Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

The Perfect Gift for Every Space Enthusiast: the Year in Space Calendar 2017

I love it when December rolls around every year because I know it’s time to order the Year In Space Calendars! This is our most-recommended holiday gift every year and for 2017, these calendars – whether it’s the gigantic wall calendar or the spiral-bound desk calendar — are full of amazing color images, daily space facts, and historical references. These calendars even show you where you can look in the sky for all the best astronomical sights.

These calendars are the perfect gift every space enthusiast will enjoy all year.

A close look at a page from the 2017 Year in Space Wall Calendar. Courtesy Steve Cariddi.
A close look at a page from the 2017 Year in Space Wall Calendar. Courtesy Steve Cariddi.

The gorgeous wall calendar has over 120 crisp color images and is larger, more lavishly illustrated, and packed with more information than any other space-themed wall calendar. It’s a huge 16? x 22? when hanging up.

The Year In Space calendars take you on a year-long guided tour of the Universe, providing in-depth info on human space flight, planetary exploration, and deep sky wonders. You’ll even see Universe Today featured in these calendars!

The Year in Space calendars normally sell for $19.95, but Universe Today readers can buy the calendar for only $14.95 or less (using the “Internet” discount), with additional discounts that appear during checkout if you buy more than 1 copy at a time. Check out all the details here.

A close look at the 2017 Year in Space Wall Calendar. Courtesy Steve Cariddi.
A close look at the 2017 Year in Space Wall Calendar. Courtesy Steve Cariddi.

Other features of the Year In Space calendar:
– Background info and fun facts
– A sky summary of where to find naked-eye planets
– Space history dates
– Major holidays (U.S. and Canada)
– Daily Moon phases
– A mini-biography of famous astronomer, scientist, or astronaut each month

The 2017 Year in Space desk calendar. Image courtesy Steve Cariddi/Year in Space.
The 2017 Year in Space desk calendar. Image courtesy Steve Cariddi/Year in Space.

The 136-Page Desk Calendar is available at a similar discounts. The desk calendar also includes a Monthly Sky Summary, which is a handy month-by-month list of what’s visible in the night sky, such as conjunctions, meteor showers, eclipses, planet visibility, and more. Plus there’s information on planetary exploration, including a comprehensive look at what to expect from the many planetary missions taking place in the year ahead.

You can preview and place your orders at the Year in Space Calendar website. Because all shipping is handled through Amazon this year, currently calendars can only ship to US addresses.

Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

How Do Astronauts Celebrate Thanksgiving On The Space Station?

The Expedition 28 crew on the International Space Station celebrates after a fresh food delivery in 2011. Credit: NASA

As Americans get ready for turkey feasts and other Thanksgiving goodies today, let’s take a few moments to think about the crew of six people on board the International Space Station. Two Americans, a European and three Russians are working there now and will be taking most of today (Nov. 26) off for the holiday.

What the heck will they eat? The NASA interview above provides some clues, including a surprise about leftovers. More details below the jump.

NASA, which is responsible for supplying the three astronauts using the American segment of the space station, generally allocates four pounds of food per crew member per day (including packaging), according to Vickie Kloeris, food system manager for the station. Astronauts can also bring a little bit of bonus food with them for special treats. The food isn’t sent up as meal plans, but as different kinds (meats, vegetables, and the like) that the astronauts can assemble at will.

“We don’t have a set-aside meal for Thanksgiving. but they do have all these products available to choose from,” Kloeris said in the interview. “Crew members do know that they’re going to be on orbit during the holidays, [so] they often put special items in their bonus containers with the holidays in mind.”

Kloreis said she couldn’t reveal what Expedition 42 has in its grab boxes, but in the past astronauts have brought up items such as cranberry sauce or icing/frosting to put on cookies in orbit.

Below you can see a recent tweet from former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield concerning a typical meal for astronauts, which he put up with a Thanksgiving reference. Whatever the crew is having up there, we wish them a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Space: The Last Minute Holiday Gift Idea Frontier

I’m a last minute shopper, and luckily there are a lot of spacey gifts and greetings that you can still take advantage of. For example in the greeting card department, the Hubble Holiday Cards are fabulous, with loads of imagery from everyone’s favorite space telescope — such as the one above — that can be printed out and sent as cards, or it’s easy to nab one of their holiday greeting images to send via email, as I have done in the past! If you are looking for e-greeting cards, the European Space Agency has a great collection of images that can be sent to anyone in your email list.

What else?

Here’s a great deal and a way to support astronomy around the world: Astronomers Without Borders have recently added some great astronomy gear and goodies to their store for the holidays — and it’s a win-win situation for everyone, as many of these items are donations from manufacturers who support AWB, so they get 100% of proceeds!

If you aren’t familiar with AWB, they help support astronomy programs around the world, supplying resources and support for astronomy outreach. So, whether you’re buying a gift for someone else or for yourself, you can feel great about a purchase from the AWB store knowing it will be supporting great astronomy programs.

Hubble Star Cards are gorgeous, large playing cards for any age, now available in a high-quality, stunningly beautiful printed card set.

The cards are a just a bit larger than a normal card deck, at 3 inches by 5×5 inches, so the beautiful Hubble images are bigger and better. They sell for $24.95, but Universe Today readers can get 15% off using UNIVERSE as a coupon code. Check them out at the Hubblestarcards.com website.

The game includes 60 cards categorized by planets, planetary nebulae, supernovae remnants, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies, and possible games include War, Go Fish, Sorting, Distances and Matching. Although targeted for students 8 and older, preschoolers have played many of the games just by using the amazing imagery as a guide.

Also, we’ve been promoting the Year in Space 2013 Wall Calendars, and they truly are fabulous. The Wall Calendar was recently named “Science Geek Gift of the Year” over at Alan Boyle’s MSNBC’s Cosmic Log, — where you can see some other gift ideas.

As a special bonus, Universe Today readers pay only $12.95 per copy (or less), with free U.S. shipping and discounted International shipping. Again, visit Year in Space 2013 Wall Calendars,

While you are probably past the date for shipments on any of the above merchandise arriving before Christmas, a little preview of what is on the way could be placed in a stocking.