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The Space Dragon resupply ship approaches the International Space Station as both spacecraft orbited 257 miles above the Sahara. (Dec. 8, 2019) . . . #Astronomy #Space #Spacegram #Spaceflight #Nasa #ESA #Astronaut #Universe #Cosmos #Sky #Earth #Nebula #Galaxy #Love #Moon #Astro_Lorenzo https://www.instagram.com/p/CAdvWlCIsHn/?igshid=3v4agxog5p1f

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This artist’s concept shows an over-the-shoulder view of Cassini making one of its Grand Finale dives over Saturn | NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Our Amazing Solar System!

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Solar System By Breath Art

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SpaceX crew capsule will carry a mannequin on its first trip to space station

NASA this week gave the green light for the first test flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).

The mission will launch on Saturday, March 2, at 2:48 a.m. ET (Friday, March 1, 11:48 p.m. PT), and instead of delivering only supplies to the ISS as SpaceX usually does with its regular Dragon spacecraft, this time around it will also drop off a spacesuit-wearing mannequin.

No, it’s not another crazy stunt dreamed up by SpaceX’s flamboyant CEO, Elon Musk. It was Musk, after all, that sent a spacesuit-clad mannequin — behind the wheel of a Tesla Roadster — toward Mars in the spectacular debut launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket in 2018.

This time around, the mannequin will be kitted out with an array of scientific sensors to provide the SpaceX team with important data ahead of its plan to put humans inside the Crew Dragon capsule for trips to and from the ISS.

The Crew Dragon, also known as the Dragon 2, is the successor to the cargo-carrying Dragon spacecraft that’s been carrying supplies to the ISS since 2012. It can carry up to seven crew members, and, like the Dragon, reaches space via a Falcon 9 rocket launch.

Speaking to reporters at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX’s vice president of mission assurance, temporarily pondered the appropriate term for the space-bound mannequin.

“Should I say ‘dummy’? Is that the right word?” the executive asked.

“ATD, we prefer to not call them dummies,” Kathy Lueders, the program manager for NASA’s commercial crew program, interjected. ATD stands for anthropomorphic test device.

Terminology confirmed, SpaceX will now be working hard to complete preparations for the weekend launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Assuming everything goes to plan, Demonstration Mission 1, or DM-1 for short, will mark the first launch to the space station of a commercially built and operated American rocket and spacecraft designed for humans.

The Crew Dragon’s next outing is scheduled for April to test its emergency abort system that’s designed to save the crew in the event of a problematic launch. Should that go to plan, SpaceX will be looking to launch humans inside the Crew Dragon, though no date has yet been set for the much-anticipated mission.

In preparation for the caspsule’s arrival next week, astronauts aboard the ISS have been using a computer-based trainer to get familiar with the Crew Dragon’s systems for rendezvous and docking, as well as emergency procedures and vehicle departure.

SpaceX’s upcoming launch comes just a week after its last one, which delivered several payloads into orbit and, as usual, saw the Falcon 9 booster land safely back on terra firma.

Article by Trevor Mogg

Link: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/spacex-to-send-mannequin-to-space-station-in-major-crew-capsule-test/

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‘Space Wars Fact And Fiction’ (Octopus UK, 1980) was one of many cash-in books slapped together in the wake of Star Wars. It featured a collection of stories with lavish illustrations by uncredited artists (one of them is likely to be Gerry Wood, a prolific British comic artist and illustrator) and an oddly out of place 1960s-era comic strip ‘Space Cadet’. Not very Star Warsy, but back then publishers were shoving out anything and everything as long as it had a spaceship on the front cover and had the words ‘wars’, 'space’, or 'star’ on it!

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Shadow Selfie! Japanese Asteroid Probe Snaps Amazing Post-Landing Pic⠀ ⠀ Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft snapped this photo just after snagging a sample from the surface of the asteroid Ryugu on Feb. 21, 2019. The dark region near the probe’s shadow is the touchdown site, which may have been discolored by Hayabusa2’s thrusters and/or material ejected by the “bullet” the spacecraft fired into the asteroid.⠀ ⠀ Image Credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University of Aizu, AIST⠀ ⠀ A Japanese asteroid probe commemorated its successful sample grab with a stunning post-landing photo.⠀ ⠀ The Hayabusa2 spacecraft captured the image on Thursday (Feb. 21), just a minute after it briefly touched down on the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu, blasted a metal “bullet” into the space rock, collected some of the ejected debris and rose into space once again.⠀ ⠀ Hayabusa2’s shadow is clearly visible in the image, which was taken when the probe was about 82 feet above Ryugu’s rugged surface. The touchdown site is obvious as well.⠀ ⠀ Hayabusa2 launched in December 2014 and arrived at the 3,000-foot-wide Ryugu in June of last year. The mission is action-packed: The Hayabusa2 mothership dropped two hopping rovers and a lander onto the space rock’s surface last fall, and it carries an additional “optional” hopper that may touch down in the near future as well.⠀ ⠀ Hayabusa2 will make two more sampling sorties in the next few months. The first will be much like last Thursday’s operation — fire a bullet, collect some blasted-out material. But the second will slam a large “kinetic impactor” into Ryugu, creating a crater that Hayabusa2 will then sample for pristine, previously subsurface material.⠀ ⠀ If all goes according to plan, these three samples will come down to Earth in a special return capsule in December 2020. Scientists around the world will then study the asteroid dirt and rubble, looking for clues about the solar system’s early history and evolution, and the role carbon-rich asteroids such as Ryugu may have played in life’s emergence on Earth.⠀ ⠀ Text Credit: Mike Wall for Space.com via Instagram https://ift.tt/2H4MmJ1

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Another gif of the thing we’re working on

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Progress lol — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2Il5bKq

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Art by TK769.

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Shuttle mission STS-31 carrying the Hubble space telescope . . . #Astronomy #Space #Spacegram #Spaceflight #Nasa #ESA #ASI #Astronaut #Universe #Cosmos #Sky #Earth #Nebula #Galaxy #Love #MarsGeneration #TheMarsGeneration #MoonColonist #Moon #Astro_Lorenzo https://www.instagram.com/p/BsgiGiiHQNW/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=x4aj20u56rxu

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Shuttle mission STS-31 carrying The Hubble space telescope. 🔭🚀

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Astronaut Anne McClain’s First Voyage to the Space Station via NASA https://ift.tt/2Qi3MaR

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Virgin Galactic reaches space after historic test flight. (December 13, 2018).

For the first time since the final space shuttle mission launched in 2011, U.S. astronauts reached space from American soil earlier today with the most recent test flight of Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity.

Carried to an altitude of 13,100 meters by the VMS Eve mothership, Unity burned its single engine for the longest duration in its test program. The 60-second burn propelled the vehicle to a top speed of Mach 2.9 and an altitude of 83 kilometers, just above the 80 kilometer boundary of space recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration. VSS Unity was piloted by four time shuttle astronaut and Virgin Galactic pilot Rick ‘CJ’ Sturckow and copilot Mark Stucky. The VMS EVE/Unity duo took off at 10:10am EST, with SpaceShipTwo dropping at 10:59AM and infighting its rocket motor. The pilots landed the Unity back at the Mojave spaceport at 11:14am, fifteen minutes after their powered flight began.

‘Space is Virgin territory’

Following the vehicle’s touchdown and debarkation of the pilots, Virgin founder Richard Branson stated: “Today, for the first time in history, a crewed spaceship, built to carry private passengers, reached space. Today we completed our first revenue-generating flight and our pilots earned their commercial astronaut wings. Today, we have shown that Virgin Galactic really can open space to change the world for good. Space is Virgin territory!”

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson reacting to the announcement that the VSS Unity reached the boundary of space December 13, 2018. Credit: Virgin Galactic.

Today’s flight fulfills a statement Branson made to CNN Business last week that Virgin Galactic would fly people in space by Christmas. It also is the culmination of fourteen years of work Branson and his affiliates have put into SpaceShipTwo since its predecessor, SpaceShipOne, won the Ansari X-prize to become the first commercial spacecraft to reach space in 2004.

Launching tourists and experiments over satellites.

Commercial space transportation companies such as SpaceX and Boeing have been developing orbital spacecraft that would launch astronauts to Low Earth orbit and the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Crew program.

Virgin Galactic is not participating in that program, but aims to transport paying customers on a brief suborbital flight providing stunning views of the Earth’s curvature and up to four minutes of weightlessness.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is the closest direct competitor to Virgin’s space tourism endeavors with their New Shepard rocket, which has completed nine successful test flights in the past three years.

There has been a growing movement in the aerospace industry the last few months to redefine the boundary of space by altering the Karman line - the current, 100-kilometer boundary of space defined by theoretical physicist Theodore von Karman in 1956. Analyses published by various astronomers and scientists argue that the conditions which affect a spacecraft’s flight, orbit, and operation begin at 80 kilometers in altitude, not 100.

Branson reaffirmed the company’s victory following this morning’s test flight by stating ’space is Virgin territory.’

While operational SpaceShipTwo flights will include up to six paying passengers, today’s flight included four scientific payloads as part of NASA’s Flight Opportunities program.

The experiments measured the effects of microgravity on dust collisions, multi-phase flow systems, plant growth, and vibration isolation systems.

P/c: Virgin Galactic

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