The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond

Cosimo · 7 Aug 2011 at 13:37

With the Space Shuttle program having ended many people have expressed a desire not to lose touch with missions into space. So here we are with one thread to cover:

Missions
Technology
Research
Anything else spaceflight related

Now that Juno mission is on the way we can look forward to these:

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html

All important but the big one is Mars Science Laboratory (MSL):

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

Cosimo · 7 Aug 2011 at 13:43

Meanwhile life continues on the International Space Station. On August 3rd Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Alexander Samokutyaev carried out a spacewalk on the Russian segment of the space station:

They moved a cargo boom, installed a prototype laser communications system and deployed an amateur radio micro-satellite. The spacewalk took six hours and twenty three minutes.

Cosimo · 7 Aug 2011 at 15:36

I mentioned the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission earlier. Here is something to whet your appetite:

Cosimo · 12 Aug 2011 at 09:07

Researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center are studying how shape and detail can be seen through blindingly bright plumes of rocket fire. They have come up with this “fused” video of the last shuttle launch:

More on how this is done:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/shuttle_station/features/sts-135_launch_fused_imagery.html

Cosimo · 12 Aug 2011 at 09:54

Tefal said:
they're usually attached to a safety cable

It's called a safety tether.

Cosimo · 12 Aug 2011 at 19:56

PermaBanned said:
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/08/nasa-after-the-space-shuttle/100126/

^worth a look

That’s a good selection of pictures.

I particularly like the one of Southern Italy.

Cosimo · 13 Aug 2011 at 09:43

Another one of Endeavour and Discovery at KSC:

Discovery will go to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia and Endeavour to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Cosimo · 14 Aug 2011 at 09:11

2StepSteve said:
Juno....

Not long to go.

Cosimo · 16 Aug 2011 at 11:37

Marine Iguana said:
SpaceX: Dragon ISS Bound

Lets hope they don't break anything on the ISS

NASA still deciding on that although a launch date (30/11) is reserved no final approval has yet been given.

Part of that article has been lifted from the SpaceX site:

http://www.spacex.com/updates.php

Cosimo · 16 Aug 2011 at 16:38

Another one of these amazing pictures of earth taken from the ISS, this time Southern Italy. The image has been rotated through 180 degrees:

This astronaut photograph highlights the nighttime appearance of the southern Italian Peninsula. The toe and heel of Italy’s “boot” are clearly defined by the lights of large cities such as Naples, Bari, and Brindisi, as well as numerous smaller cities and towns. The bordering Adriatic, Tyrrhenian, and Ionian Seas appear as dark regions to the east, west, and south. The city lights of Palermo and Catania, Sicily, are also visible.

The International Space Station (ISS) was located over an area of Romania, close to the capital city of Bucharest (approximately 945 kilometers to the northeast) at the time this image was taken. Part of a solar panel array on a docked Russian spacecraft is visible in the foreground. The distance between the image subject area and the position of the photographer, as well as the viewing angle looking outwards from the ISS, contributes to the foreshortened appearance of the Italian Peninsula and Sicily.

Cosimo · 18 Aug 2011 at 19:47

GRAIL

Coming up is the Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission. It will produce the most accurate gravitational map of the Moon to date. Scheduled for launch on 8th September from Cape Canaveral.

This will be the first time two robotic spacecraft will be placed into the same precise orbit around a planetary body other than Earth so that they can fly in formation. It will also be the first time that there will be cameras (MoonKAM) whose sole aim will be to photograph targets chosen by educational establishments.

Mission overview:

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/578754main_grail.pdf

Mission Site:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/grail/home.cfm

Cosimo · 18 Aug 2011 at 19:48

Cosimo · 18 Aug 2011 at 19:58

PermaBanned said:
How is it getting there?

On a Delta 2 rocket from Complex 17 at the Cape. This is probably the last time the Delta 2 will be used as no other launches are planned.

Cosimo · 19 Aug 2011 at 14:41

ISS & Satellite Tracking

Greg0986 said:
Just seen the space station going over (again!) and it is really bright. Great view as well, directly over head

The NASA space station tracker:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

Here's a nice real time tracker:

http://www.n2yo.com/?s=25544

and it has a five day predicition:

http://www.n2yo.com/passes/?s=25544

Cosimo · 20 Aug 2011 at 09:13

PermaBanned said:
How is everybody missing literally the first sentence in that article? This is like that time when NASA scrapped the Shuttle and everybody was like "omg so the ISS is abandoned now?".

Skim and assume is the name of the game.

Don't panic folks:

(Reuters) - Moscow no longer sees manned spaceflight as its top priority but remains committed to its International Space Station obligations, the head of Russian space agency Roskosmos said on Wednesday

Cosimo · 24 Aug 2011 at 16:17

PermaBanned said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14653371

Roscosmos haven't had much luck with getting into the right orbit lately... still, the article implies that it's in an orbit, i wonder if there'l be some sort of rescue mission mounted, be it from the ground or from the station using the Soyuz' docked there as runabouts.

Looks like it came back down and crashed:

August 24, 2011 18:40

Progress spacecraft wreckage falls in unpopulated area in Altai
MOSCOW. Aug 24 (Interfax) - The wreckage of the Progress resupply spacecraft came down in the Republic of Altai, causing no destruction.

"The Progress resupply vehicle that failed to reach the target orbit crashed in the Choisk region of the Republic of Altai," a source in the regional law enforcement agencies told Interfax.

The crash caused neither loss of life nor destruction. There are no populated areas near the crash site, he said.

sd eb
(Our editorial staff can be reached at [email protected])

http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=268143

Cosimo · 24 Aug 2011 at 16:28

Enjoy the ISS:

Cosimo · 26 Aug 2011 at 09:38

As we near GRAIL launch the payload fairing has been added to the booster:

The GRAIL twins are each about the size of a washing machine.

Launch is scheduled for September 8 at 13:37 BST (08:37 EDT).

Cosimo · 30 Aug 2011 at 15:42

Picture time:

Soyuz TMA-02M bringing three new members of Expedition 28 to the ISS on June 9th.

Cosimo · 31 Aug 2011 at 09:00

Watched another documentary (Discovery Channels “Last Shuttle”) about the last shuttle mission last night and still find it hard to believe that it's all over.

I know we’re looking at the present and to the future but I couldn’t resist this trip down memory lane with this great picture of the shuttles first night flight. It was Challenger, STS-8 on 30th August 1983.

Back to the present and eight more days before GRAIL launch.

** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond