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Spot Space Station & Cargo Ship Together in Night Sky This Week

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The International Space Station and a European cargo-carrying spacecraft are locked in a cosmic dance, and you can see it all unfold right from your own backyard.

The European Space Agency's bus-size Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4) a space cargo ship loaded with food, rocket fuel and experiments launched toward the space station last Wednesday (June 5). This week, weather permitting, you can see both the station and the ship (named "Albert Einstein") pass overhead.

This is a sight that should easily be visible to almost anyone, even those in brightly lit cities across southern Canada, all of Europe and much of the United States. [See Amazing Night Sky Photos by Stargazers (June 2013)]

The appearance of either the International Space Station or an ATV cargo ship moving across the sky is not unusual. On any clear evening, within a couple of hours of local sunset and with no optical aid, you can usually spot several Earth-orbiting satellites creeping across the sky like moving stars.

Satellites become visible only when they are in sunlight and the observer is in deep twilight or darkness; this usually means shortly after dusk or before dawn.

What makes this weeks prospective passages so interesting is that youll be able to see the ATV-4 gradually "chase down" the space station around the Earth, ultimately catching up and docking with the orbiting outpost. Docking is scheduled for Saturday (June 15) at 9:46 a.m. EDT (1346 GMT).

Both vehicles will appear to travel across the sky along the same path, and the gap between the two will diminish as the week unfolds.

Today (June 10), they are separated by about 42 minutes; by Wednesday, theyll be 36 minutes apart and, by Thursday, 20 minutes apart. But on Friday evening mere hours before docking they will be flying in close tandem with each other.

Resembling a pair of bright "stars," the International Space Station will shimmer brightly and seem to lead the dimmer Albert Einstein across the sky. The space station is, by far, the largest and brightest object currently orbiting the Earth. It shines as brightly as Jupiter and can occasionally even rival Venus in brilliance.

Traveling in their respective orbits at 18,000 mph (29,000 km/h), both should be visible for about one to four minutes as they glide with a steady speed across the sky.

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Spot Space Station & Cargo Ship Together in Night Sky This Week

China marks decade of human spaceflight with 3-person mission to prototype space station

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BEIJING Chinas astronauts have braved the tension of docking with a space station and performed delicate tasks outside their orbiting capsule, but now face a more down-to-earth job that is perhaps equally challenging: Talking to young people about science.

Three Chinese astronauts will take flight this week, on Tuesday if weather permits, aboard a Shenzhou spacecraft to the dock with Chinas Tiangong 1 space lab. On the heels of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfields wildly popular YouTube videos from the International Space Station, the Chinese crew plans to deliver a series of talks to students from aboard the Tiangong.

The lectures come as Chinas human space program enters its second decade, after going from a simple manned flight to space lab link-ups in a series of methodically timed steps in just 10 years. Meanwhile, its American rival appears adrift in search of new missions, lacking in political backing and uninterested in collaborating with China.

China is in space for the long haul. The U.S. ignoring that and refusing to work with China will neither stop them nor slow them down, said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on the Chinese space program at the U.S. Naval War College.

The Shenzhou 10 spacecraft its name means sacred vessel is to be launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket, a safer and more reliable version of that used in previous missions. It will transport the crew for a 12-day stay aboard the Tiangong 1, which functions as an experimental prototype for a much larger Chinese space station to be launched in 2020.

The space classrooms mark the boldest step so far to bring the military-backed program into the lives of ordinary Chinese and follows in the footsteps of NASA, which used student outreach to inspire interest in space exploration and sustain support for its budgets. Thus far, Chinese astronauts have been paraded before the public at rallies and other events, but theyve had almost no genuine interaction with ordinary Chinese.

The three-member team, announced on state media Monday and including one woman, will also conduct tests on the stations docking and life support systems, probing them for possible problems to be corrected in the design for the larger space station.

Although two Chinese spacecraft, one of them crewed, have already docked with the Tiangong, or heavenly palace, since it was launched in September 2011, Chinas space program says its space station remains in mint condition.

China launched its first crewed mission, the Shenzhou 5, in October 2003, becoming the third nation after Russia and the U.S. to achieve that feat. The upcoming mission would be Chinas fifth crewed space flight.

Starting in 1992, China has trained a corps of 21 astronauts, including a younger cadre of seven men and women recruited over the past three years. Shenzhou 10s sole female member is Wang Yaping, a 35-year-old air force pilot whose earlier duties included seeding clouds in an attempt to clear the skies for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

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China marks decade of human spaceflight with 3-person mission to prototype space station

Douglas students get portal to space station

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DOUGLAS It wasn't a typical Monday afternoon at Douglas Intermediate Elementary School it was actually a pretty extraordinary day by most schools' standards.

In the school's auditorium, kids in Grades 6-8 were talking in real time with astronauts over 200 miles above the Earth's surface on the international space station and launching rockets with a Raytheon engineer in the parking lot afterward.

That was following a visit by students Friday to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where they got a chance to meet astronaut Stephen G. Bowen, who was visiting for an event there.

Eighth-grader Kylie M. Blake's question for one of the space station's astronauts was one of 20 chosen by teachers out of 450 questions gathered from students to ask the astronauts live. The transmission was possible via a live downlink hooked up to a satellite set up in the parking area in front of the school.

"It was the best thing that ever happened in my life," the 14-year-old aspiring astronomer said. "Getting that close at this age in my life was beyond my dreams."

Kylie got to ask Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, how he became Minnesota teen Abigail Harrison's mentor and what it was like to have her act as his earthbound liaison.

"It motivates me that I can go as far as her," Kylie said.

She said she also liked seeing American astronaut Karen Nyberg's long hair float freely in zero-gravity on the video stream. (One student asked her how she washed it on the space station.) Astronaut Chris Cassidy from Salem also chatted with students from the space station.

Principal Beverly Bachelder said the event was part of Space Week at the school, an effort to get kids more excited about STEM fields.

"There is a particular push in Douglas," Ms. Bachelder said. "Estimates indicate that there will be 2.4 million jobs created in STEM fields in the U.S. by 2018, but only 25 percent of high school students today complete basic math and engineering work. It is a real issue if we're going to stay competitive as a nation."

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Douglas students get portal to space station

China Ready for Launch to Prototype Space Station

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The six astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are about to get some new orbital neighbors. Three Chinese astronauts are due to blast off early Tuesday aboard a Chinese Long March rocket.

They wont be coming aboard the international outpost, a $100 billion complex that files about 250 miles above Earth, however. China is not a member of the 15-nation partnership.

Instead, Nie Haishengm, commander of the Shenzhou-10 mission, and his two rookie crewmates will head to a Chinese-owned module called Tiangong-1, which is serving as testbed for a future operational station.

PHOTOS: An Awe-Inspiring Space Station Odyssey

The Chinese astronauts or taikonauts are due to spend 15 days in orbit, primarily to practice rendezvous and docking techniques, test technologies needed for long-term human habitation in space and conduct science experiments, Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's human space program said through a translator at a webcast press conference on Monday.

The mission will be the countrys fifth with people aboard. Another three-member crew visited the 8.5-ton Tiangong-1 module last June. The prototype station, whose name means Heavenly Palace, has been orbiting since September 2011.

The capsule is expected to rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1 twice, once manually and once automated. The technology is needed to prepare for on-orbit construction of Chinas follow-on station.

PHOTOS: Space Station Astronauts Log One Million Photos

Up to now, we have only conducted three automated rendezvous and dockings and one piloted rendezvous and docking. We need more flight tests for verification, Wu Ping told reporters.

Tiangong-1 was designed to last for two years and part of the upcoming mission will be to check its condition for a possible extension, Gregory Kulacki, China program manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Discovery News.

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China Ready for Launch to Prototype Space Station

With next manned mission, China edges closer to space station

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Three Chinese astronauts are set to visit an experimental orbiting space module this week for 15 days, in the latest step toward a Chinese space station.

If the weather is on their side, a trio Chinese astronauts will lift off on Tuesday, bound for an experimental space station.

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Perched atop a Long March 2F rocket, the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft whose name means "sacred vessel" is set to transport the three astronauts from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert to the Tiangong 1, a prototype for a much larger space station scheduled to be launched in 2020.

During their 12-days aboard the Tiangong, which means "heavenly palace," the crew will test the module's systems, conduct medical and technical experiments, and, in anunprecedentedexercisein public outreach for China's space agency, deliver a weightless lecture to a group of elementary and middle-school students via a live video feed.

If all systems are go on Tuesday, the launch will mark China's fifth manned space mission. The country launched its first crewed spaceflight in October 2003. So far, eight Chinese astronauts have flown into space.

The Shenzhou 10 crew includes the country's second female astronaut. Wang Yaping is a former PLA Air Force pilot whose past missions include, according to China's People's Daily, seeding clouds in an attempt to prevent rain at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

China's space program still lags behind those of the United States and Russia, the only two other crewed spacefaring nations. For instance, the first space station, Salyut 1, was launched by the Soviet Union in 1971, and it was twice the mass of Tiangong 1. But China has been advancing rapidly.

"They don't have to reinvent the basic technologies for spaceflight," Australian space analyst Morris Jones told the Associated Press.

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With next manned mission, China edges closer to space station

European Cargo Ship Launches to International Space Station / ATV-4 Albert Einstein Heads to ISS – Video

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European Cargo Ship Launches to International Space Station / ATV-4 Albert Einstein Heads to ISS
Lifting off from the European Space Agencies #39; Kourou French Guiana, launch facility, the next space resupply vehicle Albert Einstein, or better known as ATV-...

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European Cargo Ship Launches to International Space Station / ATV-4 Albert Einstein Heads to ISS - Video

Launch of European Ariane 5 Rocket with Cargo Ship to International Space Station (ISS) (ESA/NASA) – Video

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Launch of European Ariane 5 Rocket with Cargo Ship to International Space Station (ISS) (ESA/NASA)
If you like PC Games visit: http://www.freemmorpgtoplay.com/ The European Space Agency #39;s (ESA) fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo craft (ATV-4) launched...

By: Dietrolafacciata

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Launch of European Ariane 5 Rocket with Cargo Ship to International Space Station (ISS) (ESA/NASA) - Video

European Cargo Ship "Albert Einstein" Launches to Space Station | NASA ESA Video – Video

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European Cargo Ship "Albert Einstein" Launches to Space Station | NASA ESA Video
Visit my website at http://www.junglejoel.com - an Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from its launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana on Wednesday, June 6, 2013, to begi...

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European Cargo Ship "Albert Einstein" Launches to Space Station | NASA ESA Video - Video


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