simple photography: International Space Station

Showing posts with label International Space Station. Show all posts

Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Space Shuttle Program has come to an End

Today the Space Shuttle Atlantis landed and with that comes the end of the shuttle program. Next stop, I imagine, for the shuttles will be a museum for public viewing.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Shuttle Atlantis Has Left The Building

The crew of the space shuttle has packed up and left the ISS for the last time. They are preparing to return to Earth this Thursday for the last and final landing of the shuttle and marks the end of the space shuttle program.

Space.com has a detailed account of the activities of the crew as they prepare to return home.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Artificial Gravity on the International Space Station

NASA is working on artificial gravity for the International Space Station and possibly for space craft as well. Now this feels like it is right out of science fiction! I have been watching some episodes from Star Trek:Deep Space Nine and I always have in the back of my mind that the station is in space while everyone walks around as if they had the gravity of a planet holding them down because everytime I see pictures from the ISS, they are floating around as the astronauts try to complete their daily tasks. The astronauts also need to exercise regularly and take medication to curb bone loss, from the article:

New plans for artificial gravity tests in space using centrifuges may hold the key to helping future astronauts ward off the debilitating loss of muscle and bone due to weightlessness on long missions to asteroids or the moon under NASA's revised space exploration plan.
Space station residents currently rely upon different exercises to keep themselves fit for the eventual return to Earth. But a spinning centrifuge device could create artificial gravity, which simulates the gravitational tug a planet, like Earth, has. The giant spinning device will give astronauts a healthy break from the weightlessness of space.
"You can try to treat each of the effects of weightlessness system by system, with certain pills for bone loss and certain exercise regimens for the muscles," said Laurence Young, an aeronautics and astronautics engineer at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. "Or you can treat the root cause of weightlessness by restoring gravity."

Artificial gravity sets the stage for long term visits to the ISS but if implemented into a craft that could travel long distances in space, could imply longer trips into the solar system as long as fresh air, food supply, and water, can be available for that same amount of time.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Space Shuttle Atlantis Visible this Weekend

The Space Shuttle Atlantis will be visible in the early evening sky over the weekend. Remember, this is the last year of the manned space shuttle program by NASA, so try to take advantage of any opportunity to see the shuttle in action:

Skywatchers across the continental United States will get a fine opportunity this weekend to watch as the space shuttle Atlantis — on its final scheduled mission into space — chases and ultimately docks with the International Space Station (ISS).

Both the shuttle and space station will be visible as separate entities, each appearing as bright "stars" sailing across the evening twilight sky on Friday and Saturday. By Sunday evening, Atlantis will be docked to the ISS, and both will appear as a single bright moving "star."

During Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, both Atlantis and the ISS will make a number of favorable passes across the contiguous U.S. Their respective ground tracks will take them on northwest-to-southeast paths. With a very few exceptions, between one and four crossings of both the shuttle and the ISS will be visible.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Moscow Photo From the ISS !

There is a fantastic photo taken by Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi of Moscow at night. He took the photo from the International Space Station on the day Russia celebrated Victory Day. From the article:

Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi took the stunning Moscow portrait while flying over Russia at night. The space station was flying about 17,500 mph and nearly 220 miles above Moscow at the time, likely making the city a tricky target.

Noguchi posted it Friday to his Twitter page, where he has been chronicling his six-month mission to the space station under the name Astro_Soichi.

"Golden rings of Moscow, Russia," Noguchi wrote. "Happy Victory Day weekend!"

Victory Day in Russia is May 9 – which also happens to be Mother's Day in the United States. It is a holiday that commemorates the end of World War II when Germany surrendered. American troops will take part in this year's Victory Day parade in Moscow for the first time in history, according to the New York Times.

The Russian holiday will likely see a multinational welcome aboard the International Space Station.

The photo reminds me of one of the scenes from the movie Contact with Jodie Foster after she has traveled through several wormholes and stops at an intersection and looks down to see a city on a strange planet somewhere in the galaxy and the layout was similar to the Moscow photo. Very cool!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Worf on the ISS!!

I love it, Worf will be on the Space Station:

Amongst the items delivered by the Discovery space shuttle to the International Space Station earlier today, was a patch with a Star Trek connection.The acronym for the NASA patch for the Window Observational Research Facility, a science equipment rack that will enable astronaut-tended and remote-controlled Earth-observation experiments, is the same as the name of Lt. Commander Worf, the Klingon seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

No Video Games for the Space Station

I read an interesting article at the website io9 about how the International Space Station has internet capability but when a visitor wanted to play a multiplayer video game and bring his ipod, he was not allowed.

Richard Garriott, the first video game designer to ride a rocket to outer space wanted to play a massively multiplayer video game from the International Space Station. And he wanted to bring his iPod. Neither happened.Garriott's gaming plan was to play his then-still-active computer game Tabula Rasa from the International Space Station, logging onto a computer and playing with people down on Earth. He traveled to the space station in 2008 as one of the world's only self-funded space tourists."I looked into taking Tabula Rasa into space," he told Kotaku during an interview at the DICE gaming summit just outside of Las Vegas last week. "There's Internet on the space station. We actually originally were pursuing trying to play live, from space, but it turns out that even though there is an IP (Internet protocol) pathway, they were so worried about people tunneling backwards to the ISS and wreaking havoc that it became a non-starter."That's right, gamers. According to Garriott, the powers that be in some space agency thought that you would try to cheat your way into taking control of the space station. We all know you'd never do that.

Oh well, maybe in the future the private companies that will begin space travel will work on problem hackers and allow more freedom for the people who travel in space, only if governments get their beaks out of the picture.

Here is the story.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Space Shuttle Endeavour May Land in California

Californians may get the chance to hear the famous double sonic boom if the space shuttle needs to land in California tonight. From the article:

NASA says it might be forced to land the space shuttle Endeavour at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert on Sunday night due to sketchy weather at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. If that happens, it is possible that people in Orange County will hear the double sonic boom the shuttle makes minutes before it lands. Whether we hear the boom depends on the shuttle’s final flight path. If it reaches the California coast in the Santa Barbara area, we probably wouldn’t hear it. But if it tacks farther south, there’s a good chance we would.

NASA would prefer to land Endeavour in Florida. If the weather clears, the shuttle, which is carrying a crew of six, will touch down in Florida at 10:16 .m. or 11:51 p.m., eastern time, Sunday. If the shuttle comes here, says NASA, it would land at Edwards at either 10:20 p.m. or 11:55 p.m., Pacific time, Sunday. Check back for updates.

12 chances to see International Space Station fly over Southern California

Here is a link to the story and I love hearing that special sonic boom!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Plant Study in Space

When the space shuttle makes its launch to the Space Station on Monday, hopefully because the launch was scrubbed for Sunday, it will take an interesting experiment about how seeds will grow in space. From the article:

NASA scientists hope to better understand exactly how and why plants grow differently in space in an experiment named, Tropi. Future astronauts may be able to grow plants as part of life support systems on long-duration space missions to the moon or Mars.The European Space Agency developed the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS), a facility focused on plant biology research located on the station. Once in orbit, NASA astronauts Jeff Williams and T.J. Creamer will place the experiment containers in the EMCS incubator to conduct the experiment in a temperature, humidity and atmosphere-controlled environment.

Once the experiment begins, the seeds will be spun continuously in centrifuges to achieve varying levels of gravity and provided fresh water. The first three days are considered the "growth phase" of the experiment, when the ECs will be exposed to gravity forces similar to Earth's. After the first 32 hours of the experiment, when the seeds will remain mostly in darkness, they will be illuminated with white LED lights. The last three days of the experiment are called the "stimulation phase," when they will be "photostimulated" - or constantly exposed to red, blue or a combination of red and blue LED lights. During the final phase of the experiment, cameras in the centrifuge facility will take three images per minute to collect the majority of the science data.

You can read more Here.
This kind of story should be on the evening news, in a newspaper, or at least a mention somewhere like on the internet because this kind of study helps us move forward as humans. I wish all forms of science were as important to people as the Superbowl. I know certain sports are fun and a distraction from the day to day things in life, however I wish the amount of money spent on this particular event could be spent on scientific research, but then again that is just me.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Tweet to the International Space Station

You will be able to send a tweet to the ISS when the next shuttle Endeavour will dock with the Space Station, and the launch is scheduled for the 7th of February and the Tweets will be sent and answered up until the 11th of this same month. From the article:

The Twitterverse and universe will converge during space shuttle Endeavour's upcoming mission to the International Space Station. NASA is inviting the public to send questions for the astronauts via Twitter and have them answered live from space.Astronaut Mike Massimino will be accepting questions for the crew from the public via his Twitter account until Thursday, Feb. 11. Massimino will be a shuttle Capcom, or spacecraft communicator, at NASA's Mission Control in Houston during Endeavour's flight, scheduled for launch Feb. 7.

How cool is that! You can read more HERE.