Strange Galaxy Observed...

LOL...

Noctilucent Cloud Season Begins

Space Weather News for May 30, 2009
http://spaceweather.com

FIRST NLCs of 2009:  The first noctilucent clouds (NLCs) of 2009 have been sighted over northern Europe. Last night, May 29th, photographers recorded wispy electric-blue tendrils spreading across the twilight skies of Denmark, Northern Ireland and Scotland. This follows a similar display over Russia on May 27th.  These sightings signal the beginning of the 2009 NLC season, which is expected to last until late July. Early-season NLCs are usually feeble, but these were fairly bright and vibrant, suggesting that even better displays are in the offing.  Check today's edition of  http://spaceweather.com for photos.

Noctilucent clouds are an unsolved puzzle.  They float 83 km above Earth's surface at the edge of space itself.  People first noticed NLCs in the late 19th century. In those days you had to travel to high northern latitudes to see them.  In recent years, however, the clouds have been sighted in the United States as far south as Oregon, Washington and even Colorado. Climate change, space dust, and rocket launches have all been cited as possible explanations for the phenomenon. Interestingly, low solar activity seems to promote the clouds, so the ongoing deep solar minimum could set the stage for a good season in 2009.

The best time to look for NLCs is just after sunset or just before sunrise when the sun is between 6 and 16 degrees below the horizon.  That's when the geometry is just right for sunlight to illuminate the tiny ice crystals that make up the clouds.  Observing tips and sample photos may be found in the 2008 Noctilucent Cloud Gallery:

http://spaceweather.com/nlcs/gallery2008_page10.htm

Readers, if you enjoy these newsletters and wish to support our efforts, please consider signing up for Spaceweather.com's astronomy alert service: http://spaceweatherphone.com . Thanks!

STS 125 Atlantis

The STS 125 Atlantis Transiting the Sun.....

Work on the Hubble Space Telescope after a week in space....

The View...

[LYRA and KAG] Comet Report and Upcoming Astronomical Events for May and into the Summer

2009: The International Year of Astronomy (IYA)

 

Comets:

 

Comet Garrad (2008 Q3) is the brightest Comet to date at Magnitude 8.5 and Brightening-visible all night in the Southern Hemisphere and is a Southern sky Comet, there are 4 Comets around Magnitude 9, 2 of which are brightening, 1 steady and 1 fading, there are 2 more at Magnitude 9.5 and about 11 Comets past Magnitude 10 and beyond.

 

If there are any reports of future dated bright Comets that may be seen with Binoculars or the naked eye I will keep you well informed.

 

Astronomical Events for May:

May 2nd: Venus at its greatest illuminated extent low in the early morning sky

May 4th: Eta Aquarids Meteor shower-maximum , Saturn 6 degrees north of the Moon

May 7th: Mercury is stationary

May 10th: Antares is 0.6 degrees south of the Moon (Occultation in South East Europe)

May 17th Jupiter and Neptune are 3 degrees South of the Moon-Saturn is stationary

May 18th Mercury is in Inferior Conjunction

May 19th Uranus is 5 degrees south of the Moon

May 21st Venus is 5 Degrees south of the Moon, Mars is Seven Degrees south of the Moon

May 25th Jupiter is 0.4 degrees South of the Moon, Comet 22P/Kopff reaches Perihelion

May 29th Neptune is stationary

May 30th Mercury is stationary

May 31st Saturn is 6 degrees North of the Moon

 

The Planets for May:

Mercury: Is visible low in the north western evening sky for the first week of may and passes through inferior Conjunction on 18th May

Venus: is a brilliant "morning star" but is low on the Eastern Horizon before Sunrise

Mars: Is close to Venus all month on the eastern horizon and is a small disc to be seen

Dwarf Planet Ceres: still amongst the stars of Leo

Jupiter: Still low in the South east dawn sky but steadily makes progress into the dark of the sky

Saturn:Well placed in Leo but by the end of may will be a little difficult to observe in the twilight of the Summer evening 

Uranus: In the morning sky

Neptune: Also in the morning sky

Dwarf Planet Pluto: still very low in Sagittarius in the early morning twilight

 

Upcoming Astronomical Space Events for April and May:

The Space Shuttle Atlantis or STS 125 has returned to the Hubble Space Telescope for an upgrade of the Space Orbiting eye on the Universe-lift off was targeted for May 11th and the 11 day mission is the final Shuttle Mission to the HST with several spacewalks or EVA's (Extra Vehicular Activity) to install 2 new instruments and repair others with Hubble components, this Mission should extend its working life until at least 2014, its the 5th Hubble service Mission, 30th flight for Atlantis and the 126th STS Shuttle flight.

 

 3 to 5 Launches during May are scheduled including the STS 125 to the HST Servicing Mission.

 

Later on during this Summer between 20th and 26th July will be the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo Moon Landings when man first set foot upon the Moon.

 

The Moon:

 

All times are G.M.T or Universal Time U.T (add 1 Hour B.S.T)

 

May:

First Quarter Moon is on 1st May at 20.44 Hours U.T

Full Moon is on 9th May at 04.01 Hours U.T

Last Quarter Moon is on 17th May at 07.26 Hours U.T

New Moon is on 24th May at 12.11 Hours U.T

First Quarter Moon is on 31st May at 03.22 Hours U.T

 

June:

Full Moon occurs  on 7th June at 18.12 Hours U.T

Last Quarter is on 15th June at 22.15 Hours U.T

New Moon is on 22nd June at 19.35 Hours U.T

First Quarter is on 29th at 11.28 Hours U.T 

 

There are 2 First quarter Moons in the Month of May and 2 Full Moons (or a Blue Moon) in the Month of December of this year 2009, there is also a Partial Eclipse of the Moon on New Years Eve 2009 during the evening but only 8% of the Lunar Surface will be Obscured.

 

Lighting Up Times for April into May:

 

All times are G.M.T or Universal Time U.T (add 1 Hour BST)

 

15th May: 20.26 Hours U.T

31st May: 20.52 Hours U.T

15th June: 21.07 Hours U.T

30th June: 21.08 Hours U.T

 

Good Clear Skies.

Space Missions (The Final Frontier)

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), is the United States government's current manned launch vehicle. The winged Shuttle Orbiter is launched vertically, usually carrying five to seven astronauts (although eight have been carried) and up to 50,000 lb (22 700 kg) of payload into low earth orbit. When its mission is complete, the Shuttle can independently move itself out of orbit (by means of its maneuvering thrusters) and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. During descent and landing, the Shuttle Orbiter acts as a glider and makes a completely unpowered landing.

 

The Shuttle is the only winged manned spacecraft to achieve orbit and land, and the only reusable space vehicle that has ever made multiple flights into orbit. Its missions involve carrying large payloads to various orbits (including segments to be added to the International Space Station), providing crew rotation for the International Space Station, and performing service missions. The orbiter can also recover satellites and other payloads from orbit and return them to Earth, but its use in this capacity is rare. However, the Shuttle has previously been used to return large payloads from the ISS to Earth, as the Russian Soyuz spacecraft has limited capacity for return payloads. Each vehicle was designed with a projected lifespan of 100 launches, or 10 years' operational life.

 

The program started in the late 1960s and has dominated NASA's manned operations since the mid-1970s. According to the Vision for Space Exploration, use of the Space Shuttle will be focused on completing assembly of the ISS by 2010, after which it will be retired from service, and eventually replaced by the new Orion spacecraft (now expected to be ready in about 2014).

 

Conception

 

The maiden flight of Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981 (NASA). This was one of only two missions that had a painted external tank.

Even before the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, NASA began early studies of space shuttle designs. The early studies beginning in October, 1968 were denoted "Phase A." Further studies resulted in "Phase B" in June 1970. These plans were much more detailed and more specific.

 

In 1969 President Richard Nixon formed the Space Task Group, chaired by vice president Spiro T. Agnew. This group evaluated the shuttle studies to date, and recommended a national space strategy including building a space shuttle.

 

In October 1969, at a Space Shuttle symposium held in Washington, George Mueller (NASA's deputy administrator) presented opening remarks:

 

The goal we have set for ourselves is the reduction of the present costs of operating in space from the current figure of $1,000 a pound for a payload delivered in orbit by the Saturn V, down to a level of somewhere between $20 and $50 a pound. By so doing we can open up a whole new era of space exploration. Therefore, the challenge before this symposium and before all of us in the Air Force and NASA in the weeks and months ahead is to be sure that we can implement a system that is capable of doing just that.

 

Let me outline three areas which, in my view, are critical to the achievement of these objectives. One is the development of an engine that will provide sufficient specific impulse, with adequate margin to propel its own weight and the desired payload.

 

A second technical problem is the development of the reentry heat shield, so that we can reuse that heat shield time after time with minimal refurbishment and testing.

 

The third general critical development area is a checkout and control system which provides autonomous operation by the crew without major support from the ground and which will allow low cost of maintenance and repair. Of the three, the latter may be a greater challenge than the first two.

 

NASA has proposed that a space shuttle be developed for U.S. Space Transportation needs for NASA, the Department of Defense (DOD), and other users in the 1980s.The primary objective of the Space Shuttle Program is to provide a new space transportation capability that will:

 

reduce substantially the cost of space operations and

provide a future capability designed to support a wide range of scientific, defense, and commercial uses.

 

Development

 

During early shuttle development there was great debate about the optimal shuttle design that best balanced capability, development cost and operating cost. Ultimately the current design was chosen, using a reusable winged orbiter, solid rocket boosters, and an expendable external tank.

 

The Space Shuttle program was formally launched on January 5, 1972, when President Nixon announced that NASA would proceed with the development of a reusable Space Shuttle system. The final design was less costly to build and less technically ambitious than earlier fully reusable designs. The initial design parameters included a larger external fuel tank, which would have been carried to orbit, where it could be used as a section of a space station, but this idea was killed due to budgetary and political considerations.

 

The prime contractor for the program was North American Aviation (later Rockwell International, now Boeing), the same company responsible for building the Apollo Command/Service Module. The contractor for the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters was Morton Thiokol (now part of Alliant Techsystems), for the external tank, Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin), and for the Space shuttle main engines, Rocketdyne.

 

The first complete orbiter was originally planned to be named Constitution, but a massive write-in campaign from fans of the Star Trek television series convinced the White House to change the name to Enterprise.[3] Amid great fanfare, the Enterprise was rolled out on September 17, 1976, and later conducted a successful series of glide-approach and landing tests that were the first real validation of the design.

 

The first fully functional Shuttle Orbiter was the Columbia, built in Palmdale, California. It was delivered to Kennedy Space Center on March 25, 1979, and was first launched on April 12, 1981—the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's space flight—with a crew of two. Challenger was delivered to KSC in July 1982, Discovery in November 1983, and Atlantis in April 1985. Challenger was destroyed during ascent due to O-Ring failure on the right SRB on January 28, 1986, with the loss of all seven astronauts on board. Endeavour was built to replace Challenger (using spare parts originally intended for the other orbiters) and delivered in May 1991; it was first launched a year later. Seventeen years after Challenger, Columbia was lost, with all seven crew members, during reentry on February 1, 2003, and has not been replaced. Out of the five fully functional shuttle orbiters built, three remain.

 

Shuttle applications: Current and past Space Shuttle's applications include:

 

Crew rotation and servicing of Mir which is now at the bottom of the Pacific ocean and the International Space Station (ISS)

 

Manned servicing missions, such as to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

 

Manned experiments in Low Earth orbit (LEO)

 

Carried to LEO:

Large satellites — including the HST

Components for the construction of the ISS

Supplies in Spacehab modules or Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules

Carried satellites with a booster, the Payload Assist Module (PAM-D) or the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), to the point where the booster sends the satellite to:

A higher Earth orbit; these have included:

Chandra X-ray Observatory

Many TDRS satellites

Two DSCS-III (Defense Satellite Communications System) communications satellites in one mission

A Defense Support Program satellite

An interplanetary orbit; these have included:

Magellan probe

Galileo spacecraft

Ulysses probe

 

Flight statistics

 

ShuttleFlight daysOrbitsDistanceFlightsLongest flight

(in days)CrewsEVAsMir/ISS

dockingSatellites

deployed

 

Columbia (destroyed or disitegrated over Texas)

Challenger (destroyed on takeoff)

Discovery

Atlantis

Endeavour

 

 

Disasters

 

Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff.

As of 2007, two Shuttles have been destroyed in 120 missions, both with the loss of the entire crew (14 astronauts total):

 

Challenger — lost 73 seconds after liftoff, STS-51-L, January 28, 1986 :Further information: Space Shuttle Challenger disaster

Columbia — lost approximately 16 minutes before its expected landing, STS-107, February 1, 2003 :Further information: Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

 

This gives a 2% death rate per astronaut-flight, and an average failure rate of more than 1 every 60 missions. The original disaster potential, though disaster is not defined as fatal or non-fatal, was estimated during Shuttle development at one every 75 missions. 87 successful missions were flown between STS-51-L and STS-107.

 

Current status

 

After the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, the International Space Station operated on a skeleton crew of two for more than two years and was serviced primarily by Russian spacecraft. While the "Return to Flight" mission STS-114 in 2005 was successful, a similar piece of foam from a different portion of the tank was shed. Although the debris did not strike the orbiter, the program was grounded once again for this reason.

 

The second "Return to Flight" mission, STS-121, launched on July 4, 2006, at 2:37:55 p.m. (EDT), after two previous launches were scrubbed because of lingering thunderstorms and high winds around the launch pad and the launch took place despite objections from its chief engineer and safety head. A five-inch (13 cm) crack in the foam insulation of the external tank gave cause for concern; however, the Mission Management Team gave the go for launch.[4] This mission increased the ISS crew to three. Discovery touched down successfully on July 17, 2006 at 9:14:43 a.m. (EDT) on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center.

 

Following the success of STS-121, three missions have been completed without foam problems, and the construction of ISS was resumed. During the STS-118 mission in August 2007, the orbiter was again struck by a foam fragment on liftoff, but this was a very small damage compared to the damage sustained to Columbia.

 

On Tuesday, October 31, 2006, NASA announced approval of a shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

 

The Shuttle program is scheduled for mandatory retirement in 2010. The Shuttle's planned successor is Project Constellation with its Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles and the Orion Spacecraft. NASA plans to launch 12 to 14 more shuttle missions before the program ceases in 2010.

 

Since 2005, the manager of the Space Shuttle program has been Wayne Hale.

 

Costs

 

Big costs;

 

The total cost of the Shuttle program has been $145 billion as of early 2005 , and is estimated to be $174 billion when the Shuttle retires in 2010. NASA's budget for 2005 allocated 30%, or $5 billion, to Space Shuttle operations;[6] this was decreased in 2006 to a request of $4.3 billion.

 

Per-launch costs can be measured by dividing the total cost over the life of the program (including buildings, facilities, training, salaries, etc) by the number of launches. With 115 missions (as of 6 August 2006), and a total cost of $150 billion ($145 billion as of early 2005 + $5 billion for 2005, this gives approximately $1.3 billion per launch. Another method is to calculate the incremental (or marginal) cost differential to add or subtract one flight — just the immediate resources expended/saved/involved in that one flight. This is about $60 million.

 

Early cost estimates of $118 per pound ($260/kg) of payload were based on marginal or incremental launch costs, and based on 1972 dollars and assuming a 65,000 pound (30 000 kg) payload capacity.

 

Correcting for inflation, this equates to roughly $36 million incremental per launch costs. Compared to this, today's actual incremental per launch costs are about two thirds more, or $60 million per launch.

 

Criticism

 

The Space Shuttle program has been criticized for failing to achieve its promised cost and utility goals, as well as design, cost, management, and safety issues.

 

After both the Challenger disaster and the Columbia disaster, high profile boards convened to investigate the accidents with both committees returning praise and serious critiques to the program and NASA management. One of the most famous of these criticisms came from Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman.

 

Terrestrial transportation vehicles

 

The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft are two modified Boeing 747s. Either can fly an orbiter from alternative landing sites back to Cape Canaveral.

A 36-wheeled transport trailer, the Orbiter Transfer System, originally built for the U.S. Air Force's launch facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California (since then converted for Delta IV rockets) that would transport the orbiter from the landing facility to the launch pad, which allowed both "stacking" and launch without utilizing a separate VAB-style building and crawler-transporter roadway. Prior to the closing of the Vandenberg facility, orbiters were transported from the OPF to the VAB on its undercarriage, only to be raised when the orbiter was being lifted for attachment to the SRB/ET stack. The trailer allows the transportation of the orbiter from the OPF to either the SCA-747 "Mate-Demate" stand or the VAB without placing any additional stress on the undercarriage.

 

The Crew Transport Vehicle (CTV), a modified airport "People Mover", is used to assist astronauts to egress from the orbiter after landing. Upon entering the CTV, astronauts can take off their launch and re-entry suits then proceed to chairs and beds for medical checks before being transported back to the crew quarters in the Operations and Checkout Building.

 

The AstroVan is used to transport astronauts from the crew quarters in the Operations and Checkout Building to the launch pad on launch day. It is also used to transport astronauts back again from the Crew Transport Vehicle at the Shuttle Landing Facility.

The International Space Station

Station statistics

Mass: 232,693 kg

(513,000 lb)

(2007-02-22)

471,736 kg (1,040,000 lb) upon completion

Length: 58.2 m (191 ft)

along truss

(2007-02-22)

Width: 44.5 m (146 ft)

from Destiny to Zvezda

73.15 m (240 ft)

span of solar arrays

(2007-02-22)

Height: 27.4 m (90 ft)

(2007-02-22)

Living volume: 424.75 m³

(15,000 ft³)

Atmospheric pressure: 101.3 kPa (29.91 inHg)

Perigee: 319.6 km (172.6 nmi)

Apogee: 346.9 km (187.3 nmi)

Orbit inclination: 51.63 degrees

Typical orbit altitude: 333.3 km (180.0 nmi)

Average speed: 27,743.8 km/h

(17,239.2 mi/h, 7706.6 m/s)

Orbital period: 91.20 minutes

Orbits per day: 15.79

Days in orbit: 3,029

Days occupied: 2,316

Number of orbits: Made 50,000th orbit on August 14 2007

Distance travelled: 2,000,000,000 km

(1,100,000,000 nmi)

Statistics as of June 20 2007 (unless noted otherwise).

 

 

Configuration:

 

The International Space Station (ISS) is a research facility currently being assembled in space. The building of ISS started in 1998. The station is in a low Earth orbit and can be seen from Earth with the naked eye: its altitude varies from 319.6 km to 346.9 km above the surface of the Earth (198.6 to 215.6 mi). It travels at an average speed of 27,744 km (17,240 miles per hour) completing 15.7 orbits per day. The ISS is a joint project between the space agencies of the United States (NASA), Russia (RKA), Japan (JAXA), Canada (CSA) and several European countries (ESA).

 

The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB, Brazil) participates through a separate contract with NASA. The Italian Space Agency similarly has separate contracts for various activities not done in the framework of ESA's ISS works (where Italy also fully participates). China has reportedly expressed interest in the project, especially if it is able to work with the RKA.

The Chinese are not currently involved, however.

 

The ISS is a continuation of what began as the U.S. Space Station Freedom, the funding for which was cut back severely. It represents a merger of Freedom with several other previously planned space stations: Russia's Mir 2, the planned European Columbus and Kibo, the Japanese Experiment Module. The projected completion date is 2010, with the station remaining in operation until around 2016. As of 2007, the ISS is already larger than any previous space station.

 

The ISS has been continuously inhabited since the first resident crew entered the station on November 2 2000, thereby providing a permanent human presence in space. The crew of Expedition 15 are currently aboard. The station is serviced primarily by Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft and by U.S. Space Shuttle orbiters. At present the station has a capacity for a crew of three. Early crewmembers all came from the Russian and U.S. space programs. German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter joined the Expedition 13 crew in July 2006, becoming the first crewmember from another space agency. The station has, however, been visited by astronauts from 14 countries. The ISS was also the destination of the first five space tourists.

 

Origins;

 

ISS configuration in 2000: from top to bottom, the Unity, Zarya, and Zvezda modules.In the early 1980s, NASA planned Space Station Freedom as a counterpart to the Soviet Salyut and Mir space stations. It never left the drawing board and, with the end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War, it was cancelled. The end of the Space race prompted the U.S. administration officials to start negotiations with international partners Europe, Russia, Japan and Canada in the early 1990s in order to build a truly international space station. This project was first announced in 1993 and was called Space Station Alpha. It was planned to combine the proposed space stations of all participating space agencies: NASA's Space Station Freedom, Russia's Mir-2 (the successor to the Mir Space Station, the core of which is now Zvezda) and ESA's Columbus that was planned to be a stand-alone spacelab.

 

The first section, the Zarya Functional Cargo Block, was put in orbit in November 1998 on a Russian Proton rocket. Two further pieces (the Unity Module and Zvezda service module) were added before the first crew, Expedition 1, was sent. Expedition 1 docked to the ISS on November 2, 2000, and consisted of U.S. astronaut William Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev.

 

The assembly of the International Space Station is a major aerospace engineering endeavor. When assembly is complete the ISS will have a pressurized volume of approximately 1,000 cubic meters. Assembly began in November 1998 with the launch of Zarya -- the first ISS module -- on a Proton rocket, and as of 2007 assembly is on-going.

 

Major ISS Systems Power supply:

 

Main article: Electrical system of the International Space Station

The source of electrical power for the ISS is the sun: light is converted into electricity through the use of solar panels. Before assembly flight 4A (shuttle mission STS-97, November 30, 2000) the only power source was the Russian solar panels attached to the Zarya and Zvezda modules: the Russian segment of the station uses 28 volts dc (like the Shuttle). In the rest of the station, electricity is provided by the solar cells attached to the truss at a voltage ranging from 130 to 180 volts dc. The power is then stabilized and distributed at 160 volts dc and then converted to the user-required 124 volts dc. Power can be shared between the two segments of the station using converters, and this feature is essential since the cancellation of the Russian Science Power Platform: the Russian segment will depend on the U.S. built solar arrays for power supply.

 

Using a high-voltage (130 to 160 volts) distribution line in the so-called U.S. part of the station led to smaller power lines and thus weight savings.

 

The solar array normally tracks the sun to maximize the amount of solar power. In the fully-complete configuration, the solar arrays track the sun in each orbit by rotating the alpha gimbal; while the beta gimbal adjusts for the angle of the sun from the orbital plane. (However, until the main truss structure was brought up, the arrays were in a temporary position perpendicular to the final orientation, and in this configuration, as shown in the image to the right, the beta gimbal was used for the main solar tracking.) Another slightly different tracking option, Night Glider mode, can be used to reduce the drag slightly by orienting the solar arrays edgewise to the velocity vector.

 

Life support:

 

The ISS Environmental Control and Life Support System provides or controls elements such as atmospheric pressure, oxygen levels, water, and fire extinguishing, among other things. The Elektron system generates oxygen aboard the station. The highest priority for the life support system is the ISS atmosphere, but the system also collects, processes, and stores waste and water produced and used by the crew. For example, the system recycles fluid from the sink, shower, urine, and condensation. Activated charcoal filters are the primary method for removing byproducts of human metabolism from the air.

 

Attitude control:

 

The attitude (orientation) of the station is maintained by either of two mechanisms. Normally, a system using several control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) keeps the station oriented, i.e. with Destiny forward of Unity, the P truss on the port side and Pirs on the earth-facing (nadir) side. When the CMG system becomes saturated, it can lose its ability to control station attitude. If this happens, the Russian Attitude Control System can take over, using thrusters to maintain station attitude and allowing the CMG system to desaturate. This has happened automatically as a safety measure, as happened for example during Expedition 10. When a shuttle orbiter is docked to the station, it can also be used to maintain station attitude. This procedure was used during STS-117 as the S3/S4 truss was being installed.

 

Altitude conrol:

 

The ISS is maintained at an orbit from a minimum altitude limit of 278 km to a maximum limit of 460 km. The normal maximum limit is 425 km to allow Soyuz rendezvous missions. Because ISS is constantly falling due to minute atmospheric drag and gravity gradient effects, it needs to be boosted to a higher altitude multiple times per year. A graph of altitude over time shows that it drifts down almost 2.5 km per month. The boosting can be performed by 2 boosters on the Zvezda module, a docked Space Shuttle, or by a Progress resupply vessel and takes approximately 2 orbits (3 hours) in which it is boosted several kilometers higher.<ref name="nasa.gov-iss-environment" /> While it is being built the altitude is relatively low so that it is easier to fly the Space Shuttle with its big payloads to the space station. Scientific researchOne of the main goals of the ISS is to provide a place to conduct experiments that require one or more of the unusual conditions present on the station. The main fields of research include biology (including biomedical research and biotechnology), physics (including fluid physics, materials science, and quantum physics), astronomy (including cosmology), and meteorology.

 

The 2005 NASA Authorization Act designated the U.S segment of the International Space Station as a national laboratory with a goal to increase the utilization of the ISS by other Federal entities and the private sector. As of 2007, little experimentation other than the study of the long-term effects of microgravity on humans has taken place. With four new research modules set to arrive at the ISS by 2010, however, more specialized research is expected to begin.

 

Columbus will be one of the most prominent research laboratories when it is completed.Scientific ISS modules

 

The Destiny Laboratory Module is the main research facility currently aboard the ISS. Produced by NASA and launched in February 2001, it is a research facility for general experiments. The Columbus module is another research facility, though it was designed by the ESA for the ISS. Its purpose is to facilitate scientific experiments and is set to be launched into space with the STS-122 shuttle launch on December 6, 2007. It should provide a generic laboratory as well as ones specifically designed for biology, biomedical research, and fluid physics. There are also a number of planned expansions that will be implemented to study quantum physics and cosmology. The Japanese Experiment Module, also known as Kibō, is scheduled to be in space after the STS-127 launch in or around January, 2009. It is being developed by JAXA in order to function as an observatory and to measure various astronomical data.

 

The ExPRESS Logistics Carrier, developed by NASA, is set to be launched for the ISS with the STS-129 mission, which is expected to take place no earlier than September 11, 2009.[16] It will allow experiments to be deployed and conducted in the vacuum of space and will provide the necessary electricity and computing to locally process data from experiments. The Multipurpose Laboratory Module, created by the RKA, is expected to launch for the ISS in late 2009. It will supply the proper resources for general microgravity experiments.

A couple of planned research modules have been cancelled, including the Centrifuge Accommodations Module (used to produce varying levels of artificial gravity) and the Russian Research Module (used for general experimentation). Several planned experiments, such as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, have been cancelled as well.

 

Areas of research:

 

There are a number of plans to study biology on the ISS. One goal is to improve our understanding of the effect of long-term space exposure on the human body. Subjects such as muscle atrophy, bone loss, and fluid shifts are studied with the intention to utilize this data so space colonization and lengthy space travel can become feasible. The effect of near-weightlessness on evolution, development and growth, and the internal processes of plants and animals are also studied. In response to recent data suggesting that microgravity enables the growth of three-dimensional human body-like tissues and that unusual protein crystals can be formed in space, NASA has indicated a desire to investigate these phenomena.

 

NASA would also like to study prominent problems in physics. The physics of fluids in microgravity are not completely understood, and researchers would like to be able to accurately model fluids in the future. Additionally, since fluids in space can be combined nearly completely regardless of their relative weights, there is some interest in investigating the combination of fluids that would not mix well on Earth. By examining reactions that are slowed down by low gravity and temperatures, scientists also hope to gain new insight concerning states of matter (specifically in regards to superconductivity).

 

Additionally, researchers hope to examine combustion in the presence of less gravity than on Earth. Any findings involving the efficiency of the burning or the creation of byproducts could improve the process of energy production, which would be of economic and environmental interest. Scientists plan to use the ISS to examine aerosols, ozone, water vapor, and oxides in Earth's atmosphere as well as cosmic rays, cosmic dust, anti-matter, and dark matter in the Universe.

 

The long-term goals of this research are to develop the technology necessary for human-based space and planetary exploration and colonization (including life support systems, safety precautions, environmental monitoring in space, etc.), new ways to treat diseases, more efficient methods of producing materials, more accurate measurements that would be impossible to achieve on Earth, and a more complete understanding of the Universe.

 

Future of the ISS:

 

NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin says the International Space Station has a role to play as NASA moves forward with a new focus for the manned space program, which is to go out beyond Earth orbit for purposes of human exploration and scientific discovery. "The International Space Station is now a stepping stone on the way," says Griffin, "rather than being the end of the line." He says ISS crews not only will continue to learn how to live and work in space but will learn how to build hardware that can survive and function for the years required to make the round-trip voyage from Earth to Mars. Major incidents 2003 Columbia disaster.

 

After the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1 2003, and the later two and a half year suspension of the U.S. Space Shuttle program, followed by problems with resuming flight operations in 2005, there was some uncertainty over the future of the ISS until 2006. Between the Columbia disaster and the resumption of Shuttle launches, crew exchanges were carried out solely using the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Starting with Expedition 7, two-astronaut caretaker crews were launched in contrast to the previously launched crews of three. Because the ISS had not been visited by a shuttle for an extended period, a larger than planned amount of waste accumulated, temporarily hindering station operations in 2004. However Progress transports and the STS-114 shuttle flight took care of this problem.

 

2006 Smoke problem:

 

On September 18 2006, the Expedition 13 crew activated a smoke alarm in the Russian segment of the International Space Station when fumes from one of the three oxygen generators triggered momentary fear about a possible fire. Flight engineer Jeffrey Williams reported an unusual smell, but officials said there was no fire and the crew was not in any danger.

 

The crew initially reported smoke in the cabin, as well as a smell. It was later found to be caused by a leak of potassium hydroxide from an oxygen vent. The equipment was turned off. Potassium hydroxide is odorless and the smell reported by Williams more likely was associated with an overheated rubber gasket in the Elektron system.

 

In any case, the station's ventilation system was shut down to prevent the spread of smoke or contaminants through the rest of the lab complex. A charcoal air filter was put in place to help scrub the atmosphere of any lingering potassium hydroxide fumes. The space station's program manager said the crew never donned gas masks, but as a precaution put on surgical gloves and masks to prevent contact with any contaminants.

 

On November 2 2006 the payload brought by the Russian Progress M-58 allowed the crew to repair the Elektron using spare parts.

 

2007 Computer failure:

 

On 14 June 2007 during Expedition 15 and on flight day 7 of STS-117's visit to ISS, a computer malfunction on the Russian segments at 06:30 UTC left the station without thrusters, oxygen generation, carbon dioxide scrubber, and other environmental control systems, which caused temperatures to rise. A successful restart of the computers resulted in a false fire alarm which awakened the crew at 11:43 UTC. The two computer systems (command and navigation) are each composed of three computers. Each computer is referred to as a Lane.

 

By 15 June the primary Russian computers were back online and talking to the US side of the station by bypassing a circuit. Secondary systems were still offline and work would be needed. Without the computer that controls the oxygen levels, the station had only 56 days of oxygen available.

 

By the afternoon of 16 June, ISS's program manager Michael Suffredini confirmed that all six computers governing command and navigation systems, including two thought to have failed, for Russian segments of the station were back online and would be tested within the next day or two. The cooling system was the first system brought back online. NASA suggested that the overcurrent protection circuits designed to safeguard each computer from power spikes were at fault and may have been tripped due to increased interference, or "noise," from the station's plasma environment related to the addition of massive new starboard trusses and solar arrays. Troubleshooting of the failure by the ISS crew, however, eventually found that the root cause was condensation inside the electrical connectors, leading to a short-circuit which triggered the “power off” command line leading to all three of the redundant processing units. This is a concern, because the ESA uses the same computer systems, supplied by EADS Astrium Space Transportation. For the Columbus Laboratory Module and the Automated Transfer Vehicle. However, with the root cause understood, means are now being implemented to avoid the problem in the future.

 

Visiting spacecraft:

 

Computer rendering of Rocketplane-Kistler K-1 approaching ISSAmerican (NASA) Space Shuttle - resupply vehicle, assembly and logistics flights and crew rotation (to be retired in 2010)

 

Russian (Roskosmos) Soyuz spacecraft - crew rotation and emergency evacuation, replaced every 6 months

 

Russian (Roskosmos) Progress spacecraft - resupply vehicle

European (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) ISS resupply spacecraft (January 2008)

 

Japanese (JAXA) H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) resupply vehicle for Kibo module (scheduled for 2009)

 

Planned:

 

American (NASA) Orion for possible crew rotation and as resupply transporter (officially scheduled for 2014)

 

Proposed;

 

SpaceX Dragon for NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (Scheduled for 2009)

Rocketplane Kistler K-1 Vehicle for NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (Scheduled for 2009)

 

Russian (Roskosmos) Space Shuttle Kliper for possible crew rotation and as resupply transporter (scheduled for 2012)

 

European-Russian Crew Space Transportation System (Soyuz-derived) crew rotation and resupply spacecraft (scheduled for 2014)

 

Expeditions:

 

All permanent station crews are named "Expedition N", where N is sequentially increased after each expedition. Expeditions (aka Increments) have an average duration of half a year.

The International Space Station is the most-visited spacecraft in the history of space flight. As of September 11, 2006, it has had 159 (non-distinct) visitors. Mir had 137 (non-distinct) visitors (See Space station). The number of distinct visitors of the ISS is 124

Cover page of the Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement signed on January 28, 1998.

The legal structure that regulates the space station is multi-layered. The primary layer establishing obligations and rights between the ISS partners is the Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), an international treaty signed on January 28 1998 by fifteen governments involved in the Space Station project. The ISS consists of the United States, Canada, Japan, the Russian Federation, and eleven Member States of the European Space Agency (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). Article 1 outlines its

purpose.

 

This Agreement is a long term international co-operative framework on the basis of genuine partnership, for the detailed design, development, operation, and utilisation of a permanently inhabited civil Space Station for peaceful purposes, in accordance with international law.[28]

The IGA sets the stage for a second layer of agreements between the partners referred to as 'Memoranda of Understanding' (MOUs), of which four exist between NASA and each of the four other partners. There are no MOUs between ESA, Roskosmos, CSA and JAXA due to the fact that NASA is the designated manager of the ISS. The MOUs are used to describe the roles and responsibilities of the partners in more detail.

A third layer consists of bartered contractual agreements or the trading of the partners' rights and duties, including the 2005 commercial framework agreement between NASA and Roskosmos that sets forth the terms and conditions under which NASA purchases seats on Soyuz crew transporters and cargo capacity on unmanned Progress transporters.

A fourth legal layer of agreements implements and supplements the four MOUs further. Notably among them is the ISS code of conduct, setting out criminal jurisdiction, anti-harassment and certain other behavior rules for ISS crewmembers.

 

Utilization:

 

There is no fixed percentage of ownership for the whole space station. Rather Article 5 of the IGA sets forth that each partner shall retain jurisdiction and control over the elements it registers and over personnel in or on the Space Station who are its nationals. Therefore, for each ISS module only one partner retains sole ownership. Still, the agreements to use the space station facilities are more complex.

 

The three planned Russian segments Zvezda, the Multipurpose Laboratory Module and the Russian Research Modules are made and owned by Russia, which, as of today, also retains its current and prospective usage (Zarya, although constructed and launched by Russia, has been paid for and is officially owned by NASA). In order to use the Russian parts of the station, the partners use bilateral agreements (third and fourth layer of the above outlined legal structure). The rest of the station, (the U.S., the European and Japanese pressurized modules as well as the truss and solar panel structure and the two robotic arms) has been agreed to be utilized as follows

 

Costs:

 

The ISS has been, as of today, far more expensive than originally anticipated. The ESA estimates the overall cost from the start of the project in the late 1980s to the prospective end in 2010 to be in the region of $130 billion (€100 billion).

 

Giving a precise cost estimate for the ISS is, however, not straightforward; it is, for instance, hard to determine which costs should actually be contributed to the ISS program or how the Russian contribution should be measured, as the Russian space agency runs at considerably lower USD costs than the other partners.

 

NASA:

 

NASA's budget projections currently see an end to ISS funding in 2017 in order to free funds for the Vision for Space Exploration.The overall majority of costs for NASA are incurred by flight operations and expenses for the overall management of the ISS. Costs for initially building the U.S. portion of the ISS modules and external structure on the ground and construction in space as well as crew and supply flights to the ISS do account for far less than the general operating costs (see annual budget allocation below).

NASA does not include the basic Space Shuttle program costs in the expenses incurred for the ISS program, despite the fact that the Space Shuttle has been nearly exclusively used for ISS construction and supply flights since December 1998.

 

NASA's 2007 budget request lists costs for the ISS (without Shuttle costs) as $25.6 billion for the years 1994 to 2005.[31] For each of 2005 and 2006 about $1.7 to 1.8 billion are allocated to the ISS program. The annual expenses will increase until 2010 when they will reach $2.3 billion and should then stay at the same level, however inflation-adjusted, until 2016, the defined end of the program. NASA has allocated between $300 and 500 million for program shutdown costs in 2017.

2005 ISS budget allocation

NASA allocates about 125 million US dollars annually to EVAs.The $1.8 billion expensed in 2005.

 

Development of new hardware: $70 million were allocated to core development, for instance development of systems like navigation, data support or environmental.

Spacecraft Operations: $800 million consisting of $125 million for each of software, extravehicular activity systems, and logistics and maintenance. An additional $150 million is spent on flight, avionics and crew systems. The rest of $250 million goes to overall ISS management.

 

Launch and Mission operations: Although the Shuttle launch costs are not considered part of the ISS budget, mission and mission integration ($300 million), medical support ($25 million) and Shuttle launch site processing ($125 million) is within the ISS budget.

Operations Program Integration: $350 million was spent on maintaining and sustaining U.S. flight and ground hardware and software to ensure integrity of the ISS design and the continuous, safe operability.

 

ISS cargo/crew: $140 million was spent for purchase of supplies, cargo and crew capability for Progress and Soyuz flights.

 

Shuttle costs as part of ISS costs:

 

The only non-ISS related Shuttle flight between 2006 and 2010 will be a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission in 2008.Only costs for mission and mission integration and launch site processing for the 33 ISS-related Shuttle flights are included in NASA's ISS program costs. Basic costs of the Shuttle program are, as mentioned above, not considered part of the overall ISS costs by NASA, because the Shuttle program is considered an independent program aside from the ISS. Since December 1998 the Shuttle has, however, been used nearly exclusively for ISS flights (since the first ISS flight in December 1998, until December 2006 only 5 flights out of 25 flights have not been to the ISS, and only the planned Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission (see STS-125) in 2008 will not be ISS-related out of 14 planned missions until the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2010).

 

Shuttle program costs during ISS operations from 1999 to 2005 (disregarding the first ISS flight in December 1998) have amounted to approximately $24 billion (1999: $3,028.0 million, 2000: $3,011.2 million, 2001: $3,125.7 million, 2002: $3,278.8 million, 2003: $3,252.8 million, 2004: $3,945.0 million, 2005: $4,319.2 million). In order to derive the ISS-related costs, expenses for non-ISS flights need to be subtracted, which amount to 20% of the total or about $5 billion. For the years 2006-2011 NASA projects another $20.5 billion in Space Shuttle program costs (2006: $4,777.5 million, 2007: $4,056.7 million, 2008: $4,087.3 million, 2009: $3,794.8 million, 2010: $3,651.1 million and 2011: $146.7 million). If the Hubble servicing mission is excluded from those costs, ISS-related costs will be approximately $19 billion for Shuttle flights from 2006 until 2011. In total, ISS-related Space Shuttle program costs will therefore be approximately $38 billion.

 

Overall ISS costs for NASA;

 

Assuming NASA's projections of average costs of $2.5 billion from 2011 to 2016 and the end of spending money on the ISS in 2017 (about $300-500 million) after shutdown in 2016 are correct, the overall ISS project costs for NASA from the announcement of the program in 1993 to its end will be about $53 billion (25.6 billion for the years 1994-2005 and about 27 to 28 billion for the years 2006-2017).

 

There have also been considerable costs for designing Space Station Freedom in the 1980s and early 1990s, before the ISS program started in 1993. Plans of Space Station Freedom were reused for the International Space Station.

 

To sum up, although the actual costs NASA views as connected to the ISS are only half of the $100 billion figure often cited in the media, if combined with basic program costs for the Shuttle and the design of the ISS' precursor project Space Station Freedom, the costs reach $100 billion for NASA alone.

 

ESA;

 

ESA calculates that its contribution over the 30 year lifetime of the project will be €8 billion.The costs for the Columbus Laboratory total more than €1 billion already, costs for ATV development total several hundred million and considering that each Ariane 5 launch costs around €150 million, each ATV launch will incur considerable costs as well. In addition ESA has constructed a ground control station in the South of Germany in order to control the Columbus Laboratory.

 

JAXA:

 

The development of the Kibo Laboratory, JAXA's main contribution to the ISS, has cost about 325 billion yen (about $2.8 billion)[34] In the year 2005, JAXA allocated about 40 billion yen (about 350 million USD) to the ISS program.[35] The annual running costs for Kibo will total around $350 to 400 million. In addition JAXA has committed itself to develop and launch the HTV-Transporter, for which development costs total nearly $1 billion. In total, over the 24 year lifespan of the ISS program, JAXA will contribute well over $10 billion to the

ISS program.

 

Roskosmos:

 

A considerable part of the Russian Space Agency's budget is used for the ISS. Since 1998 there have been over two dozen Soyuz and Progress flights, the primary crew and cargo transporters since 2003. The question of how much Russia spends on the station (measured in USD), is, however, not easy to answer. The two modules currently in orbit are derivatives of the Mir program and therefore development costs are much lower than for other modules. In addition, the exchange rate between ruble and USD is not adequately giving a real comparison to what the costs for Russia really are.

 

CSA:

 

Canada, whose main contribution to the ISS is the Canadarm2, estimates that through the last 20 years it has contributed about C$1.4 billion to the ISS. Criticism The ISS and NASA have been the targets of varied criticism over the years. Critics contend that the time and money spent on the ISS could be better spent on other projects -- whether they be robotic spacecraft missions, space exploration, investigations of problems here on Earth, or just tax savings. Some critics, like Bob Park, argue that very little scientific research was convincingly planned for the ISS in the first place. They also argue that the primary feature of a space-based laboratory is its microgravity environment, which can usually be studied more cheaply with a vomit comet -- that is, an aircraft which flies in parabolic arcs.

The (cancelled) ISS Centrifuge Accommodations Module.Two of the most ambitious ISS projects to date—the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and the Centrifuge Accommodations Module—have both been cancelled due to the prohibitive costs NASA faces in simply completing the ISS. As a result, the research done on the ISS is generally limited to experiments which do not require any specialized apparatus. For example, in the first half of 2007, ISS research dealt primarily with human biological responses to being in space, covering topics like kidney stones, circadian rhythm, and the effects of cosmic rays on the nervous system. Critics tend to believe that this sort of research is of little practical value, since space exploration is today almost universally done by robots.

Other critics have attacked the ISS on some technical design grounds:

Jeff Foust argued that the ISS requires too much maintenance, especially by risky, expensive EVAs.

 

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific has mentioned that its orbit is rather highly inclined, which makes Russian launches cheaper, but US launches more expensive.

 

This was intended as a design point, to encourage Russian involvement with the ISS—and Russian involvement saved the project from abandonment in the wake of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster—but the choice may have increased the costs of completing the ISS substantially.

 

In response to some of these criticisms, advocates of manned space exploration say that criticism of the ISS project is short-sighted, and that manned space research and exploration have produced billions of dollars' worth of tangible benefits to people on Earth. Jerome Schnee estimates that the indirect economic return from spin-offs of human space exploration has been many times the initial public investment.[43] However, this can be a rather contentious point: a review of the claims by the Federation of American Scientists argued that NASA's rate of return from spinoffs is actually very low, except for aeronautics work that has led to aircraft sales.

 

Critics also say that NASA is often casually credited with "spin-offs" (such as Velcro and portable computers) that were developed independently for other reasons. NASA maintains a list of spin-offs from the construction of the ISS, as well as from work performed on the ISS. However, NASA's official list is much narrower and more arcane than dramatic narratives of billions of dollars of spin-offs.

 

It is therefore debatable whether the ISS, as distinct from the wider space program, will be a major contributor to society. Some advocates argue that apart from its scientific value, it is an important example of international cooperation. Others claim that the ISS is an asset that, if properly leveraged, could allow more economical manned Lunar and Mars missions. Either way, advocates argue that it misses the point to expect a hard financial return from the ISS; rather, it is intended as part of a general expansion of spaceflight capabilities.

Sightings Due to the size of the International Space Station, and particularly the large reflective area offered by its solar panels, ground based observation of the station is possible with the naked eye; indeed, it is one of the brightest naked-eye objects in the sky on such occasions. Since the station is in low earth orbit, and the sun angle and observer locations also need to coincide, it is only visible for brief periods of time.

 

NASA provides data on forthcoming opportunities for viewing the ISS (and other objects) via their Sightings web page, and so does the European Space Agency. Miscellaneous

Yuri Malenchenko was the first person to be married in space.Space tourism and weddings

As of 2007 there have been five space tourists to the ISS, each spending around US$25 million; they all went there aboard Russian supply missions. There has also been a space wedding when cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko on the station married Ekaterina Dmitrieva, who was in Texas.

 

Golf Shot Around The World was an event in which, on an EVA, a special golf ball, equipped with a tracking device, was hit from the station and sent into its own low Earth orbit for a fee paid by a Canadian golf equipment manufacturer to the Russian Space Agency. The task was supposed to be performed on Expedition 13, but the event was postponed, and took place on Expedition 14.

 

Microgravity;

 

At the ISS altitude, the gravity from the Earth is still 88% of that at sea level. The state of weightlessness is a result of the fact that the ISS is in constant free fall, which according to the equivalence principle is indiscernible from being in a state of zero gravity. However, due to the drag resulting from the residual atmosphere, vibratory acceleration due to mechanical systems and the crew on board the ISS, orbital corrections by the on-board gyroscopes or thrusters, and the spatial separation from the real centre of mass of the ISS, the environment on the station is often described as microgravity, with a level of gravity on the order of 2 to 1000 millionths of g (the value varies with the frequency of the disturbance; the low value occurs at frequencies below 0.1 Hz, the higher value at frequencies of 100 Hz or more).

 

Time zone:

 

The ISS uses Greenwich mean time (GMT) to regulate its onboard day. This is roughly equidistant between its two control centres in Houston and Moscow. The windows are covered at "night" to give the impression of darkness since it experiences 16 sunrises/sunsets a day. See also List of International Space Station visitors

List of ISS spacewalks performed from the ISS or visiting spacecraft

List of manned spaceflights to the ISS for a comprehensive chronological list of all manned spacecraft that have visited the ISS, including the spacecraft's respective crews

List of unmanned spaceflights to the ISS — Progress supply flights and unmanned automatic docking space station modules.

Atlantis gets Airborne

Atlantis is Go

Atlantis Roars off on Hubble Chase

05.11.09 

 

 

George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator:

Sound suppression water system armed. T-10 ... nine ... eight ... seven ... six …five ... four … three … two … one …and liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis, the final visit to enhance the vision of Hubble into the deepest grandeur of our universe.

Gregory H. Johnson, Capcom:

Bypass across the board, Scooter. No action.

Kyle Herring/NASA Ascent Commentator:

Houston now controlling Atlantis on its way. Atlantis on its way. All three engines now throttling down as the area begins, as the vehicle passes through the area of maximum dynamic pressure.

Gregory H. Johnson, Capcom:
Atlantis, Houston, no action on the MPSB2 out P.

Scott Altman/STS-125 Commander:
Houston, we copy. No action.

Gregory H. Johnson, Capcom:
Atlantis, go at throttle up.

Scott Altman/STS-125 Commander:
Houston, Atlantis copies. Go at throttle up.

Kyle Herring/NASA Ascent Commentator:
Seven miles in altitude. Altitude 49,000 feet. Flight control team discussing the minor transients that were seen at liftoff. All three engines are in good shape.

The vehicle is headed downrange. All three hydraulic systems in good shape, as are the fuel cells. Atlantis is 18 miles in altitude, downrange 23 miles, already traveling 2,500 mph.

Approaching staging, the burnout of the twin solid rocket boosters, which have been burning fuel at a rate of about 11,000 pounds per second. Solid rocket boosters have done their job.

Atlantis is continuing in its due easterly course to catch up with the Hubble Space Telescope one last time.

Mission Web Coverage

 

May 08, 2009 

 

NASA Announces STS-125 Shuttle Prelaunch and Mission Web Coverage

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A prelaunch webcast, live blogs, podcast, pictures and videos will highlight NASA's Web coverage of space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service and upgrade NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis is scheduled to lift off Monday, May 11, at 2:01 p.m. EDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA will provide online updates at:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

A webcast May 10 at noon will start the in-depth online coverage of the mission. Host Damon Talley of NASA's Digital Learning Network and correspondent Rebecca Sprague will preview the mission and examine the remarkable history and discoveries the Hubble observatory has made. Astrophysicist Mario Livio of the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute will discuss the telescope's impact beyond the scientific community.

A blog will provide launch countdown updates beginning at 8:30 a.m. May 11. Originating from the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the blog is the definitive Internet source for information leading up to launch.

During the STS-125 mission, visitors to NASA's shuttle Web site can read about the astronauts' progress and watch their five spacewalks live. Also, updates will be provided to the NASA News Twitter feed. To access the feed, visit:

http://www.twitter.com/nasa

As Atlantis' flight wraps up, NASA will update a blog detailing the spacecraft's return to Earth.

 

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NASA Releases Interactive 3-D Views of Space Station, New Mars Rover

News release: 2009-080                  May 7, 2009

NASA Releases Interactive 3-D Views of Space Station, New Mars Rover

PASADENA, Calif.  -- NASA released an interactive, 3-D photographic collection of internal and
external views of the International Space Station and a model of the next Mars rover on
Thursday, May 7.

NASA and Microsoft's Virtual Earth team developed the online experience with hundreds of
photographs and Microsoft's photo imaging technology called Photosynth. Using a click-and-
drag interface, viewers can zoom in to see details of the space station's modules and solar
arrays or zoom out for a more global view of the complex.

"Photosynth brings the public closer to our spaceflight equipment and hardware," said Bill
Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. "The space station pictures are not simulations or graphic representations but actual
images taken recently by astronauts while in orbit. Although you're not flying 220 miles above the
Earth at 17,500 miles an hour, it allows you to navigate and view amazing details of the real
station as though you were there."

The software uses photographs from standard digital cameras to construct a 3-D view that can
be navigated and explored online.

"This stunning collection of photographs using Microsoft's Photosynth interactive 3-D imaging
technology provides people around the world with an exciting new way to explore the space
station and learn about NASA's upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission," said S. Pete
Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "This collaboration
with Microsoft offers the public the opportunity to participate in future exploration using this
innovative technology."

The Mars rover imagery gives viewers an opportunity to preview the hardware of NASA's Mars
Science Laboratory, currently being assembled for launch to the Red Planet in 2011.

"We are making this enhanced viewing experience available from the Mars Science Laboratory
project because we're eager for the public to share in the excitement that's building for this
mission," said Fuk Li, manager of NASA's Mars Exploration Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

NASA's Photosynth collection can be viewed at http://www.nasa.gov/photosynth .

The NASA images also can be viewed on Microsoft's Virtual Earth Web site at
http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth .

While roaming through different components of the station, the public also can join in a
scavenger hunt. NASA has a list of items that can be found in the Photosynth collection. These
items include a station crew patch, a spacesuit and a bell that is traditionally used to announce
the arrival of a visiting spacecraft. Clues to help in the hunt will be posted on NASA's Facebook
page and @NASA on Twitter. To access these sites, visit http://www.nasa.gov/collaborate .

NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus took the internal images of the space station during the 129
days she lived aboard the complex. She photographed the station's exterior while aboard the
space shuttle Discovery, which flew her back to Earth in March. The rover images were taken of
a full-scale model in a Mars-simulation testing area at JPL. Photosynth has multiple potential
benefits for NASA. Engineers can use it to examine hardware, and astronauts can use it for
space station familiarization training.

Photosynth software allows the combination of up to thousands of regular digital photos of a
scene to present a detailed 3-D model of a subject, giving viewers the sensation of smoothly
gliding around the scene from every angle. A collection can be constructed using photos from a
single source or multiple sources. The NASA Photosynth collection also includes shuttle
Endeavour preparing for its STS-118 mission in August 2008.

For more information about the space station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station .  For more
information about the Mars Science Laboratory, visit http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .  JPL, a
division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science
Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

                                                 -end-

Space Shuttle to be Launched on May 11th

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
 
April 30, 2009 

 

NASA Gives 'Go' for Space Shuttle Launch on May 11

 

 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA managers completed a review Thursday of space shuttle Atlantis' readiness for flight and selected an official launch date for the STS-125 mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. Commander Scott Altman and his six crewmates are scheduled to lift off at 2:01 p.m. EDT, May 11, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Atlantis' launch date was announced following Thursday's Flight Readiness Review. During the meeting, top NASA and contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the mission and determined the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready for flight.

Atlantis' 11-day mission will include five spacewalks to refurbish Hubble with state-of-the-art science instruments. After the astronauts' visit, the telescope's capabilities will be expanded and its lifetime extended through at least 2014.

Commander Altman will be joined on the mission by Pilot Gregory C. Johnson and Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel, Michael Good, John Grunsfeld, Megan McArthur and Mike Massimino. The spacewalkers are Feustel, Good, Grunsfeld and Massimino. McArthur is the flight engineer and lead for robotic arm operations.

For more information about the STS-125 crew and its mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

- end -