Category Archives: Space Station

A Central Florida high school student is part of military history after she was given her oath by an astronaut on the International Space Station.Linsey Alexander is a teenager with a big future ahead of her and ready to make history. She was one of a thousand or so military recruits who were sworn in from 150 places all around the country.The oath was given by Col. Andrew Morgan, an astronaut on the International Space Station.Alexander submitted a question that was read to Col. Morgan from the space center in Houston."In what ways did you overcome obstacles, so we as future soldiers can take those lessons with us into our careers?" she asked.The answer she got from Morgan was: Don't quit."I can't stress that enough. Things that are worth doing are difficult," Morgan said. "That's always a good motto to follow, no matter what you're doing.You should never give up, if it's something you really want to do," Alexander said.Even though she was sworn in from space, Alexander told WESH 2's Dave McDaniel her desired assignment is closer to the ground. She will become an Army paratrooper, jumping out of planes. She'll make her first jump as soon as she's 18.

A Central Florida high school student is part of military history after she was given her oath by an astronaut on the International Space Station.

Linsey Alexander is a teenager with a big future ahead of her and ready to make history. She was one of a thousand or so military recruits who were sworn in from 150 places all around the country.

The oath was given by Col. Andrew Morgan, an astronaut on the International Space Station.

Alexander submitted a question that was read to Col. Morgan from the space center in Houston.

"In what ways did you overcome obstacles, so we as future soldiers can take those lessons with us into our careers?" she asked.

The answer she got from Morgan was: Don't quit.

"I can't stress that enough. Things that are worth doing are difficult," Morgan said.

"That's always a good motto to follow, no matter what you're doing.You should never give up, if it's something you really want to do," Alexander said.

Even though she was sworn in from space, Alexander told WESH 2's Dave McDaniel her desired assignment is closer to the ground. She will become an Army paratrooper, jumping out of planes. She'll make her first jump as soon as she's 18.

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Central Florida teen sworn into Army by astronaut on International Space Station - WESH 2 Orlando

Today, a ceremony will take place from the International Space Station for the first ever Future Solider Swear-In from space.

Officials say the ceremony will be held in over 300 locations in the United States.

About 110 Future Soldiers from across Oklahoma, out of 850 from across the U.S., will raise their hands in oath of enlistment ceremony with NASA astronaut and U.S. Army Col. Andrew Morgan, who is on-board the International Space Station.

Below are the Oklahoma locations who will be hosting the ceremony:

Lawton, Okla. - Eisenhower High SchoolShawnee, Okla - Gordon Cooper Technology CenterPryor, Okla. - Pryor High SchoolSouthmoore High School - Moore, Okla.

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First Ever Future Soldier Swear-In From International Space Station - kjrh.com

The International Space Station will be visible in Louisville skies throughout the week.The space station will look like an airplane or very bright star moving across the sky, except it doesnt have flashing lights or change direction, according to NASA's website. It will also be moving considerably faster than a typical airplane.All sightings will occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset. NASA officials said this is the optimum viewing period as the sun reflects off the space station and contrasts against the darker sky.The station will be visible in Louisville in short spurts through March 1. The station will make its appearance Sunday at 6:06 a.m. for 5 minutes, Monday at 5:21 a.m. for 1 minute, Monday at 6:55 a.m. for 5 minutes, and Tuesday at 6:09 a.m. for 4 minutes. For more information on when you can spot the station and its exact coordinates, visit spotthestation.nasa.gov.Two new exhibits are open at the Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium. The ISS-Above gives visitors a real time live stream look at earth from the International Space Station. The second exhibit teaches visitors about the Sloan Digital Sky survey, a 20-year project to map 300 million stars and galaxies.

The International Space Station will be visible in Louisville skies throughout the week.

The space station will look like an airplane or very bright star moving across the sky, except it doesnt have flashing lights or change direction, according to NASA's website. It will also be moving considerably faster than a typical airplane.

All sightings will occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset. NASA officials said this is the optimum viewing period as the sun reflects off the space station and contrasts against the darker sky.

The station will be visible in Louisville in short spurts through March 1. The station will make its appearance Sunday at 6:06 a.m. for 5 minutes, Monday at 5:21 a.m. for 1 minute, Monday at 6:55 a.m. for 5 minutes, and Tuesday at 6:09 a.m. for 4 minutes.

For more information on when you can spot the station and its exact coordinates, visit spotthestation.nasa.gov.

Two new exhibits are open at the Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium. The ISS-Above gives visitors a real time live stream look at earth from the International Space Station. The second exhibit teaches visitors about the Sloan Digital Sky survey, a 20-year project to map 300 million stars and galaxies.

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Here's when the International Space Station will be visible in Louisville skies - WLKY Louisville

China's space program is planning a launch in April to prepare for building the country's next space station.

A Long March 5B rocket will carry a "trial version" of China's new spaceship, which is designed to carry crews of up to six people, state media source Xinhua said. Previous Chinese spaceships carried up to three taikonauts, the term used to describe Chinese astronauts.

While the April mission will carry neither people nor pieces of the future space station, it is expected to prepare Chinese officials for space station construction, the report added.

Related: China readies its new deep-space crew capsule for 1st test flight

The Long March 5B is a modified version of China's heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket, which began flying in 2016. The China Manned Space Agency designed the 5B for the space station and large crewed spacecraft, Xinhua said.

China plans to finish the space station by 2022, after more than 10 missions for construction and in-orbit assembly. The station will be shaped like a T, with a core module, called Tianhe, at the center and one lab capsule on either side of that.

All told, the station will offer up to 5,650 cubic feet (160 cubic meters) of living space across the three modules. That's a little more than one-third of the space on the International Space Station, which has 13,696 cubic feet (388 cubic meters) of room, not including temporary expansions from visiting spaceships.

Unlike previous Chinese space stations, which required water launched from Earth, water on the new space station will be recovered from water vapor the astronauts exhale and from urine that is recycled and purified, Xinhua said. This space station will also carry machinery that can produce supplemental oxygen, Xinhua added.

The Chinese space complex will also have room for science experiments in fields ranging from astronomy to basic physics to life science, using more than a dozen experiment racks. China also plans to launch an optical telescope on a capsule flying "in the same orbit," Xinhua said.

China's first space station, the one-room Tiangong-1, launched in 2011 and burned up in Earth's atmosphere seven years later. The vehicle helped China master the technologies and procedures needed to build bigger stations.

A successor, Tiangong-2, launched in 2016 to support longer-duration missions. China's most recent crewed launch, in October 2016, sent two taikonauts to Tiangong-2 for 33 days, a record for consecutive time spent in space for China.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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China wants to build a new space station. A planned launch in April will set the stage. - Space.com

The strange cone-shaped UFO following the ISS (YouTube/ET Data Base)

Cameras on board the International Space Station (ISS) have picked up a strange, cone-shaped object in orbit around Earth.

The unexplained object seemingly keeps pace with the space station as the cameras remain locked on it for over 20 minutes.

Naturally, the footage has been picked up and circulated around parts of the internet dedicated to discussing alien technology. Fanning the conspiracy flames even further, the camera zooms in on the object at one point suggesting that Nasa is aware of its presence.

For the bus-sized object to keep pace with the ISS, it would need to be travelling at around 78 kilometers-per-second.

The footage was picked up and shared on a YouTube channel called ET Data Base hosted by noted UFO-watcher Scott C. Waring

That is NASA zooming in on the UFO, not me, Waring notes of the footage. They are as baffled by it as I am. They dont know what it is or why it is there.

During the feed, they mention coordinates, and that could be secret code as to the location of the object. They dont want to be too obvious.

Describing the footage, Waring added: It looks like its in a cone-shaped. Ive never seen a module in this shape.

It doesnt like any kind of object I have seen before. If it is military, then it is a top-secret US air force technology.

While its highly unlikely to be evidence of any kind of alien encounter, the idea of it being military technology isnt that far fetched.

The US Air Force has a small, autonomous plane called X-37B that conducts intelligence operations from orbit. Built by Boeing and flown remotely, the craft also known as Orbital Test Vehicle is on a mission the U.S. will only describe as classified.

It is able to stay aloft for months at a time and comes down infrequently for servicing.

In Britain, the RAF took the decision to wind up its UFO unit in 2009, after concluding that in more than 50 years, no received report had ever disclosed any evidence of a potential threat.

Previously, records from the unit were given to the National Archives, often initially classified before being released after a specific number of years. The most recent reports received by the RAF will be placed online following a Freedom of Information Act request.

But members of the public reporting alleged UFO sightings are now directed to their local police force.

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Nasa films mystery UFO following the ISS for 20 minutes - Metro.co.uk

Those of us back here on Earth will have several chances over the next seven days, including a couple particularly good chances, to spot the International Space Station as it orbits our planet.

Even with the best sky conditions, NASA projects that only iffy chances to see the ISS will present themselves this week.

None of the upcoming opportunities will see the ISS as high over the horizon as 40 degrees, the minimum point for which NASA issues one of its Spot the Station alerts.

NASA explains, The horizon is at zero degrees, and directly overhead is 90 degrees. If you hold your fist at arms length and place your fist resting on the horizon, the top will be about 10 degrees. Each additional fist-depth above the horizon is roughly another 10 degrees of elevation.

Here are this weeks opportunities:

The sighting opportunities occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset, which are the periods when the Sun reflects off the space station and contrasts against the darker sky.

According to NASA, "the space station looks like an airplane or a very bright star moving across the sky, except it doesnt have flashing lights or change direction. It will also be moving considerably faster than a typical airplane (airplanes generally fly at about 600 miles per hour; the space station flies at 17,500 miles per hour).

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Contact Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com.

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When can I see the Space Station this week? - pennlive.com

What could possibly quiet dozens of second graders, to the point that you could hear a pin drop? Perhaps talking to a real, live astronaut who's currently in space. "A lot of people have not had that opportunity and probably never will," said Maple Dale Elementary second-grader Luke Brown.Brown, an aspiring astronaut, took full advantage of the once in a lifetime opportunity. He asked Dr. Drew Morgan firsthand one of his burning questions about being on the International Space Station. "The sole purpose is to develop interest on the part of the youth in becoming astronauts and becoming familiar with science, technology and mathematics," said Dale R. Williams director of Great Lakes Division American Radio Relay League.The out of this world experience came together with the help of amateur radio operators."We set up radio equipment here on stage and put antennas on the roof of the building with motorized action on those," said Williams.From there, the radio operators track the space station across the sky. Williams said knowing when they'll get access is very predictable.Second-graders from Montgomery, Symmes and Blue Ash elementary schools all traveled to Maple Dale to participate. The event was livestreamed so that other grade levels could watch and hear.

What could possibly quiet dozens of second graders, to the point that you could hear a pin drop? Perhaps talking to a real, live astronaut who's currently in space.

"A lot of people have not had that opportunity and probably never will," said Maple Dale Elementary second-grader Luke Brown.

Brown, an aspiring astronaut, took full advantage of the once in a lifetime opportunity. He asked Dr. Drew Morgan firsthand one of his burning questions about being on the International Space Station.

"The sole purpose is to develop interest on the part of the youth in becoming astronauts and becoming familiar with science, technology and mathematics," said Dale R. Williams director of Great Lakes Division American Radio Relay League.

The out of this world experience came together with the help of amateur radio operators.

"We set up radio equipment here on stage and put antennas on the roof of the building with motorized action on those," said Williams.

From there, the radio operators track the space station across the sky.

Williams said knowing when they'll get access is very predictable.

Second-graders from Montgomery, Symmes and Blue Ash elementary schools all traveled to Maple Dale to participate. The event was livestreamed so that other grade levels could watch and hear.

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Local second-graders talk to astronaut aboard the International Space Station - WLWT Cincinnati

Grand Blanc East Middle School eighth-grader Alayna Broome asks a question of astronaut Jessica Meir, who is aboard the International Space Station. Broome won a national contest, which gave her and her classmates the opportunity to talk with Meir, who is aboard the ISS for a 9-month term. Photo by Jalene Jameson

GRAND BLANC Eighth-graders at Grand Blanc East Middle School had an out-ofthis world experience last week, thanks to their classmate Alayna Broome.

Out of 3,000 submissions from across the United States in the Opening Doors in Space program and contest, Broomes submission of plans for a space garden won the grand prize a chance to speak with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir who is currently living and working aboard the International Space Station.

As the first hospitality brand to participate in research aboard the ISS, DoubleTree by Hilton in partnership with Scholastic invited 5,000 middle school classrooms around the U.S. to participate in its Opening Doors in Space educational program and contest, which encouraged students to think creatively about how to innovate long-duration space travel to make it more comfortable and hospitable. DoubleTree by Hilton developed the educational program and contest to complement its famous DoubleTree chocolate chip cookies becoming the first food baked in space.

Grand Blanc East Middle School eighth-grader Alayna Broome talks with Grand Blanc City Councilman John Creasey, left, and U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee after a Skype session with astronaut Jessica Meir, who is aboard the International Space Station. Photo by Jalene Jameson

Broomes submission detailed a space garden that functions as a sustainable food source, as well as serves as a symbol of comfort to make travelers feel at home, no matter where they are.

As the students waited to connect with Meir, Mission Control in Houston could be heard asking for a voice check. Several students, including Broome, were able to ask Meir questions and see and hear her via Skype. Life in microgravity could be seen as Meirs curly hair floated above her head, bracelets she was wearing lifted off her wrist, and her microphone and a packaged cookie hung suspended in the air.

Meir explained to the students how the DoubleTree cookie became the first food baked in space using a special oven. She said being able to cook, smell and taste freshly made food is important for long-term space travel and for the crews psychological well-being.

Who doesnt like freshly baked cookies? Meir said. The oven is right here above my head in this lab. All the crew members pass through here, and the lab was full of this wonderful smell of baking cookies. I love to bake and bring things to people to share

This is Broomes design for a space garden. Her design won the grand prize in the national DoubleTree by Hilton and Scholastic Opening Doors in Space program contest. Drawing provided

6 at work, and it reminded me of that. That wonderful aroma really did make me feel at home.

Meir has been aboard the ISS since September and is completing a 9-month mission. She said people often ask her what she misses in space. She said she misses her family and friends, but the astronauts are able to Skype weekly with loved ones and can even call them on the phone. Surprisingly, she said she really doesnt miss anything else.

I thought Id miss the outdoors because I love to hike and be out in nature, she said. I think its because were in a unique and exceptional environment, nothing like anything youve experienced before. Everything is so unique and special and beautiful looking down at the Earth, doing the space walk and all the experiments. Theres so much exciting stuff going on.

One of those exciting moments for Meir was being part of the first all-female space walk in history. Another experiment has been growing a crop of lettuce on the ISS. Meir and her crew have had two harvests of Mizuna mustard lettuce, which she said has had a positive psychological effect for them from being able to grow and care for the plants, harvest them and be able to eat what theyve grown in a salad.

The other important factor in food sources and ways we can grow and prepare food in space is important to long-duration and deep-space missions, Meir said. Food has to be more sustainable because were not going to bring everything with us.

Meir said she has wanted to be an astronaut since she was about 5 years old, but her career before space was as a comparative physiologist studying animals that live in extreme environments. She said she studied emperor penguins and elephant seals in the Arctic, in particular why they both can live in the same environment and are deep sea divers, but the penguins can only stay underwater for 2 minutes, while the seals can stay under for 2 hours.

Meir said she believes space exploration is an inherent part of human beings having the desire to go farther, and that desire is very important for humans to progress as a society and civilization.

Sometimes the unintended results are often the most fruitful, she said. You may uncover a whole different realm of answers that you werent even looking for. It changes you as a person up here. Ive had people describe to me how they felt when they looked back on Earth for the first time with their own eyes. It gives you a profoundly different feeling for your place in the world. Its easy to get caught up in the small minutiae of things that dont really matter. Were all a part of something much bigger, and were all in this together.

After the presentation, Broome discussed her winning project and what it was like talking to an astronaut. She said she knew astronauts are able to grow plants in space, so she came up with the idea of a space garden that would make the ISS seem a little more like home. She said she was happy she won, but she would have liked to see what other students came up with.

Broome said being able to talk with Meir was a life-changing moment.

It was really cool because we got to have a conversation with her through just Skype, Broome said. Its just so amazing we got to talk to someone so far away from us in space when were on Earth. Its just so awesome to hear from her experience and what she learned and that she didnt actually miss anything from Earth because its so unique.

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East Middle School students talk to astronaut on the International Space Station - Grandblancview

Optical Surfaces Ltd. reports how a motorised UV-Vis-NIR collimator and interferometric alignment system it supplied to the Deutsches Zentrum fr Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)in Berlin, Germany has been used to set-up the ground breakingDLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer (DESIS).

On 23 October 2019, DLR the renowned German Aerospace Center, and the U.S. company Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE)announced thestart of routine operations for DESIS on the International Space Station. Operated by DLR and TBE,DESIS is the most powerful hyperspectral Earth observation instrument in orbit and addresses a wide range of applications. Its high-resolution image data will enable the development of measures for environmental protection and support the more efficient, ecological use of agricultural land.

The hyperspectral Earth observation instrument provides images with a one-of-a-kind level of quality. The sensor system collects image data in 235 closely spaced spectral bands from on board the International Space Station (ISS), at an altitude of 400 kilometres. It has a ground resolution of 30 metres and a spectral resolution of 2.55 nanometres. This significantly increases the depth of information available in Earth observation data. The first images were acquired shortly after initial setup and DESIS data has already been used to identify plastic islands and oil slicks at sea. A few months ago, the high spatial resolution of DESIS made it possible to detect rare Earth elements from space for the first time.

Ilse Sebastian, a Calibration Engineer at DLR commented By installing the motorised UV-Vis-NIR collimator and interferometric alignment system in our class 100,000 clean room we have been able to undertake diffraction limited broadband imaging for MTF measurement, focusing and geometric calibration of single optics and focal planes, fully integrated camera systems and hyperspectral imaging systems such as DESIS. To monitor and verify that the UV-Vis-NIR collimator system is consistently in alignment Optical Surfaces also designed and supplied a software-operated Laser Unequal Pathlength Interferometer (LUPI) system to interface with the collimator system".

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Environmental Monitoring from the International Space Station - Novus Light Technologies Today

Recently, a batch of baked chocolate chip cookies returned from space, signifying a major step forward towards the future of how humans will eat and thrive in space.

The delicious experiment, which took place using cookie dough from Hilton's DoubleTree Hotel and the Zero G oven, an oven designed specifically to work in the microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station, was the first time that raw ingredients (the dough) was cooked or baked.

"I think it was a great success," former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, who has served as a sort of "cookie consultant" for Hilton throughout this experiment, told Space.com. "We now know this can be done." He added that the success of this experiment opens "the door for other opportunities to cook things."

Related: Space Food Evolution: How Astronaut Chow Has Changed (Photos)

The experiment also answered a few questions about what happens when you try to bake in space. One of the biggest questions people had was: "would the space station smell like fresh-baked cookies?" And, apparently the smell from the cookies did permeate the station (after they were baked for a certain amount of time). The experiment also found that cookies take a lot longer to bake in space (they don't know why yet) and they turn out looking like regular, Earth cookies, not puffed up like some thought they might be.

"With this cookie i thought it would be a lot poofierm," Massimino said. The cookie looked more "like a cookie you would bake on Earth.

Further investigation and analysis of the experiment's results will also continue to answer questions, such as why the cookies took much longer to bake in space and why they weren't "poofy."

Massimino, who brought individually-wrapped, bite-sized biscotti up to space with him and famously was only one of two astronauts to ever gain weight in space, related the experiment to an experiment he partook in which tested how sunflowers would grow in space. According to Massimino, the flower itself looked "normal" but "the stalk was like a wire below us," because it didn't need to be thick to support the flower because of the microgravity environment.

As Massimino, who also serves as the Senior Advisor for Space Programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York, NY, explained, the experiment has been an incredible teaching tool for people of all ages.

The cookie experiment is a "great way to get people of all ages interested in what's going on in space," he said.

But, besides its importance as an education tool, the experiment also has incredible applications for supporting longterm spaceflight, he added.

"I think a lot of astronauts will be looking forward to having cookies," he said about some of the most obvious applications. "In space," he added "you're looking for these reminders of home." Massimino added that these connections to home, to Earth, helps astronauts to feel "normal" and morale boosters like these are incredibly important to the astronaut's psychological well-being, which is integral to their performance.

This experiment also marks a big step forward for space exploration.

"This is a big step in that direction for the future of exploration where we're gonna be off the planet for longer periods of time," Massimino said. He continued, adding that within the very near future we may be starting to build settlements on off-Earth location like the moon, and we will need to use specialized tech to ensure that the humans living off-Earth have access to good, nutritious (and delicious) food.

As far as what might be next for baking or cooking in space, Massimino had a couple of suggestions.

So what does Massimino want to see next? "The next thing would definitely be a pizza of some sort," he said. "Bagel bites or hot pockets of some sort." He added that it would also be nice for astronauts to have something they could "bite into something big like a big cheeseburger or a big sandwich."

Follow Chelsea Gohd on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Cosmic cookies! Astronaut weighs in on the future of baking in space - Space.com