Tom Jones Blog
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I’m former NASA astronaut Tom Jones. Check here for my latest thoughts on our greatest adventure, the human exploration of the cosmos.
Tom Jones Blog
2w ago
During a recent school visit, a student asked me how long it would take an astronaut to journey to the nearest star beyond our solar system. That would be Proxima Centauri, a small, low-mass star about 4.25 light years from our Sun. Proxima Centauri is part of the Alpha Centauri system, and is itself a ..read more
Tom Jones Blog
2w ago
Every so often I get a student question based on the numerous cable TV “documentaries” purporting to show the Apollo Moon landings were faked. I’m asked, “How can you prove the Apollo astronauts actually went to the Moon?” In fact, I was orbiting Earth in 2001 on space shuttle Atlantis when one of the most ..read more
Tom Jones Blog
3w ago
Boeing Space will launch its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft Friday night with friends Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore aboard; they’ll fly to a rendezvous with the International Space Station and stay there about 8 days before returning to a cushioned touchdown in the southwest US. I spoke about the mission and its importance here, on WMAL ..read more
Tom Jones Blog
1M ago
I enjoyed audience questions after my recent “Back to the Moon” talk. Here is a sampling: Question: Why don’t we skip the lifeless Moon and go on to Mars, where the real question of “life on other worlds” beckons? Tom answers: When President Obama canceled the return to the moon “Constellation” program in 2010, the ..read more
Tom Jones Blog
5M ago
This 2017 conversation with Frank Borman was recorded during my research for an Air & Space Magazine article on Apollo 7, timed for the 50th anniversary of that flight in October 2018. Part 1 of the interview is here. Col. (USAF, ret) Frank Borman commanded both the Gemini 7 and Apollo 8 missions, and was ..read more
Tom Jones Blog
5M ago
During research for an article about the Apollo 7 mission on its 50th anniversary in October, 2018, I interviewed Col. Frank Borman about his work in seeing that the Apollo spacecraft received the necessary design changes to ensure crew safety and mission success during the crucial sequence of Apollo missions to follow. NASA was running ..read more
Tom Jones Blog
6M ago
Here is part 4 of my conversation with astronaut Fred Haise, conducted during my research for my new book, Space Shuttle Stories. Fred was kind enough to share his impressions of his shuttle Approach and Landing Test experiences commanding orbiter Enterprise during late 1977. Read more about Fred’s ALT experiences in his memoir, Never Panic ..read more
Tom Jones Blog
6M ago
In researching my new book, Space Shuttle Stories, I spoke in February 2020 with Fred Haise about his experiences in 1977 flying prototype orbiter Enterprise for its approach and landing tests at Edwards Air Force Base/Dryden Flight Research Center. In Part 3, Fred speaks about how he and pilot C. Gordon Fullerton flew the gliding ..read more
Tom Jones Blog
6M ago
Part II of Fred Haise’s February 2020 interview about the shuttle’s Approach and Landing Tests: Was there any carryover in training from your years in Apollo, flying to the moon and back, and now flying an orbiter in the atmosphere? There was no connection at all. The shuttle’s more like an airplane, and very complicated ..read more
Tom Jones Blog
6M ago
Before the first shuttle orbiter flew in space, the spaceplane’s ability to fly as a glider to a precision touchdown first had to be proven. Prototype orbiter Enterprise would be carried aloft atop its Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft (SCA), first in a series of captive test flights, and then for free-flying approach and landing ..read more