Homecoming | Futurist Transhuman News Blog

Darkness enshrouded space shuttle Endeavour as it touched down on Runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After 14 days in space, Endeavour's 5.7-million-mile STS-130 mission was completed on orbit 217.

During the STS-130 mission, the crew installed the Tranquility node, a module that provides additional room for crew members and many of the station's life support and environmental control systems. Attached to Tranquility is a cupola that provides a panoramic view of Earth, celestial objects and visiting spacecraft. The module was built in Turin, Italy, by Thales Alenia Space for the European Space Agency. With these improvements, the orbiting laboratory is approximately 90 percent complete.

View my blog's last three great articles....

Fermi Telescope Caps First Year With Glimpse of Space-Time [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Antarctic Airborne Science Mission Nears Mid-Point [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
NASA Awards Education Research Grants to Minority Universities [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
New Celestial Map Gives Directions for GPS [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
NASA Invites Reporters to Tranquility Node Ceremony at Kennedy [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Happy Halloween [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
NASA's Fermi Telescope Detects Gamma-Ray From "Star Factories" in Other Galaxies [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
NASA Announces Advisory Council Chairs and Committee Structure [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
NASA and X Prize Announce Winners of Lunar Lander Challenge [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
MESSENGER Spacecraft Reveals More Hidden Territory on Mercury [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Successful Flight Through Enceladus Plume [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Education Secretary Hosts DC Students for Talk with Space Station [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Operation Ice Bridge Studies Antarctic Sea Ice [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
NASA West Point Welcomes Home One of Their Heroes [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
NASA Spitzer Observes a Chaotic Planetary System [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
X-38 Crew Return Vehicle Finds New Home [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Frost-Covered Phoenix Lander Seen in Winter Images [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Have some faith He is doing his best [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
The Cross [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Spring Bloom in New Zealand Waters [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
NASA Hubble image showcases star birth in M83, the Southern Pinwheel [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Take Me Out to the Ballpark - On Mars! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Poisk Poised for Live NASA TV Space Station Docking [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Ceremony Reset for ESA Handover of Tranquility to NASA [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
NASA Reproduces a Building Block of Life in Laboratory [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
Now Online: Aeronautics Goes E-Book [Last Updated On: December 12th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 12th, 2009]
Water on the Moon, Drought on Earth: NASA Experts Available for Radio And Podcast Interviews During Major Science Meeting [Last Updated On: December 12th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 12th, 2009]
Launch of NASA's Wise Spacecraft Delayed Until Dec. 14 [Last Updated On: December 12th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 12th, 2009]
Connecticut Students Set for Cosmic Conversation with Space Station Commander [Last Updated On: December 12th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 12th, 2009]
Magnetic Dance of Titan and Saturn To Be Main Attraction during Flyby [Last Updated On: December 12th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 12th, 2009]
Hubble's Deepest View of Universe Unveils Never-Before-Seen Galaxies [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Earth's Moon [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
How do you Make a Helicopter Safer to Fly? You Crash One. [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Physicist Earns Title as Kennedy's Best [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Hubble Unveils Never-Before-Seen Galaxies [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Saturn's Mysterious Hexagon Emerges from Winter Darkness [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Fermi Sees Brightest-Ever Blazar Flare [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Magnetic Power Revealed in Gamma-Ray Burst Jet [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Just 5 Questions: Aerosols [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Hometown Heroes 2009: Astronaut & Terrible Towel Return to Pittsburgh [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Garver Honors Four for Saving the Life of a Fifth at NASA Langley [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Administrator Bolden Speaks at AAIA-WIA Luncheon [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Best (Meteor) Shower of 2009 - No Towel Required [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
NASA Making Government More Accessible With Cutting-Edge Use Of New Media [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Scarce Water, Our Quiet Sun and Space Rocks Among NASA News Highlights at American Geophysical Union Meeting [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Press Credentials Deadlines Set for Next Space Shuttle Flight [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Reddish Dust and Ice Migration Darken Saturn's Moon Iapetus [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Galaxy Collision Switches on Black Hole [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
I’m watching the launch of NASA’s WISE spacecraft [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
SOFIA Aloft [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
Guide to the International Space Station Laboratory Racks Interactive [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2009]
Freezing WISE's Hydrogen [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2009]
Local High School Wins Invention Challenge [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2009]
WISE Ready to Soar Into Space [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2009]
NASA Data Reveal Major Groundwater Loss in California's Heartland [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2009]
NASA Looks for Safer Icing Forecast For Pilots [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2009]
Challenges of Living and Working Aboard the Space Station: NASA Astronaut Nicole Stott Available for TV Interviews [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2009]
NASA Astronaut, Food Scientist Available for Interviews about Holiday Feasts in Space [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2009]
NASA Launches Web Site for Teenagers That Want More Class [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2009]
A Unique Geography -- and Soot and Dust -- Conspire Against Himalayan Glaciers [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2009]
New Study Turns Up the Heat on Soot's Role in Himalayan Warming [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2009]
NASA's WISE Eye on the Universe Begins All-Sky Survey Mission [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2009]
NASA Offers Sound Clips for Radio, Online Newscasters [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
NASA Gets Up-Close Look at Far Corner of the Globe [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
Orion Launch Abort System Attitude Control Motor Test-fired [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
Hubble Finds Smallest Kuiper Belt Object Ever Seen [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
The Dark Side of Carbon [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
R97UYEA6HD8W [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
NASA's AIM Satellite and Models are Unlocking the Secrets of Mysterious "Night-Shining" Clouds [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
Classroom Learning Takes Off with NASA-Funded Education Projects [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
NASA Buys Additional Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motors [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
Searching for New Vaccines and Studying Butterflies in Space; NASA Offers TV Interviews about Latest Space Station Science Research [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
NASA Partners with Saudi Arabia on Moon and Asteroid Research [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
New Results from a Terra-ific Decade in Orbit [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
Deposits in Martian Trough Point to Complex Hydrological Past [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
NASA Outlines Recent Greenhouse Gas Research [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
Unexpected Wheel-Test Results [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
Solar Storms and Radiation Exposure on Commercial Flights [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
Global Digital Elevation Model [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]
Hubble's Festive View of a Grand Star-Forming Region [Last Updated On: December 17th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 17th, 2009]