Month: August 2024

SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites to orbit from California (video, photos)

NeRD

SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink satellites to orbit early Sunday (Aug. 4), continuing a busy stretch for the company. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 23 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sunday at 3:24 a.m. EDT (0724 GMT; 12:24 a.m. local California time). The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth about eight minutes after launch as planned, landing on the SpaceX droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.  A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches…

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New moon of August 2024: Venus in conjunction

NeRD

The new moon occurs Aug. 4, at 7:13 a.m. EDT (0113 UTC). In the days following the new moon, our satellite will make a close pass to Venus; after that Venus and Mercury will be close together, making a visible pair in the evening sky.  A new moon describes the moment when the sun and moon share the same celestial longitude; this is called a conjunction. This happens about every 29.5 days. As the illuminated side of the moon faces away from Earth, new moons are invisible to ground-based observers…

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The moon and Venus join close together in the night sky Aug. 5

NeRD

Few sights are as memorable as Venus, the brightest planet, passing very close to a crescent moon in a twilight sky. Such an event may have inspired the symbols on the flag of Turkey or the famous lines penned by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner:” Till clomb above the eastern barThe horned Moon, with one bright star Within the nether tip Unfortunately, the very close conjunction of Venus on Monday evening, Aug. 5 will prove far more challenging than most. Indeed, the moon itself will appear…

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Photographer recreates NASA’s epic Artemis 1 launch with Lego (video)

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LEGO Artemis SLS Rocket Toy Photography | How It’s Made? – YouTube Watch On To glance at the images above, you’d be hard pushed to not think you were looking at a real rocket launch. But they’re actually works of art, created by Benedek Lampert using Lego’s NASA Artemis Space Launch System set. By using some clever photography techniques — and the use of some rather nifty lighting — he’s been able to create an incredible likeness without ever stepping foot near the actual NASA Artemis 1 launch. The similarity…

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This Week In Space podcast: Episode 122 —No City on Mars?

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No City on Mars? – A Debate on Human Expansion and the Popular New Book, ‘A City on Mars’ – YouTube Watch On On Episode 122 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with Dale Skran, COO and SVP of the National Space Society, and video producer Isaac Arthur about the realistic prospects for space settlement. It’s been said that Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids, and that’s certainly the assertion of the popular 2023 book, “A City on Mars” by Kelly…

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Earth from space: Astronauts share photography tips for snapping amazing photos from the ISS

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The view from Earth looking up at the stars is an incredible one, but a select few have the chance to look down at their home planet from space and capture the incredible scenery on camera.  A recent X Spaces (formerly Twitter Spaces) event featured NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick and Don Pettit revealing the secrets of doing astrophotography from low Earth orbit. Dominick, who is currently on board the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Expedition 71, and Pettit, who will launch to the orbiting outpost in September, passed…

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NASA Johnson Dedicates Dorothy Vaughan Center to Women of Apollo 

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On the eve of the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston commemorated the unsung heroes who helped make humanity’s first steps on the Moon possible.  To celebrate their enduring legacy, Johnson named one of its central buildings the “Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo” on July 19, 2024, during a ceremony recognizing the early pioneers who laid the groundwork for the Artemis Generation.  NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston named one of its central building the “Dorothy Vaughan…

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Canadarm2 was not designed to catch spacecraft at the ISS. Now it’s about to grab its 50th

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A Canadian robot arm on the International Space Station is days from a big milestone. MDA Space’s Canadarm2 will celebrate its 50th cosmic catch no earlier than Aug. 5, when a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship berths with the International Space Station (ISS) with thousands of pounds of experiments, supplies and food for the Expedition 71 astronauts, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced today (Aug. 2). Cygnus will launch to the ISS no earlier than 11:29 a.m. EDT (0329 GMT) on Aug. 3, and you can watch the mission here…

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Artemis II Core Stage Arrives at Kennedy

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NASA/Kim Shiflett Teams transport NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) core stage into the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 24, 2024. Tugboats and towing vessels moved the Pegasus barge and 212-foot-long core stage 900-miles to the Florida spaceport from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where it was manufactured and assembled. In the coming months, teams will integrate the rocket core stage atop the mobile launcher with the additional Artemis II flight hardware, including the twin solid rocket boosters, launch vehicle stage adapter, and…

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There Are No Imaginary Boundaries for Dr. Ariadna Farrés-Basiana

NeRD

 Lee esta entrevista en español aquí Dr. Ariadna Farrés-Basiana would look up at the sky and marvel at the immensity of space when she was younger. Now, the bounds are limitless as she helps NASA explore the expansive universe by computing the trajectories and maneuvers to get a spacecraft into space. Name: Dr. Ariadna Farrés-BasianaTitle: Astrodynamics and solar radiation pressure specialist, Formal Job Classification: Scientific collaboratorOrganization Navigation and Mission Design Branch (Code 595)  Dr. Ariadna Farrés-Basiana is an astrodynamics and solar radiation pressure specialist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center…

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