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Category Archives: Space Station

Astronaut and Earth-bound twin to undergo 1-year Mars Mission study – Video

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Astronaut and Earth-bound twin to undergo 1-year Mars Mission study
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will spend a year living on the International Space Station as part of the agency #39;s #39;Twins Study #39;, which aims to study how long-term space travel affects the...

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Astronaut and Earth-bound twin to undergo 1-year Mars Mission study - Video

NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX to Launch 1st Commercial Crew Ships to Space Station in 2017

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Boeing and SpaceX are building private spaceships to resume launching US astronauts from US soil to the International Space Station in 2017. Credit: NASA

After a hiatus of six long years, US astronauts will finally launch to space in a revolutionary new pair of private crew capsules under development by Boeing and SpaceX, starting in 2017, that will end our sole source reliance on the Russians for launching our astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Two years from now, crews will start flying to space aboard the first US commercial spaceships, launching atop US rockets from US soil, said officials from Boeing, SpaceX, and NASA at a joint news conference on Monday, Jan. 26. The human rated spaceships also known as space taxis are being designed and manufactured under the auspices of NASAs Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

A two person mixed crew of NASA astronauts and company test pilots will fly on the first test flights going to the space station in 2017.

The goal of NASAs Commercial Crew Program, underway since 2010, has been to develop safe, reliable, and cost-effective spaceships that will ferry astronauts to and from the massive orbiting lab complex.

Its an incredible testament to American ingenuity and know-how, and an extraordinary validation of the vision we laid out just a few years ago as we prepared for the long-planned retirement of the space shuttle, said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden during the briefing at the agencys Johnson Space Center in Houston. Bolden is a four time veteran space shuttle astronaut.

This work is part of a vital strategy to equip our nation with the technologies for the future and inspire a new generation of explorers to take the next giant leap for America.

NASAs Stephanie Schierholz introduces the panel of Johnson Space Center Director Dr. Ellen Ochoa, seated, left, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Commercial Crew Program Manager Kathy Lueders, Boeings John Elbon, SpaceXs Gwynne Shotwell, and NASA astronaut Mike Fincke at Jan. 26 commercial crew new conference. Credit: NASA TV

We have been working overtime to get Americans back to space from US soil and end US reliance on Russia, Bolden added. My job is to ensure we get Americans back to space as soon as possible and safely.

We have been in-sourcing space jobs back to the US.

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NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX to Launch 1st Commercial Crew Ships to Space Station in 2017

Elite Dangerous Superior Space Station 21:9 Cinematic HD Looking At Rares List – Video

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Elite Dangerous Superior Space Station 21:9 Cinematic HD Looking At Rares List
http://www.EliteDangerousClub.com If you want to fly into one of these really beautiful space stations. Then you have to be in one of the best looking ships in the game. So I flew in the Imperial...

By: Kirk Martin

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Elite Dangerous Superior Space Station 21:9 Cinematic HD Looking At Rares List - Video

Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection review: U.S.S. Defiant (NX-74205) – Video

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Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection review: U.S.S. Defiant (NX-74205)
This ship may be small, compact, but the U.S.S. Defiant can pack a punch against the Borg. The U.S.S. Defiant is a Defiant-class starship, this ship is stationed at Deep Space Nine to protect...

By: Dustin Krueger

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Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection review: U.S.S. Defiant (NX-74205) - Video

Dramatic video shows lightning strikes from space

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Using the Nightpod camera stand aboard the International Space Station, an astronaut captures a series of dramatic lightning strikes as seen from above our clouds.

This electrical storm looks decidedly sci-fi when seen from the ISS. ESA/NASA

Trying to take a snapshot of the Earth from aboard the International Space Station -- let alone a series of them -- is tricky business because they're both rotating at some pretty impressive camera-blurring speeds.

So how do you capture lightning flashes down on Earth with the clarity seen in a new, seven-second video from the European Space Agency? By using the Nightpod camera stand, that's how.

The Nightpod is a special camera stand mounted in the cupola of the ISS that tracks a specific point on Earth as it zooms around the planet at 28,800 km/h (about 17,895 mph), according to the space agency. By compensating for both the rotation of our planet and the ISS itself, it allows cameras to snap super-sharp pictures free from the blur that would otherwise ruin the shots.

"To calibrate the motors, an astronaut enters the Space Station's altitude, as well as its yaw, pitch and roll," according to the Nightpod website. "These parameters change in orbit but are readily available to astronauts on the Space Station computers. After calibration, all the astronaut has to do is point the camera at the target, release the shutter and Nightpod will automatically compensate for the movement of the Station, keeping the subject steady in the camera's viewfinder during its exposure time."

In the case of the video below, the ESA stitched together 49 Nightpod-aided images of an electrical storm above eastern Romania, according to the Daily Mail. The shots were taken by astronaut Andr Kuipers from the ISS in June 2012, although the video montage was released by the ESA just last week. Kuipers is the Dutch astronaut who brought the Nightpod camera mount to the ISS .

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Dramatic video shows lightning strikes from space

Manned commercial flights to space station on track for 2017

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A Boeing CST-100 crew ferry craft blasts off atop an Atlas 5 rocket in this artist's concept. Boeing and SpaceX both expect to be ready for initial piloted test flights in 2017. NASA

Last Updated Jan 26, 2015 9:30 PM EST

NASA expects to spend some $5 billion underwriting development of commercial spacecraft built by Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, officials said Monday, ending sole reliance on the Russians for crew ferry flights and eventually lowering the average cost per seat to around $58 million.

Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, said her company's upgraded Dragon V2 ferry craft should be ready for an initial unpiloted flight to the space station in late 2016 with the first crewed flight, likely carrying a SpaceX test pilot and a NASA astronaut, in early 2017.

John Elbon, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration, said his company's CST-100 spacecraft is expected to be ready for an uncrewed test flight in April 2017, followed by a crewed flight, with a Boeing pilot and a NASA astronaut, in the July 2017 timeframe.

Both companies must complete the crewed and uncrewed test flights before NASA certification, which will pave the way for the start of operational crew rotation and cargo delivery flights to the International Space Station later in 2017. Until then, NASA will continue to rely on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to carry U.S. and partner crew members to the lab complex.

"Commercial crew is incredibly important to the space station, it's important to reduce the cost of transportation to low-Earth orbit so that NASA has within its budget the capability to develop means to explore beyond low-Earth orbit," Elbon said during a news conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "And importantly, I think, it's beginning a whole new industry. ... We're making great progress on the program."

Said Shotwell: "Our crew Dragon leverages the cargo capability that we've been flying successfully to the International Space Station. However, we understand, and we've been told, that crew is clearly different. So there are a number of upgrades that we've been working for the past few years to assure that this crew version of Dragon is as reliable as it can possibly be. Ultimately, we plan for it to be the most reliable spaceship flying crew ever."

In the wake of the space shuttle's retirement, NASA started a competition to build a commercial crewed spacecraft, with the first in a series of contracts intended to encourage innovative designs for reliable, affordable transportation to and from low-Earth orbit.

Last September, NASA announced that Boeing had won a $4.2 billion Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCAP) contract to continue development of the company's CST-100 capsule while SpaceX would receive $2.6 billion to press ahead with work to perfect its futuristic Dragon crew craft.

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Manned commercial flights to space station on track for 2017


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