Elizabeth Howell, Author at Universe Today

February 21, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

What are the Most Memorable NASA Spacewalks?

Bruce McCandless testing out the ultimate jetpack during STS-41B in February 1984. Credit: NASA

The official name is “extra-vehicular activity,” (EVA) but most of us like to call it a spacewalk. However, when you think about it, you don’t really walk in space. You float.

Or more properly speaking, clutch on to handlebars as you make your way from spot to spot on your spacecraft as you race against the clock to finish your repair or whatever outdoor tasks you were assigned. But hey, the view more than makes up for the hard work.

Some astronauts actually got to fly during their time “outside.” During STS-41B 29 years ago this month, Bruce McCandless was the first one to strap on a jetpack and, in science fiction style, float a little distance away from the shuttle.

He called his test of the manned maneuvering unit “a heck of a big leap”. Nearly 30 years after the fact, it still looks like a gutsy move.

What other memorable floating NASA spacewalks have we seen during the space age? Here are some examples:

The first American one

Ed White did the first American spacewalk in 1965. Credit: NASA

The pictures for Ed White’s spacewalk on Gemini 4 still look amazing, nearly 48 years after the fact. The astronaut tumbled and spun during his 23-minute walk in space, and even tested out a small rocket gun until the gas ran out. When commander Jim McDivitt ordered him back inside, the astronaut said it was the saddest moment in his life.

The dancing-with-exhaustion one

Eugene Cernan during his spacewalk on Gemini 9. Credit: NASA

On Gemini 9, which took place the year after Gemini 4, Eugene Cernan was tasked with a spacewalk that was supposed to test out a backpack to let him move independently of the spacecraft.

Cernan, however, faced a lack of handholds and physical supports as he clambered outside towards the backpack. Putting it on took almost all the strength out of him, as he had nowhere to hold on to counterbalance himself.

“Lord, I was tired. My heart was motoring at about 155 beats per minute, I was sweating like a pig, the pickle was a pest, and I had yet to begin any real work,” Cernan wrote in his memoir, Last Man on the Moon, about the experience.

The situation worsened as his visor fogged up and Cernan struggled unsuccessfully to use the backpack. Cernan was so exhausted that he could barely get inside the spacecraft. “I was as weary as I had ever been in my life,” he wrote.

The three-astronauts-outside one

Three astronauts grab the Intelsat VI satellite during the STS-49 mission. Credit: NASA

Spacewalks traditionally (at least, in the shuttle and station era) happen in pairs, so that if one person runs into trouble there’s another to help him or her out. However, two astronauts working outside during STS-49 couldn’t get enough of a grip on the free-flying Intelsat VI satellite they were trying to fix. So NASA elected to do another spacewalk with a third man.

Pierre Thuot hung on the Canadarm while Richard Hieb and Thomas Akers attached their bodies to the payload bay. Having three men hanging on to the satellite provided enough purchase for the astronauts inside the shuttle to maneuver Endeavour to a spot where Intelsat VI could be attached to the payload bay.

The facing-electrical-shock one

scott parazynski space station — Scott Parazynski repaired a damaged solar panel on the space station. Credit: NASA

In 2007, the astronauts of STS-120 unfolded a solar array on the International Space Station and saw — to everyone’s horror — that some panels were torn. Veteran spacewalker Scott Parazynski was dispatched to the rescue. He rode on the end of the Canadarm2, dangling above a live set of electrified panels, and carefully threaded in a repair.

In an interview with Parazynski that I did several years ago, I asked how he used his medical training while doing the repair. Parazynski quipped something along the lines of, “Well, the top thing in my mind was ‘First do no harm.’ ”

The International Space Station construction ones

Sunita Williams appears to touch the sun during this spacewalk on Expedition 35 on the completed International Space Station. Credit: NASA — Sunita Williams appears to touch the sun during this spacewalk on Expedition 35, which took place on the completed International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Spacewalks used to be something extra-special, something that only happened every missions or, on long-duration ones, maybe once. Building the International Space Station was different. The astronauts brought the pieces up in the shuttle and installed them themselves.

The station made spacewalking routine, or as routine such a dangerous endeavour can be. For that reason, an honorary mention goes to every mission that built the ISS.

What are your favorite EVAs? Feel free to add yours to the comments.

February 20, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Hollywood’s Mixed Portrayal of John Glenn

Actor Ed Harris portrayed astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff, a 1983 movie following the beginning of the NASA astronaut program. Credit: The Ladd Co. (screenshot)

We’ll be the first to admit that the 1983 movie The Right Stuff takes artistic license when it talks about the Mercury program and other events. It exaggerates problems between the astronauts, portrays the journalists as unthinking buffoons and misrepresents historical events such as breaking the speed of sound.

Late in the three-hour film, the movie turns to astronaut John Glenn‘s first flight in space, which took place on this day in 1962. Glenn was the first American to make an orbital flight of the Earth. He returned a national hero.

Below we’ll highlight a few points of similarity and difference between the movie and John Glenn’s own account of the flight of Friendship 7, which he detailed in his 1999 biography John Glenn: A Memoir. And yes, the rest of this post does contain spoilers for those who haven’t seen the film.

– Visit from Lyndon Johnson. During an aborted launch attempt, the movie shows Lyndon Johnson parked nearby the Glenns’ house in a limousine, ordering an aide to let him inside. Glenn’s wife Annie (through a fellow astronaut wife) keeps informing the hapless assistant that there’s no way Johnson (and the TV cameras he wants to include) can come in. While Glenn’s actual account doesn’t specify where the vice-president of the United States was at that time, he does talk about the request and refusal. “She said she was tired, she had a headache, and she just wasn’t going to allow all those people in her house … I told her whatever she wanted to do, I would back her up 100 percent.”

– Threat to remove Glenn from the flight. In The Right Stuff, Glenn then gets into a shouting argument with a NASA official nearby, who orders him to get on the phone and tell Annie to let the vice-president in. The NASA official threatens to replace Glenn with another astronaut, at which point Glenn’s colleagues surround him and the official backs down. Glenn confirms the incident, but does not mention other astronauts: “I saw red. I said that if they wanted to do that, they’d have a press conference to announce their decision and I’d have one to announce mine, and if they wanted to talk about it anymore, they’d have to wait until I took a shower. When I came back, they were gone and I never heard any more about it.”

John Glenn enters his Friendship 7 spacecraft on On Feb. 20, 1962. Credit: NASA

– Fireflies. An extended sequence in The Right Stuff shows Glenn exclaiming as he sees “fireflies” outside of the spacecraft. The movie doesn’t really explain why they happen, but yes, they actually were there. “I saw around the capsule a huge field of particles that looked like tiny yellow stars,” Glenn wrote in his memoir. “They seemed to travel with the capsule, but more slowly. There were thousands of them, like swirling fireflies.” Glenn added: “They were droplets of frozen water vapor from the capsule’s heat exchanger system, but their fireflylike glow remains a mystery.” However, fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter noted frost flakes from his spacecraft, Aurora 7 on the next Mercury flight after Glenn’s, and floating nearby. They shone when the Sun illuminated the flakes. He also noticed more flakes coming off the side of his spacecraft when he banged the inside.

– Activities in orbit. While allowing that The Right Stuff probably had other priorities in mind, the movie does not show Glenn doing much in orbit besides gazing out the window and talking about the aforementioned fireflies. Glenn’s book shows him doing more than that: taking his blood pressure, snapping pictures of the Canaries and Sahara Desert, testing his vision, and doing exercises with a bungee cord to compare his readings to previous ones taken on the ground.

– Lights on in Perth and Rockingham, Australia. Glenn and a ground station in Australia chat about the residents of Rockingham and Perth turning on their lights for him. This actually did happen (and it happened again when Glenn returned to space in 1998.)

– Decision to bring Glenn down after three orbits. The movie accurately says Glenn was go for at least seven orbits, but then shows Glenn being confused when he’s told to come down after only three. Glenn contradicts that directly in his account: “The mission was planned for three orbits, but it meant that I could go for at least seven if I had to.”

The launch of John Glenn on Mercury 6. Credit: NASA

– Heat shield threat. The movie shows Mission Control grappling with a signal indication that the landing bag deployed, which implies that the heat shield might have cut loose prematurely. They recommend Glenn refrain from removing a retrorocket package that usually was jettisoned after the rockets fire for re-entry, and keep it on the spacecraft to hold the heat shield on. Glenn talks at length about the situation in his book, and expresses frustration that he didn’t receive information quickly: “I was irritated by the cat-and-mouse game they were playing with the information.” It turned out to be a false alarm.

– Humming. Glenn hums a lot in the movie during the re-entry, especially as the gravity forces build up on him. The astronaut makes no mention of doing so in his book. Long-standing New York Times space journalist John Noble Wilford unequivocally stated the movie was wrong: “Mr. Glenn did not hum ”The Battle Hymn of the Republic” during re-entry,” he wrote in a 1983 review of the movie.

February 19, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

10 Awesome Images of the Space Station’s Cupola

Expedition 24's Tracy Caldwell Dyson gazes out of the cupola. Credit: NASA

There’s a panoramic window on the International Space Station named after the observation decks that old-time train cabooses had.

The Cupola, as it’s known, includes six side windows and a big one in the center. An astronaut floating nearby can see 1,000 km of Earth below him or her. It’s the ultimate spot to keep an eye on a hurricane, or provide guidance to a crewmate wrestling the robotic Canadarm2 towards an incoming spacecraft.

Hard to believe it’s been three years since the astronauts on STS-130 installed it in February 2010. Below, check out the best of astronaut photography of or from the Cupola since that time.

From the outside, the cupola looks like an extraterrestrial spacecraft. That's Douglas Wheelock (Expedition 25) inside the window. Credit: NASA — From the outside, the cupola looks like a flying saucer. That’s Douglas Wheelock (Expedition 25) inside the window. Credit: NASA

A green tint from an aurora is seen out the Cupola over the southern Indian Ocean. Credit: NASA

Canadarm2 makes some moves towards Japan's robotic H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-3) during Expedition 32. Credit: NASA — Canadarm2 makes some moves towards Japan’s robotic H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-3) during Expedition 32. Credit: NASA

The Cupola provides a portal to 215 million years in the past: The Manicouagan impact crater in northern Québec shows up nearly in the center of the main Cupola window. Credit: NASA

The STS-131 crew somehow organizes themselves on the small window in microgravity. Pictured are Commander Alan Poindexter, Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. and Mission Specialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Rick Mastracchio, Naoko Yamazaki, Clayton Anderson and Stephanie Wilson. Credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Ron Garan looking down at a night view of Australia from the International Space Station's cupola.. — NASA astronaut Ron Garan looking down at a night view of Australia from the International Space Station’s cupola..

An Expedition 27 crewmember captured this cyclone over the north Pacific. Told you it's a good view. Credit: NASA — An Expedition 27 crewmember captured this cyclone over the north Pacific. Told you it’s a good view. Credit: NASA

The end effector -- or grappler -- at the end of the Space Station's Canadarm 2 robotic arm is visible out the main window of the Cupola, with a view of our beautiful blue planet below. Credit: NASA. — The end effector — or grappler — at the end of the Space Station’s Canadarm 2 robotic arm is visible out the main window of the Cupola, with a view of our beautiful blue planet below. Credit: NASA.

STS-130's Nicolas Patrick casually hanging out beneath the cupola after helping install it. Credit: NASA — STS-130’s Nicholas Patrick casually hanging out beneath the cupola after helping install it. Credit: NASA

There have also been some stunning filmed timelapses from the Cupola, such as this one:

February 18, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

The Lessons We Learned from Space Shuttle Enterprise

Space shuttle Enterprise soars during its first of five free flights. Credit: NASA

On this day 36 years ago, two astronauts aboard the space shuttle Enterprise took the ship out for its initial test flight. It landed on the back of a 747 before undertaking a series of free flights starting in June that year.

Enterprise was designed as a test ship only, and was never intended to fly in space. Instead, it was used for a series of flying and landing approach tests to see how well the shuttle maneuvered during the landing. The astronauts first flew a series of “captive” flights aboard the 747, then cut the test shuttle loose for five free flights over several weeks.

What lessons were learned and what design changes did NASA implement from the Enterprise test program? And how did Enterprise help shape the future of the space shuttle program? A few clues emerge from the program’s final evaluation report, which was released in February 1978.

– Stopping a hydrazine leak. Hydrazine was used as a fuel for the maneuvering thrusters on the space shuttle, but the chemical is toxic and shouldn’t be exposed to humans. During the first captive flight, an auxiliary power unit was turned on about 18 minutes in. That was part of the plan, but the next part wasn’t: NASA observed fuel was being used much faster than expected in the next 25 minutes. It turned out that a bellows seal in the fuel pump had failed and caused “significant hydrazine leakage” in the shuttle’s aft bay.

– Preventing brake trouble or ‘chattering’. The first indication of trouble came after the second free flight. The astronauts felt a “chattering” (low-frequency vibration) sensation during braking as they were slowing down on the runway. This 16-hertz vibration happened again during “hard” braking on Flight 3. In light of the vibration, the brake control was modified and the astronauts did not feel the vibrations on Flights 4 and 5.

– Minimizing computer vibration. Enterprise’s Computer 2 fell out of sync with its fellow computers as the shuttle separated from the 747 on Flight 1, causing several computer errors. (The other three redundant computers effectively voted the computer off the island, to use Survivor parlance, and the flight carried on.) Ground tests of similar units revealed that the solder keeping the computer attached to the shuttle cracked when subjected to a slight vibration for a long period of time. NASA modified the attachments and the computers were just fine on Flight 2.

– Astronaut training. The astronauts experienced several control problems during Enterprise’s fifth free landing, when they deployed the speed brake to compensate for a landing that was a little faster than planned. As the pilot tried to control the shuttle’s sink rate, the elevons (a control surface for pitch and roll) were elevated more than usual, causing the shuttle to gently head back into the air and roll to the right before landing again. The astronauts could not see any unusual changes in pitch because the nose of the shuttle was not visible from the cockpit. Further, the center of gravity for the pitch changes was so close to the cockpit that the astronauts could not feel the sensation. “The pilot was unaware of any problem other than that he was landing long and trying to get the vehicle on the ground near the desired touchdown spot,” the NASA report stated. Several recommendations came out of this incident, such as more simulations of landings, modifying the flight control system, and stating that speed brakes should not be used just before landing.

Bottom line, though, was NASA said the approach and landing tests accomplished all objectives. The authors of the report called for modifications to these problems and a few others, but said as soon as these situations were addressed the shuttle was performing well enough for further flights. You can read the whole report here.

Enterprise is now on display at the Intrepid Air & Space Museum in New York, but is temporarily closed to the public as the shuttle undergoes repairs from damage incurred during Hurricane Sandy.

February 17, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

The Astronomy of Shakespeare

A portrait of William Shakespeare on the cover of the first Folio of his plays. Credit: Elizabethan Club of Yale University

With all this talk lately of rocks whizzing by Earth (or crashing through the atmosphere), it’s remarkable that we didn’t even know of space rocks a few centuries ago. The first asteroid, 1 Ceres, was discovered in 1801.

Dial back a few centuries, and we were still in the realm of a perfect universe with the Earth at the center. William Shakespeare’s (1564-1616) plays are full of these references. Universe Today recently stumbled across a 1964 Irish Astronomical Journal paper replete with examples.

Shakespeare was born about 20 years after Nicolaus Copernicus, whose book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) laid out the case for the Sun-centered solar system. It took a while for Copernicus’ theories to take hold, however.

While bearing in mind that Shakespeare often wrote about historical personages, one passage from Troilus and Cressida demonstrates an example of the characters speaking of the Sun following the other planets in circles around the Earth.

The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre,
Observe degree, priority and place.
Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office, and custom, in all line of order:
And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence enthroned and sphered
Amidst the other …

An Earth-centered solar system had its problems when predicting the paths of the planets. Astronomers couldn’t figure out why Mars reversed in its path in the sky, for example.

The real explanation is the Earth “catching up” and passing Mars in its orbit, but astronomers in Shakespeare’s time commonly used “epicycles” (small circles in a planet’s orbit) to explain what was going on. Shakespeare wrote about this problem in Henry VI:

Mars his true moving, even as in the heavens,
So in the earth, to this day is not known.

However, the Bard displayed a more modern understanding of the Moon’s movement around the Earth, the paper points out. The Moon’s distance varies in its orbit, a fact spoken about in Othello, although note that Shakespeare attributes madness to the moon’s movements:

It is the very error of the moon;
She comes more near the earth than she was wont
And makes men mad.

For more examples — including what Shakespeare thought about astrology — you can check out the paper here.

February 15, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Laser-blasting System Could Vaporize Big Asteroids

DE-STAR, a proposal to blow up asteroids as they bear down on Earth. Credit: Philip M. Lubin

The uncanny — but unrelated — combination of today’s close flyby of Asteroid 2012 DA14 and the meteor that created an airburst event over Russia has many wondering how we could deal with future potential threats to Earth from space. A group of researchers are hoping to aim a laser-blasting vaporizer in its direction and blow it away.

Dubbed DE-STAR, or Directed Energy Solar Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation, the theoretical orbital system is designed to convert the sun’s energy into laser blasts that would annihilate any cosmic intruders bearing down on Earth.

Although the system sounds like a plot from a science fiction movie, the researchers — led by scientists at two California universities — maintain that it is built on sound principles.

“This system is not some far-out idea from Star Trek,” stated Gary Hughes, a researcher and professor from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in a press release.

“All the components of this system pretty much exist today. Maybe not quite at the scale that we’d need – scaling up would be the challenge – but the basic elements are all there and ready to go. We just need to put them into a larger system to be effective, and once the system is there, it can do so many things.”

Construction details were not clear in a press release advertising DE-STAR, but the researchers describe astonishing results from even a modest-sized version of the system.

DE-STAR was modeled at several different sizes. At 328 feet (100 meters) in diameter, which is double the International Space Station’s size, it could “start nudging comets or asteroids out of their orbits,” Hughes stated.

A 6.2 mile (10-kilometer) DE-STAR version could send 1.4 megatons of energy daily to the marauding asteroid, providing enough juice every year to kill a space rock as big as 1,640 feet (500 meters) across. (That’s more than 10 times the size of 2012 DA14, which came within 17,200 miles of Earth Feb. 15.)

“Our proposal assumes a combination of baseline technology –– where we are today –– and where we almost certainly will be in the future, without asking for any miracles,” added Philip Lubin, who is with the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Besides asteroid annihilation, DE-STAR could give a fuel boost to long-distance space travellers.

A proposed DE-STAR 6 (size not disclosed) is advertised as able to push “a 10-ton spacecraft at near the speed of light, allowing interstellar exploration to become a reality without waiting for science fiction technology such as ‘warp drive’ to come along.”

The press release did not reveal a budget for any version of the DE-STAR, how it would be constructed, or how quickly the system could begin fencing with asteroids.

Researchers emphasized, however, that system proposals such as theirs must be taken seriously to ward off incoming space rocks.

“We have to come to grips with discussing these issues in a logical and rational way,” stated Lubin.

“We need to be proactive rather than reactive in dealing with threats. Duck and cover is not an option. We can actually do something about it and it’s credible to do something. So let’s begin along this path. Let’s start small and work our way up. There is no need to break the bank to start.”

Source: UCSB

January 23, 2013April 26, 2016 by Elizabeth Howell

The Ocean is a lot Like Outer Space

A view of the Bathyscaphe Trieste in 1959. (U.S. NHHC)

Just about any space mission these days requires water training. Think of the countless hours astronauts spend in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center, practicing the steps to do spacewalks. Then there are the crews that actually live in the ocean for days at a time on NASA’s NEEMO missions.

Long before these “aquanauts” added flippers to their list of equipment, however, the U.S. Navy was busy exploring the depths of the ocean. Today – Jan. 23 – marks the anniversary of the Bathyscaphe Trieste’s descent to the bottom of the ocean in 1960. This was the first time a vessel, manned or unmanned, had reached the deepest known point of the Earth’s oceans, the Mariana Trench.

Trieste was at first operated by the French Navy, which operated it for several years in the Mediterranean Sea, but the US Navy purchased the Trieste in 1958.

Although two men took the ride down, all accounts say that it was an isolating experience. Jacques Piccard – well-known today for his exploration of the oceans – and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh descended about 11 kilometers (7 miles) to the bottom.

Lt. Don Walsh, USN (left) and Jacques Piccard (centre)
in the bathyscaphe Trieste. Via Wikipedia. — Lt. Don Walsh, USN (left) and Jacques Piccard (centre) in the bathyscaphe Trieste. Via Wikipedia.

Fighting with poor communications and high pressure – which cracked a window at 30,000 feet below the surface – the crew made their way to ocean floor. They worked in a tiny sphere only 2 meters (6.5 feet) wide, and according to the University of Delaware, the interior reached frigid temperatures of 7 degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit) during their successful descent and return.

Spaceflight and deep-ocean diving share many similarities, as this mission demonstrated. The early days of the space program had communications blackouts as spaceships flew between stations; this proved to be a near-disaster for the Gemini 8 crew in 1966 when their spacecraft spun out of control during a period with no voice connection to the ground.

Also, sustaining life is no less challenging in the water as it is in space. Humans require oxygen, pressure and a comfortable environment where they work. Crews in space have faced serious problems with all of these matters before – Mir suffered a partial depressurization in 1997, and the early days of the Skylab space station were rather hot until the astronauts could deploy a sunshade.

Walsh was not available for an interview with Universe Today due to travel, but in a 2012 BBC interview he noted that he had reserved confidence that they would make it to the bottom.

“I knew the machine well enough, at that point, to know that theoretically, it could be done,” Walsh recalled.

The mens’ feat would go unrepeated for decades, until in 2012 Hollywood director James Cameron made the descent again – alone, although certainly equipped with more modern technology. For comparison, only one American has flown solo in space since the 1960s; in 2004, Mike Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne into suborbital space twice as part of the Ansari X-Prize win.

December 21, 2012December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

‘Live’ Tweeting Apollo 17’s Mission

Lunar and Planetary Rovers covers both the manned rovers used on the final three Apollo lunar missions with the unmanned rovers used to explore the surface of Mars - under one book. Photo Credit: NASA/Jack Schmitt

40 years ago on December 19, 1972, Apollo 17 splashed down on Earth, marking the end of the manned moon missions. The astronauts came back with a treasure trove of rocks collected in 22 hours of extra-vehicular activity on the lunar surface, including “orange” soil that ended up coming from an ancient volcano.

Twitter wasn’t around back then, but anyone tuning into several Twitter accounts recently week would have a chance to experience what it could it have been like. Using mission transcripts and historical accounts of Apollo 17, these folks took it upon themselves to tweet the Apollo 17 mission, moment by moment, as “live” as possible.

Universe Today caught up with two of the tweeters. This is an edited version of what they said about the experience.

Liz Suckow (@LizMSuckow), a NASA contract archivist who tweeted on her own time

Researching a mission is divided into two parts, prelaunch and flight. For prelaunch, I use whatever official NASA documents, histories, and relevant astronaut and mission controller autobiographies I can find.

From what I’ve seen on the missions I’ve tweeted, until Apollo, no prelaunch conversation was transcribed at all. For Apollo, the last hour or so before liftoff is on the mission transcript. So, I can schedule those tweets. But, prelaunch activities for the astronauts start as long as 10 hours before liftoff. So, I use whatever resources I can to find references to the time of important events, and the rest of the prelaunch scheduling is educated guesswork. Flight is easy.

I have been trying to tweet as if I was the Johnson Space Center public affairs officer during the particular mission. When I joined Twitter in November of 2010 and was looking for accounts to follow, I came across a dead feed from JSC, I can’t remember the account name, that tweeted what had happened during a shuttle mission in real time.

Apollo 17, the only lunar mission to launch at night. Image Credit: NASA/courtesy of nasaimages.org

I thought, “Wow, that’s cool! Somebody ought to do that for the historical missions.” The celebration of the 40th anniversary of Apollo was still a big deal at NASA at the time, and the next mission up was Apollo 14. I figured someone else at NASA would have the same idea, but it was never mentioned. So, I figured I would do it on my personal account, just to see if it could be done and if anybody else (even if it was only a few people) liked the idea.

I am definitely going to be doing another one. I think the next anniversary is either Gordon Cooper‘s Mercury flight in May 2013, or the first Skylab missions. Not quite sure how I want to handle Skylab yet, may throw that one open to followers for ideas. Why do I do it? I do it because it is fun. Sometimes, I get so mentally involved the mission I get excited for what’s coming next as I am scheduling the tweets (even though I know full well what’s going to happen).

Buck Calabro (@Apollo17History), space fan who live-Tweeted along with Thomas Rubatscher

I’m live tweeting because I’m interested in Apollo. It’s a life-long interest. I myself live Tweet mostly by actually typing the tweet into HootSuite.com or Twitter.com. I have collaborated with Thomas by creating a spreadsheet of candidate tweets that he can upload into HootSuite’s bulk uploader for time-delayed tweeting.

My tweets mostly center around the command module pilot, Ron Evans. He spent three days all by himself in the CM, doing photography, mapping and other experiments. Not exactly the same sort of fame that the moonwalkers got. It’s a different kind of grit. Imagine being Evans, as AMERICA goes around the limb of the moon, completely cut off from every human being in the universe. Nothing but some fans, pumps and procedure to keep you going.

I have no plans for leveraging the Tweets. I’ll probably do another one someday. It’s a lot of work. As far as resources, I prefer source material. I have copies of the original transcripts for ground-to-air communications. The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal is a treasure trove of images and transcripts for the lunar surface portion of the mission, and the Lunar and Planetary Institute has an extensive catalog of imagery by camera magazine (which can be found in the transcripts.) NASA has scanned vast quantities of Apollo-era documentation, and the experiment results are likewise mostly available in the public domain.

December 18, 2012December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Update on ‘Chasing Atlantis’ Film

Atlantis lifts off for the last time in July 2011, in this shot taken by the Chasing Atlantis team. (Melanie Godecki)

They didn’t reach their money goal, but the Chasing Atlantis team still sounds pretty pleased about the result: the independent movie-making team raised $5,610 to help with the final costs of production.

As previously reported in Universe Today, the Canadian team launched an Indiegogo campaign on Nov. 5 to raise up to $15,000 from people visiting the crowdsourcing site. Indiegogo allows teams to keep all funds donated, even if the goal is not reached.

“Thank you so much for all your support, contributions, and the belief in this film. Last night, at the conclusion of our 47-day Indiegogo campaign, we raised $5,610,” the team wrote on their official blog today (Dec. 18).

The project, which was entirely self-funded before this campaign, followed the last launch of space shuttle Atlantis in 2011. The movie will include appearances from Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Wil Wheaton as well as Chris Hadfield, who will launch to space on Expedition 34 tomorrow. He will be the first Canadian to command the International Space Station.

The team is en route to the Canadian Space Agency’s headquarters near Montreal, Quebec today for a fresh round of interviews; the agency is hosting a Hadfield launch party tomorrow. More announcements on the film’s progress will come in the next few months.

December 10, 2012December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Memorable Space Tweeps of 2012

To space Tweeps, Twitter is so much more than just a news service. It’s a community, a spot where everyone can showcase their interests and form professional bonds with each other.

The most prominent space-themed Twitter accounts of 2012 somehow transcended their original purpose, too. A NASA Mars Curiosity account ended up hobnobbing with comedian Steve Martin, and a space-station-passing service suddenly found itself in bit of a Twitter controversy.

Here are 10 of some of the most memorable Twitter accounts from this year. Yes, there’s a lot of Mars reflected here, but the entities quoted below explore all over the Universe.

@astro_andre

Dutch astronaut André Kuipers spent the first half of 2012 orbiting Earth. From his perch aboard the International Space Station, he participated in the historic SpaceX docking in May and finished 50 experiments. But rather than dwell on these achievements, he spent his tweeting time in space showing his gorgeous pictures of Earth. Maybe that old Apollo phrase about going to space and discovering Earth still has resonance today.

@BadAstronomer

Phil Plait is a good scientist-cum-journalist to follow in general, because his tweets constantly show his love of the universe. (“Embiggen!” he would perhaps shout at this point.) What made him stand out in 2012, though, was his willingness to use his immense Internet fame to showcase the work of others, such as his frequent Tweeting and posting of great space images and timelapse videos, or helping to ‘kickstart’ new projects and help them get off the ground, such as the Uwingu astronomy startup. He shows that Twitter most definitely has altruistic use.

@chrislintott

Chris Lintott demonstrated how to handle a situation when a close, beloved colleague passes away. The co-presenter of The Sky At Night was among the first official voices giving word of Sir Patrick Moore‘s death, and he retweeted messages of remembrance from colleagues and ordinary people. Nicely done, during what was a difficult time.

@claratma

Hard to believe Clara Ma is a mere 15 years old when reading tweets like this. The Kansas-based teenager named the Mars Curiosity rover. This year, she has been graciously fielding interview requests from journalists, and messages of support from NASA employees, ever since the rover made it to Mars in August.

@Cmdr_Hadfield

OK, I’ll admit my bias here: I’m Canadian. I’ve been watching Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield since he was selected 20 years ago. But in the Twittersphere, he’s made an impact. My fellow journalists publicly speak about his work, with respect. His tweets showing his astronaut training are favourited and retweeted by people all over the world. And as the first Canadian to command the International Space Station next year, Hadfield will be a force to watch in 2013.

@MarsCuriosity

Three NASA employees are behind the “hive mind” of @MarsCuriosity. The official feed for the Curiosity mission skyrocketed to fame in 2012, receiving tweets from celebrities ranging from Britney Spears to the aforementioned Steve Martin. In this case, happily, “official” doesn’t always mean “staid.” The Twitter account has been a bevy of jokes and cheerful updates in between the standard scientific results.

@NASAVoyager

At 35 years and counting, the two NASA Voyager spacecraft have ventured into the newer field of social media. The accounts received more attention as Voyager 1 reached the edge of our solar system in 2012. It’s hard to summarize solar and interstellar physics in just 140 characters, but this official NASA account does it quite well.

@SarcasticRover

Nothing says pop culture as seeing your catchphrase — “Let’s Do a Science!” — repeated ad nauseum by planetary scientists on Twitter. The brainchild of Jason Filiatrault, this account is a parody of the official Mars Curiosity Twitter and depicts a rover angrily making its way around Mars after being ordered there by unfeeling humans. Besides wry observations of Martian life, the rover broadcasts its point of view on recent discoveries in a unique way.

@SpaceX

Not often that a corporate account uses four exclamation marks in a row, but the space geeks would argue this is justified. SpaceX made headlines and history in 2012 when the Dragon spacecraft berthed with the International Space Station — a first for a private spacecraft. SpaceX’s Twitter not only broadcasts mission news, but also seeks out mentions of the company and adds commentary.

@twisst

Just before the International Space Station passes by overhead, @twisst gives you a heads-up that you’ll be able to see it. This popular account’s service was briefly shut down in 2012 due to Twitter’s concerns about the duplicate accounts required to make the service work. But a few tweaks later, @twisst returned — to the delight of its thousands of followers.