May 1, 2013
Touch The Moon
Photo: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft onboard, is seen as it launches from Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday, March 1, 2013. The launch marked the second SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Photo: The Soyuz rocket is rolled out to the launch pad by train on Monday, December 17, 2012, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket sent Expedition 34/35 Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA, Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko, and Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi.
Photo: The flags representing Kazakhstan and the nations of the three crew members who were launched in the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft are shown at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. From left to right are the flags of Russia, the United States, Canada and Kazakhstan. Launched on December 19 were Expedition 34/35 Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA, Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko, and Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi.
Photo: An Orthodox priest blesses members of the media shortly after blessing the Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket sent Expedition 35 Soyuz Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy of NASA, and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin of Russia on a five and a half-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi.
Photo: Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford of NASA poses for a photograph with women in ceremonial Kazakh dress at the Kustanay Airport in Kazakhstan a few hours after he, along with Expedition 34 Russian Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy, and Russian Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin, landed their Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft near the town of Arkalyk on Saturday, March 16, 2013. Ford, Novitskiy, and, Tarelkin returned from 142 days onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 33 and 34 crews. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Photo: Todd Toth, Science Educator at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, conducts an experiment with students to create a cloud in a bottle, Monday, April 22, 2013 at Union Station in Washington. The NASA Science Gallery exhibits are being sponsored by NASA in honor of Earth Day. Photo Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi.
Photo: A NASA Social participant asks a question to the astronauts onboard the International Space Station in a live downlink from the ISS at a NASA Social exploring science on the ISS at NASA Headquarters, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 in Washington. Photo Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi.
• Folks in Lawton, Oklahoma, will have the rare chance to touch a nearly 4-billion-year-old piece of moon rock at NASA’s Driven to Explore traveling exhibit, a multimedia experience that immerses visitors in the story of NASA. The exhibit will be at Great Plains Science Day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, May 2, 2013.
• The centerpiece of Driven to Explore is the opportunity to touch a lunar rock sample brought to Earth by the astronauts of Apollo 17 in 1972, America’s last human mission to the moon. The rock is one of only eight lunar samples made available for the public to touch.
Driven to Explore allows visitors to learn why we explore, discover the challenges of human space exploration and how NASA provides critical technological advances to improve life on Earth. The exhibit also details the accomplishments of the space shuttle and the International Space Station.
NASA is investing in the building blocks of a more capable approach to space exploration, including research and development to increase space travel capabilities. In support of these efforts, NASA is performing field tests, designing surface systems and conducting advanced human research to ensure that future missions are safe, sustainable and affordable.
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Posted by Editors at 4:48 AM
August 7, 2012
NASA Lands Car-Size Rover Beside Martian Mountain
Photo: Field of Stars: Messier 107 is one of more than 150 globular star clusters found around the disc of the Milky Way galaxy. These spherical collections each contain hundreds of thousands of extremely old stars and are among the oldest objects in the Milky Way. Messier 107 is located about 20,000 light-years from our solar system. French astronomer Pierre Mechain first noted the object in 1782, and British astronomer William Herschel documented it independently a year later. This picture was obtained with the Wide Field Camera of Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Image credit: ESA/NASA.
Photo: Curiosity’s Surroundings: This is one of the first images taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars on the morning of Aug. 6, 2012. The cameras are looking directly into the sun, so the top of the image is saturated. As planned, the rover’s early engineering images are lower resolution. Larger color images from other cameras are expected later in the week when the rover’s mast, carrying high-resolution cameras, is deployed. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Photo: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Entry, Descent and Landing Engineer Adam Steltzner reacts after the Curiosity rover successfully landed on Mars and as first images start coming in to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012 in Pasadena, Calif. The MSL Rover named Curiosity was designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls).
Photo: Adam Steltzner, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) entry, descent and landing phase lead, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, holds a model of the MSL spacecraft during a briefing held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Thursday, August 2, 2012 in Pasadena, Calif. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls).
Photo: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Flight Systems Chief Engineer Rob Manning, left, MSL Entry, Descent and Landing Engineers Adam Steltzner, second from left, Steve Lee and Anita Sangupta, right give a briefing during a NASA Social held to preview the landing of the MSL Curiosity rover at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 in Pasadena, Calif. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls).
• NASA’s most advanced Mars rover Curiosity has landed on the Red Planet. The one-ton rover, hanging by ropes from a rocket backpack, touched down onto Mars Sunday to end a 36-week flight and begin a two-year investigation.
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft that carried Curiosity succeeded in every step of the most complex landing ever attempted on Mars, including the final severing of the bridle cords and flyaway maneuver of the rocket backpack.
“Today, the wheels of Curiosity have begun to blaze the trail for human footprints on Mars. Curiosity, the most sophisticated rover ever built, is now on the surface of the Red Planet, where it will seek to answer age-old questions about whether life ever existed on Mars — or if the planet can sustain life in the future,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “This is an amazing achievement, made possible by a team of scientists and engineers from around the world and led by the extraordinary men and women of NASA and our Jet Propulsion Laboratory. President Obama has laid out a bold vision for sending humans to Mars in the mid-2030’s, and today’s landing marks a significant step toward achieving this goal.”
Curiosity returned its first view of Mars, a wide-angle scene of rocky ground near the front of the rover. “Our Curiosity is talking to us from the surface of Mars,” said MSL Project Manager Peter Theisinger of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. “The landing takes us past the most hazardous moments for this project, and begins a new and exciting mission to pursue its scientific objectives.”
Confirmation of Curiosity’s successful landing came in communications relayed by NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter and received by the Canberra, Australia, antenna station of NASA’s Deep Space Network.
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Posted by Editors at 12:20 PM
July 22, 2011
NASA's Space Shuttle Program Ends With Atlantis Landing
Photo: The Astrovan carrying the STS-135 crew rolls past the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and Launch Control Center (LCC), on its way to launch pad 39a and space shuttle Atlantis, Friday, July 8, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The launch of Atlantis, STS-135, was the final flight of the shuttle program, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Photo: The STS-135 crew; Chris Ferguson, commander; Doug Hurley, pilot; Rex Walheim and Sandy Magnus, both mission specialists are seen before boarding space shuttle Atlantis at launch pad 39A prior to launch, Friday, July 8, 2011 at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The launch of Atlantis, STS-135, was the final flight of the shuttle program, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Photo: Space shuttle Atlantis is seen on launch pad 39a moments after the STS-135 crew arrived for their launch, Friday, July 8, 2011, at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Photo: Space shuttle Atlantis is seen as it launches from pad 39A on Friday, July 8, 2011, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Photo: The space shuttle Atlantis is revealed as the rotating service structure (RSS) is rolled back at launch pad 39a on Thursday, July 7, 2011 at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
• Wrapping up 30 years of achievements, NASA’s Space Shuttle Program came to a “wheels stop” on Thursday at the conclusion of its 135th mission.
Shuttle Atlantis and its four-astronaut crew glided home for the final time, ending a 13-day journey of more than five million miles with a landing at 5:57 a.m. EDT at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Since STS-1 launched on April 12, 1981, 355 individuals from 16 countries flew 852 times aboard the shuttle. The five shuttles traveled more than 542 million miles and hosted more than 2,000 experiments in the fields of Earth, Astronomy, Biological and Materials Sciences.
The shuttles docked with two space stations, the Russian Mir and the International Space Station. Shuttles deployed 180 payloads, including satellites, returned 52 from space and retrieved, repaired and redeployed seven spacecraft.
According to NASA, this was Atlantis’ 33rd flight, and was the 135th and the final flight of the shuttle program.
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Posted by Editors at 2:11 AM
March 31, 2011
MESSENGER becomes the First Spacecraft to Orbit Mercury
Photo: An artist’s concept shows the MESSENGER spacecraft in orbit around Mercury. Credit: NASA.
NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury March 17, becoming the first spacecraft to ever do so. While orbiting Mercury, MESSENGER’s instruments will perform the first complete reconnaissance of the planet’s geochemistry, geophysics, geologic history, atmosphere, magnetosphere, and plasma environment. On March 29, the Mercury Dual Imaging System was turned on and began capturing the first of thousands of orbital images.
Photo: From Orbit, Looking toward Mercury’s Horizon. MESSENGER acquired this image of Mercury’s horizon as the spacecraft was moving northward. Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Carnegie Institution of Washington.
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Posted by Editors at 6:01 AM
June 3, 2010
International Space Station Expedition 23 Crew Lands Safely
Photo: A family of Osprey are seen outside the NASA Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Thursday, May 13, 2010. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Photo: Russian cosmonaut Expedition 23 Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko smiles as he awaits to have his Sokol suit pressure checked prior to launch, Friday, April 2, 2010, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kornienko and fellow Expedition 23 crew members Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson launched in their Soyuz TMA-18 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 2, 2010. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Photo: Expedition 23 NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson of the U.S. prepares to have her Russian Sokol suit pressure checked at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Friday, April 2, 2010. Caldwell Dyson and fellow Expedition 23 crewmembers Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of Russia launched in their Soyuz TMA-18 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 2, 2010. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Photo: The Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft is rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, March, 31, 2010. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Photo: Pad technicians secure the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft shortly after it was rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, March, 31, 2010. Photo Credit (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Photo: Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong (first person to set foot on the Moon) makes a point as he testifies during a hearing before the House Science and Technology Committee, Tuesday, May 26, 2010, at the Rayburn House office building on Capitol Hill in Washington. The hearing was to review proposed human spaceflight plan by NASA. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Photo: Expedition 23 Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson performs the traditional door signing Friday, April 2, 2010 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Caldwell Dyson was launched onboard the Soyuz rocket later that day with Expedition 23 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Photo: The Soyuz TMA-18 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 2, 2010 carrying Expedition 23 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Russia, Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of Russia and NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson of the U.S. to the International Space Station. (Photo Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Photo: The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on June 1, 2010. NASA Astronaut Creamer, Russian Cosmonaut Kotov and Japanese Astronaut Noguchi are returning from six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 22 and 23 crews. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi landed their Soyuz-17 spacecraft in Kazakhstan Tuesday, June 1, wrapping up a five-and-a-half-month stay aboard the International Space Station.
Kotov, the Soyuz commander, was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked from the aft port on the station's Zvezda module. The crew landed on June 1 at 11:25 p.m., east of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
Russian recovery teams were on hand to help the crew exit the Soyuz vehicle and adjust to gravity after 163 days in space. Kotov will return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow. NASA astronaut Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Noguchi will return to Houston.
The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 21, 2009. As members of the Expedition 22 and 23 crews, they spent 161 days on the station. They supported three space shuttle missions that delivered the U.S. Tranquility module and its cupola; put the finishing touches on U.S. laboratory research facilities; and attached the Russian Rassvet laboratory and storage module.
Kotov has logged 360 total days in space on his two missions, and Creamer has 163 days. Noguchi, who also flew on the STS-114 shuttle mission, has compiled 177 days in space.
A new trio of Expedition 24 flight engineers, Douglas Wheelock, Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchickhin, will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 4:35 p.m. on June 15.
Source: NASA
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Posted by Editors at 4:00 AM
August 17, 2007
NASA Decides Against Space Shuttle Repairs While in Orbit : GlobalGiants.com
A gouge on space shuttle Endeavour’s belly does not need to be repaired in orbit, NASA has decided after several days of testing, analysis and deliberation.
The decision came Thursday night after a five-hour meeting of mission managers. They opted against any risky spacewalk repairs based on the overwhelming — but not unanimous — recommendations of hundreds of engineers.
Pictured: STS-118 mission specialist astronaut/teacher Barbara R. Morgan looks over procedures checklists on the middeck of Space Shuttle Endeavour while docked with the International Space Station. (UPI)
Posted by Editors at 12:21 PM
August 9, 2007
NASA Shuttle Endeavour Crew Includes Teacher Barbara Morgan : GlobalGiants.com
NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour launches from the Kennedy Space Center on August 8, 2007. Carrying a crew of seven, including Teacher Astronaut, Barbara Morgan, Endeavour is heading for a two day chase to the International Space Station. Once docked, the crew will continue construction of the station, adding critical power systems which will allow the shuttle to remain attached to the station for longer periods of time. (UPI Photo/Joe Marino-Bill Cantrell) |GlobalGiants.com|
Posted by Editors at 10:27 AM
July 27, 2007
Drunk Astronauts? Report Alleges that NASA Looks the Other Way : GlobalGiants.com
Photo: In this June 8, 2007 file photo, The US space shuttle Atlantis lifts off at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A NASA-appointed panel looking into the mental health of astronauts following the arrest of Astronaut Lisa Nowak found that at least on two occassions astronauts were allowed to fly on space shuttle launches despite warnings that they were intoxicated and posed a flight risk. The findings were reported by Aviation Week & Space Technology, a publication that covers the space program, July 26, 2007. The panel, also reported "heavy use of alcohol" by astronauts before launch, within the standard 12-hour "bottle to throttle" rule applied to NASA flight crew members. An unnamed NASA source reportedly said the information in the report was based on anonymous interviews, passing on "barroom chat." (AFP)
Posted by Editors at 1:54 PM
June 19, 2007
Space Shuttle Atlantis Departs Space Station After 10 Day Repair Mission : GlobalGiants.com
Anchored to a foot restraint on the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) or Canadarm2, astronaut Patrick Forrester, STS-117 mission specialist, participates in the mission's second planned session of extravehicular activity (EVA), as construction resumes on the International Space Station. Among other tasks, Forrester and astronaut Steven Swanson (out of frame), mission specialist, removed all of the launch locks holding the 10-foot-wide solar alpha rotary joint in place and began the solar array retraction.
Space Shuttle Atlantis docked to the station is visible at left and is scheduled to return to Cape Canaveral on Thursday (Consolidated News Photos). |GlobalGiants.com|
Posted by Editors at 1:27 PM
June 14, 2007
Partial Power Restored on International Space Station : GlobalGiants.com
Photo: Astronauts Jim Reilly (bottom) and John "Danny" Olivas (top right), both STS-117 mission specialists, participate in the mission's first planned session of extravehicular activity (EVA), as construction resumes on the International Space Station. Among other tasks, Reilly and Olivas connected power, data and cooling cables between S1 and S3; released the launch restraints from and deployed the four solar array blanket boxes on S4 and released the cinches and winches holding the photovoltaic radiator on S4. June 11, 2007. (Photo courtesy: SIPA)|GlobalGiants.com|
Posted by Editors at 2:33 PM
May 26, 2007
'Shuttle Launch Experience' Now Open at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex : GlobalGiants.com
NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex officially opened Shuttle Launch Experience on May 25. Joining Florida Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp and key officials forthe attraction's premiere were NASA veteran astronauts including Charlie Bolden, Rick Searfoss, John Young, Robert Crippin, Buzz Aldrin and Al Worden.
The culmination of three years of development by veteran Space Shuttle astronauts, renowned attraction experts and a design team under the guidance of NASA, Shuttle Launch Experience sends visitors through a simulation of launching into Earth's orbit from Kennedy Space Center, the birthplace of American space exploration, minutes from Orlando.
Through sophisticated motion technology, special effects seats and high fidelity presentations, the unique experience immerses visitors in the sensations of launching into space -- going fully vertical in the process. |GlobalGiants.com|
Posted by Editors at 4:41 AM
