Space Station

Shuttle Replica Departs Kennedy for Ocean Voyage to Houston on a Barge – Enterprise is Next

May 24, 2012

A high fidelity replica of a NASA Space Shuttle orbiter has set off today, May 24, on an ocean going voyage by barge for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. This trip by the Shuttle replica gives a taste of what’s to come for the upcoming barge journey by Space Shuttle Enterprise around the [...]

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Tally Ho Dragon!

May 24, 2012

Early today, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully flew near the International Space Station and completed two big tests of its in-space capabilities, all critical tests for tomorrow’s big event: the first berthing of a commercial spacecraft to the ISS. As Dragon approached, astronaut Don Pettit spied the spacecraft first. “I think I can see it now,” [...]

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Launch Images of the SpaceX Dragon’s First Flight to the Space Station

May 23, 2012
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How Plasma Technology From Space Will Save Our Lives

May 23, 2012

It might sound obvious to anyone who’s ever played a video game in the past thirty years, but plasma has been found to be very effective at destroying some truly dangerous beasts. Except in this case, the battlefields aren’t space bases, they’re hospitals… and the creatures aren’t CGI alien monsters, they’re very real — and [...]

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SpaceX Dragon Spies Earth

May 23, 2012

All systems are functioning nominally aboard the Earth orbiting Dragon cargo carrier launched yesterday, May 22, atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX has released the picture above of the Earth as seen by a thermal imager that Dragon will use in its upcoming approach to the International Space Station.

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A Look Inside the Dragon Capsule, Now in Orbit

May 22, 2012

SpaceX has released this automated image, a first look inside the Dragon spacecraft in orbit after the successful launch early this morning. What is all on board the Dragon? The payload includes over 300 kilograms of food, crew clothing and pantry items, a NanoRacks Module of student experiments, and a laptop computer. On board the [...]

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Awesome Videos: Cheer Along with SpaceX Employees

May 22, 2012

If these videos don’t get your heart pumping or your eyes misting, I don’t know what will. Let’s all cheer along with SpaceX on their incredible accomplishment today! As has been said on Twitter, these are the people who really powered today’s launch. More below:

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Spectacular SpaceX Launch Opens Historic New Era in Spaceflight

May 22, 2012

Following this morning’s (May 22) spectacular nighttime blastoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, human exploration of the cosmos embarked on a radical new course that will never be the same again. The long awaited liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 3:44 a.m. lit up the Florida Space Coast for miles around as [...]

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Repaired SpaceX Rocket Set for 2nd Blastoff Try on May 22

May 21, 2012

SpaceX engineers have successfully replaced a faulty valve in a first stage engine that triggered a launch abort on May 19 and that now clears the way for a second launch attempt of the firms Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft in the overnight hours early on Tuesday, May 22. Litfoff of the Falcon 9/Dragon [...]

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Why Are Astronauts Weightless in Space?

May 21, 2012

Most of our regular readers understand why astronauts and objects appear to float around on the International Space Station, but there are some misconceptions and preconceived notions out there on this topic that aren’t true and don’t represent a very good understanding of physics! This video provides an entertaining look at some of the ideas [...]

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SpaceX Engineers Race to Repair Engines for May 22 Launch

May 20, 2012

Today’s (May 19) historic launch of the first ever privately developed rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS) was very surprisingly aborted at the last second when an engine glitch forced a dramatic shutdown of the Falcon 9 rockets 1st stage firing already in progress and as the NASA launch commentator was in the [...]

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SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Poised at Pad to Open New Space Era

May 19, 2012

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is now poised at the launch pad and set to open a completely new era in spaceflight. Hopes are sky high that Saturday mornings Falcon 9 launch represents the dawn of the commercial era in spaceflight akin to the startup of the commercial airline industry early in the 20th Century [...]

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Launch Day Timeline for SpaceX’s Dragon

May 18, 2012

Saturday morning’s launch window for SpaceX’s historic test flight to the International Space Station lasts just one second. Company President Gwynne Shotwell predicted they have “better than a 50-50 shot on whether we lift off tomorrow,” she said at a press conference today, adding, “If we lift off, we’ll get to orbit.” Shotwell and NASA [...]

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SpaceX says All Systems GO for Historic May 19 Blast Off to ISS

May 18, 2012

In less than 48 hours, SpaceX is primed to make history and launch the first ever commercial rocket and spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday morning on May 19. Following today’s Launch Readiness Review (LRR), SpaceX was just given the official “GO” from NASA to proceed with the blastoff of the Falcon [...]

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New Crew Arrives at Space Station

May 17, 2012

The crew aboard the International Space Station is now back to a compliment of six. New Expedition 31 crew members Gennady Padalka, Joe Acaba and Sergei Revin docked and have now been welcomed on board the ISS after the hatches opened Thursday at 08:10 UTC (4:10 a.m. EDT). They docked to the Poisk module at [...]

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Rocket Man Elton John Sings Greetings to the ISS

May 15, 2012

Sir Elton John sent a special message to the ‘rocket men’ on board the International Space Station by singing his classic song “Rocket Man.” The video was recorded on April 17, 40 years to the day after his single Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time) was released around the [...]

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Expedition 31 Blasts Off!

May 15, 2012

After a six-week delay, the crew of Expedition 31 successfully launched aboard a Soyuz TMA-04M rocket on Tuesday, May 15 at 0301 GMT (11:01 p.m. EDT May 14) from Russia’s historic Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in the steppes of Kazakhstan. The rocket will deliver NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin to [...]

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Big Sunspot; Little Chinese Space Station

May 13, 2012

Astrophot0grapher extraordinaire Thierry Legault has made a name for himself with his images of spacecraft transiting across the face of the Sun. He has done it again by capturing the first-ever image of the Tiangong-1 space station transiting the Sun. The monster sunspot, AR 1476 absolutely dwarfs the Chinese space station (inside the circle), but [...]

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Endeavour Unplugged – Last Picture Show from the Flight Deck of a Living Space Shuttle Orbiter

May 12, 2012

At 9:58 a.m. this morning (Friday May 11), technicians unplugged Space Shuttle Endeavour marking the final power down of NASA’s last powered orbiter and termination of all power flowing to the flight deck. Today, Endeavour was euthanized. The flight deck went dark for the last time as Endeavour is being prepped inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 [...]

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SpaceX Dragon Launch Slides to May 19

May 8, 2012

SpaceX has announced that the upcoming launch of the firms Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft on the commercial COTS 2 mission has been postponed to a new target date of no earlier than May 19 with a backup launch date of May 22. On May 19, the Falcon 9 rocket would lift off on its [...]

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