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Posts tagged shuttle launch
Moon poses radiation risk to future travelers
Dec 19th
In this 1969 file photo, Astronaut Edwin E ‘Buzz’ Aldrin Jr. walks on the surface of the moon. Future lunar travelers face a radiation dose 30 percent to 40 percent higher than originally expected from radioactive lunar soil. Credit: AP
Future lunar explorers counting on the moon to shield themselves from galactic cosmic rays might want to think about Plan B.
In a surprising discovery, scientists have found that the moon itself is a source of potentially deadly radiation.
Measurements taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show that the number of high energy particles streaming in from space did not tail off closer to the moon’s surface, as would be expected with the body of the moon blocking half the sky.
What will happen when astronauts no longer fly on the space shuttle?
Dec 11th
Dragon Spacecraft Credit: SpaceX
There are only five Space Shuttle flights left on NASA’s schedule. Since 1982, astronauts have traveled into low-Earth orbit aboard the workhorse of NASA’s space program. With the exception of the Hubble repair mission earlier this year, the remaining flights have all been focused on adding to and upgrading the International Space Station. However, as it stands, after 2010 the United States will need to look for a new way to push humans up Earth’s gravity well.
NASA’s Constellation program is hard at work with development of the Orion. Designed to serve as a vehicle for the trip to the ISS and to lunar orbit, Orion and the entire Constellation is currently under review by the Obama administration. In October of this year, the Augustine commission delivered a set of options to the President that will help shape the future of American human space flight. By the commission’s estimate, Orion will at best be ready in 2016, leaving the US with a six year gap in operations.
Six years is a long drought. So what alternate options are available?
In addition to the shuttle, the Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft have been regular visitors to the ISS. And in the coming US space flight gap, NASA is looking at $51 million USD per person for any trips on Soyuz. In the past two years, the Europeans and the Japanese have developed remotely-operated transfer vehicles. However, the new ships are currently only cargo-rated.
NASA’s Atlantis astronauts take final spacewalk, prepare for return
Nov 24th
Heading into their second week of space travel the crew of NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis have a lot on their schedule. Today two of the astronauts will venture out for the mission’s third and final space walk.
During the spacewalks the crew perform a variety of physical tasks to the outside of the International Space Station. For example, Atlantis is carrying two ‘ spare parts container known as the Express Logistics Carriers. The shuttle’s robotic arm lifted them into place and the spacewalkers helped attach them to the ISS. In all there are 27,250 pounds worth of spare parts onboard this mission.
New NASA Sky Mapper heads to launch pad
Nov 21st
NASA’s new asteroid-hunting spacecraft will roll out to the pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Friday in preparation for launch next month.
The spacecraft is due to launch Dec. 9 aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket.
Known as the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), the spacecraft will spend the next 10 months circling the Earth over the poles, scanning the complete sky at infrared wavelengths to uncover hidden cosmic objects, including cool stars, dark asteroids and luminous galaxies.
“You can kind of think of it as the Google Map of the universe,” said Amy Mainzer, NASA’s deputy project scientist for WISE, explaining that the instrument will take repeated exposures of the same swath of sky, creating overlapping images as the telescope progresses through its sky scan. The stars and galaxies will appear fixed on the sky in each exposure, but asteroids will move over short amounts of time.
“WISE is going to be finding about 100,000 new asteroids in the main asteroid belt,” Mainzer said during a Nov. 17 news conference at NASA headquarters here. “And we expect it’s going to find several hundred new asteroids that get close to Earth orbits. These are asteroids and comets whose orbits take them close to Earth’s orbit.”
NASA news: astronauts send their first tweets from outer space
Nov 20th
How cool is it when the Atlantis astronauts can share their mission experiences with us Earthlings, right from space? That’s right. Yup. Who would have believed it possible? NASA astronauts Leland Melvin and Robert Satcher are sending tweets from outer space while on their STS-129 mission. These messages are a great way to keep your kids interested in the on-going mission.
WOW! STS-129 Atlantis Launch! 2000 miles per hour plus! VIDEO
Nov 16th
Unreal. Wow. A Monday commute to orbit. 3200 miles per hour, wow. Orbital maneuvering.
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Shuttle Atlantis STS-129 takes off into Space, just as scheduled #nasatweetup
Nov 16th
Space shuttle Atlantis rocketed into orbit Monday with six astronauts and a full load of spare parts for the International Space Station.
The supply run should keep the space station humming for years to come, and the shuttle astronauts in space through Thanksgiving.
Atlantis shot into a partly cloudy afternoon sky, to the delight of about 100 Twittering space enthusiasts who won front-row seats. It was NASA’s first launch “tweetup,” and the invitees splashed news — mostly tweeting “wow” about the liftoff — over countless cellphones and computers.