liftoff this Friday, December 19 at 1:22 PM EST at nasa.gov or spacex.com.  It’ll still be one heck of a show watching a rocket liftoff, and then land on that platform like a leaf on the wind!

 

Browncoats Gain Entry to NASA Press Event — UPDATED

Posted by Chris Tobias on December 10, 2014
Posted in: Press Coverage, Updates. Leave a comment

by Jeff Cunningham

Titusville, FL–

Dragon cargo delivery craft berthed at the International Space Station orbiting Earth.

Early yesterday, Take Back the Sky received final approval and was granted full press accreditation by NASA to attend and report on the next launch of the Dragon space capsule live at Kennedy Space Center next week.

The space center will welcome TBtS as part of a select group of respected online journalists in a two-day event comprised of exclusive press conferences and panels with leading officials in NASA and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). The agency invited Take Back the Sky in recognition of our efforts to engage the people who should care most about continuing manned spaceflight and colonization, science fiction fans and “geeks.”

We here at Take Back the Sky are proud and honored to represent Browncoats at the event, and to serve as the voice of Firefly fans everywhere before NASA and SpaceX. While we’re behind the scenes at KSC, we’ll keep you apprised with live coverage of every development. Continue Reading

Antares Rocket Lost, Test Pilot Perishes in Virgin Galactic Crash

Posted by Chris Tobias on November 5, 2014
Posted in: Ad Astra Per Aspera, Updates. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

by Jeff Cunningham

Jeff here, making my triumphant return to the fight after landing my dream job and getting my affairs in order for once. It’s a shame, though, that my first update here couldn’t be under more positive circumstances. For the past couple of days, mainstream media and social networks have been running with headlines that tend to share one common phrase: Last week was “a bad week for private space.” Continue Reading

Come See Us This Weekend at the 2014 Pittsburgh Comicon

Posted by Chris Tobias on September 25, 2014
Posted in: Con Presence. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

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by Chris Tobias

Don’t forget that Take Back the Sky will have a table at the Pittsburgh Comicon this Friday through Sunday, September 26-28.  Those who visit our table can sign our petition to SpaceX asking them to name their first manned Dragon V2 spacecraft Serenity, and we’ll also have templates available so attendees can write their very own letter to Elon Musk and tell him why they believe Serenity would be a very shiny name for his ship.  Since autumn has officially arrived, we’ll be reprising last year’s “Leaf on the Wind” campaign as well, and we’ll have fliers on hand explaining how to best go about sending Elon Musk a “leaf on the wind” to help convince him to name the first Dragon V2 Serenity.

If you’ll be at the Pittsburgh Comicon this weekend, make sure you stop by our table and say hello.  Even if you’ve already signed the petition, written a letter and sent a leaf, it would still be great to have the chance to talk with you about all the exciting things that have been going on recently in both the space industry and the world of science-fiction.  And when you drop by, be sure to bring a friend or two.  We always love meeting fellow Browncoats and folk who get as excited about space as we do.

See you on the convention floor.

— Chris

Remembering the “First Rule of Flying”

Posted by Chris Tobias on September 20, 2014
Posted in: Launches, Updates. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

River Tam:  Storm’s getting worse.

Malcolm Reynolds:  We’ll pass through it soon enough.

— Serenity (2005)

by Chris Tobias

When I got word via Twitter just before 2am this morning that the Falcon 9 launch of the SpaceX Dragon to the International Space Station had been scrubbed due to inclement weather, I somewhat disappointedly shut my laptop and shuffled off to bed. Anyone who’s followed rocket launches, or sports for that matter, knows how unpredictable Florida weather can be, especially this time of year. Storms can pop up seemingly out of nowhere, and it often seems like clear skies are the exception rather than the norm. For those of us who were looking forward to the excitement of watching a night launch, it was simply a matter of resigning ourselves to tuning in around 24 hours later and hoping for better luck with tonight’s (technically tomorrow morning’s) second attempt at 1:52am EST. SpaceX has had a tremendous record recently with regards to their turnaround time between launches. This morning’s scrub was nothing unusual when it comes to the business of launching rockets, and I doubt it will break SpaceX’s stride in the least way.

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SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket with its Dragon capsule sits on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral prior to this morning’s launch scrub. (NASA photo)

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Here There Be Dragons

Posted by Chris Tobias on September 19, 2014
Posted in: Launches. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

by Chris Tobias

September is already shaping up to be a huge month for us here at Take Back the Sky, and no, I’m not talking about the fact that our second anniversary was on September 6 (though it is hard to believe it’s been two years since we first put out that call to convince Elon Musk to name SpaceX’s first manned Dragon spacecraft Serenity).  I’m referring, of course, to the fact that SpaceX has been in the news a lot these past few weeks, and tonight (well, technically early tomorrow morning) they’re really going to grab some headlines with another resupply mission to the International Space Station.

Tonight’s launch of a Dragon capsule to resupply the ISS comes just days after NASA’s September 16 announcement that SpaceX has been chosen along with Boeing as a recipient of the Commercial Crew (CCtCap) contract to send astronauts back into space from US soil for the first time since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. SpaceX will receive 2.6 billion dollars to develop and launch its manned Dragon, otherwise known as the Dragon V2 or Dragon Crew, and will fly between two and six missions to the ISS starting in 2017.

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This is the Dragon V2, which will launch from American soil and carry US astronauts into space as early as 2017. We hope that when she does, she’ll bear the name SERENITY.

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Take Back the Sky to Appear at 2014 Pittsburgh Comicon

Posted by Chris Tobias on July 24, 2014
Posted in: Con Presence. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

by Chris Tobias

By now Comic-Con International is already in full swing in San Diego, and while Take Back the Sky wasn’t lucky enough to make it out to the world’s biggest, most famous festival celebrating all that is great about geekdom this year, we are happy to say that we won’t be staying on the bench for the entire convention season!

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It has been confirmed that Take Back the Sky will be in attendance at the Pittsburgh Comicon again this year.  The 2014 Pittsburgh Comicon will be held September 26-28 at the Monroeville Convention Center, and Take Back the Sky will have a table at the con where Browncoats, space enthusiasts and anyone else who’d like to support the cause can stop by, sign our petition and learn about other ways they can convince Elon Musk and SpaceX to name their first Dragon V2 capsule Serenity.

We won’t be reprising our Browncoats in Space panel this year, but we will be on hand all three days to meet and greet anyone who’d like to drop by and chat with us about Firefly and Serenity, the future of space exploration and the efforts of companies like SpaceX, the latest in science and science-fiction in general or anything else that people like us love to geek out about.  So if you plan to be at the con, please stop by and say hello, because making new friends is shiny.

For more information about this year’s Pittsburgh Comicon, visit their website at www.pittsburghcomicon.com.

Hope to see you there!

Cons and Conflagrations

Posted by Chris Tobias on July 19, 2014
Posted in: Con Presence, Updates. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

SpaceX staffers assigned to the coveted “Comic Con” duty. Unconfirmed reports say they sought out photo opportunities with Iron Man cosplayers in honor of their boss.

by Jeff Cunningham
It’s been an exciting summer in the ‘Verse, including here at TBtS.First off, this week saw a spectacular launch of a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center. If the previous one was any indication, we’ll hopefully see the onboard footage of the rocket’s powered “landing” before long. As of this writing, the next launch is slated for around half past midnight on the evening of August 3rd.
This past launch has shown how, as Jayne would say “what is planned and what actually happens ain’t exactly similar.” To that end, we suggest using spacexstats.com to get notifications. The site features countdowns, email you notifications of any changes or additions to the launch manifest (the list of upcoming rocket launches), and can even export upcoming launches as an event to your preferred calendar app.
Next, we’ll be making encore appearances at some cons in the northeastern U.S. to collect more letters and petition signatures, and will soon expand to others in the southeast.

Continue Reading

Take Back the Sky at Can’t Stop the Serenity Pittsburgh 2014

Posted by Chris Tobias on July 18, 2014
Posted in: Con Presence, Good Works. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

by Chris Tobias

We here at Take Back the Sky are all manner of excited to announce that we will be a part of Can’t Stop the Serenity Pittsburgh again this year.

CSTS Pittsburgh has graciously allowed Take Back the Sky to have a table in the lobby of the Hollywood Theater during their event, at which those in attendance will be able to sign our petition to SpaceX and Elon Musk asking them to name their first manned Dragon V2 spacecraft Serenity.

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So Damned Pretty: 6 Things You Didn’t Know About the Dragon v2 Spaceship

Posted by Chris Tobias on June 3, 2014
Posted in: Articles, Launches. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

After the presentation, we assume he flew away in an Iron Man armor suit.

by Jeff Cunningham

If you missed out on last week’s public unveiling of the Dragon v2 spaceship, you really missed out. It had all of the “cool” factor of an Apple product debut–but when was the last time your smartphone shot a 30-foot flame behind it? Tens of thousands of viewers watched online when the sheets were pulled off of it, revealing what will in all likelihood be the first 21st-century spacecraft to take adventurous souls out into the ‘Verse. The media and the general public were blown away by the touted features of powered-descent landings “with the accuracy of a helicopter,” and especially the sleek, futuristic control panel.

The smooth, streamlined touchscreen interfaces made so much of an impression, in fact, that it may have overshadowed some of the other salient details revealed during the event. We thought that, now that the press has had a moment to catch its breath, we’d help read between the lines for you about what was said–and what wasn’t said, but can be deduced.

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