Record Setting Mission Ends March 1 2016

 

After spending a total of 340 days aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko  returned to Earth March 1 at 10:38pm, aboard their Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft.

 

You can read more by clicking HERE  

And of course NASA.GOV  

or NASA.GOV/tv

SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft Returns Home

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft returned home this past weekend loaded with  more than 3,500 pounds of NASA cargo and science samples from the International Space Station.

The Dragon cargo craft splashed down at 3:05 p.m. EDT Sunday, in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 300 miles west of Baja California.

Some of the experiments and data that were part of Dragon's cargo were science samples that are critical to improving our knowledge of how space affects humans who live and work there for long durations,  data that could aid in better understanding the decreased effectiveness of antibiotics during spaceflight while also improving antibiotic development on Earth.  Plus many others.

For more information, check out the NASA.GOV sight HERE

Below is an earlier water landing of the Dragon cargo module.

Latest ISS Astronauts Return Safely

Three astronauts returned to Earth, aboard a Soyuz capsule, safely after a marathon five-month mission.  The crew-members  landed Tuesday (5/14/13) on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, American Thomas Marshburn and Russian Roman Romanenko landed as planned without incident.  

Hadfield has managed to garner some notice in the entertainment industry as well with his recent rendition of Major Tom which was filmed and recorded aboard the station. ( The five-minute video posted Sunday drew a salute from Bowie's official Facebook page: "It's possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created.")  Hadfield, from Milton Ontario is also Canada's first professional astronaut to live aboard the ISS as well as the first Canadian  spacecraft commander (he was commander of the ISS while aboard, passing command Sunday before he returned to Earth).  

There are still three crew members aboard the ISS.  They will be joined by another three astronauts in a couple of weeks.

   

Should the Moon Be Protected Like a National Park?

Now here is something I have really thought a lot about in the past: What steps should the US take to preserve it's Apollo sites on the Moon? There is a fascinating discussion in this Dvice blog article. Here is the way they posit the question:

• the six Apollo landing sites with their landing stages and leftover equipment and astronaut footprints may be hallowed ground to NASA and the U.S., but other moon-bound visitors may not feel the same.

I mean I flinched even when Apollo astronauts cut stuff off the old Surveyor landers and that had only been there for less than what 2 years or so before they got there?  So you can understand that I start getting nervous when considering so old grey hair humpin around on 11's site picking up mementos to take home.....ewwwwwwwwww!

As it was pointed out:

• Does it makes sense to be so sentimental when all we've taken is one small step toward the rest of the stars?

Via The New York Times

Moon Astronauts May Have a GPSesk System When They Return

Gizmodo reports that the next astronauts to visit the moon will have one travel guide that the previous visitors didn't. A Global Positioning system. The new positioning system being developed by Ohio State researcher Ron Li will "rely on signals from a set of sensors including lunar beacons, stereo cameras, and orbital imaging sensors" to simulate GPS. NASA has awarded a $1.2 million grant to develop the LASOIS system over the next three years, in hopes that it will help the astronauts explore the lunar surface with a greater degree of confidence and be able to range further afield.
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China says moon pictures not faked from NASA

Wow, you got to love this! As most of you know, China launched its first lunar probe, the Chang'e 1, in October. After a sucessful launch, the Chinese space agency released a photo featuring a patch of grey moon surface with the requisite amount of craters.....or so it would seem. Astute Chinese internet users soon cried foul though. It seems the photo that was released is almost a carbon copy of a photo released by NASA years ago! What makes this even weirder is that the Chinese photo has what appears to be photoshopped craters added in. (no I am not making this up! LOL)

The Chinese scientist insist that the photo is genuine and that the reason that the photos are alike is that the probe's camera was pointed in the same area on the Moon. As for the extra crater well, China says that The American photo was not of significant resolution to resolve the smaller structures.

Click here for the complete article

photo Reuters

Google offering 30m to first private moon landing

BBC News reports that search giant Google is offering a $30m prize pot to private firms that land a robot rover on the Moon. To claim the cash, any craft reaching the lunar surface must perform a series of tasks such as shoot video and roam for specific distances. The top prize of $20m will be given to the private firm that soft lands a rover on the Moon which then completes a series of objectives. These include roaming the lunar surface for at least 500m and gathering a specific set of images, video and data. A prize of $5m will be given to the second firm that manages to reach the Moon with a rover that roams the surface and shoots some pictures. Google said it would give bonuses of $5m if the rovers complete other objectives such as travelling further on the Moon, taking pictures of Apollo hardware, finding water-ice and surviving the freezing lunar night.

Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post

China's 1st lunar probe ready for launch

China has finished assembling its first lunar satellite probe after three years of research and development, Luan Enjie, chief commander of the country's lunar exploration program, told Xinhua Tuesday. The carrier rocket, a Long March 3-A, which will be used to push the orbiter, Chang'e I, into the outer space, is currently under testing," Luan said on the sidelines of the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body. The orbiter will provide 3D images of the moon's surface, probe the distribution of 14 usable elements on the moon, study lunar microwaves and estimate the thickness of the moon's soil.

posted by Shaun a. Saunders