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Taltos said:
I'm not falling for that again! Last time I stayed up till two in the morning to watch some "fantastic" comet. It was more disappointing than the ampics board.
Click to expand...

at least you didn't get the line that their was an alien mothership behind the comet....
 
SaintPeter said:
Double WOW!

Imagine the weight savings of the oxygen tanks being gone no more.
Click to expand...
Imagine leaving the atmosphere without any oxygen for your retros.
 
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3 astronauts enter Int'l Space Station

MOSCOW, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Three astronauts, including the first Brazilian astronaut Marcus Pontes, entered the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday after their Soyuz spaceship docked with the ISS, the Mission Control outside Moscow announced.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-8 carrying Brazilian Marco Pontes, Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and US astronaut Jeffrey Williams docked automatically with the ISS at 8:19 a.m. Moscow time (0419 GMT) on Saturday after hurtling two days in space. And the crew entered the station at 0509 GMT after a brief checking, with Pontes walking in first, carrying his national flag, with a big smile on the face.

Officials from Russia, the U.S. and Brazil gasped breaths at the Mission Control when the ship was slowly docking with the space station and broke into applause when the contact was successfully made.

"Well, gentlemen, I congratulate you," a Mission Control announcer said.

"I am very happy and grateful that everything went so perfectly," a representative of Brazil's space agency, Raimundo Mussi, said

Vinogradov and Williams will replace Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and U.S. astronaut William McArthur, who have been working on the station since October. During their six-month mission, they are expected to make four spacewalks -- two on the Russian program and two on the U.S. program apart from doing some construction and maintenance work -- and conduct about 50 experiments in space.

During their stay, Vinogradov, the mission's commander, will strike a golf ball with a gold-plated club into a four-year Earth orbit, as a tribute to the golf strokes made by NASA astronaut Alan Shepard on the moon in 1971.

Pontes, 43, Brazil's first astronaut in space, will carry out a series of scientific experiments during his nine-day stay on the orbiting lab. He will do some research in the field of nanotechnology and examine Brazil's surface from space, before returning with the outgoing ISS crew on April 9.

He brought a Brazilian national flag and a Brazilian soccer jersey into the station, hoping it would bring his national soccer team good luck in this summer's World Cup in Germany.

The US-Russian crew will welcome another astronaut from Germany, Thomas Reiter, in July, who will be brought to the ISS by US space shuttle Discovery.

The Russian spacecraft have been shouldering the responsibility for shipping crew and supplies to the ISS since NASA grounded its shuttle fleet after the Columbia shuttle explosion in 2003.
 
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China lays out space exploration plans

Tuesday, April 4, 2006; Posted: 10:41 a.m. EDT (14:41 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A top Chinese space official on Monday described China's ambitious exploration plans, including robotic Moon missions starting next year.

Beyond Moon missions, including a flight to collect and return lunar samples to Earth in 2017, the Chinese space agency plans to develop a nonpolluting launch vehicle into orbit by 2010, said Luo Ge, a vice administrator at the Chinese National Space Administration.

"Space is a high-risk investment," Luo said through a translator at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. "China as a developing country is limited and constrained by its funding for more ambitious programs."

Luo said China's total annual investment in space programs is equivalent to $500 million, but he said this was a rough figure, "not like NASA figures."

NASA's proposed budget for fiscal 2007 is $16.8 billion.

The Chinese space agency envisions a "constellation" of eight satellites to monitor global disasters, and another satellite that would watch the Earth's magnetic fields as a possible predictor of earthquakes, Luo said.

Luo headed a delegation that visited NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and had a discussion with the U.S. space agency's chief, Michael Griffin.

Describing his meeting with Griffin, Luo said he talked about how open the United States was on his first visit in 1980.

"At that time I found the U.S. was very open, and in the 1990s and now, it's the other way around," he said. "I think one country, if it's open, is going to have progress, and if it's closed, then it's going to be left behind."

Luo said that in the 1950s and 1970s, China was closed and had slow development, "but after the 1980s, we have achieved substantial progress and development, so countries should be open."

China's space program has moved ahead in the last three years, including the launch of two human missions, even as the U.S. shuttle program has come to a near-standstill after the fatal 2003 break-up of shuttle Columbia.

Only one shuttle has launched since the Columbia accident, and the same problem of falling debris that led to the Columbia's deadly disintegration recurred on that launch. The next shuttle launch is set for July.

Luo said China has had 46 consecutive successful launches since 1996, including 23 satellites and six Shenzhou spacecraft, which can carry astronauts.

China's Moon exploration program includes a lunar fly-by in 2007, a soft landing in 2012 and a return of lunar samples by 2017, Luo said.

He said China has cooperated on space programs with Europe, Nigeria, Venezuela, Russia and Brazil, among others.

Asked if China was looking for cooperation with the United States and other nations on the international space station, Luo replied, "We have always been interested; we don't have a ticket yet."
 
AURORA SURPRISE: The aurora borealis made a surprise appearance over Michigan yesterday, turning the sky--and the landscape--vivid green. Shawn Malone of Marquette, MI, was awake at 2 a.m. and took this picture from a beach on Lake Superior:

http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/images2006/05apr06/Malone3_strip.jpg

There was no solar flare or CME. So where did these auroras come from? Answer: The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near Earth tilted south on April 5th, opening a crack in Earth's magnetic defenses. Solar wind flowed in and sparked the unexpected display
 
Vote for your favorite Hubble Telescope photo. Vote Here
 
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Space Station Crew, Brazil's 1st Astronaut Land Safely on Earth

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- The 12th crew to live aboard the International Space Station landed safely on Earth today after six months aboard the orbiting outpost, accompanied by Brazil's first astronaut.

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 12 Commander William McArthur, flight engineer Valery Tokarev and Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan at about 7:48 p.m. New York time.

Pontes flew to the station last week with Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeff Williams, who are scheduled to stay aboard the outpost until October. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter is set to join Vinogradov and Williams later this year, giving the crew a third member for the first time since May 2003.

The crew size was reduced to two people after Columbia's destruction, as NASA has relied on smaller Russian spacecraft to carry people and cargo to the outpost. Reiter, of Germany, is scheduled to fly on Discovery, which is currently to take off in July on the second shuttle mission since Columbia was destroyed.

Assembly is also scheduled to resume later this year. Construction has been halted since the destruction of Columbia three years ago and NASA is trying to finish assembly by 2010 to meet commitments to its 15 international partners and comply with President George W. Bush's space strategy.

Seventeen missions are planned before the shuttle is retired in 2010 as called for in President George W. Bush's plan for NASA -- 16 for assembly of the International Space Station and one for servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. Construction is currently scheduled to resume in the second of the next two shuttle flights.
 
LOS ANGELES — Scientists think they have solved the mystery of how planets form around a star born in a violent supernova explosion, saying they have detected for the first time a swirling disk of debris from which planets can rise.

The discovery is surprising because the dusty disk orbiting the pulsar, or dead star, resembles the cloud of gas and dust from which Earth emerged. Scientists say the latest finding should shed light on how planetary systems form.

"It shows that planet formation is really ubiquitous in the universe. It's a very robust process and can happen in all sorts of unexpected environments," said lead researcher Deepto Chakrabarty, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...planet_forming_ap_060407/20060407?hub=SciTech

http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20060407/160_planet_ap_060407.jpg
 
There is an interesting article in the current edition of Scientific American about solar flares. It's a good read.

Here's the teaser off their website.....


The Mysterious Origins of Solar Flares
New observations are beginning to reveal what triggers these huge explosions of the sun's atmosphere
By Gordon D. Holman

In late October and early November 2003 scientists witnessed some of the largest solar flares ever recorded. These massive outpourings of charged particles were obvious on and near Earth--a full 150 million kilometers away from the source. For example, the barrage of particles reaching our neighborhood in space was at times so great that many scientific and communications satellites had to be temporarily shut down. A few suffered permanent damage. Astronauts on the International Space Station were endangered as well and had to take refuge in their facility's relatively well shielded service module. Closer to home, airliners were routed away from high latitudes, where pilots would have encountered problems with radio communications and passengers and crew could have been subjected to worrisome levels of radiation. Also, electrical grids had to be carefully monitored for surges. Despite those efforts, 50,000 residents in southern Sweden briefly lost power.

Fortunately, Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere protect the overwhelming majority of people from the ravages of even the worst solar storms. But society's increasing reliance on technology makes nearly everyone vulnerable to some extent [see "The Fury of Space Storms," by James L. Burch; Scientific American, April 2001]. The greatest potential for damage during a large flare comes from material shot rapidly off the sun's outer atmosphere--coronal mass ejections, in space physicist lingo. Some of these events send huge quantities of ionized gas on a collision course with Earth, as was the case for more than one of the exceptionally large flares that occurred in 2003.... <this is where the teaser stops and they tell you to sign up for their website> or you can pick up a copy at the newstand or subscribe to the magazine.
 
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/146272main_sts1_25_centbn_jw.jpg

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/144437main_sts1_launch_330.jpg

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The Boldest Test Flight in History

Early on the morning of April 12, 1981, two astronauts sat strapped into their seats on the flight deck of Columbia, a radically new spacecraft known as the space shuttle.

John Young, the commander, had already flown in space four times, including a walk on the moon in 1972. Bob Crippen, the pilot, was a Navy test pilot who would go on to command three future shuttle missions. But nothing either man had done or would do was quite like this.

For an entire generation, the space shuttle is NASA. We've watched a parade of firsts -- Sally Ride, Guy Bluford, Kathy Sullivan, John Glenn and others. We've seen astronauts float free, repair Hubble, and -- just last summer -- venture under a shuttle for some unprecedented repair work.

But on that spring morning -- just twenty years to the day since Russian Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space -- all of that was yet to come. America had not launched a human into space in six years, and to that point every manned space flight had followed the same basic design: put a capsule on top of a rocket, strap in the crew, fire the engines and go. After the mission, only the crew capsule -- which wasn't reused -- would return.

Young and Crippen were about to launch in humankind's first re-usable spacecraft. The orbiter, which many people think of as the "shuttle," would launch like a rocket and land like a plane. The two solid rocket boosters that helped push them into space would also be re-used, after being recovered in the ocean. Only the massive external fuel tank would burn up as it fell back to Earth. It was all known as the Space Transportation System; their mission, STS-1.

On a long list of firsts, one stunning fact stands out: it was the first time in history a new spacecraft was launched on its maiden voyage with a crew aboard.

"It wasn't until we got to like a minute to go," said Crippen, "that I turned to John and said, 'Hey, I think we might really do it!'"

Just seconds after 7 a.m., Columbia roared off of Launch Pad 39A and into the Florida sky above NASA's Kennedy Space Center. About eight minutes later, Young and Crippen were doing laps around the Earth at over 17,000 miles an hour.

"When the solids {solid rocket boosters} lit off, there was no doubt you were headed someplace," said Crippen. "It was a nice kick in the pants."

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/144818main2_sts1_crew_330.jpg

Once in orbit, the crew tested the new craft's systems, fired rockets used for changing orbits and changing position, and opened and closed the payload bay doors. The payload bay, which would ultimately be used as a science lab, launch platform, repair shop and docking station, was empty for this mission.

After 36 orbits and almost 55-hours , Young guided the 96-ton Columbia -- the largest, heaviest craft to launch and land to date -- to a perfect touchdown at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Young and Crippen had accomplished more than 130 flight test objectives.

Crippen remembers his commander's elation: "John got out of his seat and he was bouncing around. I was ready to applaud. It was a super moment."

As former NASA Historian Roger Launius wrote on the mission's 20th anniversary, "no other nation on the face of the Earth had the technological capability to build such a sophisticated vehicle during the 1970s. Few could do so today."

The mission demonstrated a host of cutting edge technologies, from the innovative shuttle main engines, to the ceramic tiles designed to prevent overheating, to the advanced digital fly-by-wire control and computer system, adapted by many commercial airplanes. Since STS-1, the shuttle has flown more than a hundred times.

"It is unlike any other thing that we've ever built," said Crippen. "Its capabilities have carried several hundred people into space, it's carried thousands of pounds of payload into space. It gave us Hubble, it gave us Galileo, it gave us Magellan. And it's allowed us to essentially build a space station, although we've got some work still to do on that. So it is something that has been truly amazing and I'm honored to have been a part of it."

Tragically, Columbia and its seven STS-107 crewmembers were lost on Feb. 1, 2003, when the orbiter broke apart on re-entry. Speaking at a memorial service, Crippen eulogized the crew as well as the spacecraft he rode on its maiden voyage.

"Columbia still had a great many missions ahead of her. She along with the crew had her life snuffed out in her prime. Just as her crew has, Columbia has left use quite a legacy ... Hail Columbia. "

Now the shuttle has returned to flight, with new equipment and procedures designed to keep the shuttle and crew safer than ever. As it completes its mission, NASA engineers are drawing on its powerful propulsion elements to build the next generation of spacecraft that will return astronauts to the moon and pave the way for journeys to Mars and beyond.

Someday before the end of the next decade, astronauts will once again strap into a brand new craft, built on the best elements from the shuttle and Apollo. And once again, they will roar into the Florida sky, writing the next chapter in NASA's long history of exploration.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/146273main_sts_1_patch_browse.jpg
 
AURORA WATCH: Last night, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) tilted south, opening a crack in Earth's magnetic defenses. Solar wind poured in and energized a strong (Kp=7) geomagnetic storm.

The full Moon overwhelmed many of the resulting auroras--but not everywhere. In the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of Alaska, Dave Parkhurst took this picture:

http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/images2006/14apr06/Parkhurst1.jpg

"Alhough Alaska is gaining almost 6 minutes of sunlight each day now, a short burst of night still exists and has its surprises," says Parkhurst.
 
SOLAR PROMINENCE: Another fine prominence is dancing over the sun's limb, as shown in this April 18th photo from Harald Paleske of Langendorf, Germany:

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2006/19apr06/Paleske1.jpg

Prominences are clouds of hydrogen held up by solar magnetic force fields. Fuzzy areas in the prominence are the natural fuzziness of clouds. Sharper features trace the magnetic lines of force. Because everything on the sun is so outlandishly big (Earth would fit through the gap in the bottom of the arch) details like these are easily seen through modest solar telescopes. If you have one, take a look.
 
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