Nancy Atkinson

“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases, it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams ….
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth…”
—John Keats
I love that poem by John Keats, but if he [...]

I’ve received a few emails from people wondering why I haven’t written anything on my personal blog lately. And honestly, I was surprised to look and see the last post was a month ago. I usually use Saturday mornings for catching up with things I’ve been meaning to do — like post something [...]

Two rocket launches in one week! It doesn’t get any better than this! The launch of the Atlas V rocket with the Solar Dynamics Observatory on Feb. 11 was incredible! (Have I used that word before here?!) Above is an animation of the images I took of the launch, and below is a [...]

The launch of space shuttle Endeavour early this morning was just absolutely amazing. I tried to express what the experience was like on my post on Universe Today, but quickly ran out of superlatives. People can tell you that a shuttle launch is going to be loud and that a night launch will [...]

Space Shuttle Endeavour on the launchpad enshrouded by the Rotating Service Structure. Image: Nancy Atkinson
It was a little eerie and not quite what I was expecting. Nobody was there.
I went to the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday for my first visit as a member of the media. Driving there, [...]

A couple of days ago I posted on Universe Today some new Mars flyover videos created by Doug Ellison from UnmannedSpaceflight.com. He now has rendered a few more, and this one is my favorite: Bahram Vallis. Hang on to your hat when you approach the cliffs! Doug is able to create these [...]