Antares Rocket...[ 2827 ]

Image of the Antares Rocket

The first stage of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket stands in launch position during pathfinder operations at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

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Orbital’s Antares launch vehicle will be conducting missions for NASA under its Commercial Orbital Transportation Service Program and Cargo Resupply Services contract.
Image Credit: NASA/P.Black

Orthodox Christians Easter...[ 2816 ]

 by El Greco

The "first resurrection" in the Byzantine chapel Resurrection in Veria, Greece.

Easter Service in Christ the Savior Cathedral,Russia.-

 RIA Novosti. Vladimir Astapkovich

• 1,2,3,4,5,6,7.8,9.10.11.12.13.14

View of the Rim of Endeavour...[ 2386 ]

NASA image: The Rim of Endeavour

Opportunity's View of the Rim of Endeavour

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera to capture this view of Endeavour Crater's rim after a drive during the rover's 2,676th Martian day, or sol, of working on Mars (Aug. 4, 2011). 

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The drive covered 396 feet (120.7 meters) and put the rover with about that much distance to go before reaching the chosen arrival site at the rim, called 'Spirit Point.'

Endeavour Crater has been the rover team's destination for Opportunity since the rover finished exploring Victoria crater in August 2008. Endeavour, with a diameter of about 14 miles (22 kilometers), offers access to older geological deposits than any Opportunity has seen before. 

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This view looks toward a portion of the rim south of Spirit Point, including terrain that Opportunity may explore in the future.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

NASA's modified Boeing 747 ..[ 2383 ]

NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 

NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft briefly flew in formation over the Edwards Air Force Base Test Range on Aug. 2, 2011. 

The aircraft were scheduled to be in the air on the same day, NASA 911 (plane in the foreground) on a flight crew proficiency flight, and NASA 905 (rear) on a functional check flight following maintenance operations. 

Since both aircraft were scheduled to be in the air at the same time, SCA pilot Jeff Moultrie of Johnson Space Center's Aircraft Operations Directorate took the opportunity to have both SCA's fly in formation for about 20 minutes while NASA photographer Carla Thomas captured still and video imagery from a NASA Dryden F/A-18. In addition to Moultrie, 

NASA 905's check flight crew included pilot Arthur "Ace" Beall and flight engineer Henry Taylor while NASA 911 was flown by Larry LaRose, Steve Malarchick and Bob Zimmerman from NASA Johnson and Frank Batteas and Bill Brockett from NASA Dryden.

Image Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas

Juno spacecraf " Lifts Off "...[ 2378 ]

        NASA : The Juno spacecraft  " Lifts Off "..

Juno Lifts Off

The Juno spacecraft launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday, Aug. 5, 2011. 

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Juno will make a five-year, 400-million-mile voyage to Jupiter, orbit the planet, investigate its origins and evolution with eight instruments to probe its internal structure and gravity field, measure water and ammonia in its atmosphere, map its powerful magnetic field and observe its intense auroras.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Flight of the P-3..[ 2377 ]

NASA Image of the Day

Flight of the P-3

Maryland resident John Kovasckitz captured this image of NASA’s P-3B as flew south by southwest near the Fair Hill loop in Maryland on July 1, 2011.

During the month of July NASA conducted a series of field studies to assess air quality over northeast Maryland.

Two research airplanes--one flying high and the other low--completed 14 flight days of sampling in coordination with ground sites monitoring air quality.

These flights were able to sample pollutants in the lower atmosphere over major interstates, densely populated areas, small towns and the Chesapeake Bay.

The 117-foot NASA P-3B, spiraled over six ground stations in Maryland, flying as low as 1,000 feet and gathering just over 250 soundings, gathering air-quality data for the study.


Image Credit: John Kovasckitz (Used by permission; all rights reserved)

The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle...[ 2361 ]

NASA Image of the Day , the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

Integration

Preparations are underway to begin integration of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Launch Abort System (foreground) with the Crew Module (background) for acoustical testing.
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The tests will be conducted in the Reverberant Acoustics Laboratory at the Lockheed Martin Waterton facility near Denver, Colorado.
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The Orion stack will be exposed to a series of acoustic tests of increasing decibels that simulate the sound pressure levels that the vehicle will encounter during launch.

Image Credit: NASA

The Spacecraft Liberty Bell 7.[2355 ]

NASA Image of the Liberty Bell 7

Liberty Bell 7

Astronaut Gus Grissom climbs into his 'Liberty Bell 7' spacecraft on July 21, 1961. The Mercury-Redstone 4 rocket successfully launched the Liberty Bell 7 at 7:20 a.m. that morning. This was the second in a series of successful U.S. manned suborbital flights.

View interactive feature.

Image Credit: NASA

Atlantis, Completing the Mission..[ 2350 ]

NASA Image of the Day

Completing the Mission

After completing the STS-135 mission, space shuttle Atlantis is rolled over to the Orbiter Processing Facility shortly after landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility. Atlantis and the STS-135 crew completed a 13-day mission to the International Space Station and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program, early Thursday morning, July 21, 2011, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Overall, Atlantis spent 307 days in space and traveled nearly 126 million miles during its 33 flights. Atlantis, the fourth orbiter built, launched on its first mission on Oct. 3, 1985.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA Image..[ 2341 ]

NASA Image, the "Friendship 7"

 

 

 July 18, 2011, is John Glenn's 90th birthday.

On Feb. 20, 1962 at 9:47 am EST, Glenn launched from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 14 to become the first American to orbit the Earth. In this image, Glenn enters his Friendship 7 capsule with assistance from technicians to begin his historic flight.

Before joining NASA, Glenn already had a distinguished career as a pilot, receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross, Navy Unit Commendation for service in Korea, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy's Astronaut Wings, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, among others.

Glenn rejoined NASA in 1998 as a member of the STS-95 Discovery crew. This 9-day mission, from Oct. 29-Nov. 7, supported a variety of research payloads including deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test Platform and investigations on space flight and the aging process.

Image Credit: NASA

NASA Image of the day..[ 2337 ]

NASA Image of the Day

International Partnerships

In this view of the International Space Station's Cupola, a variety of modules and components of the station showcase the contributions of the many nations making up some of the international partnerships behind the space station. 
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On the left is the Cupola, backdropped against black space, and on the right are various components of the orbiting outpost, including Node 3 or Tranquility (on which the Cupola is mounted) and the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module. 
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In the background is a Progress resupply spacecraft. This image was taken during the spacewalk conducted on July 12, 2011.

Image Credit: NASA

NASA Image of the Day , Jun 14,,,[ 2313 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Through the Looking Glass

The NASA logo on Bldg. 703 at the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., is reflected in the 2.5-meter primary mirror of the SOFIA observatory's telescope. SOFIA--the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy-- is an airborne observatory, built to complement the Hubble, Spitzer and Herschel space telescopes, as well as major Earth-based telescopes. SOFIA features a German-built 100-inch (2.5 meter) diameter far-infrared telescope weighing 20 tons mounted in the rear fuselage of a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft. 

 

It is one of the premier space science programs of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. SOFIA is a joint program between NASA and the German Aerospace Center. 

 

Image Credit: NASA/Tom Tschida

Τρίτη, 14 Ιουνίου 2011 7:00:00 πμ

NASA Image of the Day, Jun 13, ...[ 2311 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day",  image.

Preparing for the Future

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NASA continued preparations for the future of space exploration with the installation of a 35,000-gallon liquid oxygen tank atop the A-3 Test Stand under construction at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. 

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The 300-foot tall stand is being built to test next-generation rocket engines capable of carrying humans beyond low-Earth orbit into deep space. 

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Construction of the stand began in 2007, with completion and activation scheduled for 2013. The A-3 stand is the first large test structure built at Stennis since a trio of stands were constructed in the 1960s to test the massive Saturn V rocket stages used to carry humans to the moon during the Apollo Program.

 

Image Credit: NASA

Δευτέρα, 13 Ιουνίου 2011 7:00:00 πμ

NASA Image of the Day Jun 10..[ 2308 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Aquarius Lifts Off!3

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A Delta II rocket launches with the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft payload from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. on Friday, June 10, 2011. 

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The joint U.S./Argentinian Aquarius/Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D mission, set to launch June 10, will map the salinity at the ocean surface, information critical to improving our understanding of two major components of Earth's climate system: the water cycle and ocean circulation. 

 

Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Παρασκευή, 10 Ιουνίου 2011 7:00:00 πμ

NASA Image of the Day Jun 9..[ 2306 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Working Towards the Future
Work on the heat shield and thermal protection backshell of the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle ground test article, or GTA, was completed in preparation for environmental testing. This image is of the crew vehicle at the Lockheed Martin Vertical Test Facility in Colorado. The crew vehicle will undergo rigorous testing to confirm its ability to safely fly astronauts through all the harsh environments of deep space exploration missions. Image Credit: NASA

Πέμπτη, 9 Ιούνιος 2011 7:00:00 πμ

NASA Image of the Day Jun 8..[ 2304 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Lift Off

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The Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Wednesday, June 8, 2011, (4:12 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, June 7) carrying Expedition 28 Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov of Russia, NASA Flight Engineer Mike Fossum and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa to the International Space Station. 

Image Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi

Τετάρτη, 8 Ιούνιος 2011 7:00:00 πμ

NASA Image of the Day Jun7..[ 2301 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Portrait of Shuttle and Station

Newly released portraits show the International Space Station together with the space shuttle, the vehicle that helped build the complex during the last decade.

The pictures are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. 

On May 23, the Soyuz was carrying Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli back to Earth. 

Once their vehicle was about 600 feet from the station, Mission Control Moscow, outside the Russian capital, commanded the orbiting laboratory to rotate 130 degrees. 

This move allowed Nespoli to capture digital photographs and high definition video of shuttle Endeavour docked to the station. 

Credit: NASA

Τρίτη, 7 Ιούνιος 2011 7:00:00 πμ

NASA Image of the Day ,June 2, [ 2295 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Atop the Mobile Launch Platform
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is seen in silhouette, left, as he shook hands with workers atop the Mobile Launch Platform as space shuttle Atlantis rolled out of High Bay 3 in the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A for its final flight, Tuesday, May 31, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The 3.4-mile trek, known as rollout, took about seven hours to complete.

 

On STS-135, the orbiter's final, Atlantis will carry the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station. The launch of STS-135 is targeted for July 8. 

 

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Πέμπτη, 2 Ιουνίου 2011 7:00:00 πμ

NASA Image of the Day , May 30.....[ 2293 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Docked One Last Time

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Backdropped by a night time view of the Earth and the starry sky, the Space Shuttle Endeavour is photographed docked at the International Space Station on May 28, 2011. 

 

The STS-134 astronauts left the station the next day on May 29, after delivering the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and performing four spacewalks during Endeavour's final mission. 

 

Image Credit: NASA

Δευτέρα, 30 Μάιος 2011 7:00:00 πμ

NASA Image of the day, May 29 ....[ 2291 ]

NASA Image of the Day

Another View

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A fish-eye lens attached to an electronic still camera was used to capture this image of NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff during the mission's fourth STS-134 spacewalk. 

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During the spacewalk, Chamitoff and fellow astronaut Michael Fincke stowed the 50-foot-long boom and added a power and data grapple fixture to make it the Enhanced International Space Station Boom Assembly, which extends the reach of the space station's robotic arm. 

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The docked space shuttle Endeavour is visible at top right. 

Image Credit: NASA

Κυριακή, 29 Μάιος 2011 7:00:00 πμ