Day: September 27, 2024

SpaceX, NASA ‘go’ for 1st astronaut launch to ISS from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station pad

NeRD

NASA cleared its next astronaut flight to the International Space Station for launch on Friday (Sept. 27), a weekend liftoff that will help return two Boeing Starliner astronauts home and break in a new launch pad for SpaceX.  A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft will launch two Crew-9 astronauts, NASA veteran Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexandr Gorbunov, to the ISS from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday, Sept. 28. Liftoff is set for 1:17 p.m. EDT (1517 GMT).  “We’re proceeding toward launch and go…

Read More

Watch spectacular Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS rise during the early hours of Sept. 28 with this free livestream

NeRD

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS at perihelion: online observation – 28 Sept. 2024 – YouTube Watch On Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS has been making quite a name for itself these past few weeks, providing a dazzling spectacle for early morning risers wishing to catch a glimpse of the “dirty snowball” as it streaks through the predawn sky.  On Sept. 27, the comet will reach its perihelion — the closest distance to the sun. At 1:55 p.m. EDT (1755 GMT) the comet will be about 36.4 million miles (58.6 million kilometers) away…

Read More

Lego Ideas submissions Lunar Landscape, Space Projection Telescope and Voyager 1’s Pale Blue Dot need to be made into real sets

NeRD

Space continues to be a popular theme for budding Lego designers, and three new Lego Ideas submissions have rocketed onto our wish list. Will they get your vote? Earlier this year, we looked at three space-themed Lego Ideas submissions: The Martian, NASA’s Space Launch System and a Kerbal Space Program Modular Ship System. While the Kerbal Space Program and SLS sets managed to garner enough votes to get in front of a Lego panel, unfortunately neither of them were approved to be made. There’s still hope for The Martian, however,…

Read More

The Science of the Perfect Cup for Coffee 

NeRD

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Research into phase-change material (PCM) options for NASA helped one of the researchers find the ideal material to use in a mug that maintains the ideal temperature of a hot beverage for hours. ThermAvant International now offers mugs and tumblers. Credit: ThermAvant International LLC Dr. Hongbin Ma was tired of drinking coffee that had gone cold. Fortunately, Ma, the CEO of ThermAvant Technologies LLC in Columbia, Missouri, was working on a NASA-funded study of phase-change materials, which are used…

Read More

The Stanley Cup Comes to Kennedy

NeRD

NASA/Cory S Huston The Stanley Cup, won in 2024 by the Florida Panthers, made a visit to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 17, 2024, as part of its championship tour. The VAB currently houses components of the agency’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis. Artemis II will send four astronauts around the Moon, testing NASA’s foundational human deep space exploration capabilities, the SLS rocket, and Orion spacecraft.…

Read More

Chief Engineer Dr. Donald Mendoza

NeRD

“From my earliest childhood, flight had always captivated me. I lived out in the boonies and the farmlands, so I didn’t have neighbors to go and play with. If I wasn’t working, I was left to my own devices, and often, I would just be captivated by the wildlife and in particular, the birds of prey that I would see. “To me, they represented a freedom of some kind or another. These birds and the view they have — they can take in so much. So, from that point on,…

Read More

Launch Your Creativity with These Space Crafts!

NeRD

9 min read Launch Your Creativity with These Space Crafts! In honor of the completion of our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s spacecraft — the vehicle that will maneuver the observatory to its place in space and enable it to function once there — we’re bringing you some space crafts you can complete at home! Join us for a journey across the cosmos, starting right in your own pantry.  Stardust Slime Did you know that most of your household ingredients are made of stardust? And so are you! Nearly every…

Read More