Curiosity will be working on the Martian surface as MAVEN orbits overhead taking its own readings. Together with previous exploration missions on and above Mars, the data is drawing a more complete picture of the Red Planet.
The fireball over southern California last night at 7:49 PM PST was a North Taurid. Brighter than the Full Moon, it was caused by a piece of Comet Encke about 2 feet in diameter hitting the atmosphere at 56,000 mph. Information about the fireball was provided by NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) and is the NASA organization responsible for …
Agony in the Philippines Satellite images of Super Typhoon approaching and smashing into the Philippines last week were extremely worrisome. Reports and imagery from the ground have now confirmed that the concern was justified. One of the most intense tropical cyclones ever measured by satellites has left the Philippines in chaos. The Capital Weather Gang […]
35 Soyuz (35S) Undock and Landing: Following the change of command ceremony, Soyuz 35S undocked from the Service Module Aft Port bringing Commander (CDR) Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Parmitano and FE-6 Nyberg back to earth. The undock command, which initiated the opening of the Soyuz vehicle docking hooks was issued at 5:25pm CST with physical …
Russian Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #36: Flight Engineer (FE)-1 Kotov and FE-2 Ryazanskiy completed the EVA in 5 hours 50 min. The following tasks were performed: Olympic Torch Relay Removal of YAKOR Foot Restraint (FR) from Service Module (SM) ПхО. Installation onto the EVA Work Station (VRM) did not occur after the crew experienced orientation issues …
Soyuz Motion Control Test: Commander (CDR) Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Parmitano successfully conducted a Soyuz 35S Motion Control System Test. The test was performed in preparation for their upcoming undocking on Sunday, November 10th at 5:26pm (CST) Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Wireless Access Point (WAP) Installation: FE-3 Hopkins and FE-6 Nyberg completed installation of …
Following their successful “Let It Snow” photo contest, our colleagues at the soon-to-launch Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission are looking for your best photos and videos of rain, sleet, hail, snow and any other precipitation. They describe their “Unique Perspectives” contest this way: There are many ways to view precipitation…We’d like to see weather from […]
We’re one small but important step closer to Mars this morning after the launch team placed MAVEN on the top of the Atlas V rocket that will send the probe to the Red Planet. While most of the Cape Canaveral region was sleeping, a crew drove the MAVEN spacecraft from its processing hangar at Kennedy …
37 Soyuz Launch, Docking and Hatch Opening: Soyuz Commander Tyurin, Mastracchio, and Wakata launched onboard Soyuz 37S last night at 10:14pm CST. Following a successful four-orbit rendezvous, they docked to the Mini-Research Module (MRM)-1 port at 4:27am CST this morning. Once leak checks between the MRM1 and 37S were performed, the hatches were opened at …
Hindus are celebrating Diwali this week. That means cities and towns around the world—but particularly in South Asia—are ablaze with lamps, candles, and firecrackers. It’s also become a tradition (of sorts) to share a colorful image via social media that was supposedly taken by a satellite during Diwali. If that image turns up on your […]
