IROC

19/06/2021

commemorating with a historic view of Galveston, TX from space. Galveston is 32 miles from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

29/04/2021

“Exploration is not a choice, really, it's an imperative. What would be worth recording is what kind of civilization we Earthlings created and whether or not we ventured out into other parts of the galaxy.”
-Michael Collins

Sadly, we have lost astronaut and Apollo 11 pilot Michael Collins, age 90. Thank you sir for your contribution to space exploration.

22/03/2021

Yuri Gagarin was the first human to launch into space, and in honor of him we have Yuri’s Night, a worldwide party that celebrates all space related milestones.

This year it’s going to be a free global webcast with epic speakers and iRoc Space Radio providing the soundtrack.

Tune in
Saturday, April 10
4:00PM PST // 7:00PM EST
More info at YurisNight.net

18/02/2021

Perseverance Rover successfully completed its 239 million mile journey when it touched down on Mars today. continues to close the gap between life on earth and a life in space.

04/02/2021

Today is the day that "MOON" by Test Shot Starfish & Everyday Astronaut premiere's on iRoc Space Radio.
We'll be playing this song every hour starting today through Sunday, Feb. 7.
If you wondered what sounds like, this is it.


Moon photography by Cosmic Background Studios

03/02/2021

iRoc Space Radio is beyond thrilled to announce the world music premiere of Test Shot Starfish and Everyday Astronaut's "MOON," which will play every hour starting tomorrow through Sunday.

02/02/2021

iRoc Space Radio is the place to go for space news and all the interstellar music your earthling ears can handle.
https://irocradio.com

Taking licensing and distribution into all galaxies. IROC protects the rights of artists by licensing and distributing royalties for their work in any area off planet earth.

29/01/2021

iRoc Space Radio’s ever expanding media presence now includes news updates on all things related to outer space.

"iRoc Space Radio is our galaxy's first station dedicated to Space News 5 times daily with music!" -Bruce Furst, CEO iRoc

15/11/2020

Check out space.com to watch SpaceX’s Crew-1 lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida today at 7:27PM EST. The Crew Dragon spacecraft nicknamed “Resilience” is headed to the International Space Station with three NASA astronauts and one from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Crew Members:
Victor Glover
Mike Hopkins
Shannon Walker
Soichi Noguchi

Good luck Crew-1!

25/09/2020

John Shepherd spent three decades broadcasting music millions of miles into space with the goal of contacting aliens. Be sure to catch the 16-minute documentary short, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, on Netflix.

14/09/2020

Scientists have discovered a chemical called phosphine in the Venusian atmosphere, which some believe could point to life on Venus. Of course, there are less fun scientists, who say that gas could result from “unexplained atmospheric or geologic processes.” Either way, looks like all eyes are on Venus for a while.

28/08/2020

Electrical engineer and former NASA astronaut, Joan Elizabeth Higginbotham, became the third Black American woman to travel to space. Her mission, in 2006, was the first to include two Black American astronauts (the other crew member was Robert L. Curbeam).

Higginbotham began her career at NASA at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida two weeks after she received her Bachelor of Science from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1987. While working at NASA she also completed a Masters of
Management Science in 1992 and a Masters in Space Systems in 1996 from the Florida Institute of Technology.

In 1996 she was also accepted into the NASA astronaut training program in Houston. Before her mission into space in 2006, she helped oversee 53 shuttle launches. In 2007, Higginbotham retired from NASA after twenty years to work in the private sector. She has received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, Outstanding Woman of the Year Award, and the Presidential Sports Award in bicycling and weight training.

03/08/2020

“These are difficult times when there's not that much good news. And I think this is one of those things that is universally good, no matter where you are on planet Earth. This is a good thing. And I hope it brightens your day.”

- SpaceX founder Elon Musk, after SpaceX Crew Dragon successful landing today, Sunday, August 1st.

01/08/2020

NASA’s Perseverance rover launched yesterday, July 30th, and now the robotic wheeled rover is headed to Mars. After briefly entering a cautionary ‘safe mode,’ it is now back to business and should land on the Red Planet on February of 2021.

14/07/2020

In 2009, Robert Lee Satcher Jr. became the first orthopaedic surgeon in space. He participated in two spacewalks and made repairs to the International Space Station, likening the latter to “orthopedic surgery, but on a much bigger patient.”

As a child, Satcher told his parents (and according to him his third-grade teacher as well) that he would grow up to be a surgeon and an astronaut one day. He was a National Merit Scholar who received a Bachelor of Science and a doctorate from M.I.T. in Chemical Engineering. He then proceeded to graduate from Harvard Medical School.

Selected by NASA in 2004, Satcher completed Astronaut training in 2006 and launched into space three years later as a Mission Specialist and the crew’s medical doctor.

After NASA, he joined The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in the Orthopaedic Oncology Department. He also enjoys scuba diving and volunteering for the Big Brother at Risk Youth Counseling Program.

In May of 2020, Dr. Satcher was chosen to be the keynote graduation speaker to the Harvard Medical School where he advised students to “Be well, do good, and contribute to the benefit of all.”

05/07/2020

You’ll see celestial fireworks when you look up this weekend and see Jupiter and Saturn during July’s full moon, also known as a ‘Buck Moon.’ Set up a telescope or steadily held binoculars on Sunday evening and you’ll see Jupiter to the moon’s upper right side and Saturn on the upper left. Truly it will be a unique sight to see our moon ‘topped’ by the solar system’s two largest planets.

02/07/2020

Winston Elliott Scott is a retired U.S. Naval Captain and former astronaut, who has two flights into space and three spacewalks under his belt. He’s an accomplished musician, holds a second-degree black belt in Shotokan karate and enjoys flying in his spare time.

Scott attended segregated school until the ninth grade, and although he loved aviation and the new space program that was launching in the 1960’s, he never considered either to be realistic professions. The first book he ever checked out from a library was about Project Mercury, NASA’s first man in space.

Scott went to Florida State University where he received a Bachelor of Arts in music. It was here that his interest in aviation retuned, and he entered the Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School after graduation. Upon finishing his training, Scott was selected to attend the Naval Postgraduate School where he earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering.

He was selected by NASA in 1992 to join the astronaut training program and went into space twice during his career. An avid musician, Scott took a variety of music into space with him, including jazz, rock, classical and R&B.

After he retired from NASA, Scott accepted a position at Florida Stare University and later became the director of Florida Space Authority. It was here that he urged then Governor, Jeb Bush, to combine the three different state space organizations into one, which is now called Space Florida.

30/06/2020

Bessie Coleman was many firsts; she was the first Black woman and first Native American to hold a pilot’s license during a time when Black, Native Americans and women were not permitted to enter flight school in the U.S. She was also the first Black American to hold an international pilot’s license.

She spent her childhood picking cotton and later saved money to study French in Chicago so she could attend flight school in France. She became famous for her air shows where she often performed dangerous flights, such as parachuting from planes. Her life was cut short in 1926, at age 34, when flying as a passenger, her plane crashed ten minutes after take-off.

When Mae Jemison made her historic flight into space she carried with her a photo of Bessie Coleman.

29/06/2020

Charles Frank Bolden Jr. is a decorated Vietnam war veteran, astronaut and the first
Black American to serve as permanent NASA Administrator. Bolden made four flights into space and was the first human to have their voice broadcast on Mars.

In high school he was turned down for appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy by South Carolina Senator and famous segregationist Strom Thurmond. Instead of being deterred, he wrote to President Johnson, who helped him find a U.S. Representative to appoint him. He graduated from the Naval Academy as class president with a B.S. in Electrical Science in 1968. He later earned a Master of Science degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California.

He joined NASA in 1980 and was qualified for space travel a year later. Bolden’s fourth and final flight into space in 1994 was the first joint American-Russian Space Shuttle mission, with Bolden acting as mission commander and cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev as mission specialist.

He was nominated by President Obama in 2009 to be the NASA administrator and confirmed by the Senate by unanimous vote. While there, Bolden formed a diversity and inclusion council and asked senior leaders to step up to actively support diversity. He retired from NASA in 2017.

26/06/2020

On Wednesday, June 24th, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the agency’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C. will be named after engineer Mary Jackson.

25/06/2020

Robert Lee Curbeam Jr. is a former NASA astronaut and captain in the United States Navy. Curbeam holds the records for most spacewalks performed during a single mission when he completed four walks.

As a child he would go outside of his home at dusk looking up hoping to catch a glimpse of Skylab, the U.S. space station that orbited the Earth. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and went on to attend the Navy Fighter Weapons School, better known as Top Gun. Curbeam also earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.

He was selected by NASA in 1994 and went into space on three missions. He performed his first spacewalk on his second mission in 2001, and that’s when his years in naval training came into play. A connector hose started to leak, spraying toxic ammonia everywhere (including on him), but he remained calm, told the ground crew what happened, stopped the leak and decontaminated himself so he could continue his spacewalk.

It was on his third trip into space in 2006 he performed a record-breaking four walks in space. During all three of his missions into space he totaled seven spacewalks and oversaw scientific experiments like studying the earth’s atmosphere and working on the Japanese Manipulator Flight Demonstration robotic arm.

After 13 years at NASA, Curbeam left to work in the private sector, first at a risk-management firm and now at Northrop Grumman Innovative Systems where he is Vice President of Business Development for the Space Systems Group. His current role allows him to oversee the creation of the latest technological advances in flight both here on earth and in space.

24/06/2020

Bernard Anthony Harris Jr. is a former NASA astronaut and the first Black American to perform a space walk. He is also a surgeon, scientist and entrepreneur.

Harris first realized he wanted to be an astronaut when, at 13, he watched the Apollo 11 on TV in 1969. When he was in high school in San Antonio, TX he decided he would become a doctor but never forgot his dream of going into space one day.

After graduating from the University of Houston with a B.S. degree in biology, he earned his MD from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine and later completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic. Harris later received a master’s degree in biomedical science from The University of Texas Medical Branch.

Harris joined NASA’s Johnson Space Center as a clinical scientist and fight surgeon after he completed a National Research Council Fellowship there. At NASA he conducted clinical investigations of space adaptation and developed countermeasures for extended duration space flight. Important step towards humans living off-planet one day.

Harris joined the astronaut training program and became a qualified mission specialist in 1991. Two years later he took his first trip into space. It was on his second Space in 1995, as Payload Commander, he became the first Black American to walk in space.

He left NASA in 1996 and went on to start a non-profit that works to empower socially and economically challenged groups to realize their potential and future dreams. He has worked with the United Nations and currently is the CEO and President of a venture capitalist firm that invests in early-stage companies in Medical Informatics and Technology. He is also a certified scuba diver and licensed pilot.

20/06/2020

Michael Phillip Anderson was a United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut, who’s life was cut tragically short during his second trip into space when the shuttle he and his crew were on disintegrated upon re-entry to Earth.

As a child, Anderson dreamed of space travel and even announced at the age of four that one day he was going to be an astronaut. He graduated from Cheney High School in Cheney, Washington where he was known for spending most of his time in the science lab. He graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle with a B.S. in Physics and Astronomy and later entered the U.S. Air Force.

While stationed in Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, he completed a Master’s Degree in Physics from Creighton University in Omaha.

NASA selected him for astronaut training in 1994 whereupon he entered Johnston Space Center in Houston, and within a year he was qualified for flight crew assignment as a mission specialist. While in Houston, Anderson and his family became active in the Grace Community Church, where he sang tenor in the choir.

In January of 1998, Anderson spent eight days in space as a Mission Specialist on the STS-89 Endeavour. His next role at NASA was to design software for the international space station (ISS).

He was chosen as the Payload Commander and Lieutenant Colonel on the STS-107 Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003 and spent 17 days in space. Anderson was in charge of overseeing over 80 scientific experiments conducted during that mission.

The Columbia was NASA’s oldest shuttle and had incurred damage during its launch unbeknownst to the crew. Upon re-entry, earth atmospheric gases penetrated a hole near the wing, which caused the destruction of the shuttle. The lives of all seven crew member were lost that day. Anderson is survived by his wife (Sandra Hawkins), two daughters (Kaycee and Sydney), his parents and three sisters.

In 2004, Anderson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

19/06/2020

In honor of , check out the Smithsonian documentary “Black In Space: Breaking the Color Barrier“ (available in full on YouTube or stream on the Smithsonian Channel).

It chronicles the intertwined relationship between the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, and how Russia helped bring diversity to the skies. It’s both fascinating and frustrating; told by the Black astronauts and their families who lived it.

18/06/2020

Frederick Drew Gregory was a military engineer, test pilot, decorated war hero, NASA astronaut and the first Black American to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission. He retired from the Air Force as a Colonol, was appointed NASA Deputy Administrator by President George W. Bush in 2002 and briefly served as the acting administrator of NASA in 2005 before retiring.

Gregory was born in Washington D.C. and his father, Francis, was the first Black president of the D.C. Public Library Board of Trustees and had a library named after him. After high school he attended the United States Air Force Academy after being nominated by Adam Clayton Powel Jr. After gradation with a degree in military engineering, he served in Vietnam where he flew 550 rescue missions in a helicopter. Gregory later went on earn a master’s degree from George Washington University in information systems.

He was selected to be a NASA astronaut in 1978 and made his first flight into space as a pilot in 1985. Once in space, he and the crew conducted scientific experiments involving the suitability of animal-holding facilities and space physics.

It was during his second mission that he made history flying as the first Black American to act as commander on a space flight. On his third trip to Space in 1991, his crew studied the medical effects of long duration space flight, something that continues to assist the future of space travel today and eventually, space tourism.

Gregory worked at NASA Headquarters from 1991 to 2005. He was appointed acting NASA administrator in 2005 before retiring that year. Twice he has been the recipient of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Award; he has received the NASA Spaceflight Medal three times and is in the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

17/06/2020

Stephanie Diana Wilson is an engineer, NASA astronaut and the second Black female to go into space. Between her three missions, she has spent 42 days in space, the most of any Black astronaut male or female.

Wilson was born in Boston in 1966 and raised in Pittsfield, MA. For career day in junior high school she chose to interview Williams College astronomer Jay Pasachoff, because she loved looking up at the sky. In high school, at the encouragement of her father, she decided to pursue engineering and went on to Harvard where she did indeed study engineering science. She later earned a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas.

After completing her graduate degree, she worked at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California for four years before being selected by NASA as an Astronaut Candidate. She went into space three times (2006, 2007 and 2010) for a total
of 42 days.

For Wilson’s first mission, she tested new equipment, supported robotic arm operations and produced never-before-seen, high-resolution images of the Shuttle during and after its launch. On her second mission, the crew conducted four spacewalks and repaired the station’s solar arrays with a new method that had never been executed before. For Wilson’s third and final visit into space, she was responsible for spacewalking support using the space station’s robotic arm. Her love of looking into the heavens and interest in engineering all came to fruition with these missions.

On October 18th, 2019, Wilson was ground controller at Houston for the first all-female spacewalk by Christina Koch and Jessica Meir.

Some of the awards she has received are: NASA Distinguished Service Medal (twice), NASA Space Flight Medal (three times), Harvard College Women’s Professional Achievement Award, Harvard Foundation Scientist of the Year Award, Johnson Space Center Innovation Group Achievement Award and the Johnson Space Center Director of Commendation Award.

16/06/2020

Ronald Erwin McNair was a NASA astronaut, physicist, 6th-degree black belt in taekwondo and accomplished saxophonist. Sadly, his life was cut short during his last mission aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.

In 1959, when McNair was eight years old he attempted to check out some books from the segregated Lake City Public Library in South Carolina but was refused. When the librarian threatened to call the police and his mother he told her, “I’ll wait,” and patiently sat on the counter. When everyone arrived, the officer asked the librarian, “Why don’t you just give him the books?” and she reluctantly agreed. McNair said, “Thank you, Ma’am,” upon leaving and in 2011 that library was renamed the Ronald McNair Life History Center.

McNair was valedictorian of his high school and graduated from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University cm laude with a B.S. in engineering physics. He went on to earn a Ph.D. from M.I.T. in Physics - which now has a building named after him that houses the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.

After M.I.T., McNair became a staff physicist at the Hughes Research Lab in California and in 1978, was selected to enter NASA’s astronaut program. He became the second Black American man to fly into space in 1984.

On January 28, 1986 McNair was chosen to be one of three mission specialists for the STS-51-L Challenger and was killed when it disintegrated 73 seconds after take off. He left behind his wife Cheryl and two children. McNair was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004 and has a crater on the moon named after him.

15/06/2020

Dorothy Vaughan was a mathematician and human computer who for worked for the government and later NASA. She was her high school valedictorian and received a full-tutotion scholarship to attend Wilberforce where she graduated cm laude in Mathematics in 1929. She was encouraged to do graduate study by her professors but instead chose to be a math teachers to help her family during the Great Depression.

In 1943, Vaughan was hired as a mathematician and programmer at Langley Research Center, where she specialized in calculations for flight paths. She was assigned to the West Area Computing unit, which was part of a segregated department who were not permitted to use the same dining and bathrooms as their White coworkers. She became the first Black supervisor in 1949 and one of the few female supervisors in the agency.

In 1961 Vaughan saw that digital computers were going to be the future in her field and taught herself and later her staff the programming language of FORTRAN. She worked for NASA- Langley for 28 years while raising her six children, one of whom also later worked for NASA.

After her retirement in 1971 she continued her work as an active member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church where she participated in music and even wrote a song called ‘Math Math.’ She was portrayed by Academy Award-winning actor Octavia Spencer in 2016’s “Hidden Figures.” She was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously in 2019 and a crater was named after her on the Moon in her honor.

14/06/2020

Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. was an Air Force officer and the first Black American astronaut who’s life was cut tragically short when his plane crashed at Edwards Air Force Base in 1967.

Lawrence graduated from high school at 16 in the top 10 present in Chicago. At 20 he graduated from Bradley University with a B.S. in Chemistry and distinguished himself as Cadet Commander in the Air Force ROTC.

Lawrence became a pilot in the Air Force at age 21, became an instructor pilot by 25 and also a dad when he and his wife, Barbara, welcomed their son Tracey. In 1965 he earned a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Ohio State University.

As a senior USAF pilot, Lawrence flew myriad tests in the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter to investigate the gliding flight of an unpowered spacecraft returning to Earth from orbit. He was commended by NASA who said he “contributed greatly to the development of the Space Shuttle.”

In June of 1967 he was selected by the USAF as an astronaut in the Air Force’s Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) program, making him the country’s first Black astronaut. However on December 8th of that year, he was killed when flying backseat in an F-104 as the instructor pilot. He was 32. Had he lived, Lawrence likely would have been part of the astronauts in NASA Astronaut Group 7.

In 1997 his name was inscribed on the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.