Daily Archives: December 25, 2014

President Obama Speaks with Shuttle, ISS Crews
From the White House Oval Office, President Obama spoke with the four Atlantis astronauts of STS-135, the final space shuttle mission, and the six Expedition 28 residents of the International...

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President Obama Speaks with Shuttle, ISS Crews - Video

Space: ISS cosmonauts get in the Christmas spirit
Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova, Anton Shkaplerov and Alexander Samokutyaev were getting ready to celebrate the festive season on the International Space Station (ISS), Wednesday. ----------------.

By: RuptlyTV

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Space: ISS cosmonauts get in the Christmas spirit - Video

3DInSpace
NASA created a 3D model of a tool that they emailed to the space station. This is that tool, printed on a 3D printer much like the one used on the space station to print theirs. http://spaceflightn...

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3DInSpace - Video

As if Santa attached a GoPro camera to his sleigh, a new video reveals the Earth as few have seen it.

Published this week, the time-lapse shows stunning views of the Earth, sunrises, clouds, lightning, auroras, stars, and the International Space Station.

The video was made by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, who stitched together 12,500 images captured during his six-month stay on the International Space Station, which orbits 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the surface. (See more aurora photos.)

The ultra-high-definition video "shows the best our beautiful planet has to offer," writes the European Space Agency.

Gerst set up cameras to record the celestial fireworks while he was conducting scientific experiments or helping dock vehicles during a mission called Blue Dot. (See more striking photos from the space station.)

Gerst returned to Earth on November 10, landing in the Kazakh Steppe in a Soyuz spacecraft with two other crew members. While in space he conducted 50 experiments, including installing a special furnace that cools molten metal in mid-air.

The third German to visit the International Space Station, Gerst is a volcanologist and geophysicist by training. (See photos of the space station.)

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Stunning Time-Lapse Reveals Auroras and Earth From Space

ISS astronauts Barry Butch Wilmore, NASA, Samantha Cristoforetti, ESA and Terry Virts, NASA send Christmas 2014 greetings from the space station to the people of Earth. Credit: NASA/ESA

There is a long tradition of Christmas greetings from spacefarers soaring around the High Frontier and this year is no exception!

The Expedition 42 crew currently serving aboard the International Space Station has decorated the station for the Christmas 2014 holiday season and send their greetings to all the people of Earth from about 240 miles (400 km) above!

Merry Christmas from the International Space Station! said astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts of NASA and Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA, who posed for the group shot above.

Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is in the holiday spirit as the station is decorated with stockings for each crew member and a tree. Credit: NASA/ESA

Its beginning to look like Christmas on the International Space Station, said NASA in holiday blog update.

The stockings are out, the tree is up and the station residents continue advanced space research to benefit life on Earth and in space.

And the six person crew including a trio of Russian cosmonauts are certainly hoping for a visit from Santa. Terry Virts even tweeted a picture of the special space style milk and cookies awaiting Santa and his Reindeer for the imminent arrival!

No chimney up here- so I left powdered milk and freeze dried cookies in the airlock. Fingers crossed, tweeted Virts.

No chimney up here- so I left powdered milk and freeze dried cookies in the airlock. Fingers crossed. Credit: NASA/Terry Virts

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Station Astronauts Send Christmas Greetings from the International Space Station

By Miriam Kramer

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as seen from the Rosetta orbiter on Nov. 20, 2014. The Philae lander soft-landed on the surface of the comet on Nov. 12.(ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM CC BY-SA IGO 3.0)

From accidents to soaring daredevils to space capsules, 2014 was a big year in spaceflight.

Humanity soft-landed a probe on the face of a comet for the first time, while Virgin Galactic experienced a tragedy making it a bittersweet 12 months for people involved with space.

Here are Space.com's most important spaceflight stories of 2014:

NASA's Orion capsule debut

NASA successfully launched an uncrewed test of its Orion spacecraft, built to take humans to deep-space destinations like Mars or an asteroid, for the first time. The space capsule designed to carry four astronauts is the first spacecraft built by NASA to take humans to the Red Planet eventually.

Orion made two orbits of Earth during its approximately 4.5-hour test in early December. The flight was designed to help engineers test key systems onboard the spacecraft that could be needed during eventual crewed missions. The capsule reached an altitude of about 3,600 miles, marking the first time a NASA spacecraft built for humans has been out of low-Earth orbit in more than 40 years. [Images of Orion Test Flight]

NASA's Space Launch System the agency's mega rocket built to take Orion into deep space also hit a big milestone in 2014. Completing a critical design review that will allow engineers building the rocket to go forward.

Private rocket explodes after liftoff in Virginia

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2014s top space stories