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Space station passes sparkle

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South Texas Stargazing

The San Antonio Astronomical Association invites you to participate in all of its public astronomy events. It's free, and you can view the calendar at http://www.sanantonioastronomy.org.

With only a few nights left before we say adios to August, let's bid adieu with a couple of nice International Space Station passes.

Look toward the northwest at 9:05 Tuesday night for a bright, moving speck of light.

The ISS will fly just behind the bowl of the Big Dipper and then arc high overhead to an easy spot near the bright star Vega a little after 9:07 p.m.

This is space station viewing at its best since the pass takes it to a vanishing point above the moon at 9:09 p.m.

While you're out admiring the station, check out Mars and Saturn with Spica in the southwest. This dynamic trio has done a very cool dance of cosmic musical chairs the past few weeks with Mars confusing the game with some sort of Chinese fire drill.

Mars just can't seem to stay put and has been moving between Saturn and Spica like a restless preschooler.

Mars currently sits high above and left of Saturn while Spica rests calmly below.

The last night of August treats us to another ISS pass at 8:57 p.m.

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Space station passes sparkle

Sammy Hagar LIVE Space Station #5 @ America’s Cup Pavilion Sep 7, 2013 – Video

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Sammy Hagar LIVE Space Station #5 @ America #39;s Cup Pavilion Sep 7, 2013
The last stop on Sammy Hagar #39;s 4 Decades of Rock Tour. SETLIST Space Station #5 Rock The Nation Rock Candy Bad Motor Scooter Make It Last Red I Can #39;t Drive 5...

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Sammy Hagar LIVE Space Station #5 @ America's Cup Pavilion Sep 7, 2013 - Video

Space station crewmembers land after 166-day missio

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Published: 4:33PM Wednesday September 11, 2013 Source: Reuters

Two Russian cosmonauts and a US astronaut left the International Space Station on Tuesday, leaving a skeleton crew to maintain the outpost until replacements arrive later this month.

Outgoing station commander Pavel Vinogradov, NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin bid their crewmates good-bye and climbed aboard their Russian Soyuz capsule to prepare for a 3.5-hour flight back to Earth after 166 days in orbit.

"The time has gone by so incredibly fast," Cassidy said during an inflight interview last week.

"It'll be really sad to leave. This is an incredible experience ... but by the same token, I'm ready to go. It's time for some other people to come ... and I'm really excited to go back and see my friends and family."

Before leaving, Vinogradov, a veteran of three spaceflights, transferred command of the $100 billion station, a project of 15 nations, to fellow cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, who remains aboard with Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA's Karen Nyberg.

"We had a great environment here, very friendly and very warm," Vinogradov said through a translator in a ceremony on NASA TV on Monday marking the change in command.

Strapped inside their Soyuz capsule, Vinogradov, Cassidy and Misurkin pulled away from the station's Poisk module at 7:35 p.m. EDT/1135 GMT as the two ships sailed 415 km above Mongolia, said NASA mission commentator Brandi Dean.

Three hours later, the Soyuz hit the top of Earth's atmosphere, giving the men their first sampling of gravity since their launch on March 28.

The final leg of the journey took place under parachutes, with the capsule finally coming to a stop on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 10:58 p.m. EDT/0258 GMT, marking the end of the Expedition 36 mission.

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Space station crewmembers land after 166-day missio

After nearly six months in space space station, astronauts return to Earth

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Expedition 36 to the International Space Station landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, after spending 166 days in space.

Three crew members of Expedition 36 to the International Space Station touched down in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, after spending 166 days in space.

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In a video from NASA, American astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian astronauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin exchange farewell hugs with the Expedition 37 crew as the group prepares tode-board the station (in space, hugs look like a slow-motion take of two would-be lion kings lunging into combat).

The departing team then nips into the Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft, the hatch is screwed closed, and the craft undocks from the Poisk module on the International Space Station at 6:36 P.M CST.

Once undocked, the craft is seen drifting slowly away from the ISS before performing a de-orbit burn as it heads for Earth. In the final phase of the trip home, the capsule makes a parachuted landing, on its side, on Kazakhstans steppes at 10:58 CST.

The entire trip took just over four hours, about an hour less than a commercial flight between California and New York.

After spending almost half a year in space, the astronauts are not yet prepared for Earths gravity. Instead, the group is helped into reclining chairs and hoisted into an inflatable medical tent, where researchers will conduct biomedical tests on their adaptation back to gravity, in addition to the standard medical examination. Mr.Vinogradov, who at 60-years-old is the oldest person ever to land in a Soyuz vehicle, is exempt from some of the experiments.

ISS Expeditions are composed of two teams of three astronauts. The team that landed Wednesday arrived on the ISS on March 28 to join Expedition 35, which had kicked off about two weeks earlier with the arrival of three other astronauts. Expedition 36 began on May 14, when Expedition 35s original team of three left the station.

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After nearly six months in space space station, astronauts return to Earth

Space Station Crew Lands, Wrapping Up 166 Days in Space

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Expedition 36 crew members Chris Cassidy of NASA and Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin of the Russian Federal Space Agency have returned to Earth from the International Space Station, landing safely in Kazakhstan at 10:58 p.m. EDT Tuesday (8:58 a.m. Sept. 11, Kazakh time).

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO )

Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin, who launched to the station March 29, spent 166 days in space. They completed 2,656 orbits of Earth and traveled more than 70 million miles. Vinogradov conducted one spacewalk, bringing his career total to seven spacewalks with an accumulated time of 38 hours, 25 minutes. Misurkin conducted three spacewalks for a total of 20 hours, 1 minute. Cassidy conducted three spacewalks, bringing his career total to six with an accumulated time of 31 hours, 14 minutes.

During their time aboard the orbiting laboratory, the crew saw the arrival of the European ATV-4cargo spacecraft, the Japanese HTV-4 cargo spacecraft and two Russian Progress resupply crafts. The crew members also worked on hundreds of research experiments and science investigations that will have benefits for future human spaceflight and life on Earth.

Vinogradov now has logged 547 days in space on three spaceflights. This puts him 10th on the all-time endurance list. Cassidy has accumulated 182 days in space on his two spaceflights. This was Misurkin's first flight, for a total of 166 days.

For information on the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

RELEASE: 13-281

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Space Station Crew Lands, Wrapping Up 166 Days in Space

Soyuz capsule brings 3 back to Earth from space station

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Updated 11:16 PM ET

Closing out a 166-day stay in orbit, two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut strapped into a Russian Soyuz spacecraft Tuesday, undocked from the International Space Station and fell back to Earth, settling to a jarring rocket-assisted touchdown on the steppe of Kazakhstan.

Suspended below a large red and white-striped parachute, the Soyuz TMA-08M descent module completed the final stages of the flight within easy view of Russian recovery forces and long-range tracking cameras, setting down at 10:58 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 8:58 a.m. Wednesday local time).

Recovery crews and flight surgeons quickly rushed to the scorched descent module to help commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Alexander Misurkin and NASA SEAL-turned-astronaut Christopher Cassidy out of the cramped spacecraft.

After initial medical checks and satellite phone calls to family and friends, the station fliers were to be moved into a nearby medical tent for more extensive checks as they begin readjusting to gravity after five-and-a-half months in the weightless environment of space.

Cassidy planned to participate in a new project to help researchers get a better idea of how long-duration spaceflight might affect astronauts on eventual flights to Mars.

"This will be the first opportunity where we ask the crew members post landing to do some exercises," said Mike Suffredini, space station program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The idea is to get a better idea of what hurdles a Mars crew might face after a year-long flight without a medical team standing by to help out.

"And the question is, what is their condition, what can we expect them to do?" Suffredini said. "And it will kind of lead our thinking on how the first few days of any exploration mission would take place to make sure the crew doesn't hurt themselves in the process of landing and getting themselves ready to operate on the surface of a foreign planet."

As a former Navy SEAL and veteran of a 2009 shuttle flight, Cassidy is more familiar than most with physical fitness. But he said he expects vestibular difficulty -- poor balance and coordination -- to be more of an issue than physical strength.

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Soyuz capsule brings 3 back to Earth from space station

Soyuz undocks from space station

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Updated 11:16 PM ET

Closing out a 166-day stay in orbit, two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut strapped into a Russian Soyuz spacecraft Tuesday, undocked from the International Space Station and fell back to Earth, settling to a jarring rocket-assisted touchdown on the steppe of Kazakhstan.

Suspended below a large red and white-striped parachute, the Soyuz TMA-08M descent module completed the final stages of the flight within easy view of Russian recovery forces and long-range tracking cameras, setting down at 10:58 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 8:58 a.m. Wednesday local time).

Recovery crews and flight surgeons quickly rushed to the scorched descent module to help commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Alexander Misurkin and NASA SEAL-turned-astronaut Christopher Cassidy out of the cramped spacecraft.

After initial medical checks and satellite phone calls to family and friends, the station fliers were to be moved into a nearby medical tent for more extensive checks as they begin readjusting to gravity after five-and-a-half months in the weightless environment of space.

Cassidy planned to participate in a new project to help researchers get a better idea of how long-duration spaceflight might affect astronauts on eventual flights to Mars.

"This will be the first opportunity where we ask the crew members post landing to do some exercises," said Mike Suffredini, space station program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The idea is to get a better idea of what hurdles a Mars crew might face after a year-long flight without a medical team standing by to help out.

"And the question is, what is their condition, what can we expect them to do?" Suffredini said. "And it will kind of lead our thinking on how the first few days of any exploration mission would take place to make sure the crew doesn't hurt themselves in the process of landing and getting themselves ready to operate on the surface of a foreign planet."

As a former Navy SEAL and veteran of a 2009 shuttle flight, Cassidy is more familiar than most with physical fitness. But he said he expects vestibular difficulty -- poor balance and coordination -- to be more of an issue than physical strength.

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Soyuz undocks from space station

Sammy Hagar (with Dave Meniketti) Space Station No 5, Rock the Nation – Lincoln, CA – 9-5-2013 – Video

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Sammy Hagar (with Dave Meniketti) Space Station No 5, Rock the Nation - Lincoln, CA - 9-5-2013
Who: Sammy Hagar (with Dave Meniketti) What Space Station No. 5, Rock The Nation Venue: Thunder Valley Casino and Resort Where: Lincoln, California When: Sep...

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Sammy Hagar (with Dave Meniketti) Space Station No 5, Rock the Nation - Lincoln, CA - 9-5-2013 - Video


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