NASA Television to Air Expedition 39 Crew's Return from Space Station

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Three crew members currently aboard the International Space Station are scheduled to end more than six months on the orbiting laboratory Tuesday, May 13 (U.S. time), and NASA Television will provide complete coverage of their return to Earth, from farewells to landing.

Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA and Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will undock their Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft from the station at 6:33 p.m. EDT. The spacecraft will land southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 9:57 p.m. (7:57 a.m. May 14 local time in Dzhezkazgan). Their return will wrap up 188 days in space since launching from Kazakhstan Nov. 7.

Under the command of NASA astronaut Steve Swanson, Expedition 40 formally will begin aboard the station when Expedition 39 undocks. Swanson and his crewmates, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos, will operate the station as a three-person crew for two weeks until the arrival of three new crew members. Reid Wiseman of NASA, Max Suraev of Roscosmos and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency are scheduled to launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on May 28 (U.S. time).

NASA TV coverage of Expedition 39's return to Earth will begin Monday, May 12, with the change of command ceremony in which Wakata will turn over command of station operations to Swanson. Coverage will continue Tuesday and Wednesday with Expedition 39 landing and post-landing activities.

All times Eastern:

Monday, May 12: 3 p.m. -- Expedition 39/40 Change of Command Ceremony

Tuesday, May 13: 3 p.m. -- Farewells and hatch closure (hatch closure scheduled at 3:15 p.m.) 6:15 p.m. -- Undocking (undocking scheduled at 6:33 p.m.) 8:45 p.m. -- Deorbit burn and landing (deorbit burn scheduled at 9:03 p.m. landing scheduled at 9:57 p.m.)

Wednesday, May 14: 12 a.m. -- Video File of hatch closure, undocking and landing activities 12 p.m. -- Video File of post-landing activities and interviews with Mastracchio and Wakata in Kazakhstan (pending availability)

For more information on the International Space Station, visit:

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NASA Television to Air Expedition 39 Crew's Return from Space Station

Dangling Dextre Digs out Docked Dragon Depot prior to Station Departure

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Backdropped against a cloudy portion of Earth, Canadas Dextre robotic handyman and Canadarm2 dig out the trunk of SpaceXs Dragon cargo vessel docked to the ISS after completing a task 225 miles above the home planet. Credit: NASA

To close out their final week aboard the International Space Station, three of the six Expedition 39 crew members are completing their unloading tasks inside the docked commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo freighter and other duties while teams at Mission Control in Houston conduct delicate robotics work outside with dazzling maneuvers of the Dextre robot to remove the last external experiment from the vessels storage truck.

See a dazzling gallery of photos of Dextre dangling outside the docked Dragon depot above and below.

On Monday, May 5, the robotics team at NASA Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston carefully guided Canadas Dextre robotic handyman attached to the end of the 57-foot long Canadarm2 to basically dig out the final payload item housed in the unpressurized trunk section at the rear of the SpaceX Dragon cargo vessel docked to the ISS.

Dextre stands for Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator and was contributed to the station by the Canadian Space Agency. It measures 12 feet tall and is outfitted with a pair of arms and an array of finely detailed tools to carry out intricate and complex tasks that would otherwise require spacewalking astronauts.

The Canadarm2 with Dextre in its grasp conducts external cargo transfers from the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship. Credit: NASA TV

The massive orbiting outpost was soaring some 225 miles above the home planet as Dextres work was in progress to remove the Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science, or OPALS, from the Dragons truck.

The next step is to install OPALS on the Express Logistics Carrier-1 (ELC-1) depot at the end of the stations port truss on Wednesday.

Mondays attempt was the second try at grappling OPALS. The initial attempt last Thursday was unsuccessful due to a problem gripping the payloads grapple fixture with the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator, or Dextre, NASA reported.

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Dangling Dextre Digs out Docked Dragon Depot prior to Station Departure

Ham video premiers on space station

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16 hours ago Ham TV equipment. Credit: Kayser Italia

Astronauts on the International Space Station can now talk with people on Earth with video using simple transmitters. 'Ham TV' has been set up in ESA's Columbus laboratory and already used for talking with ground control.

Amateur radio enthusiasts have been able to poll astronauts circling our planet using standard radio equipment since the Station was inaugurated in 2000. Radio signals easily reach the orbital outpost flying 350 km above us on sets readily available to radio enthusiasts.

The new Ham TV adds a visual dimension, allowing an audience on the ground to see and hear the astronauts.

The hardware, developed by Kayser Italia, was sent to the Station on Japan's space freighter in August last year and connected to an existing S-band antenna on Columbus.

NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins had the honour of being the first to commission the unit and broadcast over Ham TV. He had a video chat with three ground stations in Italy: Livorno, Casale Monferrato and Matera. The crew finished commissioning the set-up on 12 April for general use.

Just like standard television, the video signal is one way. The astronauts cannot see their audience but they will still be able to hear them over the traditional amateur radio on the Station.

Contacts are brief the connection requires direct line of sight and the Station's 28 800 km/h means it quickly passes through the field of view of amateur stations.

This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

ESA has provided five ground antennas and equipment to the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station organisation to receive video from the Station. These stations can be transported easily and positioned to follow the laboratory as it flies overhead. Linked together in this way, the stations can supply up to 20 minutes of contact at a time.

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Build a Space Station at Home with NASA-Approved Kit

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The International Space Station project from the Little Bits Space Kit.

Image: Little Bits

An amazing journey celebrating space exploration, innovation and discovery.

A new kit lets kids and adults alike perform experiments and build models of real spacecraft, just like the scientists at NASA.

The NASA-approved littleBits Space Kit teaches users how to build a model of a Mars rover, the International Space Station and a variety of scaled-down experiments that scientists use to explore the solar system. The kit comes complete with 12 modules that users can snap together to complete five lesson plans created by the space agency. LittleBits also provides 10 projects modeled after real experiments that NASA scientists and engineers perform every day. You can also watch a video announcing the new space kit.

"The space kit is a collaboration with NASA, in order to make the field of space more accessible, more exciting and more participatory, so that people can understand more about NASA science and experiments," Ayah Bdeir, littleBits founder and CEO, said.

LittleBits' Mars rover which looks somewhat like NASA's Opportunity rover, which is currently on the Red Planet takes about two hours to build and involves some extra materials. Users can control the rover remotely, and it can take readings of light sources around a room, and display them as well.

People who buy the kit can also learn more about waves using a spoon, milk and a few snapped-together modules. By taping a spoon filled with a little milk to the littleBits speaker, users can see waves in the milk that correspond to the song being played.

In another project, users study a different kind of wave: light waves. Budding scientists can explore the light spectrum using a CD, white paper, a bright LED and a couple of other pieces that come in the space kit.

"NASA is thrilled to partner with littleBits and bring the power and technology of space to everyone," Blanche Meeson, chief of higher education for NASA's Science and Exploration Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement. "Through littleBits, anyone will have the opportunity to create, learn and explore like NASA scientists and engineers, but from their home or classroom."

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Build a Space Station at Home with NASA-Approved Kit

New Craft Will Be America's First Space Lifeboat in 40 Years

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The next generation of American spacecraft designed to carry people into low-Earth orbit will be required to function as a lifeboat for the International Space Station for up to seven months. This service has not been provided by an American spacecraft since an Apollo command module remained docked to Skylab for about three months from 1973 to '74.

Like a lifeboat on a cruise ship, the spacecraft is not expected to be called into service to quickly evacuate people but it has to be ready for that job just in case.

Right now, the lifeboat function on the space station is served by requiring a pair of Russian Soyuz spacecraft to be docked at all times. Each Soyuz holds three people. So with two docked, there can be six people working on the station at any one time. The crew drops to three when one Soyuz leaves and before another arrives during a procedure called an indirect handover.

There are fundamentally two capabilities a spacecraft must perform to be called a lifeboat, said NASA engineers who are working with companies developing spacecraft in the agency's Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

First, the spacecraft needs to provide a shelter for astronauts in case of a problem on the station. Second, the ship has to be able to quickly get all its systems operating and detach from the station for a potential return to Earth.

"You've got to make sure it provides the same capability on day 210 as it does on day 1," said Justin Kerr, manager of CCP's Spacecraft Office.

Two things make it tough for spacecraft designers when it comes to the lifeboat feature: power and protection from things outside the spacecraft like micrometeoroids. The vast amount of electricity generated by the space station's acre of solar arrays is reserved for the station's systems and science experiments.

The amount of power dedicated for a docked crew spacecraft is similar to the amount of electricity a refrigerator uses.

"There's very little power available for these spacecraft so what we're really driving the partners to do is develop this quiescent mode that draws very little power," Kerr said.

Ideally, designers want to have the spacecraft powered off when it is attached to the station. That might not be possible, though, because air doesn't automatically circulate in microgravity the way it does on Earth. So a spacecraft, even with its hatch open inside of the station, can develop dead spots, or sections of the cabin without air for breathing, unless there is something to move the air around.

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New Craft Will Be America's First Space Lifeboat in 40 Years

The Universe — Our Place in Time and Space – 2014: Harvey Moseley at TEDxConnecticutCollege 2014 – Video

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The Universe -- Our Place in Time and Space - 2014: Harvey Moseley at TEDxConnecticutCollege 2014
Harvey Moseley is a senior astrophysicist at NASA #39;s Goddard Space Flight Center and has made extraordinary contributions to the scientific community #39;s fundam...

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APS Europe Provides SXC Astronaut Candidate Training

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Breda, The Netherlands (PRWEB) May 06, 2014

Space Expedition Corporation (SXC), a global space travel pioneer, and Aviation Performance Solutions LLC (APS), a world leader in airplane upset prevention and upset recovery training, announced today their partnership in Europe to provide specialized training missions to SXC astronaut candidates in preparation for space travel. The astronaut candidates will participate in thorough academic instruction and a rigorous flight-training mission in a high-performance aerobatic aircraft located at the APS Europe branch at the Breda International Airport (Formerly Seppe Airport) in The Netherlands.

The On-Aircraft G-Force Training Mission forms an integral part of a compilation of optional SXC training missions structured to condition and prepare candidates for their space flight. Clarke Otter McNeace, VP of Flight Operations for APS and former US Navy fighter pilot, says: APS is honored to represent SXCs high standards and is uniquely qualified to provide this training due to our extensive experience training professional pilots in the unique environment of extreme flight profiles. The G-Force training mission requires the candidate to endure Zero-G flight for 10 seconds twice and sustained 4-G flight for over 20 seconds. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate he or she actively contributed to the safety of the flight mission. SXC believes that if a candidate can successfully complete the academic and flight requirements with APS, they will be better prepared physically and mentally to more fully enjoy their upcoming space flight.

About SXC (Space Expedition Corporation) SXC will perform daily commercial flights into space as of 2015. Passengers will have a life-changing experience viewing planet Earth from 100 kilometers high and, having traveled to that altitude, they can rightly be called astronauts. SXCs XCOR Lynx II spacecraft is designed and built by XCOR Aerospace in Mojave, California USA. SXC is the launching customer of this space vehicle that comfortably takes off and lands like a normal airplane, from regular airports. The breakthrough technology of this reusable spacecraft signifies a completely new era for the aerospace industry, enabling superfast, long range, environmentally friendly travel outside our atmosphere. For more information, please visit http://www.spacexc.com.

About Aviation Performance Solutions LLC (APS) Aviation Performance Solutions LLC (APS) headquartered at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa, Arizona USA, has trained thousands of professional pilots in fully comprehensive upset recovery skill development. For two decades, APS has been committed to giving professional pilots of all skill levels the highest quality upset prevention and recovery training available. At its locations in Mesa (Arizona USA) Dallas (Texas USA) and The Netherlands (Europe), APS offers comprehensive LOC-I solutions via industry-leading web-based, on-aircraft, and advanced full-flight simulator upset recovery and prevention training programs. All APS upset recovery training courses are in compliance with the Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid Revision 2 and the recently released EASA SIB 2013-02 on Stall and Stick Pusher Training. http://www.apstraining.com

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Space Society to Salute Hollywood at Confab; Shares Gravity-Defying Selfie (Photo)

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NASA

Astronaut Luca Parmitano

Ellen DeGeneressnapped the most famous selfie at this year's Academy Awards, but you have to admit, the one pictured above, taken by astronaut Luca Parmitano outside the International Space Station, is remarkable in its own right.

This image is being used on posters to promote a new "Space and Media" program series at the 33rd Annual International Space Development Conference, set for May 14-18 at the Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles. Featuring a keynote from legendary Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the event is presented by the non-profit National Space Society and is open to the public.

PHOTOS: 18 Big-Screen Space Disasters

This year theNSS decided to honor Hollywoods role in influencing the publics perception of space exploration by creating this sub-conference, producer and entrepreneur David Knight, who is chairing the Space and Media track, told The Hollywood Reporter.

He sees these industries growing closer than ever before, in large part because of advances in technology. The continual progression of technology has really conspired to boost the publics confidence in the possibility of man going into space and even populating another planet. [Driving innovation is] real entrepreneurship that has come to the space industry, which we havent seen since frankly the early days of aviation.

Knight noted that this is being led by SpaceX(and Tesla) founder Elon Musk, who is scheduled to attend the conference to receive its Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award, named after the noted science fiction writer and created to honor those using science to turn ideas into reality. Incidentally, Musk is also said to have been the inspiration for Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Iron Man.

[Musk] has now stated that his real goal in starting SpaceX is because he wants to set foot on Mars and he wants to see us colonize Mars, Knight said, also pointing to the work of Richard Branson, who is leading Virgin Galactic.

Knight pointed out that concurrently, Hollywood is making this more accessible for the public to imagine because computing technology is allowing filmmakers to create very real depictions of what it might be like to go to to space, ranging from orbiting the earth in the Space Shuttle, a la Gravity, or through highly futuristic experiences, a la Star Trek.

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Earl puts UK tourist mountain up for sale

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(CNN) -

The $3 million price tag might be steep, but so is the property -- an entire mountain in the beautiful English Lake District.

Blencathra, a bleak curve-backed summit overlooking the northern end of one Britain's most popular national parks, has been put up for sale by its current owner to pay a tax bill.

"We went through the pictures and furniture first," Hugh Lowther told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Lowther is the eighth Earl of Lonsdale, whose family has owned Blencathra for four centuries.

Lowther said despite offloading an artwork by Joseph Turner, Britain's most popular landscape painter, looming debts left him looking elsewhere.

"We sold a Turner for 1.4 million ($2.37 million), a derelict farm steading and a couple of cottages which were vacant. And now Blencathra."

Reaching 868-meters above sea level, the mountain comprises six separate "tops" and is often referred to locally as "saddleback."

'Unique investment opportunity'

The mountain's rugged moss-covered flanks attract hikers from around the world.

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Earl puts UK tourist mountain up for sale

Property comes with lordship

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(CNN) -

The $3 million price tag might be steep, but so is the property -- an entire mountain in the beautiful English Lake District.

Blencathra, a bleak curve-backed summit overlooking the northern end of one Britain's most popular national parks, has been put up for sale by its current owner to pay a tax bill.

"We went through the pictures and furniture first," Hugh Lowther told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Lowther is the eighth Earl of Lonsdale, whose family has owned Blencathra for four centuries.

Lowther said despite offloading an artwork by Joseph Turner, Britain's most popular landscape painter, looming debts left him looking elsewhere.

"We sold a Turner for 1.4 million ($2.37 million), a derelict farm steading and a couple of cottages which were vacant. And now Blencathra."

Reaching 868-meters above sea level, the mountain comprises six separate "tops" and is often referred to locally as "saddleback."

'Unique investment opportunity'

The mountain's rugged moss-covered flanks attract hikers from around the world.

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Property comes with lordship

Boston's David Ortiz Looking to Move Up Franchise Home Runs Leaderboard

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Michael Dwyer/Associated Press

Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz heads into Tuesday's game against the Cincinnati Reds with a chance to take sole possession of fourth place on Boston's all-time home run list.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, Ortiz hit his 379th home run in a Red Sox uniform Saturday against the Oakland Athletics, pulling himself into a tie for fourth place with retired right fielder Dwight Evans.

Evans and Ortiz couldn't be more different, as Big Papi was a late-blooming slugger who could barely play first base, even in his younger years.

Evans, on the other hand, was successful from a young age and will ultimately be remembered for his work with the glove just as much as his work in the batter's box. The man affectionately known as "Dewey" toRed Sox fans retired with six Gold Glove Awards and just two Silver Slugger Awards.

Ortiz? Six Silver Sluggersall as a designated hitterand nary a Gold Glove.

Shortly after passing Evans on the franchise homer list, Ortiz will take aim at Jim Rice, who hit each of his 382 career home runs in a Red Sox uniform. Much like Ortiz, Rice was renowned for his slugging prowess, but he didn't have a whole lot else to offer.

Once Ortiz inevitably hits four more homers to pass Rice for third place, his ascent up the leaderboard may come to an end. CarlYastrzemski sits in second place with 452 dingers, while Ted Williams' 521 are good for the all-time Red Sox lead.

Ortiz seems to have plenty of gas left in the tank, but he is 38 years old, and he needs 74 more home runs to pass Yastrzemski for that No. 2 spot.

Signed through 2015, Ortiz would likely need to play until at least 2016 to have a shot at surpassing Yastrzemski, as the slugging DH hasn't topped 30 homers in a season since hitting 32 in 2010.

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Boston's David Ortiz Looking to Move Up Franchise Home Runs Leaderboard

DSS 2014: Hyperspectral satellite set to monitor Hawaiian volcano

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by Ford Burkhart in Baltimore A suitcase-size satellite called SUCHI is now scheduled for launch from Kauai Island in Hawaii in the fall of 2014, after a year's delay to fine-tune its hyperspectral sensing technology, a team member said at the outset of SPIEs defense, security and sensing (DSS) event in Baltimore.

The delay was to allow more work on a little of everything said Sarah T. Crites, a doctoral candidate in geophysics at the University of Hawaii who is working on the project. We need more testing of the whole spectrometer. We wanted to know more about what it would do.

Speaking at a conference session on May 5, the researcher said that SUCHI was undergoing tests to see how its components would survive the intense shaking of a rocket launch. Im excited to have the vibration testing going on today. The SUCHI will be fastened to a table that is shaking like a satellite launch. This is the first time for these tests, Crites said.

SUCHI stands for Space Ultra-Compact Hyperspectral Imager for small satellites, and Crites report was part of a session called Pervasive Techologies Supporting Responsive Space, in the Sensors and Systems for Space Applications conference at the DSS meeting, held at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Lava flows The imager is designed to study geological phenomena like volcanic eruptions and lava flows, with a six-month primary mission that could be extended to two years. The ultra-compact satellite, measuring just over 16inches in length, 4inches deep and 5inches wide, will run on solar panels approximately the size of a notebook.

Inside it is a FLIR A35 camera, mounted in a sealed vessel and collecting images at a resolution of 336x256 pixels. Each pixel measures 38m.

Actually a trimmed-down version of a 2012 design for the satellite for long-wave infrared (LWIR) hyperspectral imaging, it was developed by a University of Hawaii team and built at the Hawaii Space Flight Lab in Manoa, a suburb of Honolulu.

During its short deployment, it will help geologists to monitor volcanic gas emissions and rates at which lava cools. The captured images are also expected to be useful in the mapping of major rock mineralogy, Crites said.

Tracking vog gas One key application is to monitor sulfur dioxide, a volcanic gas constantly erupted by the active Hawaiian volcano Kilauea. The gas forms aerosols that locals call vog (volcanic fog), which floats across the islands and can cause respiratory problems. The gas can be tracked and quantified using spectroscopy in the 9m region of the infrared spectrum.

That part of the spectrum is also an ideal wavelength range for geological mapping of certain minerals.

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The Space Shuttle – NASA Development & Construction of the Space Shuttle – Enterprise – 1979 – Video

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The Space Shuttle - NASA Development Construction of the Space Shuttle - Enterprise - 1979
Space Shuttle - NASA developement and launch of the Space Shuttle - from inception to use 1970s- 1980s. This film has been made available courtesy the US Dep...

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NASA Invites Children, Families to Learn About NASA's Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor Center inGreenbelt, Md., will host this month's Sunday Experiment onMay 18from1 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT. It's a free afternoon for elementary-aged school children and their families with a look at how NASA explores space and studies Earth from space using satellites and other technology.

This month's Sunday Experiment will explore NASA's Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO). Building upon 20 years' experience servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, SSCO was formed in 2009 to advance the state of robotic servicing technology to enable the routine servicing of satellites that were not designed with servicing in mind.

Servicing a satellite in space incorporates countless engineering disciplines. SSCO is developing abilities in fuel transfer, advanced tools and skilled robotics, to name a few. SSCO's Robotic Refueling Mission has been on the ISS since 2011, demonstrating the tools, technologies and techniques to refuel and repair satellites in orbit.

In addition to celebrating all things science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the Sunday Experiment celebrates major science missions that are managed by NASA Goddard and set to launch in the near future. The Sunday Experiment is a place where children and adults alike can discover the excitement of Goddard through fun and engaging activities.

From the ISS to work here at Goddard, SSCO is constantly working with robotics. For this interactive Sunday Experiment, we will give visitors the chance to try their hand at:

-- Driving a remote control, 14-inch robot with five motors and a gripper to grab and move different objects around an activity board, and;

-- Using a gripper to repair damaged multi-layer insulation on a mock satellite.

The Sunday Experiment usually held the third Sunday of each month from September through May, with some exceptions, spotlights Goddard's world-renowned science and engineering research and technological developments. Families leave inspired by the activities, wowed by the scientists and engineers, and excited about Goddard's revolutionary research and technology.

For more information on Sunday Experiment, visit Goddard's Visitor Center Web page: http://visitorcenterevents.gsfc.nasa.gov/

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NASA Invites Children, Families to Learn About NASA's Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office

NASA Administrator to Discuss Third National Climate Assessment in California

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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will visit the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., Thursday, May 8, to discuss findings in the Third National Climate Assessment, released Tuesday by the White House.

The report includes contributions by NASA scientists, as well as data collected from agency missions.

Bolden will be available for a question-and-answer session during a media opportunity at Ames' hyperwall, a 23-by-10 foot liquid crystal display, composed of 128 screens and 245 million pixels and used to display and analyze results from NASAs high-fidelity modeling and simulation projects.

Media interested in attending should contact Sharon Lozano at 650-604-4789 orsharon.k.lozano@nasa.govby 5 p.m. PDT Wednesday, May 7 to register. Media participants must be U.S. citizens or green card holders. Green card holders need advanced approval and should contact Lozano, as soon as possible. Government-issued photo ID is required to obtain a visitor badge.

Registered media may arrive as early as 8:30 a.m. May 8 at the Visitor Badging Office located at the center's main gate. All media must be at the main gate by 9:30 a.m. The media event will conclude at 11 a.m.

For more information about the Third National Climate Assessment, visit:

http://www.globalchange.gov

For a California-specific fact sheet from the climate assessment, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/1j0fUjI

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NASA Administrator to Discuss Third National Climate Assessment in California

NASA captures huge explosion on surface of the sun

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RAW VISION: small, hovering mass of twisted strands of plasma shift back and forth before erupting into space. (No sound)

Ever wanted to know what it's like to dance on the sun?

Instruments aboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured stunning views of our nearest star late last month, as seen in this video of "prominence eruptions" blasting off the surface of the sun.

It's not a solar flare, according to NASA, but "material on the sun, doing what it always does, dancing and twisting and in this case erupting off the side of the sun," according to NASA spokeswoman Susan Hendrix.

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NASA captures huge explosion on surface of the sun