Category: Earth from Space

“One Strange Rock” Trailer

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date March 22, 2018
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We live on a strange rock… and nobody realizes that better than astronauts. A new documentary, including astronaut experiences of looking down at Earth from space, is coming to National Geographic Channel soon. The award-winning American filmmaker and writer Darren Aronofsky, the American actor, producer, rapper, comedian, and songwriter Will Smith, and experienced astronauts join forces to tell the extraordinary story of why life as we know it exists on Earth. Premieres March 26 on the National Geographic Channel. Here’s the trailer of the “One Strange Rock” documentary.

OSIRIS-REx Captures New Earth-Moon Image from 39.5 Million Miles

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date February 16, 2018
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Earth and Moon from 39.5 million miles. OSIRIS-REx image captured on January 17, 2018 — NASA's asteroid-sampling OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured a new Earth-Moon image on Jan. 17, 2018, from a distance of 39.5 million miles (63.6 million kilometers). Spacecraft used its NavCam1 imager to take this photo, as part of an engineering test. In the image, The Earth and the moon are just two bright dots against the vastness of black space - which reminds us Carl Sagan's famous speech: *"That's here. That's home. That's us."* The purpose of OSIRIS-REx spacecraft (acronym for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) is to study, map and return samples for detailed analysis from asteroid 101955 Bennu, a carbon-rich hunk of rock that might contain organic materials or molecular precursors to life. It was launched on September 8, 2016, and expected return date is September 24, 2023. If successful, OSIRIS-REx will be the first NASA spacecraft to return samples from an asteroid. 101955 Bennu was discovered on September 11, 1999 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project, a collaboration of the United States Air Force, NASA, and the MIT's Lincoln Laboratory for the systematic detection and tracking of near-Earth objects. It is It is a potential Earth impactor. It has a 1-in-2,700 chance of impacting Earth in the late 22nd century. With a mean diameter of approximately 492 meters (1,614 ft; 0.306 mi), it can wipe out our civilization if it impact our planet. This is a cropped and resized image. You can see the original image on NASA web site.

NASA’s asteroid-sampling OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured a new Earth-Moon image on Jan. 17, 2018, from a distance of 39.5 million miles (63.6 million kilometers). Spacecraft used its NavCam1 imager to take this photo, as part of an engineering test. In the image, The Earth and the moon are just two bright dots against the vastness of black space – which reminds us of Carl Sagan’s famous speech: “That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.”

Earth from Space Space Exploration

Astronaut Robert Stewart untethered above the Earth during Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Exercise

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date February 13, 2018
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Robert L. Stewart during EVA-1 of STS-41-B mission. February 7, 1984. He and Bruce McCandless II became the first astronauts who perform an untethered spacewalk. Image: Reddit

A breathtakingly beautiful photo of a historical moment: NASA Astronaut Robert L. Stewart untethered above the Earth during the first Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) exercise. The photo was taken on February 7, 1984, during the EVA 1 (Extravehicular activity) of STS-41-B, the tenth NASA Space Shuttle mission, and the fourth flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The total duration of the spacewalk was 5 hours 55 minutes. Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart tested a nitrogen-propelled, hand-controlled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU). In this EVA, Bruce McCandless II broke the untethered spacewalking record with a distance of 98 meters (320 feet).

Space Exploration Earth from Space Solar System

New Horizons beats Voyager 1’s Record for being farthest from Earth while capturing images

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date February 12, 2018
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New Horizons poster — Artist's conception depicting New Horizons spacecraft near Pluto. Pluto's moon Charon, also known as (134340) Pluto I is in the background. New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a team led by S. Alan Stern, the spacecraft was launched on January 19, 2006, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by an Atlas V rocket directly into an Earth-and-solar escape trajectory with a speed of about 16.26 kilometers per second (58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph). Its primary mission was to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system in 2015. It has a secondary mission to fly by and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) in the decade to follow. It is the fifth of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity that will allow them to leave the Solar System (others being Pioneer 10 - launched in 1972, Pioneer 11 - launched in 1973, Voyager 2 - launched in August 1977, and Voyager 1 - Launched in September 1977). Image: NASA Goddard Media Studios

It took 27 years, but finally, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft beat Voyager 1‘s record for being farthest from Earth while capturing images. Taken on December 5, 2017, New Horizons’ image of the open star cluster NGC 3532 (also commonly known as the Football Cluster or the Wishing Well Cluster) became the farthest image ever made by any spacecraft, breaking a 27-year record set by Voyager 1. But for a very short time! About 2 hours later, New Horizons broke its own record with images of two Kuiper Belt objects.

Space Exploration Earth from Space

Falcon Heavy 1st Test Flight

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date February 6, 2018
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Falcon Heavy Test Flight: Starman and Earth 3. — Australia, you look good from here. Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster is an electric sports car that was the dummy payload for the Falcon Heavy test flight in February 2018. Starman, a mannequin dressed in a spacesuit, occupies the driver's seat. The car was installed in the Falcon Heavy rocket at an inclined position above the payload adapter in order to account for the mass distribution.

This will go down as one of the greatest videos in history, and you must share it with everyone you know. It is one of the great achievements our species has ever done. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy test flight was successful and the rocket’s upper stage, together with Elon Musk’s electric sports car Tesla and the dummy “Starman”, are on their way to Mars.

When Falcon Heavy lifted off, it became the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. This rocket that may one day carry humans to the Moon or Mars! With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb)-a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage, and fuel-Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost. Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9.

Space Exploration Earth from Space Moon Landing

20 Longest Spacewalks in History

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date February 4, 2018
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Susan Helms during STS-102 EVA 1, the longest spacewalk in history — STS-102 mission astronaut Susan J. Helms translates along the longerons of the Space Shuttle Discovery during the first of two space walks. During this walk, the Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 was prepared for repositioning from the Unity Module's Earth-facing berth to its port-side berth to make room for the Leonardo multipurpose Logistics Module (MPLM), supplied by the Italian Space Agency. The Leonardo MPLM is the first of three such pressurized modules that will serve as the International Space Station's (ISS') moving vans, carrying laboratory racks filled with equipment, experiments, and supplies to and from the Station aboard the Space Shuttle. The cylindrical module is approximately 21-feet long and 15- feet in diameter, weighing almost 4.5 tons. It can carry up to 10 tons of cargo in 16 standard Space Station equipment racks. Of the 16 racks the module can carry, 5 can be furnished with power, data, and fluid to support refrigerators or freezers. In order to function as an attached station module as well as a cargo transport, the logistics module also includes components that provide life support, fire detection and suppression, electrical distribution, and computer functions. NASA's 103rd overall mission and the 8th Space Station Assembly Flight, STS-102 mission also served as a crew rotation flight. It delivered the Expedition Two crew to the Station and returned the Expedition One crew back to Earth. With 8 hours 56 minutes, STS-102 EVA 1 was the longest spacewalk in history. Image: NASA

Spacewalking or Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut or cosmonaut outside a spacecraft beyond the Earth’s appreciable atmosphere (a moonwalk is also an EVA). The first spacewalker was the Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov. He became the first human to conduct an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) on March 18, 1965; exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for a 12-minute spacewalk. Since this very short EVA, a lot of astronauts/cosmonauts spent many hours outside their spacecraft, mostly for maintenance missions. Here are the top 20 longest spacewalks in history.

Space Exploration Earth from Space

Can you find the spacewalker’s legs in this photo?

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date February 2, 2018
No Comments on Can you find the spacewalker’s legs in this photo?

Russian Spacewalk, Feb. 2, 2018 — Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Aleksandr Misurkin set out for a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk on February 2 to upgrade an antenna at the International Space Station (ISS).

During the Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Expedition 54 Commander Aleksandr Misurkin’s spacewalk on February 2, 2018, NASA astronaut Mark T. Vande Hei published a photo on his twitter account and asked his followers that “Can you find the spacewalker’s legs in this photo?” Vande Hei added, “Russian spacewalk continues!”

Earth from Space Places Space Exploration

Astronaut shares photos of places he’d visited [alongside photos of the same locations he snapped from space]

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date January 30, 2018
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Venice, Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge — The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge (Italian: Ponte Rialto). Public transport over the canal grande is provided by water buses (Italian: vaporetti) and private water taxis, and many tourists explore the canal by gondola. I took this photo back in March 2009.

NASA astronaut Randy “Komrade” Bresnik, the commander of Expedition 53 (the 53rd expedition to the International Space Station) has published a beautiful video on his Twitter account titled “Through the eyes of a spaceman: One World Many Views”. In the video, Bresnik shared photos of places he’d visited on Earth alongside photos of the same locations he snapped from space. He also wrote: “You don’t have to be in outer space to experience the beauty of our home planet. Capture the beauty of a moment, or the excitement of an instant, and share it with others.”

Earth from Space Space Exploration

Earth from the Geostationary Orbit [Himawari 8 images]

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date January 29, 2018
1 Comment on Earth from the Geostationary Orbit [Himawari 8 images]

An amazing time-lapse video of Earth from the geostationary orbit (see notes 1). The video was generated from the images taken by the Japanese weather satellite Himawari 8, which takes a photo of Earth every 10 minutes. Himawari 8 is the 8th of the Himawari geostationary weather satellites operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Earth from Space Space Exploration

The spectacular Earthrise as seen from the Moon by the Soviet Zond 7 spacecraft

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date January 23, 2018
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Two beautiful historical Earthrise photos, taken by Zond 7, the uncrewed Soviet moon-flyby spacecraft in 1969, almost a month after the American Moon landing (on July 20, 1969).