How Do Astronauts Shave In Space?
Personal hygiene becomes very difficult when there #39;s a lack of gravity. How do astronauts shave and brush their teeth in space? Trace breaks down the ways that astronauts take care of their...
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Minecraft Modded: Off with his Head! - Hermitcraft Mod Sauce #6
Minecraft Mod Pack - Today I #39;ll get back to the space station and prepare to move it to a location at the hermit spawn base. Enjoy! This Hermitcraft ModSauce Mod Pack will be available for...
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Minecraft Modded: Off with his Head! - Hermitcraft Mod Sauce #6 - Video
Mario Party 9 Bowser #39;s Space Station pt 2
By: matthew dragonsnaps
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International Space Station Footage + Orchestral Bowie
In April the International Space Station started live-streaming high definition footage of Earth. I used my iphone to record over 20 hours of said footage, and then set it to a recording of...
By: Thom Edinger
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International Space Station Footage + Orchestral Bowie - Video
A three-way race to build a commercially operated spaceship to shuttle astronauts -- and other paying customers -- to and from low-Earth orbit is close the finish line, with NASA aiming to award development and flight service contracts as early as next week.
So far, two companies favoring capsule designs -- Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX -- have won the lions share of NASAs Commercial Crew program funds. The effort, which began in 2010, is intended to provide a U.S. alternative for flying crews to the International Space Station, which orbits about 260 miles above Earth.
Since NASA retired the space shuttles in 2011, the only human transportation system flying to the station is owned by Russia, which charges about $70 million per person for rides on its Soyuz capsules. NASA hopes to change that before the end of 2017.
NEWS: Space Taxi, Please! NASA Investing $1.1 Bln
Along with Boeing and SpaceX, NASA has been funding space taxi design work at a third company, Colorado-based Sierra Nevada Corp., though its contracts have been about half of what Boeing and SpaceX received.
Sierra Nevada eschewed the capsule design in favor of a small winged spaceplane called Dream Chaser, which resembles a miniature space shuttle. The company has signed partnership agreements with more than 30 companies, nine universities, nine NASA field centers and three international space agencies, a strategy that could provide some flexibility if it is not selected for additional NASA funding.
Weve always looked at this as a system, with the space station being a mission. There are other missions that we are looking at. Having this wide group of companies allows us to look at construction, repair missions, the ability to do short- and long-duration science missions independent of the space station, Mark Sirangelo, Sierra Nevada Space Systems president, told Discovery News.
For us, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars less at the start of the competition put us at a schedule disadvantage -- we couldnt do as many things -- but it made us be a lot more creative in how we were going to manage the last two years, Sirangelo said.
PHOTOS: Dragon's Bounty: SpaceX Mission Complete
Showing that you can manage to a very tight budget is a pretty big thing, he added.
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August 30, 2014
Image Caption: A Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) image of western Lake Erie, Aug. 15, 2014, taken from the orbital perspective of the International Space Station. Credit: HICO Team/Naval Research Laboratory
Jessica Nimon, International Space Station Program Science Office NASAs Johnson Space Center
The green stuff that clouds up fish tanks its not just an aesthetic annoyance. In fact, if youve been watching recent news of algal bloom concerns in Lake Erie, you know that the right conditions for algae can lead to contamination of local water sources, potentially impacting aquatic life and humans. What you might not have known is that among the resources to help study this problem you will find the International Space Stations Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO).
This instrument, mounted to the exterior of the orbiting laboratory, provides a way for researchers to see 90 wavelengths of light not visible to the human eye. This can help with research on harmful algal blooms (HABs) because they, along with other organic materials, have a spectral signature. The biological matter emits a unique wavelength as it absorbs and scatters solar energy, resulting in fluorescence and backscattering. Essentially the light reflects back to HICO, which reads the data like a fingerprint.
Researchers can use the information from HICO to see what theyre missing with their own senses. With it they study biological and chemical signatures for aquatic and terrestrial materials. This can reveal the presence of microscopic plants, organic compounds, suspended sediments and other factors controlling water quality.
HICO was first designed and built by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for the Office of Naval Research to assess water quality in the coastal ocean. HICO continues to operate beyond its original one-year mission, having moved past the initial three-year mission when NASA took over the support of operations in January 2013. Researchers continue to use HICO for science around the world.
To address water quality issues, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) partnered with the NRL at NASAs Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Mississippi to enable the study of HABs, including those in Lake Erie.
Historically, blooms have been visually observed by the naked eye due to the discoloration of the water, said Ruhul Amin, Ph.D., principal investigator for the HICO CASIS-NRL project. Now optical sensors can detect these changes in the color of the water and quantitatively measure the spectral radiance changes due to algae blooms.
In the Lake Erie area researchers are looking at phytoplankton and algal blooms that occur regularly in summer months, often in the harmful quantities found this year. Of particular concern are blue-green algae Microcystis spp., which can cause health concerns in humans such as nausea, numbness or dizzinesspotentially leading to liver damage. Once airborne in sea spray, the brevetoxin producing HAB Karenia brevisknown as red tidecan go beyond irritating the eyes and lungs of coastal visitors, according to Amin, as it is capable of killing fish, birds and marine mammals. No human fatalities are directly attributed to brevetoxins, he goes on to say, though it is possible to reach fatal toxin levels during K. brevis blooms.
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Algal Growth A Blooming Problem Space Station To Help Monitor
A Scottish distillery that enlisted the help of astronauts to develop whiskey particles on the International Space Station is now preparing for touchdown.
Ardbeg, a whiskey distillery in Scotland, partnered with a Houston-based space research company to launch some micro-compounds of their liquor into outer space in 2011.
According to the distillery's website, 20 vials of the unmatured whiskey particles were sent along with pieces of charred oak that they were treated with when they arrived at the International Space Station. The vials only contained microbes that will later be used to brew whiskey, rather than the liquor itself.
UIG via Getty Images
PHOTO: Ardbeg Distillery, Islay.
"This is indeed a research program to help us understand terpenes, which are the building blocks for flavorings, paints and yes, whiskey -- so to us, this is a very solid research project for a consumer-based company," Jeffrey Manber, the CEO of Houston-based company NanoRocks, told ABC News. "NASA approved the project since terpenes have never been grown in zero-gravity conditions."
If a difference is noted between the vials kept in zero gravity as compared to those in "control" vials in Scotland, the implications could lead well out of the liquor cabinet.
"The absence of gravity may well create a new generation of consumer products and help us understand materials, biologicals and products that are right here on Earth," Manber said.
Once the out-of-this-world particles return to Earth -- they are expected to land in Kazakhstan on Sept. 12 -- the vials will be shipped to Texas, where they will be compared to similar vials made in Scotland in 2011 to test what effect gravity had on the maturation process.
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Whiskey Particles Stored on International Space Station Headed for Earth
Students from Mississippi and Louisiana will gather at the INFINITY Science Center in Pearlington, Mississippi, for a long-distance call with NASA astronauts currently orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station. The special back-to-school education event will take place Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 1:20 p.m. EDT (12:20 p.m. CDT).
The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agencys website.
More than 300 fourth to eighth grade students will have an opportunity to ask Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman questions about life, work and research aboard the space station. Prior to the 20-minute Earth-to-space call, the students will spend time learning about the orbiting laboratory, rockets and NASAs new deep space exploration spacecraft, Orion, which is set to make its maiden spaceflight in December.
Media interested in covering the event must contact Paul Foerman in advance at 228-688-1880 orpaul.foerman-1@nasa.gov. INFINITY Science Center, which also serves as the official visitor center for NASA's Stennis Space Center, is located at 1 Discovery Circle in Pearlington.
Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides an authentic, live experience of space exploration, space study, the scientific components of space travel and the possibilities of life in space.
This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.
For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit:
For information about NASA's education programs, visit:
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Mississippi and Louisiana Students Get Out-of-This-World Start to the School Year
Space Flight Outer Galaxy. Stock Footage
This footage in HD quality can be downloaded by link: http://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/660168?ref=rockyfootage Stock media for all your needs: http://www.pond5.com?ref=rockyfootage This...
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Space Station Live: NASA Partners With EPA for Ocean Study
HICO or Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean on the ISS is an ongoing experiment that uses a special camera that separates light into hundreds of wavel...
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Space Station Live: NASA Partners With EPA for Ocean Study - Video
NASA Tests Model of Powerful New Rocket
Engineers at NASA #39;s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are wrapping up acoustic testing on a 5-percent scale model of NASA #39;s Space Launch System. The Aug. 28 test, the 34th...
By: NASA #39;s Marshall Center
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3-D Printed Rocket Injector Roars to Life
The most complex 3-D printed rocket injector ever built by NASA roars to life on the test stand at NASA #39;s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
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August 29, 2014
Image Caption: A 5-percent scale model of the Space Launch System (SLS) is ignited Aug. 28 at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center. Credit: NASA/MSFC/David Olive
Megan Davidson, Marshall Space Flight Center
Engineers at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are wrapping up acoustic testing on a 5-percent scale model of NASAs Space Launch System. The Aug.28 test, the 34th in the series, will help NASA engineers understand how loud the SLS vehicle will be during liftoff. Data from the test series will be used to design the water sound suppression system that reduces liftoff vibrations on the vehicle. SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built for deep space missions, including to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars.
[ Watch the Video: NASA Tests Model of Powerful New Rocket ]
The Scale Model Acoustic test article has four operational liquid engines and two solid rocket motors to represent the propulsion system for SLS. The launch structure also has working water delivery systems to represent its sound suppression system. The test article can be elevated to capture how the liftoff noise changes as the vehicle launches to space. Hot-fire testing began in January and will end this fall.
We have almost completed testing to encompass all of the liftoff noise levels SLS could experience during launch, said Jeremy Kenny, SLS acoustics engineer at the Marshall Center. The latest test will inform us of the liftoff noise levels as the vehicle is positioned approximately 150 feet above the deck that the model is positioned on.
This has been a very successful test program, Kenny added. Not only has our team gotten a better understanding of the noise levels expected at launch, but weve also proven out the effectiveness of the water suppression systems currently being installed at NASAs Kennedy Space Center.
The test program is led by Marshalls Propulsion Department in the Engineering Directorate, with additional engineering support across several NASA centers. The Marshall Center manages the SLS Program for the agency.
Source: Megan Davidson, Marshall Space Flight Center
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Quiet, Please: NASA Engineers Wrapping Up Acoustic Testing For Space Launch System
Last Updated Aug 29, 2014 9:45 PM EDT
HOUSTON - NASA is engaged in a new space race.
The agency says a decision on which company will build its next-generation vehicle to put astronauts in space is imminent. A $4 billion contract is at stake, and that's made for some intense competition.
Boeing is one of three companies competing to build the successor to the space shuttle. It hopes its CST-100 capsule will be chosen to ferry Americans to the International Space Station.
Three companies are competing for the contract to build the new craft that will ferry astronauts to the International Space Station.
CBS News
John Mulholland heads Boeing's program. He knows there's a lot on the line, but he's confident.
"We've got an incredible team. Human space flight has been at our core since day one, all the way back to Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, the shuttle, the station - all Boeing products developed in partnership with NASA," he said
"It's provided a lot of benefit for us to have that experience to bring to this design," Mulholland said.
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New space race: 3 companies vie to build space shuttle successor
Image Caption: Twelve spacecraft in Earths magnetosphere in addition to other missions -- helped scientists better observe and understand an unusual January 2005 solar storm. The four Cluster spacecraft were in the solar wind, directly upstream of Earth. Picture not to scale. Credit: ESA
Karen C. Fox, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center
A space weather storm from the sun engulfed our planet on Jan. 21, 2005. The event got its start on Jan. 20, when a cloud of solar material, a coronal mass ejection or CME, burst off the sun and headed toward Earth. When it arrived at our planet, the ring current and radiation belts surrounding Earth swelled with extra particles, while the aurora persisted for six hours. Both of these are usually signs of a very large storm indeed, this was one of the largest outpouring of solar protons ever monitored from the sun. But the storm barely affected the magnetic fields around Earth disturbances in these fields can affect power grids on the ground, a potential space weather effect keenly watched for by a society so dependent on electricity.
Janet Kozyra, a space scientist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, thought this intriguing combination of a simultaneously weak and strong solar storm deserved further scrutiny. In an effort to better understand and some day forecast such storms and their potential effects on human technology, an unusual event like this can help researchers understand just what aspects of a CME lead to what effects near Earth.
There were features appearing that we generally only see during extreme space weather events, when by other measures the storm was moderate, said Kozyra. We wanted to look at it holistically, much like terrestrial weather researchers do with extreme weather. We took every single piece of data that we could find on the solar storm and put it together to see what was going on.
With observations collected from ground-based networks and 20 different satellites, Kozyra and a group of colleagues, each an expert in different aspects of the data or models, found that the CME contained a rare piece of dense solar filament material. This filament coupled with an unusually fast speed led to the large amount of solar material observed. A fortuitous magnetic geometry, however, softened the blow, leading to reduced magnetic effects. These results were published in the Aug. 14, 2014, issue of Journal of Geophysical Research, Space Physics.
The researchers gathered data from spacecraft orbiting in Earths ionosphere, which extends up to 600 miles above the planets surface, and satellites above that, orbiting through the heart of Earths magnetic environment, the magnetosphere. The massive amount of data was then incorporated into a variety of models developed at the University of Michigans Center for Space Environment Modeling, which are housed at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, a facility dedicated to providing comprehensive access to space weather models.
With the models in hand, the team could put together the story of this particular solar storm. It began with the CME on Jan. 20, 2005. The European Space Agency and NASAs Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, captured images of the CME. At their simplest, CMEs look like a magnetic bubble with material around the outside. In this case, there was an additional line of colder, denser solar material an electrically charged gas called plasma inside called a solar filament. Solar filaments are ribbons of dense plasma supported in the suns outer atmosphere the corona by strong magnetic fields. Filament material is 100 times denser and 100 times cooler than the surrounding atmosphere. When the supporting magnetic fields erupt, the filaments are caught up in the explosive release that forms the CME. Despite observations that the majority of eruptions like this involve solar filaments, the filaments are rarely identified in disturbances that reach Earth. Why this might be, is a mystery but it means that the presence of the solar filament in this particular event is a rare sighting.
Subsequent observations of the CME showed it to be particularly fast, with a velocity that peaked at around 1800 miles per second before slowing to 600 miles per second as it approached Earth. Just how many CMEs have filaments or how the geometry of such filaments change as they move toward Earth is not precisely known. In this case, however, it seems that the dense filament sped forward, past the leading edge of the CME, so as it slammed into the magnetosphere, it delivered an extra big dose of energetic particles into near-Earth space.
What happened next was observed by a flotilla of Earth-orbiting scientific satellites, including NASAs IMAGE, FAST and TIMED missions, the joint European Space Agency, or ESA, and NASAs Cluster, the NASA and ESAs Geotail, the Chinese and ESAs Double Star-1; other spacecraft 1 million miles closer to the sun including SOHO and NASAs Advanced Composition Explorer, Wind various other spacecraft; as well as the National Science Foundation-supported ground-based SuperDARN radar network. At the time Cluster was in the solar wind directly upstream of Earth. Meanwhile, Double Star-1 was passing from the outer region of the planets magnetic field and entering the magnetosphere. This enabled it to observe the entry of the solar filament material as it crossed into near-Earth space.
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Researchers Use NASA And Other Data To Look Into The Heart Of A Solar Storm
(CNN) -- Inching into another passenger's knee space has some fliers itching for a fight.
In the second serious airline legroom argument reported this week, a reportedly irate passenger caused a flight from Miami to Paris to divert to Boston on Wednesday.
Paris resident Edmund Alexandre, 60, was charged in U.S. federal court Thursday with interfering with an airline flight crew. Interfering with flight crew members is a violation of federal law and carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. (The passenger's name has also been spelled "Edmond" Alexandre in court documents.)
About two hours after American Airlines Flight 62 had departed Miami on Wednesday, Alexandre allegedly "began arguing with another passenger and became disruptive," according to a press statement from Carmen Ortiz, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. Alexandre was also charged under state law.
After a crew member asked him to calm down and walked away, "Alexandre allegedly began raising his voice again, followed the crew member towards the back of the plane, and grabbed the crew member's arm," according to Ortiz's statement.
At that time federal air marshals on the flight broke cover and subdued and restrained Alexandre, according to an FBI agent's affidavit. The flight was diverted to Boston Logan International Airport, where he was arrested.
Alexandre complained of high blood pressure and issues with diabetes, according to the affidavit, and was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital.
It's been a tense week for passengers on both sides of the right-to-recline debate.
A United Airlines flight from Newark to Denver was diverted on August 24 after two passengers argued over one passenger's use of a "Knee Defender," a device that blocks reclining.
Water was thrown and the passengers, both 48, were removed from the flight in Chicago, according to a federal law enforcement source, speaking on background. The passengers were not arrested.
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Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young - covered by The Parson Red Heads and Eric Nordby of Norman
The Parson Red Heads Laurel Cannon tribute concert. The concert was on Aug 23rd at McMenamins Crystal Ballroom. The Parson Red Heads were joined by some of t...
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Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young - covered by The Parson Red Heads and Eric Nordby of Norman - Video
The Parson Red Heads, ft Eric Nordby Eric Earley - Mr. Soul
From the Parsons Songs From Laurel Canyon tribute show on August 23rd, 2014 at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR.
By: ParsonFarmRecords
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The Parson Red Heads, ft Eric Nordby & Eric Earley - Mr. Soul - Video
The Parson Red Heads, ft Kevin Lee Florence Eric Earley - You Ain #39;t Going Nowhere
From the Parsons Songs From Laurel Canyon tribute show on August 23rd, 2014 at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR.
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The Parson Red Heads, ft Kevin Lee Florence & Eric Earley - You Ain't Going Nowhere - Video
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A few hours after Dustin Pedroia suffered what appears to be a concussion and left Saturday night's game in the second inning, the Red Sox completed a four-player trade with the Baltimore Orioles in which they will receive second baseman Jemile Weeks.
Coincidence? Total coincidence.
The Orioles have been looking for a third baseman since Manny Machado was lost to a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago, according to a major league source, and the Red Sox didn't have a well-defined role for Kelly Johnson, whom they acquired for shortstop Stephen Drew at the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline.
And so, the Sox agreed to send Johnson and infielder Michael Almanzar to Baltimore for Weeks and infielder Ivan De Jesus Jr. Weeks is expected to join the Red Sox in Tampa, while De Jesus will be assigned to Triple-A Pawtucket, manager John Farrell said.
As it turns out, Weeks might play sooner and more often than the Red Sox expected. Pedroia was struck on the side of the head by a seemingly accidental elbow from the Rays' Logan Forsythe, who slid head-first into second base while advancing on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Hanigan in Tampa Bay's 8-0 victory at Tropicana Field. After reviewing the play, Farrell said he didn't believe Forsythe intentionally tried to hit Pedroia. Forsythe said that was "absolutely not" his intention, adding that he's "not that kind of player" and simply attempted a "swim-move" to avoid the tag.
Pedroia experienced dizziness on the field, according to Farrell, and was removed from the game immediately. Although his symptoms improved as the game went on, he was scheduled to see a doctor in Tampa and the Red Sox planned to monitor him overnight.
Brock Holt took over at second base and would be the first choice to play the position if Pedroia is sidelined for several games. But Weeks, 27, is a natural second baseman who has also played shortstop, left field and center field this season for the Orioles' Triple A club. After batting .303 with a .761 OPS and 22 stolen bases in 97 games as a rookie in 2011 with Oakland, he slipped to .221 with a .609 OPS in 2012 and has played only 11 games in the majors over the past two seasons.
Johnson, meanwhile, appeared in only 10 games for the Red Sox, going 4-for-25 (.160) with one RBI. He has now played for all five AL East teams, including the Yankees, Red Sox and Orioles this season.
"Yeah, it's crazy. Obviously I'll be familiar with the surroundings (in the AL East)," Johnson said. "It's exciting. It's cool to be in the playoffs or to be on a team that's in first and going to the playoffs. I'll be excited to get there and try to contribute and do some good things."
The Orioles were interested in reacquiring Almanzar, who was selected from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft last year but was returned in July when they didn't have a spot for him on the 25-man roster.
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