Archive for the ‘Space’ Category
Space Aged: 10 Spacecraft from Decades Past That Are Still Ticking
Slideshow of oldies but goodies.
The moon-landing-hoax believers will never be convinced by anything, let alone something as easily faked as photographic evidence. After all, if NASA faked the moon landings in 1969, just think what they can fake today. Even when an Indian probe confirms it. Whatever.
Apollo 12 landing site photographed by the Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter
Expedition 20 flight engineer Nicole Stott participates in the STS-128 mission's first spacewalk as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 35-minute spacewalk, Stott and astronaut Danny Olivas (out of frame) removed an empty ammonia tank from the station's truss and temporarily stowed it on the station's robotic arm. Olivas and Stott also retrieved the European Technology Exposure Facility and Materials International Space Station Experiment from the Columbus laboratory module and installed them on Discovery's payload bay for return. Image Credit: NASA
Murdoc watched part of this on the tele. The daughter thought it was cool that a girl was out there getting it done.
Ares I-X Test Vehicle:
Standing tall at its fully assembled height of 327 feet, the Ares I-X is one of the largest rockets ever processed in the Vehicle Assembly Building's High Bay 3, Super Stack 5 at the Kennedy Space Center. Ares I-X rivals the height of the Apollo Program's 364-foot-tall Saturn V. Five super stacks make up the rocket's upper stage that is integrated with the four-segment solid rocket booster first stage. Ares I-X is the test vehicle for the Ares I, which is part of the Constellation Program to return humans to the moon and beyond. The Ares I-X flight test currently is targeted for Oct. 31. Image Credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
To the Moon – with extreme engineering
The Lunar Orbiter astonishes even today. It had to take pictures, scan and develop the film on board, and broadcast it successfully back to earth. Naturally, the orbiter had to provide its own power, orient itself without intervention from ground control, and maintain precise temperature conditions and air pressure for the film processing, and protect itself from solar radiation and cosmic rays – all within severe size and weight constraints.
James May of Top Gear gets quite a ride:
Great video.
However, I don’t know that
“If everybody could do that once, it would completely change the face of global politics, religion, education, everything.”
It would be interesting to know if James May’s life is significantly different in a measurable way since his flight. Not to discount the idea that broadening ones horizons is important or that we’ve only got one planet or whatever, but unless he’s completely changed the way he lives I’m not sure why he should expect that everyone else would.
Regardless, it’s a great video. Murdoc is available for similar flights at any time.
Staff Sgt. Jonathan Young with the 412th Maintenance Group prepares to upload the X-51A WaveRider hypersonic flight test vehicle to a B-52 for fit testing at Edwards Air Force Base on July 17. Two B-52 flights, one captive carriage and one dress rehearsal, are planned this fall prior to the X-51\'s first hypersonic scramjet flight over the Pacific Ocean scheduled in December. The Air Force Research Laboratory, DARPA, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and Boeing are partnering on the X-51A technology demonstrator program. (U.S. Air Force photo/Chad Bellay)
Light-Curing Adhesive Repair Tapes
Adhesive tapes, the adhesive resins of which can be cured (and thereby rigidized) by exposure to ultraviolet and/or visible light, are being developed as repair patch materials…They can be used in air or in vacuum and can be cured rapidly, even at temperatures as low as –20 °C. Although these tapes were originally intended for use in repairing structures in outer space, they can also be used on Earth for quickly repairing a wide variety of structures. They can be expected to be especially useful in situations in which it is necessary to rigidize tapes after wrapping them around or pressing them onto the parts to be repaired.
HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON JULY 1969, A.D. WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND
Happy Flag Day:
Apollo 12 astronaut Charles 'Pete' Conrad stands beside the United States flag after is was unfurled on the lunar surface during the first extravehicular activity (EVA-1), on November 19, 1969. Several footprints made by the crew can be seen in the photograph.
Trackers of Orbiting Junk Sound Warning
There are 19,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth. They travel at about 17,000 miles per hour, fast enough for a relatively small piece of junk to destroy a satellite or even the space shuttle.
There are 300,000 pieces of debris the size of a marble or larger, according to Paul Graziani, chief executive of Analytical Graphics, Exton, Pa., a maker of software for the space and defense industries.
There are 3,000 “payloads” in space – sensors, transponders and other equipment used by the communications industry, the military, scientists and others, Graziani said. And 1,400 times each week, a payload comes within three miles of a piece of debris that could damage or kill it.
NASA Announces Winners in Second Annual Lunar Art Contest
WINNER: Crater Core Sample by Zachary Madere Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Lakewood, CO
Check out the full gallery of finalists here.
A technician straps legendary test pilot Scott Crossfield into the cockpit of the X-15 rocket plane before an early test flight. The X-15's maiden flight occurred on June 8, 1959, during which Crossfield was carried aloft in his sleek, black rocket plane beneath the wing of a B-52 from NASA's Flight Research Center (now NASA Dryden). This was the beginning of nearly a decade of flight research that probed the hypersonic speed realm and altitudes at the edge of space. Image Credit: NASA/North American Aviation
A couple of cool pics:
Two Shuttles
Space shuttle Atlantis is shown suspended from a sling in the Mate-DeMate Device at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center during preparations for its ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding the 13-day STS-125 mission to service and repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA/Tony Landis
Tethered to the end of the remote manipulator system arm, which was controlled from inside Atlantis' crew cabin, STS-125 astronaut Andrew Feustel navigates near the Hubble Space Telescope, duing the mission's third spacewalk on May 16, 2009. Astronaut John Grunsfeld signals to his crewmate from just a few feet away. Astronauts Feustel and Grunsfeld were continuing servicing work on the giant observatory, which was locked down in the cargo bay of shuttle Atlantis.
The shuttle has left the Space Telescope. There will probably be one more mission to the Hubble, an unmanned mission to de-orbit the satellite safely. One of the tasks on this mission was to install a docking collar for that sad eventuality.
In the meantime, we’re going to be treated to years of breathtaking views.
Beginning of the 2nd space walk
They’re outside right now on the second of five planned spacewalks. I’m keeping tabs on the video feed, which is pretty cool.
Murdoc’s been a huge critic of the Space Shuttle program and NASA in general, but I think the Hubble servicing missions are without a doubt the high point of post-Apollo NASA.
UPDATE: Came across this cool image taken before the launch. Notice the Endeavour on pad 39B.
NASA pilots Jack Nickel (in the jet with tail number 62) and Charles Justiz fly over for a bird's eye view of two shuttles on the launch pad. Shuttle Atlantis is in the foreground and Endeavour can be seen in the distance on the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The two are flying T-38 jet trainer aircraft. Image Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz
Click for bigger image.
