Topic: NASA - on December 22, 2016 at 5:06:00 PM CET
Apollo 8: The (second) greatest Christmas story ever told
Sometimes it can be easy to get so immersed in the detail of spaceflight, the documentation, the politics and the technical minutiae, that we lose sight of the very real emotional connection that our achievements can have. Occasionally when things come together just right, for a brief moment we can all pull together and feel a collective human wonder at events we see unfolding. I suspect many of us have our own ‘special mission’, indeed one of the great pleasures of meeting fellow space enthusiasts is to swap stories of these pivotal moments, the wonder they gave us and the lasting glow that keeps us wanting to learn more. Increasingly these may be missions we only learn about decades after their completion – we come new to these experiences, yet they can affect us just as they affected the generation that witnessed them first-hand. For me there will always be a special place in my heart for Apollo 8.
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Topic: NASA - on August 15, 2016 at 5:55:00 PM CEST
NASA Systems Engineering Handbook
Since its founding, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been dedicated to the ad- vancement of aeronautics and space science. The NASA Scientific and Technical Information (STI) program plays a key part in helping NASA maintain this impor- tant role. The NASA STI program operates under the auspices of the Agency Chief Information Officer. It collects, orga- nizes, provides for archiving, and disseminates NASA’s STI. The NASA STI program provides access to the NASA Aeronautics and Space Database and its public interface, the NASA technical report server, thus pro- viding one of the largest collections of aeronautical and space science STI in the world.
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Topic: NASA - on August 11, 2016 at 6:20:00 PM CEST
NASA Publishes a Thousand Photos of Mars
NASA has released a huge number of high-resolution photos of Mars captured from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRise camera, which has been capturing images of the planet since 2005. The latest dump consists of over a thousand images that can familiarize you with the red planet's many craters, impact sites, dunes, mountains, ice caps and other features. You can view every single photo captured on HiRise's official website.
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Topic: NASA - on August 9, 2016 at 5:32:00 PM CEST
Revolutionary Camera Recording Propulsion Data Completes Groundbreaking Test
While thousands turned out watch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) recently complete a full-scale test of its booster, few were aware of the other major test occurring simultaneously. NASA’s High Dynamic Range Stereo X (HiDyRS-X) project, a revolutionary high-speed, high dynamic range camera, filmed the test, recording propulsion video data in never before seen detail. The HiDyRS-X project originated from a problem that exists when trying to film rocket motor tests. Rocket motor plumes, in addition to being extremely loud, are also extremely bright, making them difficult to record without drastically cutting down the exposure settings on the camera. Doing so, however, darkens the rest of the image, obscuring other important components on the motor. Traditionally, video cameras record using one exposure at a time, but HiDyRS-X records multiple, slow motion video exposures at once, combining them into a high dynamic range video that perfectly exposes all areas of the video image.
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Topic: NASA - on July 20, 2016 at 4:27:00 PM CEST
Apollo 11 turns 47: A lunar landing anniversary retrospective
On July 20, 1969, at about four minutes before 10:00pm Central Daylight Time, former naval aviator and test pilot Neil Armstrong became the first human being to stand on the surface of the Moon. About 20 minutes later, he was followed by Buzz Aldrin, an Air Force colonel with a PhD in astronautics from MIT (Aldrin had, quite literally, written the book on orbital rendezvous techniques). Armstrong and Aldrin’s landing was the culmination of almost a decade of scientific and engineering work by hundreds of thousands of people across the United States. Even though the lunar program’s goals were ultimately political, the Apollo project ranks as one of the greatest engineering achievements in human history.
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Topic: NASA - on July 7, 2016 at 4:08:00 PM CEST
Original Apollo 11 guidance computer (AGC) source code
Original Apollo 11 guidance computer (AGC) source code, in assembly, for Command Module (Comanche054) and Lunar Module (Luminary099).
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Topic: NASA - on February 27, 2014 at 5:00:00 PM CET
Hundreds of New Exoplanets Validated by Kepler Telescope Team
A huge new haul of planets has joined the tally of alien worlds discovered by NASA's Kepler space telescope, scientists announced today. All of the new planets are members of multiplanet systems—stars with more than one orbiting satellite. Researchers used a new method for weeding out false signals from among the candidate planets found by Kepler, allowing them to add hundreds of "validated" planets to the count of Kepler's finds. "We studied just over 1,200 systems, and from there we were able to validate 719 planets," says Jason Rowe of NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., who led the research. "This is the biggest haul ever."
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Topic: NASA - on February 16, 2014 at 3:32:00 PM CET
NASA solves mystery of jelly doughnut-shaped rock on Mars
NASA announced this week that it has solved the mystery of the “jelly doughnut-shaped” rock that suddenly appeared in front of the Mars rover Opportunity earlier this year. The small white-ish rock with a deep red center was dubbed “Pinnacle Island” by scientists at NASA, who say the rock wasn't there one day, and then 12 Martian days later, it showed up in images that Opportunity sent back.
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Topic: NASA - on January 20, 2014 at 3:25:00 PM CET
Donut-sized rock suddenly appears in front of Mars rover
As we’ve learned from our recent explorations of Mars, there’s really not a whole lot going on there. Yes, there are geological processes at work, but most of them move at a nearly imperceptible pace. So that's why after nearly ten years of Martian rover exploration, NASA scientists were surprised to see a rock suddenly “appear” in front of the Mars Rover last week.
You can see the rock in the images above. The image on the left shows the area in front of Opportunity on Sol 3528. The image to the right was taken 12 Martian days later and is almost identical—except for a rock the size of a donut that had unexpectedly shown up
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Topic: NASA - on December 25, 2013 at 2:10:00 PM CET
Außeneinsatz an der ISS: Astronauten reparieren Kühlung
Zwei US-Astronauten haben einen Außeneinsatz an der Internationalen Raumstation erfolgreich beendet. Sie mussten eine neue Kühlpumpe anbringen. Die ISS kann nun wieder komplett klimatisiert werden.
Cape Canavarel - Zum zweiten Mal in der Geschichte der US-Raumfahrtbehörde Nasa mussten Astronauten an Heiligabend einen Außeneinsatz absolvieren. Mike Hopkins und Rick Mastracchio brachten in mehr als sieben Stunden - 60 Minuten länger als ursprünglich geplant - eine neue Kühlpumpe an der Internationalen Raumstation ISS an.
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Topic: NASA - on December 23, 2013 at 2:45:00 PM CET
Spacesuit Problems Delay ISS Repair Spacewalk
According to Deutsche Welle, the problem is with how the sublimator (a cooling unit) in Mastracchio's suit operated when entering ISS airlock. NASA said the question is whether water entered the sublimator at that time. 'During repressurization of the station's airlock following the spacewalk, a spacesuit configuration issue put the suit Mastracchio was wearing in question for the next excursion,' NASA said in a statement. Delaying the next steps of the valve replacement from Monday until Tuesday will give NASA time to address the issue. Mastracchio is scheduled to wear a backup suit and needs this time to have it resized.
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Topic: NASA - on December 21, 2013 at 3:32:00 PM CET
NASA Live Steam - EVA to Fix Ammonia Leak On The ISS
Last week, the media exhibited a fair amount of restraint in reporting a technical problem aboard the ISS. The news, that roughly half the ISS had lost its cooling systems, was worrying to say the least; though it might seem like a small issue, in space every problem is serious and pressing. All reporting was quick to note, however, that the crew is in no immediate danger, and the problem is on its way to being fixed.
nasa.gov Expedition 38 Crew To Conduct Spacewalk Saturday To Fix Faulty Pump
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