ISS capture of SpaceX’s Dragon is confirmed, becoming the first private vessel to dock with the space station.
(Source: nasa.gov)
SpaceX’s is Dragon about to dock with ISS. Watch here.
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NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Expedition 30 flight engineer, is pictured in a window of the Cupola of the International Space Station on April 21, 2012.
The International Space Station as it was in 1999, right at the beginning of its mission
SpaceX and NASA prepare for historic spacecraft launch
NASA says everything’s on schedule for SpaceX’s world-first commercial robotic flight to the International Space Station, currently scheduled for April 30. The flight is a test of sorts, for SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft’s capabilities, and the company’s ability to deliver on the promise of unmanned transportation of goods to/from the ISS. If all goes to plan, SpaceX officials hope to begin regular deliveries for NASA by the end of 2012. (Photo by Robert Goodwin) source
Space Station Astronauts Log One Million Photos
The astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station have logged one million photos — here’s a small selection of our favorites.
more photos here
Photo 1: After installing new windows for the ISS — the cupola pictured left — shuttle Endeavour undocked and headed home in February 2010.
Photo 2: As solar activity intensifies, ISS astronauts have a ringside seat of the stunning auroral displays in the Earth’s atmosphere. This September 2011 technicolor display highlights the different atmospheric elements reacting to the bombardment of solar plasma.
Photo 3: On Dec. 21, 2011 NASA astronaut Dan Burbank photographed the dazzling comet Lovejoy as it hung above the Earth’s horizon.
Pagan Island, Northern Marianas
ISS030-E-122047 (6 March 2012) —- Pagan Island, Northern Marianas is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 30 crew member on the International Space Station. A steam plume flows south from the peak of Pagan Island’s northernmost volcano in this photograph. Pagan is part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, an island chain of volcanoes that form the margin between the Pacific Ocean (to the east) and the Philippine Sea (to the west). Pagan is made up of two stratovolcanoes separated by an isthmus, and is one of the more volcanically active islands. The last eruption was in 2010, but the island was completely evacuated in 1981 when a large eruption forced the small Micronesian community to flee. According to NASA scientists, the islands themselves mark the tectonic boundary where the old, cold Pacific plate is subducted beneath the younger, less dense Philippine Sea crust at the Marianas Trench. The subduction results in substantial volcanic activity on the upper plate, forming the island arc of the Marianas. Considered to be one of the type examples for an oceanic subduction zone, the Marianas Trench includes the deepest spot in Earth’s oceans (more than 10,000 meters). The foreshortened appearance of the island is due to the viewing angle and distance from the space station, which was located over the Pacific Ocean approximately 480 kilometers to the southeast of Pagan Island when the image was taken.
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View From ISS Cupola (2012.02.26)
A Blue Crescent Moon from Space
Credit: Expedition 13 Crew, International Space Station, NASA
Great Lakes under an aurora, at night, as seen by the International Space Station.
As a friend put it, “Everywhere I have ever lived fits in this picture.”
Amateur Astronomers from San Antonio Flash the Space Station With a Laser
The San Antonio Astronomical Association members decided it would be fun to calculate when the International Space Station was overhead, find a big laser, and shoot that laser at the ISS when an astronaut was watching. Why? Because no one had ever done it. Because they could. Because they love space. Because they’ll always have that picture you see up there, which was snapped by astronaut Don Pettit, to prove that they touched space, at least with some photons.
Stolen NASA Laptop Had Space Station Control Code
NASA had 5,408 computer security lapses in 2010 and 2011, including the March 2011 loss of a laptop computer that contained algorithms used to command and control the International Space Station (ISS), the agency’s inspector general told Congress Wednesday.
City Lights From International Space Station (2002-2008)
NASA Astronaut Don Pettit assembled a sequence of several of the most striking images of city lights at night taken by several astronauts on board the International Space Station between 2002 and 2008 into an animated “world tour” of cities at night. Resolutions approach an estimated 10 meters/pixel in the sharpest images. This video, produced entirely by Pettit, takes you on a quick trip comparing cities from different regions, all viewed from the International Space Station.
For more information and links: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/appel/ask/issues/38/38s_cities.html
credit: Don Pettit (production); Don Pettit and others (photography)
MEGALOPOLIS The Eastern Seaboard is seen alight from the International Space Station. (Photo via NASA)
