VSS Unity made the second rocket-powered test flightWednesday 5/30/18, time 4:12 PM The rocket of Virgin Galactic, VSS Unity, made the second rocket-powered test flight on May 29, 2018. The VSS Unity apogee was 35 km (114 500 ft.) and the top speed was 1.9 Mach which is about 2000 km/h. The last flight was in April and that time rocket apogee was 26 k m and speed was the same 2000 km/h. Now I am waiting for more rocket-powered test flights! More info-> Virgin Galactic |
Rocket-Uno has no motorSaturday 5/26/18, time 10:30 PM Rocket-Uno version 3 is soon ready. In this phase motor is taken out so I can paint the whole engine room.
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Rocket Motor testingTuesday 5/22/18, time 10:25 PM Virgin Galactic did publish a video, where they told about rocket moter testing and people who are building those rocket motors. Video -> Rocket Motor |
Rocket-Uno 5 years and 50 000 kmTuesday 5/15/18, time 10:31 PM I bid buy my Rocket-Uno in May 2012. I have been driving it for 50 000 km and the journey continues. Yesterday I had the annual car inspection for my Uno and now she can run for at least a year. Before Uno, I was driving 5 years with Audi A8 which had a 4.2 litre engine and lots of computers. Audi was a dull car compared to Uno. Perhaps I will drive my Uno for the rest of my life. I have a lot of spare parts at my garage :)
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Apollo Celebration Gala 2018Sunday 4/22/18, time 7:21 PM The first men walked on the moon in July 1969. The Apollo 11 flight is the second important flight in the history of space conquest. The most important flight is of course Yuri Gagarin's flight in 1961. Apollo flights have been celebrated for many years in the Apollo Gala at the Kennedy Space Center and former astronauts will ne there. In 1969-1972, a total of 12 people walked in the moon, five of them still are alive. They are all over 80 years old. The most famous of them is the 86-year-old Buzz Aldrin, who is coming to the gala. I received the Virgin Galactic invitation to this event. At the event funds are raised for training and ticket prices are therefore expensive, 750 to 2500 dollars. Many Virgin Galactic customers have acquired tickets for the event. This year I'm not taking part in the event, but I made a preliminary inquiry to Virgin Galactic for 2019 ticket, which will be the 50 years anniversary of the Apollo 11 flight. More info from the gala-> Apollo Celebration Gala More info from Apollo -astronauts -> Wikipedia
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VSS Unity made the first rocket-powered testflightSunday 4/15/18, time 9:01 PM The new rocket of Virgin Galactic, VSS Unity, made the first rocket-powered test flight on April 5, 2018. This was a big step for the Virgin Galactica project. The previous test flight took place in 2014. The VSS Unity apogee was 26 km (84 271 ft) and the top speed was 1.87 Mach which is about 2000 km/h. Now I am waiting for more rocket-powered test flights! More information-> Virgin Galatic tiedote More information-> Iltasanomat Picture Virgin Galactic
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Rocket beer mugThursday 3/29/18, time 9:07 PM My friend, Harri Salo, made me a special Rocket beer mug. After my space fligh I will drink a Sandels, beer from Finland. You can order your own beer mug from here:
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Rocket-Uno version 3 is under constructionSunday 3/25/18, time 8:59 PM This winter I have designed and started to build a new version of the Rocket-Uno. Version 3 includes: a new door, a new hood and a new tuned engine. Version 3 will be ready by the beginning of summer. I will take it then for a ride at beach boulevard. In the picture, you can see a self-welded rocket which will come to the door.
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Finnish Astronaut T-shirt seen at Venice Beach, California!Monday 2/26/18, time 6:28 PM Kaila Spiller has taken this picture at Venice Beach in February 2018. Kaila is a nice woman and she is actually building space rockets with The Spaceship Company. She is building a rocket for me! My t-shirt could not find better owner.
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Virgin Galactic has opened new fancy pages!Friday 2/16/18, time 8:11 PM New pages are opened. New there are much more videos and pages are very stylish! |
Congrats Elon Musk, you did it before me!Saturday 2/10/18, time 9:46 PM Hi Elon, I did watch your rocket Falcon Heavy's launch last Tuesday and it was a great show! Your rocket is awesome, it can carry a bigger load to the orbit and much cheaper than the Space Shuttle! Your rocket launch was a big milestone for conquering space. Big thank to you! You did then also sent your car to space. My Rocket-Uno target is also fly to Mars, but you did it first!
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After Perjantai -showSunday 2/4/18, time 8:18 PM The live broadcast of the Perjantai -show took place in Tampere at the Tampereen Työväen Teatterin Klubi on 02.02.2018. I went there one hour before to get the last instructions from Rosa Kettumäki and Sean Ricks. There was a lot audience to see the live broadcast. The show started with my interview where I told what kind of a space trip I will do. The second interview was astrophysicist Sissi Enestam and the third was astronomer Esko Valtaoja. This was my first time to be in a live television show. My friends told me that I was OK at the show:)
The show can see from here -> YLE Areena (53 minutes) Picture from the show:
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A small video for Perjantai -showFriday 2/2/18 Rosa Kettumäki contacted me and proposed that we shoud shoot small video of the Raketti-Uno and me. With the video we can then promote the show. We decided to do so and we agreed to shoot the video at Jätemäki in Helsinki. Jätemäki is a hill in Helsinki. The weather was good when we shooted the video on Wednesday. It was not too cold and it was not raining snow. One difficulty we had. The Raketti-Uno did not reach the top of the hill, because the road was too slippery. Maybe I should buy new winter tires or I should have used my rocket motors. We had a lot of fun while doing the shooting. Also the Rocket-Uno got a lot of attention from by passers and they got a big smile on their faces. The result you can see in the video. Video -> Youtube
Picture 2: After video shooting: Rosa Kettumäki, Vesa Heilala and Uwa Iduozee.
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Going to television next FridaySaturday 1/27/18, time 4:37 PM I'm going to be interviewed on 02.02.2018 at Tampere for Perjantai (Friday) -program. The theme of the program is "Moving to Space". Other interviewees are astronomer Esko Valtaoja and astrophysicist Sissi Enestam. That means, I'm the only person who is down to earth :) Program information: -> YLE 1
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Finnish Satellite Workshop 2018, Espoo, Finland 17-18.01.2018.Thursday 1/25/18, time 9:18 PM The first Finnish seminar on satellites was held in Dipoli, Espoo, 17-18 January 2018. Small satellites are devices in the size of a few milk coffers, and to build and send them to space cost just a fraction compared to that of traditional large satellites. Although the satellites are small, they still carry a wide range of scientific and commercial applications. The seminar featured total 32 robust 20-minute presentations, particularly on small satellites. The lecturers came from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia and Holland. The number or attendants was about 200. By now, Finland has already sent 3 satellites to space, the first one being Aalto-1 in 2017. Aalto-1 project was a student project, and as a result, two new companies have been set up; ICEYE and Reaktor Space Lab. During the seminar, ICEYE revealed a press release about the successful launch of the satellite and its results. Well done Finland! The space sector in Finland is growing strong, and new projects are in process. One of the most exciting projects is LappiSat, the aim of which is to launch a small satellite into space in 2019. The satellite will predict appearance of the Northern Lights and describe them. This will certainly interest tourists who travel to Lapland to see the spectacular Northern Lights. LappiSat is just one of the projects that are in progress in Finland. Raising funds for all projects tends to be somewhat difficult. Large Finnish companies may not yet see the many commercial opportunities space technology might provide. At present, the Finnish space sector employs about 300-400 persons, and the growth rate is strong. However, compared to for example Sweden and Norway, we are lagging behind. The Finnish state invests a modest EUR 20 million a year on space technology (primarily as a membership fee for the European Space Agency ESA), and the investments are larger in other countries. What if space sector were a “new Nokia” for Finland? The seminar proves that at least there is enthusiasm enough. If we in Finland were as enthusiastic about space as digitalisation projects, Finland would probably already be already far in the space. Many companies have CDO (Chief Digital Officer) leading digitalization projects, but none of the Finnish companies have the Chief Space Officer (CSO) to lead the exploitation of space. The seminar arrangements were great, thanks to the effective trio at Aalto University: Professor Jaan Praks, Samuli Nyman and Tessa Nikander. More info: https://spaceworkshop.fi/2018.html Picture from seminar:
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VMS Unity made a glide flightThursday 1/11/18, time 8:57 PM Today, VMS Unity made a glide flight. The flight was VMS Unity's 11th flight. Now it's not a long way to start rocket powered test flights. Picture: Virgin Galacic
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What happened in 2017 and what I expect from 2018?Monday 1/1/18 Testing for the Virgin Galactic rocket continued in 2017. The new rocket, VSS Unity, made 4 glide flights during the year. The next step is to start rocket powered test flights. Sir Richard Branson said in 2017 on several occasions that the space flights will begin in 2018. Hopefully this is the case. This year I was listening to three astronaut presentations: Timothy Kopra 9.5. at Heureka, Tim Peake 30.5. at London and Paolo Nespoli 4.12. at Heureka. All the presentations were interesting. Throughout the year, continued to do my exercises, so I'm in good shape when my flight's will come. The biggest effort was in July to take part in the Wife Carrying World Championships at Sonkajärvi. We missed the world championship with my partner by 45 seconds. I will be following closely the news of Virgin Galatic and look forward if will get invitation you to see the first space flight :). The next big projects will be rocket-Uno's further tuning. I have a new motor for it. The new motor will get new parts and new paint. The engine room will also be tuned and painted. |
Merry ChristmasSunday 12/24/17 Virgin Galactic sent a traditional Christmas greeting. This time it was Richard Branson's book and Branson's letter. In his letter Branson, tells what has happened in 2017 and tells that he is planning to fly to the space 2018. Merry Christmas to all!
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Finnish Satellite Workshop 2018 at Espoo, FinlandTuesday 12/19/17, time 7:53 PM Finland is not a big space state. We do not have our own astronauts or our own rockets yet. Finland participates in space exploration by building small satellites and measuring devices which are sent to space by other nation rockets. I will go to the seminar in January to hear more about satellites and other space staff :) I myself had once lectured at Aalto University about space, but this time I am in the role of a listener. More info: Finnish Satellite Workshop 2018 |
Paolo Nespoli at Heureka, FinlandMonday 12/4/17, time 8:15 PM Today there was a space day at Heureka and there were all kinds of space related program. We shortly talked over space history and finally we had a video connection to ISS, where Paolo was. Video connection was available for 30 minutes and you could ask question from Paolo. Paolo will stay still 10 days at space and then he returns back to Earth. The whole video you can see from here: ESA This is it how it looks like to be at weightless environment:
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