Space station astronaut, commander Chris Hadfield announces retirement

HOUSTON, June 11 (UPI) — Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut who captivated the world with photos and videos on social media from the International Space Station, says he’s retiring. Hadfield, 53, said he is fulfilling a promise he made to his wife to move back to Canada after 30 years in the United States Continue reading

NASA Selects 21 New Suborbital Payloads, Surpassing 100 Total Experiment Milestone

June 10, 2013 redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorates Flight Opportunities Program has selected 21 new space technology payloads for flights on commercial reusable launch vehicles, balloons, and a commercial parabolic aircraft. The newest batch of projects, which were announced by the American space agency on Friday, represents the sixth cycle of their continuing call for payloads through an announcement of opportunity. Continue reading

NASA to study how pollution, storms and climate mix

June 6, 2013 NASA aircraft will take to the skies over the southern United States this summer to investigate how air pollution and natural emissions, which are pushed high into the atmosphere by large storms, affect atmospheric composition and climate. NASA will conduct its most complex airborne science campaign of the year from Houston’s Ellington Field, which is operated by the agency’s Johnson Space Center, beginning Aug Continue reading

NASA Flights Target How Pollution, Storms and Climate Mix

NASA aircraft will take to the skies over the southern United States this summer to investigate how air pollution and natural emissions, which are pushed high into the atmosphere by large storms, affect atmospheric composition and climate. NASA will conduct its most complex airborne science campaign of the year from Houston’s Ellington Field, which is operated by the agency’s Johnson Space Center, beginning Aug. 7 and continuing through September. Continue reading

The Methodist Center for Sports Medicine at Willowbrook Partners With the Texans Soccer Club of Houston

HOUSTON, TX–(Marketwired – May 30, 2013) – The Methodist Center for Sports Medicine at Willowbrook is pleased to announce a partnership with the Texans Soccer Club of Houston, providing event support and athletic training services to bring a higher quality organized sports program to Northwest Houston. The partnership will support the Texans Soccer Club throughout the year by providing athletic injury evaluations and physician referrals, concussion assessment and management, medical support during Texans hosted tournaments and medical education workshops for coaches and parents. According to Dwight Adsit, ATC, LAT, at the Methodist Center for Sports Medicine at Willowbrook, the partnership will provide players with valuable resources and medical expertise to both ensure the safety of the athlete and an optimal playing environment Continue reading

Did 'Star Trek' Give Rise to NASA's 'Space Shuttle'?

NASA’s first space shuttle, the test orbiter Enterprise, was named after the fictional starship on “Star Trek” in response to fans staging a write-in campaign. But did the agency’s use of the term “space shuttle” also stem from the television series? “The Galileo [shuttlecraft] is such an important part of Star Trek and not only to Star Trek, it was important to literally the consciousness of the space program,” Alec Peters, a “Star Trek” superfan, recently told SPACE.com Continue reading

Star space station commander and crew make it home

A Russian cosmonaut, a NASA physician-astronaut and outgoing Canadian space station commander Chris Hadfield, whose deft use of social media turned him into an orbital superstar, undocked and plunged back to Earth Monday to close out a five-month stay in space. Two days after an impromptu spacewalk to fix a coolant leak — and one day after a YouTube video of Hadfield singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” went viral with more than 1.5 million views — Hadfield, Thomas Marshburn and Soyuz TMA-07M commander Roman Romanenko undocked from the station at 7:08 p.m. ET. Continue reading

Space Station Suffers Troubling Coolant Leak

Astronauts on the International Space Station have discovered a leak of ammonia coolant on their orbiting habitat, and NASA is looking into the problem, though it poses no immediate danger to the crew, officials said today (May 9). Continue reading

Space Station Leaking Vital Coolant, NASA Says

Astronauts on the International Space Station have discovered a leak of ammonia coolant on their orbiting habitat, and NASA is looking into the problem, though it poses no immediate danger to the crew, officials said today (May 9). The space station uses chilled liquid ammonia to cool down the power systems on its eight giant solar array panels. A minor leak of this ammonia was first noticed in 2007, and NASA has been studying the issue ever since Continue reading

NASA: International Space Station has ammonia leak in cooling system

By CNN Staff updated 8:25 PM EDT, Thu May 9, 2013 STORY HIGHLIGHTS (CNN) — The International Space Station is once again leaking ammonia from a cooling system, NASA said Thursday in a news release. The crew is not in danger, NASA said. The space station crew reported seeing small white flakes floating away from the station, the space agency said, So NASA helped locate the leak with external cameras while the crew used hand-held cameras pointed out windows. Continue reading

Space Station Lands in Houston in State-of-the-Art NASA Exhibit

NASA has a new “stage” to expose and educate the public about the work behind and on board the International Space Station. More than a year in the making, NASA and Space Center Houston, the visitor center for the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Texas, put the final touches on a new interactive exhibit and special effects live stage show that highlights how the orbiting outpost came to be, what life is like on board and how it is being used to conduct science. The 3000-square-foot (280 square meters) display was inspired by NASA’s traveling exhibit “Destination Station” (hosted currently at Atlanta’s Fernbank Science Center until May 18). Continue reading