NASA

It was sixty years ago this month when NASA astronaut Ed White opened the hatch on his two-man Gemini space capsule and floated outside on the first “spacewalk” which lasted about twenty-three minutes. The U.S. record for the longest spacewalk is jointly held by retired Astronaut Jim Voss, of Opelika. He floated outside ISS for close to nine hours. Voss will be my guest on an upcoming edition of "APR Notebook."

Billionaire Elon Musk said, in response to Trump threatening to cancel his company’s government contracts, he will immediately begin decommissioning the SpaceX Dragon. The rocket that brought two stranded NASA astronauts back to earth is also the only U.S. rocket that can carry crews to and from the International Space Station. Huntsville’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages science on the outpost.

Former NASA astronaut James Halsell was released from a north Alabama prison on Memorial Day. WAFF-TV reports the five time space shuttle crewmember will begin ten years of probation following a 2016 traffic accident in Tuscaloosa that killed two sisters.

An aerospace contractor that builds rockets here in Alabama is gearing up for a historic blastoff maybe next month. United Launch Alliance is working with another company that wants to send a small version of NASA’s space shuttle on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

William Ray Lucas , the man who led a NASA facility that shouldered much of the blame for the 1986 Challenger explosion, has died. Laughlin Service Funeral Home director Bryan Peek said Saturday that Lucas died Monday at his home in Huntsville, Alabama. Lucas was director of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville when the Challenger exploded on Jan. 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after liftoff. He resigned months later after a presidential commission blamed a design fault in the shuttle's booster rockets for the disaster.

Boeing's beleaguered space capsule left the International Space Station at about 5 pm central time, without its astronaut crew. NASA's two test pilots stayed behind at the space station as the Starliner capsule undocked Friday and aimed for a touchdown in New Mexico. Its exit follows months of turmoil over its safety. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams travelled to orbit aboard an Alabama built Atlas-V rocket. APR News Director Pat Duggins joined CBS News anchor Lana Zak for national coverage of the first phase of Starliner’s return to Earth—the undocking of the capsule from the International Space Station.

The astronauts who flew aboard an Alabama built Atlas-V rocket, will now spend extra time at the International Space Station. Both are Navy test pilots who have ridden out long missions before.

NASA says the two astronaut test pilots who flew to orbit aboard the new Starliner, which was boosted by an Alabama built rocket, will not return to Earth aboard the new spacecraft.

A tribute to Huntsville's scientific legacy in astrophysics is taking place on Aug. 16 dubbed Legacy of the Invisible. The event is celebrating the Rocket City’s newest art installation inspired by the area’s scientists and engineers.

NASA says chances are growing that two test pilots who flew a new Boeing capsule to the International Space Station in June may have to switch to SpaceX for a ride home. Officials said Wednesday it's still possible astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams can return aboard Boeing's Starliner next month. That decision could also determine if there’s a future in manned spaceflight for the Alabama built Atlas-V rocket.