Browsing Archive: June, 2011
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Tuesday, June 28, 2011,
 Fire acts differently in space than on Earth. Sandra Olson, an aerospace
engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center, demonstrates just how
differently in her art. This artwork is comprised of multiple overlays
of three separate microgravity flame images. Each image is of flame
spread over cellulose
paper in a spacecraft ventilation flow in microgravity. The different
colors represent different chemical reactions within the flame. The blue
areas are caused by chemiluminescence (light produ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Tuesday, June 28, 2011,
 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa may not be
Superman, but in the microgravity of space, he can fly (well, almost).
Actually, Furukawa is the flight engineer for Expedition 28 on the
International Space Station. As part of the planned duties for this
mission, the
station crew continue installing infrastructure upgrades to the
station’s command and control computers and its communications systems.
The station crew also assisted the STS-134 shuttle mission an... Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Tuesday, June 28, 2011,
 Astronauts John Young and Gus Grissom are pictured during water egress
training in a large indoor pool at Ellington Air Force Base, Texas, in
this image from 1965. Young is seated on top of the Gemini capsule while
Grissom is in the water with a life raft. Image Credit:
NASA Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Tuesday, June 28, 2011,
 NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully completed its second-closest
encounter with Saturn's icy moon Helene on June 18, 2011, beaming down
raw images of the small moon. At closest approach, Cassini flew within
4,330 miles (6,968 kilometers) of Helene's surface. It was the
second closest approach to Helene of the entire mission. Image credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Tuesday, June 21, 2011,
 In this image from November 2010, the U.S. Air Force's ACAT F-16D flew
through Sierra Nevada canyons and past peaks during ground collision
avoidance test flights. The ACAT, which stands for Automatic Collision
Avoidance Technology, aircraft took off from Edwards Air Force Base on a
flight
originating from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. Researchers at
Dryden are working with the Air Force Research Laboratory in the ACAT
Fighter Risk Reduction Project to develop collision avoida... Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Tuesday, June 21, 2011,
 Taken during mobility testing on June 3, 2011, this image is of the
Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, inside the Spacecraft Assembly
Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Preparations continue for shipping the rover to NASA's Kennedy Space
Center in Florida in June
and for its fall 2011 launch. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Tuesday, June 21, 2011,
 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... Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Tuesday, June 21, 2011,
 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. 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.
Construction of the stand began in 2007, with completion and activation
scheduled for 2013. The A-3 stand is the first large test structure... Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Monday, June 13, 2011,
 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. 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
Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Monday, June 13, 2011,
 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 Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Monday, June 13, 2011,
 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 Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Monday, June 13, 2011,
 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... Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Monday, June 13, 2011,
 Launch pad engineers at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan are
dwarfed by the gantry mechanisms at the base of the Soyuz TMA-02M rocket
following its rollout to the pad on Sunday, June 5, 2011. The rocket is
being prepared for launch June 8 to carry the crew of Expedition 28 to
the
International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi
Continue reading ...
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Monday, June 13, 2011,
 The Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft is seen at the launch pad after being
raised into vertical position on Sunday, June 5, 2011, at the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft with
Expedition 28 Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov of Russia, NASA Flight
Engineer Mike
Fossum and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer
Satoshi Furukawa is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8, 2011. Image Credit:
NASA/Carla Cioffi Continue reading ...
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