Soccer in Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace....

Ok here we go.  Less than a minute of soccer weirdness aboard the ISS between US and Germany astronauts.





From the ARTICLE :
NASA's Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, who hails from Germany, showed off their moves in a soccer exhibition aboard the orbiting lab recently.

NASA Stll Has Plans for a Manned Asteroid Mission

As you can see in this short video, NASA still hopes to be able to put astronauts on an asteroid in the not to distant future. Plans are to possibly put astronauts on the surface of an asteroid some time in the 2020s.

To view the water tank experiments click HERE

As you can see, people are still training in simulated environment for this extremely difficult mission.

You can read the complete CNN tech article HERE

China Has A What?!!

Yep, my little motorcycle dude hit me with another today.  Check this out....China has a space station.
Yeah you read that right - on June 13th just two days after launch, a Chinese Shenzhou 10 space capsule carrying a crew of three docked with the nation's orbiting Tiangong 1 space module .

According to the Space.com article the crew consisted of :

•  Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping — the second female Chinese astronaut to fly in space 
  

Now for more DAMN I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! stuff..... This was China's fifth manned mission (oh come on!)  This is the last of three missions to test space based docking procedures.   The Tiangong 1 has been orbiting Earth since Sept. 2011. Its schedule calls for it to remain operational for another three months.  This crew is the second to dock with the module.  

China plans to take what they learn here and apply it to a larger station in 2020 which eventually have 3 interconnected modules.

Here is the link to the complete space.com article

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.

   

May 14th - Skylab Anniversary

May 14  of this year 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of America's first space station.  massing 169,950 pounds, Skylab was launched atop a modified Saturn V rocket. 

Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979.  Due to a constantly descending orbit, Skylab entered the atmosphere and crashed over parts of Australia.  

The space station almost didn't make it.  During launch, a micro-meteor shield detached and  damaged one of the large solar arrays.  The shield also helped maintain temps inside the lab and without most of its power systems  could not maintain comfortable living conditions or electrical systems for life support and to run experiments.  

Skylab hosted three crewed missions during it's active career. 

The first manned mission was Skylab 2 SL-2 (SLM-1). The crew arrived on station at 5/25/73. This mission lasted 28 days. On board were Pete Conrad,  Paul Weitz and Joseph Kerwin.    

The second mission was Skylab 3 SL-3.  The crew was aboard 7/28/73 and the mission ran for  59 days.  Skylab mission 3's crew was  Alan Bean,  Jack Lousma and  Owen Garriott.  

The final manned mission was Skylab 4 on 11/16/73.  This was the longest running mission lasting     84 days.  4's crew was Gerald Carr, William Pogue and  Edward Gibson.  

Plans were to continue manned mission to Skylab, using the new Shuttle to move the crippled station to a higher orbit and repair the launch damage.  However due to delays, the Shuttle was not available at the needed time and Skylab entered the atmosphere, crashing many parts on Australia.     

Improptu Space Walk on the ISS, a First for NASA!

Spurred by a recent Ammonia leak, astronauts aboard the ISS took the uncharacteristic action of instituting an EVA Saturday with the plan of finding the leak that if left unchecked, would leave the station without power in a few short hours. 

Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy, prepped for the walk shortly after the discovered leak on Thursday and exited the station Saturday, proceeded to the source of the leak where they replaced a suspected pump, in a closely scrutinized five plus hour EVA.  

NASA is still unclear as to the cause of the leak so  it remained unclear whether the issue had been entirely resolved.   (note yellow circles in top photo show Ammonia flakes streaming from the unknown leak)

More on the c/net article site

The Shuttle Transport RV

Ever wonder about that shiny RV that ferried Shuttle crew members to the launch pad? Well I found this Youtube video on the Komando news site and thought it would be a hoot to show some of the low key things that went on during launch day.

Feb. 6th Apollo 14 moon mission anniversary

This week in NASA Apollo history? forty years ago (forty people! you feel old yet? ) the Apollo 14 mission visited the moon for only the third time in human history. This mission was notable in that if followed the disastrous mission 13. Alan Shepard of the 1961 Freedom 7 was the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon. This was Shepard's last mission. Not a bad way to go out in my book. Edgar Mitchell not to be up staged took a modified scoop handle and proceeded to javelin throw it. Mitchell an excellent photographer in his own right took some spectacular photographs during the mission. The photo here from the ascent module of the landing module of the L.E.M. is a fine example. The mission collected 93 lb of Moon rock during 9½ hours of E.V.A.

From the Wikipedia As of 2011, Mitchell is the only surviving member of the crew; Roosa died in 1994 and Shepard in 1998 .

Canadian astronaut wannabes winnowed down to 17

The race is drawing to an end. Within weeks, the names of the Canadian Space Agency's next 2 astronauts will be released. The candidates have faced a battery of tests, from emergency management and first aid, to damage control, problem solving, endurance and much more. CSA photo