An astronaut works on an experiment outside the ISS. Credit: NASA
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We just received an exciting note from Dr. Jeff Goldstein, the Director for the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. There is a unique and historic opportunity for students in grades 5-12 to fly an experiment on the final scheduled space shuttle mission, STS-134, through the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP).
There is room for 45 different experiments to be flown for 10 days aboard Shuttle Endeavour, each designed by middle school and high school classes across the U.S., and with astronauts operating the experiments. Launch is tentatively scheduled for November 2010, but a launch slip to mid-January is expected, enabling this extra student spaceflight experiments opportunity.
But it’s time-critical! All the details of the experiments have to be submitted by the first part of August, 2010, and each team does have to secure their own funding.
So check out the SSEP website for details, and spread the word to all the teachers, students and school administrators you know!
This program does hinge on whether the flight will be delayed until January. The issue is the big new spectrometer that is going to the International Space Station, which will use a different type of magnet than originally planned. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer was supposed to fly in July, then was switched to the final scheduled shuttle flight and tentatively delayed to November to allow for the change in magnets. But now it appears it might slip to January, 2011.
But the delay is also providing this potential new opportunity. So, teachers, students — take advantage! And good luck!
If NASA offered you a ride on one of the final two scheduled space shuttle missions, you’d go, right? I know I would, so that’s why I immediately signed up for NASA’s newest public participation campaign, “Send Your Face to Space.” If I can’t go, at least my face is heading up to LEO.
Here’s how to participate and become part of history:
Hit the “Participate” button and upload your image, which will be flown aboard the space shuttle. Don’t have a picture to upload? No problem, just skip the image upload and NASA will fly your name only on your selected mission.
Next… Print and save the confirmation with your flight information.
Later… Return to the site after the landing to print your Flight Certificate – a commemorative certificate signed by the Mission Commander.
The website also provides a participation map showing where participants are from and, relative to each other, how many are taking part from each country.
NASA has released, for the first time, video of the final inspection of a space shuttle before launch. The Final Inspection Team, also known as the “Ice Team,” performs a walkdown of Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A during space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-132 launch countdown on May 14, 2010. The six-member team walks on every level of the pad’s fixed service structure, inspecting the shuttle, external fuel tank, solid rocket boosters, pad structure and ground equipment for signs of ice buildup, debris or anything else that might be amiss prior to launch. As part of the inspection, photos are taken and transmitted to the launch team for review.
A videographer for NASA was included as a member of the team to capture the first-ever up close, high-definition video of this important and hazardous inspection process.
ISS astronaut Soichi Noguchi captured Atlantis and her crew streaking through the atmosphere on their return to Earth. Credit: Soichi Noguchi/JAXA/NASA
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At a post-landing news conference, STS-132 commander Ken Ham described the incredible visual effects the crew of Atlantis witnessed as they returned to Earth today. As the shuttle was engulfed in plasma during the hottest part of their re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere, they were in orbital darkness, which highlighted the orange, fiery glow around the shuttle. “We were clearly riding inside of a fireball, and we flew right into the sunrise from inside this fireball, so we could see the blue color of the Earth’s horizon coming through the orange. It was amazing and just visually overwhelming.”
As evidence, ISS astronaut Soichi Noguchi captured Atlantis as that fireball, streaking though atmosphere, just as dawn approached. “Dawn, and Space Shuttle re-entered atmosphere over Pacific Ocean. 32 years of service, 32nd beautiful landing. Forever, Atlantis!” Noguchi wrote on Twitter, posting a link to the image.
Amazing.
Asked about his thoughts after landing, Ham said, “Walking around Atlantis after the flight I realized I probably just did the most fun and amazing thing I’ll do in my life.”
As for Atlantis, and whether she’ll fly one more time, the latest word is that the NASA authorization bill — as it stand now –will include language authorizing an additional shuttle mission.
As for Noguchi, take in all the images you can now from him on his Twitter feed, He, along with Expedition 23 Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov, and astronaut T.J. Creamer are scheduled to leave the ISS on the Soyuz spacecraft on June 1 and land on the southern region steppe of Kazakhstan, completing almost six months on the station.
Here’s an image Noguchi took of Atlantis just after it undocked from the ISS last weekend.
Atlantis, as seen by Soichi Noguchi from the ISS, after undocking. Credit: Soichi Noguchi/ JAXA/ NASA
A bittersweet moment in space history as Atlantis and her six-member crew landed at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday morning. Very likely, this was Atlantis’ final landing, returning home after 25 years of service. The rich history of the Atlantis space shuttle includes 294 days in space, 4,648 orbits and 120,650,907 miles during 32 flights. There’s a chance this orbiter could fly again – she’ll be readied as a rescue ship for the last scheduled shuttle mission –and many shuttle supporters feel that since Atlantis will be fully geared up, she should fly one last time. But only time (and funding and Congress) will tell if Atlantis will fly again. Continue reading “Atlantis Returns Home — For the Last Time?”
Another incredible shot of the ISS, with Atlantis' tail visible. Credit: NASA
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Is this Atlantis’ last mission to space? STS-132 is the last scheduled flight for space shuttle Atlantis, and it remains to be seen whether any additional shuttle flights will be added. But the imagery from this mission is incredibly rich with wonderful images of the orbiter. So, while previous shuttle mission galleries we have here on Universe Today normally feature images from the EVAs, this gallery will mainly showcase images of Atlantis. And there are some really great photos — not sure whether the astronauts/photographers are consciously focusing on the shuttle or these images are just marvelously serendipitous. We’ll do a second gallery as more images come in from the later part of the mission. Enjoy!
Atlantis during the R-bar pitch maneuver as it approaches the ISS. Credit: NASA
Atlantis is backdropped by Earth as the shuttle approaches the International Space Station during STS-132 rendezvous and docking operations. Docking occurred at 9:28 a.m. (CDT) on May 16, 2010.
Cool view of Atlantis' back end, as it approaches the ISS. Credit: NASA
Just a very neat image of Atlantis, as seen from the ISS, backdropped by a cloudy area on Earth.
Another incredible shot of the ISS, with Atlantis' tail visible. Credit: NASA
Amazing shot of the Russian Segment behind Atlantis’s tail on FD 4 prior to docking.
Robotic arm ballet, with astronaut. Credit: NASA
Anchored to a Canadarm2 mobile foot restraint, NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman works during the STS-132 mission’s first EVA. Dextre, a two-armed extension for the station’s robotic arm is also visible.
Fish eye view of Garrett Reisman working in the ISS's Cupola. Credit: NASA
This image might win the award for most futuristic looking image of the mission, and some have compared it to a scene from the movie “2001” — um, wait, is that considered a history movie now?
View of the ISS as Atlantis approaches on May 16, 2010. Credit: NASAThe Russian Mini Research Module, Rassvet, pulled from Atlantis' payload bay. Credit: NASA
In the grasp of the Canadarm2, the Russian-built Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM-1) is transferred from space shuttle Atlantis’ payload bay to be permanently attached to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya Functional Cargo Block (FGB) of the International Space Station.
Steve Bowen during the first EVA of STS-132. Credit: NASA
Obligatory image of a waving astronaut during an EVA. But it never gets old, so keep it up, guys!
Stunning view and colors. Credit: NASAAnother great view of Atlantis, her starboard wing area, over Earth. Credit: NASANASA astronaut Garrett Reisman takes a self-portrait visor while participating in the first of three spacewalks. Credit: NASAAtlantis' launch on May 14, 2010. Credit: NASA
Atlantis and the ISS transit the Sun. Credit: Thierry Legault www.astrophoto.fr
Here are some incredible images of Atlantis and the International Space Station captured as it transit the Sun.
You can also view space from where you are. You just need a good telescope for that. Take a look at these cool and amazing telescopes from Amazon.com.
French astrophotographer Thierry Legault has done it again. He captured a view of space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station crossing the face of the Sun on May 16, 2010 about 50 minutes before the shuttle docked with the space station. Legault took the image from Madrid, Spain at 13:28:55 UT. “Atlantis has just begun the ‘R-bar pitch maneuver,'” Legault wrote on his website, “as the shuttle performs a backflip that exposes its heat-shield to the crew of the ISS that makes photographs of it; since its approach trajectory is between the ISS and the Earth, this means that we are seeing Atlantis essentially from above, with the payload bay door opened.”
Since this may be Atlantis’ last flight to space, the image is especially poignant.
See below for the full image, and make sure you go to Legault’s website and watch the movie of how quickly the pair of spacecraft actually flew across the face of the Sun — like the blink of an eye! It’s amazing he was able to capture this incredible image at all, not to mention how clear and sharp the two spacecraft are in the photo, against the face of the otherwise spotless Sun. The shuttle’s tail is even visible!
Legault said he used a Takahashi TOA-150 refractor (diameter 150mm, final focal 2500mm), Baader Herschel prism and Canon 5D Mark II camera, at an exposure of 1/8000s at 100 ISO, extracted from a series of 16 images (4 images/s) started 2 seconds before the predicted transit time.
Full image of the Sun, with transiting shuttle and ISS. Credit: Thierry Legault www.astrophoto.fr
UPDATE: Sorry, but the video includes an annoying loud commercial that starts up automatically every time the page loads on UT, but you should really watch this cool video here. Read about it below, though, first!
This is incredible! Smithsonian Air & Space photographers Scott Andrews, Stan Jirman and Philip Scott Andrews created a unique time-lapse video (at the request of shuttle commander Alan Poindexter) from from thousands of individual frames, and they condense six weeks of painstaking work into three minutes, 52 seconds (read here how they did it). The video quickly chronicles the processing of Discovery for the STS-131 mission, and starts at the Orbiter Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, then goes on to the Vehicle Assembly Building, (the video of how the shuttle is hoisted into a vertical position and lowered onto its external fuel tank is absolutely amazing). Then it’s off to the pad for launch, and you even get to see a quick glimpse of Discovery as it lands. This is the shuttle and mission for which I was able to see much of the processing and pre-launch events, so I found it especially meaningful, but it is even more poignant since the end of the shuttle program is quickly approaching.
Screenshot from NASA TV of the new Rassvet module attached to the space station. Credt: NASA TV
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A 8,550 kg (17,760-pound) Russian Mini-Research Module, known as Rassvet or “Dawn,” was attached to the International Space Station today. This is the first (and last) Russian-built module to be delivered by a space shuttle, and the 8 meter long (20 ft) 2.5 meter (8 ft) diamater module will serve an area for scientific research, as well as for stowage and a docking port extension for future visiting spacecraft such as the Soyuz and Progress resupply vehicles.
“The ISS has grown by one more module,” Moscow mission control radioed up the crew. “We are really very grateful to you. And our congratulations to all of you for this new step in space research and thanks for all your effort and all your work.”
The MRM is packed full of 1,400 kg (3,086 pounds) of NASA equipment and supplies, plus an experiment airlock and European robot arm equipment that will be attached to other modules later. Location of MRM-1 and other components on the Russian Orbital Segment of the ISS
MRM was docked to the Earth-facing port of the central Zarya module, and will provide needed clearance between the forward Russian docking port and a US storage module, the Permanent Logistics Module, scheduled to arrive at the station later this year.
Operations began early this morning to install the MRM, with Atlantis commander Ken Ham and pilot Dominic Antonelli, operating the shuttle’s robot arm to take the new module from the shuttle’s cargo bay. Then astronauts Garrett Reisman and Piers Sellers installed the MRM-1 on Zarya, — appropriately waiting until orbital sunrise to attach the module with great precision. Controllers said Reisman maneuvered the module so precisely, he made a “hole in one.” The MRM, or Rassvet, seen during processing at Cape Canaveral. Image credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
Now that the MRM is attached, the ISS and shuttle astronauts now turn their attention to the second spacewalk of the mission scheduled for Wednesday, May 19 to be conducted by Steven Bowen and Michael Good. The primary tasks are the removal and replacement of P6 truss batteries that store solar energy. These batteries have outlived their expected lifespan of 6 years, so the batteries will be swapped out with new ones.
Behind the scenes work has also been ongoing to develop a task to clear a cable that is pinched out on the end of the Atlantis’ boom and sensor system that prevented an inspection of the shuttle’s thermal protection system. NASA TV commentator Kyle Herring said the procedure appears to be a fairly straightforward task to clear the cable out of the way and secure it with a wire-tie. Mission planners are seeing where the procedure fits in best with the rest of the spacewalks tasks.
SRBs from Atlantis' May 14 launch were returned to Cape Canaveral Monday morning. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
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Here’s an event we don’t get to see very often. It is a post-launch activity that is not well publicized and of course, with the retirement of the space shuttles fast approaching, we have just a few opportunities to see it again. Early Monday morning, the solid rocket boosters used for space shuttle Atlantis’ launch last week were towed back to Port Canaveral after their recovery from the Atlantic Ocean. Universe Today photographer Alan Walters captured some images of the return, and in the image above, the Liberty Star — one of two unique ships specifically designed and constructed for this task — returns one booster through the locks at the Port. Visible is the “business end” of the booster. A spokesperson at Kennedy Space Center said these two boosters will be refurbished, just in case they are needed in the future.
See more images below.
Nozzle end of the SRB. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
Here’s a close-up of the nozzle end of the SRB, a little worse for wear after the launch. After the boosters do their job and are jettisoned from the shuttle, they fall back to the ocean. The parachutes provide for a nozzle-first impact, so air is trapped in the empty motor casing, causing the booster to float with the forward end approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) out of the water. Once the boosters are located, divers insert a plug in the nozzle (the metal object in the middle of the nozzle) called the Diver Operated Plug. The divers “dewater” the SRBs by pumping air into and water out of the SRB. This causes the SRB to change from a nose-up floating position to a horizontal attitude more suitable for towing.
Top end of SRB visible alongside the Liberty Star. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today
The top end of the SRB is visible in this image. The nose cap is jettisoned at an altitude of 2.9 statute miles (2.5 nautical miles/4.6 kilometers) and deploys the pilot parachute.
An SRB fully loaded with propellant weighs about 1.4 million pounds (635,040 kilograms). They stand 149.2 feet (45.5 meters) tall, and have a diameter of 12 feet (3.6 meters). The boosters in use today are the largest solid propellant motors ever developed for space flight and the first to be used on a manned space vehicle. These boosters will propel the orbiter to a speed of 3,512 miles per hour (5,652 kilometers per hour).
Approximately two minutes after the Space Shuttle lifts off from the launch pad, the twin SRBs have expended their fuel, and the boosters separate from the orbiter and its external tank at an altitude of approximately 30.3 statute miles (26.3 nautical miles/48.7 kilometers) above the Earth. After separation, momentum will propel the SRBs for another 70 seconds to an altitude of 44.5 statute miles (38.6 nautical miles/71.6 kilometers) before they begin their long tumble back to Earth.
The frustum for the SRB. Image credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
This is the frustum, which holds the drogue shoot. It is jettisoned from the booster after the drogue shoot stabilizes the SRB in a tail-first attitude, and is separated by a pyrotechnic charge about 243 seconds after SRB separation.
The main parachutes are the first items to be brought on board the recovery ships. Their shroud lines are wound onto each of three of the four reels on the ship’s deck. The drogue parachute, attached to the frustum, is reeled onto the fourth reel until the frustum is approximately 50 feet astern of the ship. The 5,000-pound (2,268-kilogram) frustum is then lifted from the water using the ship’s power block and deck crane.
Liberty Star with an SRB in tow. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
The ships enter Port Canaveral, where the booster is changed from the stern tow position to a position alongside the ship to allow greater control. The ships then pass through a drawbridge, Canaveral Locks, and transit the Banana River to a hanger. They are lifted from the water with specially made Straddle-Lift cranes and placed on rail cars to begin the disassembly and refurbishment process.
Liberty Star returns an SRB on May 17, 2010. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
The Liberty Star and the Freedom star each have a crew of ten; a nine-person SRB retrieval team, a retrieval supervisor, a NASA representative, and some observers, with the maximum complement at 24 persons.
While the ships were built especially for NASA for retrieving the SRBs, they’ve also been used for other purposes, including side-scan sonar operations, cable-laying, underwater search and salvage, drone aircraft recovery, platforms for robotic submarine operations and numerous support roles for other government agencies.
The ships have a special water jet system in the stern thruster which allows the ship to move in any direction without the use of propellers. This system was installed to protect the endangered manatee population that inhabits regions of the Banana River where the ships are based. The system also allows divers to work near the ship during operations at a greatly reduced risk.
Thanks to Alan Walters for getting up early this morning to capture these great, unique images.
