Orbital Velocity in 2017

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Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean as seen Oct. 27, 2016, from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA

Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean as seen Oct. 27, 2016, from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA

Since August, I have been working to give Orbital Velocity a basic functionality. Currently, about two blog posts are produced a week and content has been created for the spacecraft that currently service the International Space Station.

With 2016 coming to a close, it’s time to create a road map for 2017. This road map will change as more funds and time are contributed to it. But before going over that, it might be important to describe what was and wasn’t accomplished in the last five months.

Orbital Velocity was a blog I started writing in mid-2014. It was part of a class assignment for the degree I am working toward: mass media with an emphasis in contemporary journalism. I continued blogging well after the class ended and, over summer of 2016, it was expanded from a simple blog into a website that will someday grow to include a wealth of ISS information.

Originally, I had hoped to create the website, blog regularly and finish pages on all the space station's visiting spacecraft with video overviews. To top it off I hoped to start writing and filming a 20-some-episode ISS history web series by years end.

Needless to say, I was overly ambitions.

The blog was maintained. Additionally, graphics, specifications and histories for all the current visiting spacecraft were finished. However, I was only able to create a video overview for the Soyuz.

The web series fell by the wayside as, with school and a part-time as managing editor at SpaceFlight Insider, I was unable to devote any time to it.

For 2017, I hope to learn from the lessons of the past four months and create a more reasonable set of goals.

The Winter 2017 goals are as follows:

  • Finish overview videos for all current spacecraft: Progress, Cygnus, Kounotori, and Dragon
  • Finish specifications, history and video overviews for past and future space station vehicles
  • Increase blog posting to 3 times per week (Including a podcast)

For goals for the whole year, visit the road map page. Thank you for your readership in 2016. Together, let's make 2017 an amazing year.

Thanks,

Derek Richardson
Founder

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Derek Richardson

I am a space geek who loves to write about space.

My passion for space ignited when I watched space shuttle Discovery leap to space on October 29, 1998. Today, this fervor has accelerated toward orbit and shows no signs of slowing down. After dabbling in math and engineering courses in college, I soon realized that my true calling was communicating to others about space exploration and spreading that passion.

Currently, I am a senior at Washburn University studying Mass Media with an emphasis in contemporary journalism. In addition to running Orbital Velocity, I write for the Washburn Review and am the Managing Editor for SpaceFlight Insider.