Category Archives: Space Station

NASA Skylab: The First 40 Days - 1973 Educational Film - S88TV1
NASA film describing Skylab, America #39;s first scientific space station. Mission threatening problems arose during the launch of Skylab 1, with scientists quic...

By: Tomorrow Always Comes

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NASA Skylab: The First 40 Days - 1973 Educational Film - S88TV1 - Video

HOUSTON - After years of training and preparation, a Colorado native is now just days away from a flight to the International Space Station.

The journey will take Coloradan Steve Swanson into the heavens for a third visit to Earth's only permanent, orbiting outpost -- but he will face unique new challenges on this trip.

Swanson and two Russian cosmonauts are scheduled to launch aboard Soyuz TMA-12M on March 25. He will be the most experienced astronaut on board, but it will be his first flight aboard the cramped Russian spacecraft. The astronaut's two previous flights were aboard NASA Space Shuttles, before that program was retired.

"Each time I was up there with my shuttle flights, it was only two weeks long and I just wanted to stay," he said.

To prepare for the upcoming six-month expedition, Swanson has spent years in training. Although he and his fellow cosmonauts will spend just a few days aboard the Soyuz, Swanson spent months traveling between the United States and Russia to train for the trip.

"It's like starting a roller coaster ride," said Swanson describing the launch he has trained for.

After the Soyuz carries the crew to the ISS, hundreds of miles above the Earth, Swanson will assume the role of flight engineer for Expedition 39. Every crew visiting the station overlaps and when Expedition 39's members depart a few weeks later, Swanson will become the commander of Expedition 40.

- This trip begins long before takeoff -

"I just always loved to explore," the graduate of Steamboat Springs High School said.

"I'd just go hike around, you know, the areas where we were camping, and I used to love doing that, I think that's kind of the same idea, I love to explore," he added.

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Coloradan to command space station

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

To say space research is a waste of money is wrong. For every US$1 put into US space agency, its citizens get US$10 as payback; in Japan and the European Union that amount is more than US$3.

The growing private space industry is built around these government space programs and would not exist without them. The UKs annual US$500m contribution to the European Space Agency (ESA) has catalysed the formation of the fastest growing industry. Its private space industry contributes US$15.2 billion a year to the economy. Similarly, Japans US$2.3 billion into the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has enabled its private space industry to contribute US$31 billion.

Not only do space agencies pay for themselves directly, they create jobs and are boosting the global economy by US$300 billion annually through private industry.

The thousands of inventions and innovations spun out from space research have become an integral part of our daily life: weather forecasting, satellite television and communications, disaster relief, traffic management, agricultural and water management, and global positioning system (GPS), are but just a few.

As space research required bigger and bigger investment, the nature of international research changed. The space race became a space collaboration, which is symbolised by the International Space Station.

If nothing else, as Pete Worden, Centre Director of NASA Ames, told me, Space is cool. It inspires the new generation of kids.

The Apollo missions inspired a generation. The number of US graduates in the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM subjects), from high-school through to PhD, has doubled. The relative growth rate since then has dropped drastically, even though the total number has gone up. Doubling a populations scientific literacy when it is living in a world so dependent on science and technology was a good move, and it slung the US into the dominant position it has stood in for the past five decades.

While they still inspire, some would say todays space agencies lack direction. Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society, said, Instead of pioneering new worlds like those explorers of the past, we have left our sailors in the harbour for half a century to see the health effects from doing so.

The average annual expenditure of NASA during the Apollo Era was US$23 billion in todays money. NASAs average spend in the last decade was US$17 billion. Even with similar budgets, the progress made in the last decade is simply not comparable to what was achieved in the 1960s.

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Space Research Pays for Itself, but Inspires Fewer People (Op-Ed)

By MARCIA DUNN/AP Aerospace Writer/February 26, 2014

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) NASA could have prevented last summers near-drowning of a spacewalking astronaut at the International Space Station, an investigation panel concluded Wednesday.

Italian astronaut Luca Parmitanos helmet filled with water July 16 during his second spacewalk in a week. He barely made it back inside alive.

But according to the panels report, his helmet also had leaked at the end of his first spacewalk a week earlier. The panel said the space station team misdiagnosed the first failure and should have delayed the second spacewalk until the problem was understood.

This event was not properly investigated, said Chris Hansen, NASAs chief space station engineer and chairman of the investigation board created by the space agency after the close call.

There was a lack of understanding in the severity of the event, Hansen said during a news conference.

Space station officials even the astronauts themselves presumed the leak was from a water drink bag in the suit when, in fact, that was not the culprit, he noted.

Investigators said Parmitanos calm demeanor during the incident quite possibly saved his life. It was fortunate he was relatively close to the space station entrance when the helmet flooded, Hansen noted.

Now 37, Parmitano is a former test pilot and an officer in the Italian Air Force who was making his first space mission. He returned to Earth in November.

The precise cause of the water leakage is still under review.

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NASA could have prevented spacewalker's close call - Boston.com

It's not every day that a dog helps save astronauts in space, but that's exactly what happens in author Jeffrey Bennett's latest tale of a pooch named Max and his trip to the International Space Station. And there's a twist: The science-themed children's book is actually in space today in the cosmic library aboard the real-life space station.

Bennett's "Max Goes to the Space Station" (Big Kids Science, 2013) launched into space earlier this year on a commercial cargo ship alongside other vital supplies for astronauts on the space station. That set the stage for "Story Time From Space," an educational outreach project in which astronauts will read "Max Goes to the Space Station" and Bennett's other works in space to encourage children on Earth to learn about space and science. One of the books, "Max Goes to the Moon," has flown in space before and was read in orbit by NASA astronaut Alvin Drew, one of the creators of Story Time From Space.

Space.com recently caught up with Bennett who received the 2013 American Institute of Physics Science Communications Award in January for "Max Goes to the Moon" to discuss the launch of "Max Goes to the Space Station" and his other books (which sent Max to the moon, Mars and Jupiter). Another of Bennett's books, "The Wizard Who Saved the World," also hitched a ride to the station with the launch. Here's what Bennett revealed on the origin of Max the Dog, the pooch's trips into space and what it means for kids:

Space.com: "Max Goes to the Space Station" is the latest in a series of books that send Max on a space adventure. What led you to use a dog to share space exploration with kids?

Jeffrey Bennett:I wanted to write science books that would appeal not only to kids who were already into science, but also to kids who might not otherwise pick up a science book. Since kids love dogs, sending a dog on the adventures seemed like a natural way to create stories that would hold kids' attention so that I could teach them some science at the same time. [Animals in Space: 10 Cosmic Tales]

Space.com: Did you ever think the books would eventually be launched into space? Or be read from space?

Bennett: When I first starting writing, I had all sorts of delusions of grandeur about how much my books would sell and so on, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that they'd really go into space. Indeed, when Patricia Tribe (an educator who came up with the Story Time From Space idea along with astronaut Alvin Drew) first called me and told me they'd selected my books, I thought it had to be a prank phone call.

Space.com: Is Max based on a real dog? Are you a dog owner now? Any other pets?

Bennett: Yes, Max is real. My wife and I got the original Max as a puppy, and it was completely her doing; at the time, I had no interest in having a dog. But Max won me over quickly, and the inspiration for "Max Goes to the Moon" actually came to me one day while I was out walking with Max and my infant son and looked up at the moon in the morning sky. Max lived to be 9 1/2 (there's a page honoring him at the end of "Max Goes to Mars"), and he served as the model for Alan Okamotos artwork in "Max Goes to the Moon" and "Max Goes to Mars."

We then got another Rottweiler, Cosmo, who was painted as Max in "Max Goes to Jupiter" by artist Michael Carroll; readers will notice that he is introduced in the story as the grandson of the original Max. Because "Max Goes to the Space Station" is a prequel to "Max Goes to the Moon," Carroll worked mainly from photos of the original Max, but also paid some attention to Cosmo, since the two dogs look very similar. [Pioneering Animals in Space: A Photo Gallery]

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Space Story Time: Kids' Book Author Jeffrey Bennett Talks Max the Dog in Orbit

International Space Station Crew Discusses Life in Space with Temple University
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 38 Flight Engineers Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exp...

By: NASA

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International Space Station Crew Discusses Life in Space with Temple University - Video

Space Station Research: Calling Scientists [HD]
ESA scientist Jason Hatton runs through International Space Station research, showcases success stories and invites scientists to submit proposals for resear...

By: The Mars Underground

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Space Station Research: Calling Scientists [HD] - Video

Live From Space /channel4 .
Being an astronaut is the most dangerous and extraordinary job there is. But what #39;s life really like in microgravity? This March, Channel 4 will boldly go to...

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Unlike Sandra Bullocks predicament in the movie, left to fall at the mercy of the laws of physics until rescued by George Clooney, we have one last option available. The US spacesuit that is used for conducting spacewalks is equipped with a jetpack called SAFER. This discharges high-pressure nitrogen gas to 24 small thrusters located around the spacesuits backpack. The astronauts control the thrusters using a hand controller and if you think that sounds like something from an early James Bond movie, then you wouldnt be far wrong.

Thankfully, the chances of finding ourselves in such a situation are slim. During a spacewalk, astronauts are protected from becoming detached by a retractable safety tether, anchored to the space station at one end and attached to the spacesuit at the other. However, this thin steel wire is a double-edged sword and astronauts must remain constantly vigilant so as not to get tangled up. In addition, theres a mantra drilled into all of us rookie astronauts: You stop, you drop meaning that as soon as you stop moving from A to B, you drop another tether, a short strap securing you to the nearest handrail.

Under other circumstances, flying around in space with a thruster pack must rank up there as one of the most exhilarating feelings imaginable. Only a handful of astronauts have experienced this. I think one of the most inspirational photographs taken from space was during the first of these untethered spacewalks, of Nasa astronaut Bruce McCandless. This image, taken from the Shuttle, shows McCandless floating against the empty blackness of space above a stunning blue Earth. The feelings of isolation and exposure must have been immense.

However, I have no time to dwell on these thoughts. My emergency rescue scenario is extremely challenging, and the small quantity of nitrogen available for propulsion means that you only get one shot no mistakes.

Thankfully, the SAFER is equipped with an automatic attitude hold that stops the nauseating tumbling motion that will occur if you do not smoothly detach from structure. This happened to Sandra Bullocks character in Gravity when high-speed debris knocked her from her shuttle and left her tumbling through space. If youre lucky, when the tumbling ceases, you will be able to see part of the space station, or maybe Earth, as a reference point. Not so lucky, and precious nitrogen has to be expended in searching for the space station.

Having successfully located it, the nitrogen remaining is already likely to be down to around 50 to 60 per cent, and although the tumbling motion will have stopped, you are still drifting away from structure. As you get further from the space station, other factors such as orbital dynamics complicate matters.

In a nutshell, objects in higher orbits travel more slowly and those in lower orbits travel faster. This explains why our TV satellites are way out at nearly 36,000km (22,369 miles), where they orbit the Earth only once every 24 hours, matching an Earth day and therefore remaining geostationary. In contrast, the space station at only 350km (218 miles) altitude travels at 17,500 miles per hour in order to remain in orbit and circles the Earth every hour and a half. These orbital effects become apparent even at relatively short distances, and it is unnerving to watch the space station slipping further away as you drift into a different orbit. Time is of the essence.

My first two self-rescue attempts went well, which was a relief in more ways than one since my instructors had commented that helicopter pilots (such as me) are usually pretty good at this sort of thing no pressure, then! For my third attempt, the stakes were raised and I was ejected into space at a faster rate and from a more remote part of the space station. Worse still, my SAFER took three attempts to initialise, by which time the space station was beginning to look awfully far away.

As I recovered the situation, a quick check of nitrogen showed a worrying 10 per cent remaining. The nearest handrail to me was off to the right and I was not convinced I was going to make it. With an arm outstretched, I decided to go in hard and fast. It worked, but only just, and I could hear my instructors in the background chuckling at their console. It had been a close call but thats exactly what these training sessions are for.

Gravity is based on a scenario whereby a Russian satellite incurs a missile strike, causing a cascading collision cloud of space debris. This is not such a far-fetched concept and is in fact known as the Kessler Syndrome. Space debris is a big deal. There are currently more than 600,000 pieces of debris larger than 1cm orbiting the Earth.

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Space talk: The reality of 'Gravity'

Astronauts floating weightlessly in the International Space Station may appear carefree, but years of research have shown that microgravity causes changes to the human body. Spaceflight also means exposure to more radiation. Together, microgravity and radiation exposure add up to pose serious health risks. But research is not only making space safer for astronauts, it's helping to improve health care for the Earth-bound as well.

One of the effects of space radiation is damage to DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, the genetic material in nearly every cell of our bodies. When damaged DNA repairs itself, errors can occur that increase the risk of developing cancer. A new study, MicroRNA Expression Profiles in Cultured Human Fibroblast in Space -- Micro-7 for short -- will examine the effect of gravity on DNA damage and repair. Because there is no controlled radiation source aboard the space station, the cells will be treated with bleomycin, a chemotherapy drug, to induce DNA damage.

"When a cell in the human body is exposed to radiation, DNA will be broken and repaired, which is considered the initiation stage of tumor development," explains principal investigator Honglu Wu, Ph.D., at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Cells damaged from radiation exposure in space also experience microgravity, which we know changes gene expressions even without radiation exposure." That equals the space double-whammy for the human body.

Previous studies have exposed cells or organisms on Earth to high-energy charged particles to simulate space radiation, using the resulting cell damage or induction of tumors to predict the risk of cancer for astronauts from radiation. But those predictions don't include the effects of microgravity, making them potentially less accurate than the space based Micro-7 study. This investigation will address that by examining the effects of bleomycin-induced DNA damage aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The study will be the first in space to use cultured human fibroblasts, the non-dividing cells that make up most of the human body. Fibroblasts form the framework for organs and tissues and play a critical role in wound healing and other bodily functions.

The investigation is scheduled to launch to the orbital complex aboard SpaceX-3 March 16, 2014. Micro-7 is managed by NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and is funded by NASA's Space Biology Program. Bioserve Space Technologies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo. is providing the experiment hardware and implementing the science payload aboard the space station.

Wu will focus on how these cells respond to DNA damage in space by examining changes in a small, non-coding form of RNA known as microRNA, which is known to affect how genes are expressed in cells. The investigation will compare the cells in spaceflight with those on the ground to identify unknown functions of microRNA and the functions they regulate in our bodies. Similarities and differences in the space and Earth data will also improve our knowledge of fundamental biological processes critical for maintaining normal cell function.

In the future, Wu would like to have a controlled radiation source, such as a portable X-ray machine, on the space station to expose cultured cells or small animals to specific doses of radiation in space. Cells or organisms on the ground would be exposed to the same dose, and the DNA repair in both compared. Wu says that may be possible in the near future, perhaps by modifying a bone density scanner or other equipment aboard the space station.

Researchers can use data from Micro-7 in future Earth-based studies to examine whether the cell changes observed during spaceflight are seen in disease states of tissues and organs as well. Ultimately, this may help scientists better understand disease and this type of research could even lead to development of new treatment drugs.

"If we learn more about how cells repair DNA damage more efficiently or less efficiently in space, that knowledge also will be helpful for cancer radiotherapy or treatment with radiation," Wu adds. "A challenge in medical treatment is that certain tumors are highly resistant to radiation. But there could be various ways to make them more radiosensitive, or less resistant to radiation. That would help provide more effective treatment." And also make those weightless astronauts a bit more carefree.

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The space double-whammy: Less gravity, more radiation