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With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here’s Space Oddity, recorded on Station. A last glimpse of the World.
Huge thanks in the making of the video to the talented trio of Emm Gryner, Joe Corcoran and Andrew Tidby, plus Evan Hadfield and all at the CSA. -
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First Woman to Command the International Space Station
March is the annual celebration of National Women’s History Month.
In this image from Jan. 30, 2008, Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the International Space Station, participates in a seven hour, ten minute spacewalk. During the spacewalk, Whitson and astronaut Daniel Tani, flight engineer, replaced a motor at the base of one of the station’s solar wings.(via spaceandstuffidk)
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Hadfield becomes first Canadian commander of ISS
Commander Chris Hadfield has been delighting people around the world with his Twitter photos and videos from the International Space Station, and Wednesday he officially took the reigns of “the world’s spaceship” as the first Canadian to command the ISS.
See his full statement here.
We love that there is a “Canadian of the Week” Tumblr.
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New ISS Eyes See Rio San Pablo
In January 2013, a new Earth-observing instrument was installed on the International Space Station (ISS). ISERV Pathfinder consists of a commercial camera, a telescope, and a pointing system, all positioned to look through the Earth-facing window of ISS’s Destiny module. ISERV Pathfinder is intended as an engineering exercise, with the long-term goal of developing a system for providing imagery to developing nations as they monitor natural disasters and environmental concerns.
The image above is the “first light” from the new ISERV camera system, taken at 1:44 p.m. local time on February 16, 2013. It shows the Rio San Pablo as it empties into the Golfo de Montijo in Veraguas, Panama. It is an ecological transition zone, changing from agriculture and pastures to mangrove forests, swamps, and estuary systems. The area has been designated a protected area by the National Environmental Authority (ANAM) of Panama and is listed as a “wetland of international importance” under the Ramsar Convention. (Note that the image is rotated so that north is to the upper right.)
“ISERV’s full potential is yet to be seen, but we hope it will really make a difference in people’s lives,” said principal investigator Burgess Howell of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “For example, if an earthen dam gives way in Bhutan, we want to be able to show officials where the bridge is out or where a road is washed out or a power substation is inundated. This kind of information is critical to focus and speed rescue efforts.”
(Source: earth-as-art)
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Success! Canadarm2 holds Dragon by the nose, to drag it up and hook it on to a Station hatch.
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Space Station Berths a Dragon, Again
At 5:31 am EST Sunday morning, International Space Station astronauts guided the Canadarm2 robotic arm to an earlier-than-scheduled grappling maneuver with the SpaceX Dragon capsule. The grapple was scheduled for 6:31 am ET. At 8:56 am EST, the robotic arm guided the capsule for installation onto the Earth-facing port of the space station’s Harmony module. Read more
Awesome news! -
Watch the launch of the Space X Falcon 9 and Dragon to the ISS.
The launch is scheduled for 10:10am EST. -
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Look closely - a spaceship is closing in on us! Progress approaching to dock with the Space Station yesterday.
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Atlantis as seen from the ISS, 19 July 2011. Backing away from the station for the final time, the Shuttle is hidden in Earth’s Shadow.
(via spaceandstuffidk)
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Weightless water. This picture is fun no matter what direction you spin it.
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Melbourne, Australia, clear as a bell. An amazing harbor!
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ISS and the Summer Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Luis Argerich
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NASA and Bigelow Aerospace to announce plans for inflatable station modules
Sentinel exclusive: inflatable station module? $18M room with a view
WASHINGTON — NASA is expected to announce today the terms of a landmark deal that will allow Bigelow Aerospace, a private company based in North Las Vegas, to attach one of its inflatable habitats to the International Space Station.
The deal gives the company, founded by hotelier Robert Bigelow, the opportunity to test a new type of space dwelling — essentially a balloon made of Kevlar-like material that is inflated once it reaches orbit — that would stay attached to the station for at least two years.
Under the agreement, NASA would pay Bigelow Aerospace nearly $18 million for the module, which is about the size of a large bedroom. It would be used to increase the amount of living space aboard the station, which itself is about as big as a football field.
A rocket built by SpaceX, another commercial company under contract with NASA, would blast the module to the station from Cape Canaveral as soon as mid-2015. Bigelow would become the first private company to have one of its modules purchased by NASA and added to the $100 billion, government-run observatory.
“This partnership … represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in U.S. commercial space innovation,” NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said in a statement.
How station astronauts will use the Bigelow module still is under discussion. NASA officials said the prime goal is to see how the technology works.
Unlike other, rigid parts of the station, the module is comparable to a live-in balloon. It would be launched, uninflated, to the station, attached to an air lock with help from one of the station’s robotic arms and then blown up with pressurized air.
The module’s major benefit is that it is lightweight — only about 3,000 pounds — and thus far cheaper to launch than a rigid module that can weigh 10,000 pounds or more.
Though the material would appear vulnerable to hits from space debris, Bigelow officials said the module is equipped with a shield that hypervelocity tests have shown is “superior” to the aluminum walls of the station. The softer, Kevlar-like material also reduces the effect of “secondary radiation,” according to the company.
If the Bigelow module proves effective, then it could be considered for other, long-range missions, NASA officials said.
