NASA. Mars. Flash Earth ...satellite and aerial imagery of the Earth in Flas. Earth google. Moon. Buenos Aires Herald. Soyuz TMA-16 Thursday, March 18, 2010 Russian Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev (C) is transported to a helicopter after the landing of the Russian Soyuz TMA-16 space capsule, carrying an Expedition 22 U.S. astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut from the International Space Station, near the town of Arkalyk, northern Kazakhstan.
A Russian Soyuz space capsule carrying a US astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut from the International Space Station landed safely in Kazakhstan. The capsule -- ferrying Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev -- landed in the vast steppe near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan as planned, Russia's Mission Control said. "The descent capsule of the Soyuz TMA-16 ... has landed," an announcer at Mission Control outside Moscow said to applause from space officials and controllers. The capsule, charred on re-entry, ended its three-and-a-half-hour ride to Earth in a puff of dust after activating its boosters to cushion the touchdown. Space Shuttle. Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and space shuttle mockup to become centerpiece of new exhibit at Space Center Houston visitor center near NASA's Johnson Space Center.
Still in its protective shrink wrap, space shuttle Atlantis has been raised and tilted into display position at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Atlantis starred in a daylong parade and celebration as the shuttle was moved into an exhibit hall at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The storied spacecraft's pair of 60-foot-long doors were closed Sept. 20 during preps for permanent display. NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft pilots will carry Endeavour to its new home in Los Angeles. The Sun. Our Sun is a normal main-sequence G2 star, one of more than 100 billion stars in our galaxy. diameter: 1,390,000 km. mass: 1.989e30 kgtemperature: 5800 K (surface) 15,600,000 K (core) History of The Sun The Sun is by far the largest object in the solar system.
It contains more than 99.8% of the total mass of the Solar System (Jupiter contains most of the rest). It is often said that the Sun is an "ordinary" star. The Sun is personified in many mythologies: the Greeks called it Helios and the Romans called it Sol. The Sun is, at present, about 70% hydrogen and 28% helium by mass everything else ("metals") amounts to less than 2%. The outer layers of the Sun exhibit differential rotation: at the equator the surface rotates once every 25.4 days; near the poles it's as much as 36 days.
Conditions at the Sun's core (approximately the inner 25% of its radius) are extreme. The Sun's power (about 386 billion billion mega Watts) is produced by nuclear fusion reactions. The Sun's satellites. Hubble Space Telescope. Lost in Space. When America's space shuttle program ends in September, the U.S. will be completely dependent on Russian rockets for launching men and women into space -- and bringing them back. But what will happen to America's astronauts if relations between the U.S. and Russia sour? Until American companies come to market with commercial rockets and launch vehicles to replace the shuttle, the only nation ever to put a man on the Moon won't even be able to put a man into orbit. And that, experts tell FoxNews.com, has the potential to be a "tragic mistake," one that could hold America's astronauts in orbit hostage to the whims of the Kremlin. "The U.S. has surrendered its advantage in space, conceding the high ground to others who are probably our enemies," said Jane Orient, a science policy expert and professor at the University of Arizona.
Former rocket scientist Shannah B. "Remember a few years ago when china 'accidentally' hit a satellite in space? " , Orbital Sciences Corp. Sen. Star Wars: Neil Armstrong, Obama Spar Over NASA's Future. Neil Armstrong, as NASA astronautNASA Visitors view a full-scale mockup of NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle during its one-day display August 12 at StenniSphere, the visitor center at John C. Stennis Space Center. President Obama will announce plans to salvage the Orion module from the overbudget Constellation program in a speech Thursday.NASA/SSC The first man to walk on the moon has blasted off at the Obama administration's stripped-down space plans, describing the president's proposals as "devastating.
" But supporters of the president's latest plan, which will be unveiled on Thursday, insist all systems are go for an accelerated rocket program that sets new goals for the American effort in outer space. Moonwalk icon Neil Armstrong, in an open letter co-signed by Apollo Commanders James Lovell and Eugene Cernan, wrote on Tuesday that "The … decision to cancel the Constellation program, its Ares 1 and Ares V rockets, and the Orion spacecraft, is devastating.
Jeremy A. U.S. 'On Trajectory to Nowhere' - Video - FoxNews.com. Obama sets Mars goal for America. Obama outlines Nasa Mars mission Barack Obama says it should be possible to send astronauts to orbit the planet Mars by the mid-2030s and return them safely to Earth. The US president made the claim in a major speech to staff and guests at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He was laying out the details of his new policy for the US space agency. Mr Obama said he was giving Nasa challenging goals and the funding needed to achieve them, including an extra $6bn over the next five years. "By 2025, we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first-ever crewed missions beyond the Moon into deep space," he told his audience. And then he added: "By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. Mr Obama hopes his new timetable for action can win wide approval. 'Lifeboat' proposal The president claimed a refocused Nasa could achieve more, sooner than under Constellation.
However, there was a key concession in the speech. Latest NASA satellite photos of Iceland volcano show extensive a. The latest eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano is entering its fifth day as it continues to shoot ash, steam and smoke miles into the atmosphere. NASA's Aqua satellite flew over the volcano on Saturday capturing astounding images of the ash plume from the eruption. The latest image was taken at 13:20 UTC (9:20am EDT) during yesterday's pass of Aqua over Iceland. It clearly shows the brown ash plume as it blows south of the volcano over the ocean. See the image at the right and scroll down for a series of larger images. Utilizing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard both Aqua and its sister satellite Terra, NASA has captured astounding imagery over the past week. The images from the agency as well as those from the European Space Agency (ESA) have proven critical in monitoring the plume which presents a hazard to aviation.
Eyjafjallajokull came to life last month for the first time since 1821 with a minor eruption. Iceland volcano in maps. The eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull has brought disruption to the skies over Europe. The maps above show how flights have been restricted to flying around the ash cloud, shown in red. Where the shading is darkest, it indicates the cloud is extending higher into the atmosphere. The flight ban was partially lifted on Tuesday - five days after the eruption. EU transport ministers agreed to allow limited flights within Europe after flight tests showed the density of the volcanic ash in the air was diminishing. Meteorologists have been using computer models to predict which direction the ash cloud will travel. The map above, provided by the Met Office shows how the ash cloud is forecast to alter its position in the next 24 hours. Scientists and engineers have agreed a new safe threshold - a concentration of ash of 0.002g per cubic metre of air.
The satellite maps above show how the ash cloud spread over the first couple of days after the eruption. Europe prepares to ship second ATV space freighter. Up close with a giant space truck Europe's next space truck is nearly ready to be shipped to its launch site. Dubbed "Johannes Kepler" after the famous German scientist, the vehicle is expected to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) in November. It will take more than six tonnes of fuel, air, food and equipment to the orbiting outpost, acting as a temporary store room on the back of the platform. The unmanned spacecraft will also use its thrusters to push the ISS higher into the sky. The freighter - also known by its generic name of Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) - will be the second such craft sent to the ISS. The European Space Agency (Esa) trucks are now coming off the end of what could be described as a production line at prime contractor EADS Astrium's Bremen facility in Germany.
ATV-3 is already part built, and as soon as Johannes Kepler goes out the door in May, integration of ATV-4 will begin. In two parts: Solar panels and thermals blankets are yet to be attached. NASA planet hunters may only be releasing limited data set. Scientific data sharing has become big news in the wake of the theft of e-mails from the Climatic Research Unit and ensuing investigations. Although the CRU researchers appear to have had an attitude towards data sharing that breached generally accepted scientific ethics, the process of actually sharing the data would have been anything but straightforward. The CRU had no procedures in place for data sharing, the data came from a variety of sources with no standardized data format, it was a mix of published and proprietary information, etc. In short, it's one thing to decide to share the data, another challenge entirely to actually do so.
You can contrast this with NASA, which has procedures in place for sharing data and a standard policy for publishing it. But, according to a report produced by Nature News, the agency may only be sharing a deliberately limited version of the data from its planet hunting probe, Kepler. NASA Observes Ash Plume of Icelandic Volcano. NASA Sees Re-Suspended Ash from the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano > View larger image By May 26, 2010, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this photo-like image, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull Volcano had slowed its eruption. A tiny, white puff of steam rises from the volcano in this image. Considerable steam had been coming from the crater, said the Icelandic Met Office, but monitoring the eruption became difficult because of windblown ash. The ash resembles an eruption plume in color, but it is actually resuspended ash. The ash is blowing over the North Atlantic Ocean.
The large image is the highest-resolution version of the image. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. › View Archives of the Icelandic Volcano Plume Images. Ozone hole discoverer's warning. British scientists discovered the ozone hole over Antarctica in 1985 The leader of the team which found the hole in the earth's protective ozone layer has urged world leaders to do more to safeguard the environment. Speaking to BBC News on the 25th anniversary of the reporting of the hole, Dr Joe Farman said the environment was still being recklessly damaged in many ways. He criticised politicians for failing to lead on issues like climate change - it was "damned stupid" to keep increasing emissions of CO2 when we know it is a warming gas, he said.
But, in a nod to climate sceptics, he also blamed the scientific establishment for failing to take specific criticisms of detailed climate science seriously enough. When Dr Farman's team at the British Antarctic Survey reported the ozone hole in 1985, it became a symbol of the earth's fragility and a rallying point for environmentalists. We do not need complex computer models to tell us we need to cut CO2 emissions, he says.