Hubble Telescope

Hubble image shows stars bursting to life in the chaotic Carina Nebula Photo: NASA
Nasa has unveiled the first deep space photos taken by Hubble since its billion dollar repair mission earlir this year. The work included installing two new cameras, other science instruments and replacing broken parts. The images of galaxies and nebulas are sharper than previous photos taken of the same places by Hubble before the upgrade.
Some of the colorful images have brilliant glows of light that give them halos that to some people can appear heavenly. Earlier this summer, Hubble took pictures of Jupiter when an asteroid or comet hit it. TheTamshee says: "there's life out there Jim---but not as we know it"

Moon Rock "Fake"

The Dutch national museum says one of its prized possessions, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon by U.S. astronauts, is just a piece of petrified wood. The museum acquired the rock after the death of a former prime minister, who received it in 1969 from the then-U.S. ambassador during a visit by the Apollo 11 astronauts. (AP Photo/Rijksmuseum ) TheTamshee says: the yanks, how could they "Hoax" click link to read all about "Big Muley"

NASA Archive 2009

TheTamshee: likes to keep up to date with the latest Nasa news, click link for the latest offerings

Earth From Space

Two astronauts went to a bar on the moon, but they left after a few minutes ? Why
The Moon's shadow engulfs Taiwan and a large swathe of south eastern China and the Pacific Ocean on the morning of 22nd July 2009, during the unusually long total eclipse of the sun in this image from the Japanese geostationary satellite MTSAT TheTamshee: is a big fan of the Telegraph picture galleries, photography by AFP/Nasa.

Neil Alden Armstrong "Astronaut"

The first man to walk on the moon is celebrated in BBC Four's Being Neil Armstrong (Sunday) Photo: NASA
TheTamshee says: this famous person has some border history, being made a Freeman of Langholm some years ago.

Gary McKinnon "UFO Tracker"

TheTamshee says: the yanks need to take a long hard look in the mirror of reality, it is quite unbeliveable that they think Gary McKinnon is some mastermind criminal, to be hounded for years because he had the expertise to hack into some of the most powerful computer systems the US had at their disposal. "The US government says Mr McKinnon was responsible for the "biggest military hack of all time", involving 97 government computers belonging to organisations including the US Navy and Nasa." Mr McKinnon has admitted hacking into the system in 2001-2, but claims he was looking for evidence of extra-terrestrial life. The US government alleges his conduct was intentional and calculated to influence and affect it by "intimidation and coercion". It says the cost of repair totalled more than 700,000 US dollars (£436,000) At the High Court in London, Mr McKinnon's lawyer discribed Gary as "an eccentric person who has passionate views about UFOs". He began writing his own software programmes at 14, and was diagnosed with Asperger's last August. Mr McKinnon was caught as he tried to download a grainy black and white photograph which he believed was an alien spacecraft from a Nasa computer housed in the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas. He was easily traced by the authorities because he used his own email address. He has always said he had no malicious intent but was looking for classified documents on UFOs which he believed the US authorities had suppressed. He has signed a statement accepting his hacking constituted an offence under the UK's Computer Misuse Act 1990. The court heard that Mr McKinnon, 43, could expect a sentence of 8-10 years if he is extradited and convicted. TheTamshee continues: so the "Fix" costs were high but Gary proved that their system was seriously flawed. Mr McKinnon should have been rewarded for highlighting this fact. It is also clear that Gary did not atempt to conseal his E-mail address, which is strong evidence that he acted without malice. If the UK goverment has any balls, they should veto the extradition to the US. Gary was on UK soveriegn soil when the crime was committed and if there is charges to be answered, then this should be done in the UK courts, straight and simple. If a US sponsored bank is robbed in London of say $500,000 the criminals are not extradited to the US for trial.

Atlantis Returns

The space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of seven returned to Earth on Sunday, ending their exalted Hubble Space Telescope repair mission in sunny California after stormy weather prevented a return to NASA’s Florida home base. Click Here for Nasa Video footage. Mission Control waited as long as possible for the weather to improve before finally giving up and directing commander Scott Altman and his crew to the Mojave Desert.
Atlantis swooped through a clear morning sky and touched down on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base. “Welcome home, Atlantis,” Mission Control radioed once the shuttle came to a safe stop. “Congratulations on a very successful mission, giving Hubble a new set of eyes that will continue to expand our knowledge of the universe.” TheTamshee: has been debating the shuttle design with some work colleagues. Here's the facts: The space shuttle system is made up of three main components: •The two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), which provide 80 percent of launch thrust. •The huge rust-colored External Tank (ET), which feeds fuel to three
Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) during launch•The orbiter itself, which serves as the crew's home in space and is equipped to dock with the International Space Station. NASA has made many safety improvements to the shuttle system, including redesigning and refitting the External Tank to reduce the risk of foam and ice hitting the orbiter during liftoff.

Magic Carpet In Space

A Japanese astronaut has been demonstrating his skills at flying a "magic carpet" while aboard the International Space Station.

Koichi Wakata, 45, was taking part in 16 unusual tasks suggested by the Japanese public - from nursery school children to a 90-year-old man - to show how tricky life can be when in zero gravity.

The suggestions included folding laundry and inserting eye drops. In order to fly his "magic carpet", Mr Wakata had to stick his feet to a white sheet using adhesive tape. He was then able to glide through the Japanese laboratory Kibo (Hope) within the space station. Mr Wataka said: "I flew on this magic carpet by using adhesive tape so that the soles of my feet stayed on it." He also showed particular deftness at inserting eye drops in outer space by squeezing some liquid out, letting it perch on the container and then bringing it to his eye. TheTamshee says: it seems logical that astronauts need to combat stress and what could be better than indulging in some light hearted entertainment, surfing in zero gravity is novel but rather sss-low, I mean it's not going to get the adrenalin flowing

Hubble Telescope "Repaired"

Space shuttle astronauts have sent the restored Hubble telescope off on a new voyage of discovery, bidding it farewell on behalf of the planet. Hubble - considered better than new following five days of repairs and upgrades - will never be seen up close by humans again. The Atlantis shuttle mission was Nasa's last service call to the telescope. The shuttle and telescope had just crossed the Atlantic, and were soaring 350 miles above the coast of north-western Africa, when astronaut Megan McArthur used a robot arm to release the snares gripping Hubble. Then the shuttle slowly backed away. "Hubble has been released," reported commander Scott Altman. "It's safely back on its journey of exploration as we begin steps to conclude ours. Looking back on this mission, it's been an incredible journey for us as well." Mission Control radioed congratulations: "It's wonderful to see Hubble, the most famous scientific instrument of all time, newly upgraded and ready for action thanks to you." With Hubble flying on its own again, the seven astronauts looked ahead to Friday's planned landing. But first they had to inspect their ship one last time to make sure it had not suffered any serious damage from space junk. The telescope's unusually high orbit had placed the shuttle and its crew at increased risk and, because of the lack of a refuge, prompted Nasa to keep a rescue ship on stand-by until the end of the 11-day flight.
To improve their safety, the astronauts dropped Atlantis into an egg-shaped orbit that is, much of the time, lower than the telescope's junk-ridden orbit. TheTamshee says: Scotty Altman and his fellow astronauts deserve high praise. To risk their lifes on this tricky space mission, to squench the worlds thirst for cosmic pictures, is indeed honourable. "Safe Oot-Safe In"

Sackboy "Astronaut"

White House withdraws nomination of Maj Gen Charles F Bolden to be deputy administration of NASA; cites Defense Department directive to limit service of senior military officers to civilian jobs during current war on terrorism. TheTamshee says: the top brass on the hill have finally come to there senses with the probably announcement of "Little Big Planet" hero, "Sackboy" as the most logical choice as new administrator of Nasa. The vastly experienced astronaut has spent a lifetime exploring the outer universe with more mission crew patches than any other astronaut on planet earth. At this moment in time the Indy kids cannot determined if some Alien traveller has more cosmic miles than their intrepid adventurer.

Go Atlantis

Lights covering the fixed service structure on Launch Pad 39A cast their glow over space shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle waits the arrival of the payload canister with its cargo of Hubble Space Telescope equipment. The payload will be transferred into Atlantis' payload bay for the 11-day STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Telescope.Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett TheTamshee says: technology has no limits, space the final frontier will be conquered " there's life Jim, but not as we know it" The payload canister with the Hubble Space Telescope equipment heads for Launch Pad 39A. In the foreground, a bobcat runs across the road.

Sputnik 1

Sputnik 1, launched on Oct.4, 1957, became the first artificial satellite to successfully orbit the Earth. It was a metallic sphere about 2 feet across, weighing 184 lbs (84 kg), with long "whiskers" pointing to one side, and stayed in orbit for 6 months before falling back to Earth. Its rocket booster, weighing 4 tons, also reached orbit and was easily visible from the ground. TheTamshee says: while checking out The Works book store in Stirling the Indy kids came across a magic skeleton book of space discovery- brilliant bed time stories for the Indy kid who says he would like to be an astronaut.

Fermi GR "Space Telescope"

An international team of astronomers have used the world’s biggest radio telescope to look deep into the brightest galaxies that NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope can see. The study solidifies the link between an active galaxy’s gamma-ray emissions and its powerful radio-emitting jets. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration and NRAO/AUI/MOJAVE Team/M. Kadler. TheTamshee says: to look beyond the minds eye, outer space, the everlasting journey ?

Doughnut Spaceship

NASA-funded R&D engineers are working on plans for future spaceships to enter orbit around Mars using a doughnut shaped, steerable balloon-chute to slow down by flying through the Red Planet's atmosphere. Nobody believed Zralthar about the doughnut ships from Earth, until it was too late. Global Aerospace is a Californian firm founded by ex-NASA engineers. The company announced that it would start modelling work aimed at developing what it calls a "lifting-towed-toroidal-ballute" for use by spacecraft approaching planets with a view to entering orbit around them, or perhaps subsequently landing on them. The team think that an inflatable "ballute" (a balloon-parachute combo) could be very useful for slowing spacecraft down by atmospheric braking. Even a slow interplanetary journey would tend to see a spacecraft arriving still going at very high speed, so much so that left to itself it might simply zoom past, escaping the destination planet's gravity field and barrelling off uselessly into space again.
It would, of course, be possible to slow down using rocket thrust. But this means carrying a significant amount of fuel all the long and weary way from Earth - and consequently much less payload. According to Global Aerospace, it would make more sense to slow down by steering a speeding interplanetary ship into the planet's atmosphere, letting friction slow it down without use of fuel. In order to avoid getting awfully hot, the plan would be to fly through the thin upper reaches of the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds, with most of the braking provided by the inflatable ballute rather than the ship itself. The clever bit with the Global Aerospace doughnut-balloon wing/chute is that it provides lift as well as drag, and it's designed to be controllable from the ship. The Californian engineers believe that this will make longer flights through the atmosphere feasible, getting more braking for a given size of ballute - and so more payload.
The use of smaller ballutes will make them more attractive and feasible for missions to planets such as Neptune, where high heating rates require extremely large ballutes for drag-only capture. Ballutes can also be used to decelerate large payloads for landing at Mars. In this case, lifting ballutes can significantly reduce deceleration forces, which can result in lower mass ballute systems and reduced g-loads on crews that fly them to the surface of Mars.

Hubble Space Telescope

The payload canister with the Hubble Space Telescope equipment arrives at the base of Launch Pad 39A where space shuttle Atlantis stands.

STS-125: Mission to Service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Veteran astronaut Scott Altman will command the final space shuttle mission to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. During the 11-day mission's five spacewalks, astronauts will install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones and perform the component replacements that will keep the telescope functioning into at least 2014. In addition to the originally scheduled work, Atlantis also will carry a replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit for Hubble. Astronauts will install the unit on the telescope, removing the one that stopped working on Sept. 27, 2008, delaying the servicing mission until the replacement was ready. TheTamshee says: click the title link to read Nasa's history of this powerful orbiting telescope that provides sharper images of heavenly bodies than any other telescopes.

Hubble L-1 Web Cast

Hubble Payload Ready for Atlantis Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:04:38 PM UTC+0100
Early Monday morning at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the rotating service structure at Launch Pad 39A was moved around space shuttle Atlantis, where payload operations will continue throughout the week. Over the weekend, the payload canister carrying hardware for the mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope was transported to the pad and transferred to the payload changeout room inside the service structure. TheTamshee says: I continue to follow the lead up to launch date on the 12th May, Atlantis is the one on the left launch pad 39A with Endeavour at 39B click here to check out the web cast perview

Atlantis Rolls to Pad

Preparations continue this week for the STS-125 mission to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, targeted for lift off on 12th May. Today at Johnson Space Center in Houston, the astronauts are practicing inside the nearby Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory for the first two spacewalks of the mission.

Last week, the astronauts were at Kennedy Space Center in Florida where they had a chance to check out the mission hardware. At Kennedy today, technicians at Launch Pad 39A are conducting a validation test on the Range Safety System as they prepare Atlantis for launch.

Image above: The seven astronauts take a break from training to pose for the STS-125 crew portrait. From the left are astronauts Michael J. Massimino, Michael T. Good, both mission specialists; Gregory C. Johnson, pilot; Scott D. Altman, commander; K. Megan McArthur, John M. Grunsfeld and Andrew J. Feustel, all mission specialists. Image credit: NASA TheTamshee says: the Indy kids rocket RB-26-06-2003 can be clearly seen in outer space, the blue one just above commander Scotty Altman's head

Discovery "Blast Off"

Discovery took off as the sun was setting, a spectacular sight for a space agency anxious about the prospects of a successful take off after a hydrogen leak prevented the shuttle from lifting off on Wednesday.
Before that, hydrogen valves kept the shuttle grounded for weeks in February. Launch pad repairs took care of the leak, and the astronauts were able to board their spaceship and lift off.
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"Well, you had a little bit of a wait but that will just make the payoff that much sweeter," the launch director Mike Leinbach told the astronauts.
Commander Lee Archambault and his crew, which includes two former schoolteachers, should reach the international space station on Tuesday.
"Thanks for the work Mike, we'll see you in a couple weeks. Take care and let's go ahead and fire up the sound of freedom," Commander Archambault said.
The shuttle is delivering one last set of solar wings for the space station and some critical equipment for a relatively new water-recycling system. TheTamshee says: the oldest Indy Kid loves this kind of stuff - she has already supplied the primary school with a copy of her Redshift Astronomy skills CD, but can't quite comprehend why she is not able to see the Shuttle from her bedroom window with her Eco Science telescope -not quite up to Hubble standards