NASA video: ISS flies through Auroras - cool!

Don Pettit, flight engineer aboard the International Space Station (ISS), captures impressive video as ISS flies through auroras.  A three minute video educates briefly on how auroras formed.  Pettit relates red auroras reach to heights of 400 miles, and when aboard station, seem within reach.   Green auroras, on the other hand, stay well below ISS orbit.  Pettit doesn't find viewing auroras from above and video's title, "Auroras Underfoot," at all disturbing  The flight engineer does find meteors burning up in Earth's atmosphere well below much more unsettling. It's an impressive three minutes - well worth you time!

international space station: 1998 to present

Assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) ranks as an engineering feat from first launch in 1998 to first occupants in November, 2000 to tenth year of continued occupation and beyond. An excellent informative flash movie of the ISS taking shape over years and a Scientific American slideshow presentation, are must viewing! A You Tube video of International Space Station immerses viewer in virtual experience--great stuff!

NASA website summarizes effort to assemble space station: "As of the Nov. 2 [2010] anniversary date there have been 103 launches to the space station: 67 Russian vehicles, 34 space shuttles, one European and one Japanese vehicle. A total of 150 spacewalks have been conducted in support of space station assembly totaling more than 944 hours." You may wonder when the ISS will be visited next with the Shuttle's retirement? A flight schedule also on NASA website shows list of entirely Russian missions for next two years. The present writer expects a Space X Dragon module to pull up, at some point, before schedule's completion!

international space station's moon transit

French Astrophotographer Theirry Legault captured image, at right, of International Space Station crossing the Moon (near center of picture).  Legault took this impressive shot on December 20th from Normandy, France just a few hours before the eclipse. Please view article and more pictures at Universe Today.

space x launch a commercial first!

Space X, a commercial space transport company owned by Paypal co-founder Elon Musk, boosted their Dragon capsule into earth orbit atop their own Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday, Dec 8, 2010.  Dragon orbited twice and splashed down successfully 500 miles off the coast of Southern California.  Space X is the first commercial company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.   The Dragon capsule is capable of delivering  astronauts to the International Space Station.  A pdf file of a press kit for Space X Commercial Orbit Transportation Service (COTS) Flight 1 is available here. There will be more demo flights to be followed by a test launch all in 2011.  Wow, it's pretty heady stuff!