Category Archives: Hubble Telescope

A few short years after NASA got money for the successor to the Hubble telescope, they told Congress that 11 years would not be enough time to build it. They told the public they couldn't put a telescope into space by 2002, even though that was more time than it took to start from nothing and have living breathing humans walk on the moon.

The James Webb Space Telescope is named after the NASA manager who oversaw that moon landing. Were he alive today he'd probably wish they had chosen Gene Kranz for the name instead. He'd certainly be skeptical that modern NASA can do any Big Science. Cute robots on Mars, sure, but not big stuff like this.

It's not new for NASA claims to be the subject of skepticism. The U.S Government Accountability Office (G.A.O.) placed NASA on its High Risk list in 1990, and they never left it.

The reason is as old as government funding; underselling costs while overselling short schedules.

NASA pioneered space travel and right after that they pioneered creating projects that were Too Big To Fail. Meaning government will have dumped so much money we have to lose more to get anything at all. Corporate CEOs know you don't 'throw good money after bad' but most politicians have never worked for companies, and they aren't risking their jobs losing fortunes.

Once upon a time, there was skepticism about this stuff, but now there is only critical thinking about programs begun by the other side. Democrats refuse to not lose their minds about solar and wind mirages, but the Clinton administration happily canceled the Superconducting Supercollider and the Strategic Defense Initiative because they were started by Reagan. President Obama did the same thing to George W. Bush's Constellation program. Yet JWST, started during the Clinton years, somehow survived despite being a boondoggle than all three combined.

The question journalists should be asking is, will it work at all? Hubble didn't work at first, but it was close enough to be easily fixable. NASA will be lucky if this even goes up this year, after 25 years of hearing about it, but if something goes wrong it could take 40 years to get a team there to fix it. And if Republican presidents of the future do what the last two Democracts did and cancel programs just because their predecessors' names are on them, humans will never go into real space again.

I get the benefit if it does work, but go ahead and put me in your Twitter mentions claiming I hate science for being skeptical of government failures stretching back decades, but with all of the missteps and an internal confidence level that never rose above 50 percent it would work, it is time for the science community to shuck off politics and stop embracing centralized authority as the best way to do things. It isn't. It's a challenge to find anything centralized government has done well. But go ahead and try in a comment and I will note how much money it has cost and how a smarter approach would have been better.

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19 Years Late And 800% Over Budget, Will The James Webb Space Telescope Finally Launch? - Science 2.0

Kim Cook Associated Press

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, says she picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project. Base your color palette around deep blue tones, then splash in bits of color like yellow, white or red.

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, says she picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project. Base your color

Photo: Dustin Walker Photography | Fernish (via AP)

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, says she picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project. Base your color palette around deep blue tones, then splash in bits of color like yellow, white or red.

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, says she picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project. Base your color

Space-themed decor brings heavens indoors

It was a tough year here on Earth, but 2020 was a bright spot for space exploration. SpaceX sent its futuristic Starship to new heights, three countries launched Mars missions, and robots grabbed debris from the moon and an asteroid.

Next year promises more, including a planned launch of the Hubble Space Telescopes successor.

Perhaps its no surprise then that space themes are having a moment in home decor. When so many of us Earthlings are stuck at home because of the pandemic, space imagery can add a sense of adventure or whimsy to rooms, walls and ceilings.

Ive done outer space, and starry skies, says New York interior designer Patrice Hoban. My clients love using stars as a backdrop in nurseries. Ive also worked with glow-paint to add an extra pop to kids rooms and home theaters.

She sticks tiny glow-in-the-dark stars to the ceiling; the light can last for hours. Its the closest thing Ive found to being in a planetarium, she says.

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project.

Base your color palette around deep blue tones, then splash in bits of color like yellow, white or red, she says.

Or create your own galaxy wall, she says. Paint a blue wall, then use some watered-down white paint to splatter it with fine droplets. You may just create some new constellations.

She suggests adding fun, space-agey lamps, and vintage NASA posters.

Outer space has inspired designers for decades. In the 1960s, the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, along with the development of space age-y, synthetic materials, led to a surge in futuristic furniture like molded plastic chairs and Sputnik-shaped lighting.

These days, you can download artwork directly from NASA at solarsystem.nasa.gov, or find it at retailers like Red Bubble, Etsy and Zazzle.

Magana also suggests making a letter board with a space-themed quote like Neil Armstrongs famous One small step for man phrase.

Much of the astronomy-themed art in the marketplace would be striking in any room. There are lunar graphics on canvas at Target. Tempapers got constellation wallpapers, but if you cant do wallpaper, consider Kenna Sato Designs constellation decals for walls or ceilings.

Galaxy Lamps has a sphere that looks like a planetoid. Charge it up with the included USB and cycle through 16 colors with three lighting modes. Theres a moon version, too. And at Beautiful Halo, find a collection of rocket-ship ceiling fixtures.

German designer Jan Kath has created a rug collection called Spacecrafted inspired by imagery of gas clouds and asteroid nebulae from the Hubble telescope.

Studio Greytak, in Missoula, Montana, has designed a Jupiter lamp out of the mineral aragonite, depicting the whirling, turbulent gases of the planet. And theres the Impact table, where a chunk of desert rose crystals is embedded with cast glass, as though a piece of asteroid had plunged into a pool.

Zodiac wall decals and a Milky Way throw rug can be found at Project Nursery. There are hanging mobiles of the planets and of stars and clouds, at both Crate & Kids and Pottery Barn Kids.

A glow-in-the-dark duvet cover printed with the solar system is also at PBK, but if youre ready to really head to the stars, check out Snurk Livings duvet set. The studio, owned by Dutch designers Peggy van Neer and Erik van Loo, has designed the set photoprinted with a life-size astronaut suit.

Creating a night sky on the ceiling of a home theater seems to be popular; Houzz has hundreds of examples for inspiration.

Maydan Architects in Palo Alto, California, designed one for a recent project.

Our clients grandfather was the owner of multiple movie theaters, says Mary Maydan. One of them had a retractable ceiling that enabled guests to experience the starry sky at night. When our client decided to build their home theater, this installation was actually fulfilling a lifelong dream.

The ceiling isnt retractable, but has an eight-paneled fixture depicting the Milky Way and a shooting star.

It provides very soft light and was intended to be kept on during the screening of the movie and create a magical experience, says Maydan.

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Space-themed decor brings heavens indoors - Jacksonville Journal-Courier

Opened in 1973 in a Portable Classroom Donated by the Brevard County School BoardFLORIDA CRACKERS are cattle ranchers with techniques specific to the Florida pine and scrub lands. By cracking a whip they herd cattle while seated on Cracker horses, sturdy equines bread for cattle work. Learn more about a unique lifeway that has endured from early Spanish settlers to the present day at the museum. (Cracker Cow Hunt, Casper McCloud)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA The Brevard Museum of History and Natural Science, located at 2201 Michigan Avenue in Cocoa, is tucked away in a quite residential neighborhood and features two wings of indoor exhibits.

The entire museum complex consists of a 14,750 square foot facility with parking for 75 cars, a pavilion with four picnic tables, and a beautiful 22-acre nature preserve that backs up to the Eastern Florida State College Planetarium.

Through curation and display, visitors to the museum can explore the unique history of Brevard County from Ice Age fossils to the Space Age Hubble telescope, it have something for everyone.

The Brevard Museum is also now home to the Florida Historical Society Archaeological Institute whose mission, in hand with the museum, is to educate the public about Florida archaeology through research, publication and outreach.

Museum Home to Extensive Collection of Antiques, Historic Artifacts

In the late 1960s a group of local citizens saw the need to preserve the unique history and pre-history of Brevard County located on Floridas east coast.

Forming a Friends of the Brevard Museum organization, their efforts and dedication led to the establishment of the museum, which opened to the public in 1973 in a portable classroom donated by the Brevard County School Board.

A permanent facility was dedicated in 1978 with funding provided by the Grace and Albert Taylor trust.

Settling in the east central Florida area in 1895, Grace and Albert contributed greatly to the development of Brevard County. Grace in particular was interested in preserving the history and natural beauty of the area.

When she passed away in 1945 she left a bequest specifically for the development of a museum to to preserve these early lifeways.

Today, in addition to many milestones and moments in Brevard County history, the museum is home to an extensive collection of her antiques and historic artifacts.

Interest in the museum continued to grow and funds for further construction were secured through a partnership between the state and local community, allowing a second wing with a connecting lobby to be built in 1992.

The original Taylor Wing is now home to the museums Ice Age exhibit featuring fully articulated skeletons of a mastodon, giant ground sloth and saber tooth cat.

This wing also has a hands-on Imagination Station for the young and young at heart, with a simulated rocket capsule, tree house and cave.

Explore Floridas Past with the Brevard Museums Exhibits

The Brevard Museum features two wings of exhibits representing Brevard Countys rich and diverse history. Click on the links below for a sneak-peak at some of the images that will whet your appetite to stop in to learn the rest of Brevards exciting story.

Lesson plans are under development for many of the museums exhibits, call 321-632-1830 for more information.

The newest chapter in the museums history began in September of 2014 when the Florida Historical Society, located at 435 Brevard Avenue in Cocoa Village, became the museums parent organization.

Many changes have occurred, and will continue to occur, under this new umbrella. If you havent seen the Brevard Museum in the past year, you havent seen the Brevard Museum.

Be sure to come on out and see these great exhibits:

The Ice Age

Windover Archaeological Site

Cape Canaveral Lighthouse and special 150th anniversary exhibit

Pioneer Homestead

Citrus Industry

Florida Cracker Culture

Florida East Cost Railway

Grace & Albert Taylor

Hubble Space Telescope: Eye on the Universe

Butterfly Garden

Imagination Station

Past Exhibit: Paintings of Nostalgic Florida: The Original Highwaymen Artists April 7, 2018 April 28, 2018

Past Exhibit: Time to Shine: Mismatched Items from our Collection Feb 23 March 31

The Apollo Journey: Birth of the Space Coast

For more information log on to myfloridahistory.org/brevardmuseum

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Brevard Museum of History and Natural Science Highlights Area's Unique Past From the Ice Age to the Space Age - SpaceCoastDaily.com

By: Tech Desk | New Delhi | Updated: September 17, 2020 10:08:28 amNASA Hubble telescope (Image: NASA)

The mysterious world of space has still not been deciphered by the gaze of human beings on Earth. As a matter of fact, NASA in its consistent efforts, developed the Hubble telescope in the 1990s to observe eye-catching happenings in the universe and since then for every second, its doing that quite persistently.

Recently, the US-based space agency announced that it can showcase which new galaxy it captured, what unusual did it notice about our stars, solar system and planets and what patterns of ionized-gases it observed, on any specific day. So users can use the new tool to check what Hubble captured on your birthday, but for any specific year.

Check out the too here

We decided to take a random day of every month over the decades to list the cosmic mayhem in the space.

The telescope, on this day, captured the disintegration of an ancient comet 332P/Ikeya-Murakami while it approaches towards the sun. It was one of the clearest views of a breaking icy comet.

This was an astounding capture as the telescope snapped the collusion of two dwarf galaxies one of which is I Zwicky 18 with another one on its upper right. This led to the formation of a new star.

On this day, a disc surrounding a star Beta Pictoris, which was discovered in 1984, was found to be constituted by two planets, light-scattering dust and debris.

Hubble captured some colourful patterns of gases in black hole powered galaxy which is known as Circinus Galaxy. These gases depicted a cauldron of vapours, concentrated in two disks of the galaxy.

This day marked the capturing of Galaxy Cluster Abell 2744 which is 3.5 billion light-years away and has several clusters of small galaxies in it. It also poses a strong gravitational field which acts as a lens to reflect the light of almost 3,000 background galaxies.

The telescope took a snapshot of Neptune which is the most distant planet. The image of the planet revealed the formation of high-altitude clouds composing of methane ice crystals.

On this day, the collision between two galaxies UGC 06471 and UGC 06472 which are 145 million light-years away from the earth was captured. The collision eventually led to the formation of a larger galaxy.

Triangulum Galaxy was snapped depicting the specific areas of star birth with a bright blue light spreading across the galaxy in beautiful nebulas of hot gas.

Hubble clicked the picture of Galaxy ESO 243-49, which had a medium-sized black hole. The 20,000 suns sized black hole was positioned on a glacial plane of the galaxy.

The telescope captured an encounter of a comet named C/2013 A1 with Mars. The Comet Siding Spring passed with a distance of just 87,000 miles to that of Mars.

Gum 29 a vibrant stellar being ground, which is 20,000 light-years away, consisting of a giant cluster of 3,000 stars was captured by the telescope. This behemoth cluster of stars is called Westerlund 2.

The snapshot of Southern Ring Nebula was recorded which did show two stars a bright white star and a fainter dull star at the centre of the nebula where the dull star was indeed creating the whole nebula.

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The galaxy, officially known as NGC 2442, has been nicknamed the Meathook Galaxy due to its irregular features. Two coiling arms appear to stretch out from its core, creating a winding, snake-like effect. Viewed from Earth, the galaxy sits in the southern constellation of Volans, the Flying Fish.

Snapped by NASA's Hubble telescope, the galaxy is located a mind-boggling 50 million light-years away.

In more earthly terms, NGC 2442 is located some 293,931,270,000,000,000,000 miles away.

The galaxy measures about 75,000 light-years across and its shape is attributed to an encounter with a smaller galaxy.

And one of its dusty spiral arms was host to a supernova eruption that flared up in March 2015.

READ MORE:Earth and Mars gearing up for close approach: Can I see Mars now?

The supernova 2015F was unusually bright, enough to be seen with a small telescope.

And although the supernova was detected only five years ago, it erupted back when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

It then took the light from the explosion tens of millions of years to reach us.

The supernova was most likely a Type Ia explosion - a type of stellar supernova driven by a white dwarf star.

Supernovas are the biggest and most devastating explosions in the known Universe.

This unbalanced the star and triggered runaway nuclear fusion

European Space Agency (ESA)

The blasts are so big they can momentarily outshine their galaxies.

Astronomers divide supernovas into Type I and Type II blasts.

In this case, the eruption was triggered by a white dwarf star feeding on stellar matter beyond critical mass.

The European Space Agency (ESA), which operates Hubble with NASA, said: "The white dwarf was part of a binary star system and siphoned mass from its companion, eventually becoming too greedy and taking on more than it could handle.

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"This unbalanced the star and triggered runaway nuclear fusion that eventually led to an intensely violent supernova explosion.

"The supernova shone brightly for quite some time and was easily visible from Earth through even small telescopes until months later."

The supernova remnant, SN2015F, is now too dim to see without a large telescope.

NASA said: "A supernova burns for only a short period of time, but it can tell scientists a lot about the universe.

"One kind of supernova has shown scientists that we live in an expanding universe, one that is growing at an ever-increasing rate.

"Scientists also have determined that supernovas play a key role in distributing elements throughout the universe.

"When the star explodes, it shoots elements and debris into space.

"Many of the elements we find here on Earth are made in the core of stars."

Read more:
NASA news: Meathook Galaxy where star died in nuclear blast caught by Hubble telescope - Daily Express

Posted on Aug 22, 2020 in Astronomy, Science

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere, said Carl Sagan. So, imagine a galaxy filled with tens of millions of black holes and dark, lifeless island worlds rogue, free-floating planets unmoored from the gravity and the life-giving light of an alien star. It is now is becoming increasingly apparent that the Milky Way may be just such a galaxy. An upcoming NASA mission could find that there are more rogue planetsplanets that float in space without orbiting a sunthan there are stars in the Milky Way, a new study theorizes.

This gives us a window into these worlds that we would otherwise not have, said Samson Johnson, at The Ohio State University and lead author of the study. Imagine our little rocky planet just floating freely in spacethats what this mission will help us find.

The Roman Telescope

The study calculated that NASAs upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could find hundreds of rogue planets in the Milky Way. Identifying those planets, Johnson said, will help scientists infer the total number of rogue planets in our galaxy. Rogue, or free-floating, planets are isolated objects that have masses similar to that of planets. The origin of such objects is unknown, but one possibility is they were previously bound to a host star.

The Invisible Galaxy 100 Million Black Holes Lurking in the Milky Way

The universe could be teeming with rogue planets and we wouldnt even know it, said Scott Gaudi, a professor of astronomy and distinguished university scholar at Ohio State and a co-author of the paper. We would never find out without undertaking a thorough, space-based microlensing survey like Roman is going to do.

The Roman telescope, named for NASAs first chief astronomer who was also known as the mother of the Hubble telescope, will attempt to build the first census of rogue planets, which could, Johnson said, help scientists understand how those planets form. Roman will also have other objectives, including searching for planets that do orbit stars in our galaxy.

That process is not well-understood, though astronomers know that it is messy. Rogue planets could form in the gaseous disks around young stars, similar to those planets still bound to their host stars. After formation, they could later be ejected through interactions with other planets in the system, or even fly-by events by other stars. Or they could form when dust and gas swirl together, similar to the way stars form.

The Roman telescope, Johnson said, is designed not only to locate free-floating planets in the Milky Way, but to test the theories and models that predict how these planets formed.

Search Will Span 24,000 Light Years of the Milky Way

Johnsons study found that this mission is likely to be 10 times more sensitive to these objects than existing efforts, which for now are based on telescopes tethered to the Earths surface. It will focus on planets in the Milky Way, between our sun and the center of our galaxy, covering some 24,000 light years.

There have been several rogue planets discovered, but to actually get a complete picture, our best bet is something like Roman, he said. This is a totally new frontier.

The mission, which is scheduled to launch in the next five years, will search for rogue planets using a technique called gravitational microlensing. That technique relies on the gravity of stars and planets to bend and magnify the light coming from stars that pass behind them from the telescopes viewpoint.

This illustration shows a rogue planet drifting through the galaxy alone. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)

Gravitational Microlensing Einsteins General Relativity

This microlensing effect is connected to Albert Einsteins Theory of General Relativity and allows a telescope to find planets thousands of light-years away from Earthmuch farther than other planet-detecting techniques. Because microlensing works only when the gravity of a planet or star bends and magnifies the light from another star, the effect from any given planet or star is only visible for a short time once every few million years. And because rogue planets are situated in space on their own, without a nearby star, the telescope must be highly sensitive in order to detect that magnification.

The study estimates that this mission will be able to identify rogue planets that are the mass of Mars or larger. Mars is the second-smallest planet in our solar system and is just a little bigger than half the size of Earth.

Johnson said these planets are not likely to support life. They would probably be extremely cold, because they have no star, he said. (Other research missions involving Ohio State astronomers will search for exoplanets that could host life.) Studying them will help scientists understand more about how all planets form, he said.

If we find a lot of low-mass rogue planets, well know that as stars form planets, theyre probably ejecting a bunch of other stuff out into the galaxy, he said. This helps us get a handle on the formation pathway of planets in general. As many as six billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy, according to new estimates

Source: Samson A. Johnson et al. Predictions of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Galactic Exoplanet Survey. II. Free-floating Planet Detection Rates, The Astronomical Journal (2020). DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aba75b , iopscience.iop.org/article/10. 847/1538-3881/aba75b

The Daily Galaxy, Sam Cabot, via The Ohio State University

Image credits: NASA

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Island WorldsA Totally New Frontier of Exoplanets - The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel

Vice President Mike Pence plans to visit several Michigan businesses Thursday and deliver remarks at a steel manufacturer in Sterling Heights.

The White House announced Pences travel plans include lunch at Engine House, a bar and grill owned by two Detroit firefighters, followed by a tour of Chardam Gear Company. Pence is also scheduled to visit Casadei Structural Steel Inc. and deliver remarks before returning to Washington D.C.

America First Policies, a nonprofit group created to promote the policy agenda of President Donald Trumps re-election campaign, later announced Pence will participate in a noon roundtable at Casadei Structural Steel. A press release states the event is focused on policies driving economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and is part of the groups Great American Comeback Tour.

Pence spoke at a similar event held by America First Policies on June 12 in Pennsylvania.

Additional details about the vice presidents trip, including whether the stops will be open to the public, have not been released as of Monday. Pences visit to Michigan is organized by the White House instead of the presidents campaign, though Sterling Heights and the surrounding Macomb County are important battlegrounds for Trump in 2020.

Trumps re-election campaign has kept a tight focus on suburban communities north of Detroit. Pence held a rally in Troy during his last visit to Michigan in February.

Trump visited Sterling Heights in the final days of the 2016 presidential election. He later won the city by a 12 percentage point margin and flipped Macomb County, which had previously voted for Democrats in the previous two elections.

The presidents support in Macomb County helped him win Michigan by 10,704 votes, his closest margin of victory in any state and the closest result in Michigan electoral history.

Chardam Gear Co. is an aerospace components company that manufactures parts for military and commercial aircraft. The company has also worked on projects in the space industry, according to its website, including the Hubble Telescope.

Casadei Structural Steel operates an 88,000-square-foot fabrication facility, where workers manufacture materials for stairs, railways and platforms.

Thursdays events are the first time Pence has stopped in Michigan since positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. The schedule is similar to his last visit in February, when Pence traveled to the Michigan Farm Bureau Lansing Legislative Seminar, dropped in at a local restaurant in Lansing, then held a Keep America Great rally in Troy.

The former Indiana governor previously visited Saginaw, Holland and Portage in December 2019, and also spoke at the Michigan Republican Partys biennial leadership conference on Mackinac Island last summer.

Trump came to Michigan last month to tour Ford Motor Companys Rawsonville manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti Township. The presidents visit was an official White House event, but Michigan Democrats have since criticized Trump administration officials for allegedly using the program to promote the candidacy of U.S. Senate hopeful John James.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said Pences visit is an attempt to spin Trumps failed record in a statement, blaming the president for the heavy toll the coronavirus inflicted on Michigans economy and residents in the Detroit area.

No amount of pandering and empty words can undo the damage done by Donald Trumps failures and Michigan voters will hold him accountable in November, Barnes said.

READ MORE:

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Vice President Mike Pence to visit Michigan Thursday, tour manufacturing businesses - MLive.com

Just over a week ago, two US astronauts - Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken - were blasted up to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The moment was significant - the first time that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had lifted off in collaboration with a private company (SpaceX), and the first time astronauts have been launched upwards from American soil since 2011.

A ground-breaking (or, perhaps, exosphere-clearing) situation. Nonetheless, both men will have to go some way to match the achievements of Steve Smith. Now retired, he is one of NASAs most experienced alumni, having flown four Space Shuttle missions between 1994 and 2002, and logged almost 50 hours of space-walks - a total that puts him on the all-time Top Ten duration list of those who have mastered that particular skill.

Seriously ill when he was 15, Smith was unable to follow the most conventional path to being an astronaut, the military - instead taking an engineering route towards his extraterrestrial ambition. His responsibilities on his quartet of Space Shuttle flights were largely mechanical - servicing the Hubble Telescope in 1997 and 1999, and helping to install a section of the ISS on his final assignment beyond the demands of Earths gravity.

He turned 61 last year, but is as enthralled as ever by the worlds beyond our world. Here - in an interview conducted before the pandemic - he talks about the likelihood of humans on Mars and the moon, the dawn of space tourism, and why vomit is an astronaut thing

You had an engineering brief on your Shuttle missions. Did you feel extra pressure because you were responsible for the nuts and bolts on some very serious hardware?

Yes. When we were fixing the telescope, I was very worried about making a mistake. They told me before we launched that it was worth six billion dollars. That added some pressure. Although its unfair - I think - that the spacewalker gets so much praise. It took everybody in the spacecraft - and thousands of people on the ground - to do that job on Hubble. Sure, its the space-walkers who go outside - but in the end, its a team approach.

What exactly were you doing when you were servicing the Hubble?

Oh gosh, about 25 things. The first mission was basically taking out broken components and putting in new ones. But on the second, in 1999, the telescope was dead when we got there. Three of the six gyroscopes had failed - so that was a Save The Hubble mission.

We were meant to launch in early December, and they kept delaying, delaying, delaying. We ended up being in quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center for 17 days rather than four. The problem was that we were going into space when everyone was worried about Y2K and the Millennium Bug. They ended up saying they were going to cut the mission short; we were going to land by December 30th, no later. We lost a space-walk because of that. Of course nothing happened. I didnt think it was an issue. But better safe than sorry.

Were those spells in quarantine tough?

No, they were awesome. Youre away from everything. No more cutting your lawn. We didnt have internet banking back then - so no more bills to pay. Very few people can come to see you. Just your spouse, basically. I always enjoyed it. Theres a private nine-mile government beach at the Space Center which no-one else can go to. Its a good life.

You worked on the ISS as well. Was that trickier than working on the Hubble?

No, it was easier. By then, they had more experience in designing and building things, so the ISS was easier to work on. Things were bigger and more accessible. Whereas its tiny inside the Hubble. Youre wearing this 300-pound suit, but you cant really see whats behind you, so you have to be very careful when you move, hoping not to break anything.

You flew on three different Space Shuttles. Did you have a favourite?

No. They were all special, and all the crews I flew with were fun. I guess my second Hubble mission [on Discovery] was a big deal. The telescope has an aura when youre up close to it. Its a time machine - what it shows doesnt exist anymore. Its a picture of what the stars looked like 14 billion years ago - it takes that long for the light to get here.

How did it feel to space-walk for the first time? Were you nervous?

They always assign a veteran to you. So [fellow NASA alumnus] Mark Lee was with me. Hed already done a space-walk. I was confident - because I was with him. But yeah, theres always the worry that youll do something wrong, or lose something. You know - whoops, damn, there goes a $700,000 drill. In terms of it being frightening, I did make a mistake. I put my head out and went oh my gosh, its beautiful. What Mission Control heard was Oh my gosh!. Apparently, I paused. So for a moment, people were worried.

Do you miss the buzz of being in space?

Oh yes, absolutely. I probably still dream about it a couple of times a year. Ill wake up in the morning and Ill be so happy. Because in my head, Ive just done another space-walk.

You flew between the two Space Shuttle disasters [Challenger in 1986; Columbia in 2003]. Was that risk of death always on your mind, or could you push it away?

It was always somewhere on my mind, but it didnt really make me think twice. For a few reasons. One is, youre selfish and you want to do it. In some ways, its selfish to be an astronaut. The second is, you dont think its going to happen to you. Its that human defence-mechanism. We all do the same thing when we get on a plane. The third is that we now have astronauts involved in everything. If something is going wrong, you hear about it. That was one of the lessons from Challenger - when the astronaut office didnt know some of the recurring issues. Leading up to Challenger, the O-rings between the segments on the rocket booster were getting burned, but we kept flying. Oh, we made it, its OK, lets fly again. If wed had an astronaut involved, that might not have happened.

I did write letters to every family member before I flew. I gave them to a friend, with the agreement that they would deliver them if I died. They said three things. One: Im sorry. Two: That I still supported the [space] programme. Three, to my wife: Get married again.

Was your wife comfortable with your career?

Yeah. But she was rare. Astronauts spouses have a whole spectrum of feelings about it. Peggy and I had lots of discussions about why I was doing it. She was always part of it.

Does it feel strange to be back at Kennedy Space Center on the tourism side [Smith is one of the retired astronauts you can meet at the facilitys visitor complex]?

No, it feels good to be home. The tourism facilities have become so much more sophisticated. I think the Shuttle Simulator seats 30 people. And its right next to the real one. Atlantis is right there. People love space - Im not surprised [the Center] is popular.

Does the Shuttle Simulator come close to the real thing?

It does. Its pretty amazing. I dont know how they did it. Its really quite close. Apart from the vomiting.I felt fine for the first 93 minutes of my first flight. And then I threw up.

Is vomiting an inevitable part of the process?

Well, it wasnt just the first flight. I threw up, I would say, 100 times in four flights. Your body just isnt built to deal with zero-gravity. But theres no way of predicting how someone will handle it. Someone who gets car-sick all the time can be fine in space - or the opposite.Im fine in cars and on rollercoasters, but space is a different matter.

Will we see proper space tourism in the next 10 years? And will it ever get beyond the billionaire level in terms of affordability?

Yes and yes. Its within a couple of years for the wealthy. Were talking in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but a lot of people can pay that. I think they already have 3,000, maybe 5,000 people signed up. But if you look at the long picture, it will be just like aeroplane flight. Everybody will be doing it. Likely 100 years from now, maybe even 50.

But is it really feasible for everyday travellers to go to space? Do people underestimate whats involved?

Obviously, yes. But tourists wont have to undergo the procedures I did. They will have professionals on board, kind of like tour guides, so they wont need to understand exactly how it all works. It wont take much training. With the Virgin Galactic flights, hardly any at all. Theyll tell you how to act in zero-gravity, what to do if you have to throw up, what to do if you need to go to the bathroom But yes, people do underestimate what it takes.

There is new talk of going to Mars. When will that happen? The next 10, 15 years?

Probably not. Were on track for the moon again. The next astronaut on the moon will be a woman, I think. Mars is difficult stuff. I dont think we [NASA] will do it by ourselves. Its going to need to be an international effort. Thats the only way to reach Mars. But Im 100 per cent sure it will happen. Maybe its 50 years from now. I think the current goal is the 2030s - thats pushing it. Mainly because the single weakest component is the human. The spaceships will be ready, but as it stands, the radiation will kill you on the way there.

We will either have to go there faster, or come up with medication that heals your body as you get radiation damage. Its going to be Star Trek-type stuff. But I do think the first person to walk on Mars is already alive - perhaps its a baby, perhaps its a five-year-old.

Would you like to have gone to Mars yourself?

As a young person, yes. As a father, its hard to imagine being gone for two-and-a-half years to do anything. Your priorities change in life, of course. I would have loved to go to the moon, though. That would have been awesome. I love watching those Apollo movies.

Steve Smith is part of the Astronaut Encounter team at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (kennedyspacecenter.com). Tickets from $30 (24) per adult; $25 (20) per child 3-11.

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'The next astronaut on the moon will be a woman' - Telegraph.co.uk

FP TrendingMay 26, 2020 16:27:52 IST

The Hubble Space Telescope, sent to space by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1990, has been a boon in understanding the universe. It has delved deep into space to find out more about the age of the universe and explored dark matter.

NASAs entry on the accomplishments of the telescope says thatHubble has helped answer some of the most compelling astronomical questions of our time, and revealed enigmas that we never knew existed.

This year, Hubble completed three decades of service, and NASA has made available an interesting resource for all space lovers. People can now see what Hubble saw in outer space on their respective birth dates.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week shows bright, colourful pockets of star formation blooming like roses in a spiral galaxy named NGC 972. Image: Hubble/NASA/ESA

Under the section: What did Hubble See on Your Birthday? on NASAs official site, people can enter their birth month and date to see what intergalactic wonder the telescope was discovered on the same day.

Hubble explores the universe 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That means it has observed some fascinating cosmic wonder every day of the year, including on your birthday. What did Hubble look at on your birthday? Enter the month and date below to find out! the page reads.

People can see the inner regions of faraway galaxies, close up shots of planets, nebulas in neighbouring galaxies, the nuclei of comets being hidden under their comas, and more with the feature.

As the resource works for every date possible, one can put in other special dates of their lives, such as their marriage anniversary or the day one brought their house, and check what the space telescope was up to on the same date.

NASA also lets users share the photo that Hubble saw with friends and social media followers.

The Hubble Space Telescope had completed its 30 year anniversary on April 24, 2020. It was launched into space via Space Shuttle Discovery from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

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NASA allows you see what the Hubble Telescope might've seen in the universe on your birth date - Firstpost

Crewed spacecraft have been around since 1961 when the Soviet Union's Vostok carried the first human into space.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

It's been 59 years since the first person flew into space.

Since then, there have been eight different spacecraft that have carried humans into Earth orbit and beyond. SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule is about to be the ninth.

Wednesday's tentative launch (weather pending) of the Crew Dragon capsule carrying two American astronauts atop a Falcon 9 rocket will be a historic one for many reasons. SpaceX will be the first commercial company to send NASA astronauts to space, and this will be the first launch of American astronauts from American soil since the last Space Shuttle launch in 2011.

With all eyes on the skies for the launch of astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station, here's a look back at the history of crewed spaceships:

Vostok,1961

The Soviet Union's first spaceflight program also saw the launch of the first human into space -- Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961. The Vostok 1 was built to carry just one person and had no landing gear. There was also a window near Gagarin's feet to let him see the Earth during the flight.

Mercury, 1961

The first American spaceship was a cone-shaped capsule that carried just one person. The Mercuryspacecraft was 6 feet, 10 inches long and 6 feet, 2.5 inches in diameter. There was also a 19-foot, 2-inch escape tower attached to its cylinder.

Three weeks after the Soviet Union launched Gagarin into space, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American on a suborbital flight. Astronaut John Glenn reached orbit in February 1962 with the Mercury and the Friendship 7 capsule.

Voskhod 1964

This spacecraft was similar to the Vostok, but it was able to carry more crewmembers and eventually help make the first spacewalk happen. The Soviet Union also nabbed the record for the first spacewalk thanks to the Voskhod 2 in 1965 when Alexei Leonov spent about 12 minutes in space.

Gemini, 1965

Like Voskhod, Gemini was also adapted to fit more humans inside. And, since this was at the height of the first space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Gemini first flew days after the Voskhod 2 spacewalk mission.

Gemini spacecraft fit two astronauts and was instrumental in teaching engineers how to dock in orbit and extending the duration of time humans could spend in space. Gemini led to the first American spacewalker, Ed White, who spent 23 minutes in space.

Between 1965 and 1966, there were 10 crews and 16 individual astronauts who flew in low-Earth orbit during Gemini missions.

Soyuz 1967

While the Soyuz capsule still ferries cosmonauts (and, until Crew Dragon, astronauts) back and forth to the International Space Station, the spacecraft was first developed in 1967. However, the Soyuz of today looks much different from the ones used in the 1960s.

There are three main parts of the Soyuz: The descent module is where the space travelers sit during launch and is the only part that returns to Earth, the orbital module includes crew living space and the docking system and the propulsion module carries engines, fuel and solar panels.

Apollo 1968

Perhaps the most famous spacecraft in the world, Apollo capsules were the ones who helped land humans on the moon for the first time. The spacecraft was more squat and conical in shape than Mercury and Gemini but were designed to carry even more astronauts, including the 12 people who have walked on the lunar surface.

The Apollo command module was only meant for transportation to and from Earth. The lunar module was able to attach and detach from the "Columbia" command module to ferry Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon in 1969.

The Apollo era ended with the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972 and a final flight in 1975.

Space Shuttle 1981

The Space Shuttle was the largest crewed spacecraft and the first reusable one. Between 1981 and 2011, there were five different shuttles and 135 crewed missions. These missions helped construct the International Space Station and the Hubble telescope and launched and repaired satellites.

The main body of the shuttle, which looks like a plane and has similar landing gear, was also the orbiter. To launch the space shuttle, a massive rust-colored fuel tank and two smaller solid rocket boosters were used.

The space shuttle, technically called the Space Transportation System, was able to carry seven astronauts to space and also protect them from the burn of re-entry to Earth.

The space shuttle era ended on July 21, 2011, when Atlantis returned to Kennedy Space Center.

Shenzhou, 2003

China's spacecraft looks similar to the Russian Soyuz capsule but is slightly larger. It also has three parts: the orbital module, the re-entry module and the service module. Though the country launched its first efforts for space exploration in 1968, the first crewed launch of the Shenzhou wasn't until 2003 during the Shenzhou 5 mission.

Crew Dragon, 2020

Like the Space Shuttle, SpaceX's Dragon capsule can carry up to seven astronauts. It's also meant to be reused. However, the Dragon spacecraft will be the first used by a commercial company as opposed to a government agency like NASA.

The Dragon capsules have also been used to carry cargo to and from the ISS as part of the public-private collaboration with NASA.

The spacecraft is more than 26 feet tall, 13 feet in diameter and is 328 square feet inside. The capsule is also able to launch more than 13,000 pounds of payload.

While it can hold up to seven, Dragon's first crewed mission will have just two astronauts headed to the ISS.

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