Explore 100,000 Stars From the Comfort of Your Browser

Okay, if there was a question before this certainly shows how much of a geek I am. Here is a quick Stellar Map of the Milky Way that you can explore from within your browser. I could get lost in this for awhile that’s for sure. Run the site through your Google Chrome Browser for best results. 100,000 stars…

Film recreation of Soviet cosmonaut Gagarin's historic spaceflight to be shown off next month -- Engadget

There is a lot of rich history that evolved during the race to space. The Soviet’s of course won that race but we were the first to the moon. An Italian astronaut, Paolo Nespoli, who is currently on the space station, has directed a video recording commemorating the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight into space on April 12th. This movie will be made available on YouTube for free

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Captured Lunar Eclipse a real work of art

We have so many things that we can experience that brings awe into our lives and the movement of the Earth and Moon and their relationship to the Sun makes some beautiful art. William Castleman took a series of time lapse photographs and put them together into movie from the hour plus long Lunar Eclipse that occurred during this year’s Winter Solstice.

I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

William Castleman’s vimeo blog.

SPACEX'S DRAGON SPACECRAFT RE-ENTERS SUCCESSFULLY

Lands on Target in the Pacific Ocean, 500 miles Off of the Coast of Southern California
SpaceX/NASA to Hold Post-Mission Press Conference at 3:30 PM EST

Cape Canaveral, FL – Today, SpaceX became the first commercial company in history to re-enter a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit.

SpaceX and NASA will have a post-mission press conference at 3:30 PM EST at the press site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Participants include:

• Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO (via satellite from Mission Control in Hawthorne, CA)
• Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President
• Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Manager

SpaceX launched its Dragon spacecraft into low-Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:43 AM EST from Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral.

The Dragon spacecraft orbited the Earth at speeds greater than 17,000 miles per hour, reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, and landed in the Pacific Ocean shortly after 2:00 PM EST.

This marks the first time a commercial company has successfully recovered a spacecraft reentering from low-Earth orbit. It is a feat performed by only six nations or government agencies: the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, and the European Space Agency.

It is also the first flight under NASA’s COTS program to develop commercial supply services to the International Space Station. After the Space Shuttle retires, SpaceX will fly at least 12 missions to carry cargo to and from the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Resupply Services contract for NASA. The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft were designed to one day carry astronauts; both the COTS and CRS missions will yield valuable flight experience toward this goal.

View the press kit: cots1-201012.pdf

I have always been fascinated with space and space exploration. Whether it is real-life or fiction I can’t get enough of it. And here we have the first non-governmental, commercial company to successfully recover a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit. Welcome in a new era. I can’t wait to see what this company and others will achieve over the next few years.

What has NASA been doing for the 10 Years?

My friend Tom sent me this link from USA Today showing the evolution of the International Space Station over the last 9 years. This is an interesting flash video to watch even if you are only a little interested in Space, the next frontier!

The list on the right is active and gives you more information about each of the stages/units in the make-up of the International Space Station. I don’t know too many people who aren’t interested in what NASA is doing and what their next steps are. I think that it is amazing that they  have been able to coordinate with so many countries to develop what they have so far. It is going to be interesting to see what is going to happen in the next 9-10 years.