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2024 November 20

Earthset from Orion Image Credit: NASA, Artemis 1

Explanation: Eight billion people are about to disappear in this snapshot from space taken on 2022 November 21. On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, their home world is setting behind the Moon’s bright edge as viewed by an external camera on the outbound Orion spacecraft. Orion was headed for a powered flyby that took it to within 130 kilometers of the lunar surface. Velocity gained in the flyby maneuver was used to reach a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. That orbit is considered distant because it’s another 92,000 kilometers beyond the Moon, and retrograde because the spacecraft orbited in the opposite direction of the Moon’s orbit around planet Earth. Orion entered its distant retrograde orbit on November 25. Swinging around the Moon, Orion reached a maximum distance (just over 400,000 kilometers) from Earth on November 28, exceeding a record set by Apollo 13 for most distant spacecraft designed for human space exploration. The Artemis II mission, carrying 4 astronauts around the moon and back again, is scheduled to launch no earlier than September 2025.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241120.html

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Just under two hours until the launch of Shenzhou 19, which will send 3 taikonauts to the Tiangong space station.

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I started this blog right before the semester began, thinking I could manage to update this regularly, do all of the work required of me by my major, and work a full-time job. Turns out, unsurprisingly, that there was way too much on my plate, so I've sort of taken a hiatus from posting here.

Hopefully in the future I'll have more time to curate and post cool space history stuff here.

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Astronaut Alan L. Bean, Skylab 3 commander, participates in the final Skylab 3 extravehicular activity (EVA), during which a variety of tasks were performed. Here, Bean is near the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) during final film change out for the giant telescope facility. Astronaut Owen K. Garriott, who took the picture, is reflected in Bean's helmet visor. The reflected Earth disk in Bean's visor is so clear that the Red Sea and Nile River area can delineated. September 22, 1973

NASA

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"This view of the International Space Station, backdropped against a blue and white Earth, was taken shortly after the Space Shuttle Atlantis undocked from the orbital outpost at 7:50 a.m. CDT. The unlinking completed six days, two hours and two minutes of joint operations with the station crew. Atlantis left the station with a new, second pair of 240-foot solar wings, attached to a new 17.5-ton section of truss with batteries, electronics and a giant rotating joint. The new solar arrays eventually will double the station's onboard power when their electrical systems are brought online during the next shuttle flight, planned for launch in December."

Date: September 17, 2006

NASA ID: S115-E-06767

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Starliner undocking from the ISS.

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The Crawler Transporter carring Apollo 12 Saturn V (CSM-108/LM-6/SA-507) space vehicle from the VAB's High Bay 3 at the start of the 3.5 mile rollout to Launch Complex 39A. The transporter carried the 12.8 million pound load along the crawlerway at speeds under one mile per hour.

Date: September 8, 1969

NASA ID: 69PC-0529

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Mir in the early stages of construction, as seen from a departing spacecraft, likely Soyuz TM-8. February, 1990.

The Kvant 2 module, at left, was the most recent addition at the time, having been berthed to the space station in November, 1989.

SpaceFacts

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Launch of Voyager 1 aboard a Titan IIIE/Centaur rocket. September 5, 1977.

Voyager 1 would become the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space on August 25, 2012, after having made fly-bys of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn's largest moon, Titan.

First close-up of Jupiter from Voyager 1

Voyager 1 is still operational and returning scientific data to ground crews. It is expected to continue its extended mission until 2025, with a maximum lifespan of until 2030.

NASA JPL

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NASA’s T-38 jets fly in formation above the Space Launch System rocket on Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

NASA/Josh Valcarcel

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Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) under construction at Rockwell International's Palmdale Facility.

Date: September 4, 1981

Mike Acs's Collection: link

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The boulder-strewn field of red rocks reaches to the horizon nearly two miles from Viking 2 on Mars' Utopian Plain. Scientists believe the colors of the Martian surface and sky in this photo represent their true colors. Fine particles of red dust have settled on spacecraft surfaces. The salmon color of the sky is caused by dust particles suspended in the atmosphere. Color calibration charts for the cameras are mounted at three locations on the spacecraft. Note the blue star field and red stripes of the flag. The circular structure at top is the high-gain antenna, pointed toward Earth. Viking 2 landed September 3, 1976, some 4600 miles from its twin, Viking 1, which touched down on July 20.

NASA

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Challenger roars off the pad during STS-8. August 30, 1983.

STS-8 was the first night launch of the Space Shuttle Program. It also carried the first Black American in space, Guion Bluford. The primary mission of STS-8 was the deployment of the Indian communications and weather observation satellite, INSAT-1B. Once deployed, INSAT-1B used its own PAM-D booster to place it into a geostationary orbit.

Deployment of INSAT-1B, taken from Challenger's flight deck.

Secondary payload included the payload flight test article, and stand-in for a delayed NASA communications satellite. The PFTA would be used to test the shuttle's Remote Manipulator System, also known as Canadarm. Additional scientific experiments were carried out, particularly the study of biological materials in electric fields under microgravity, and research into space adaptation sickness.

Canadarm lifts the PFTA out of the payload bay.

STS-8 crew portrait. From left: Mission Specialists Dale Gardner Guion Bluford, and William Thornton; Pilot Daniel Brandenstein; Commander Richard Truly.

Challenger touched down on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base on September 5, 1983, completing STS-8. This was the first night landing of the Space Shuttle program.

Challenger just moments prior to landing at Edwards Air Force Base.

NASA 1, 2, 3, 4

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Lightning strike near the Challenger orbiter stack, hours before the launch of STS-8. August 30, 1983.

NASA

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Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery during STS-128. August 29, 2009.

STS-128, also know as ISS assembly flight 17A, carried the Italian-built Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo as its primary payload. This was the sixth flight of the logistics module to the International Space Station, and the penultimate flight of the module before it became permanently berthed to the station. Leonardo's payload during STS-128 consisted of extra supplies and equipment to support a six-person crew aboard the ISS, the TVIS2 treadmill, and an Air Revitalization System.

Discovery prior to docking with the International Space Station. Leonardo MPLM can be seen in the aft portion of the payload bay.

Three extra-vehicular activities took place during STS-128. The first, performed on September 1, was to prepare an empty ammonia tank for retrieval, and the collection of two materials experiments attached to the outside of the Columbus laboratory. The second on September 3 retrieved and replaced the ammonia tank. The third and final EVA was performed on September 3 and prepared the Unity node for the arrival of the Tranquility node, which would be delivered by STS-130 in 2010.

Mission Specialists John Olivas (left) and Nicole Stott participating in the first EVA, preparing an ammonia tank for replacement.

STS-128 crew portrait. From left: Commander Rick Sturckow, Mission Specialists Danny Olivas and Christer Fuglesang (ESA), Pilot Kevin Ford, and Mission Specialists Nicole Stott, Patrick Forrester, and Jose Hernandez.

STS-128 was complete when Discovery touched down on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base, California on September 11, 2009. This mission marked the last time a space shuttle would land at the base, with all remaining flights landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida.

Discovery landing at Edwards Air Force Base, completing STS-128.

NASA 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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Enhanced color image of asteroid 243 Ida and its moon Dactyl, taken by the Galileo probe while en route to Jupiter. This image was taken just before Galileo's closest approach to the asteroid on August 28, 1993.

Ida is part of the Koronis family of asteroids that make up the outer portion of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Its moon Dactyl was discovered Ann Harch, a member of the Galileo team and an astronomer at Cornell University, during the aforementioned fly-by.

NASA JPL

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Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off the pad at the Kennedy Space Center during STS-51-I. August 27, 1985.

STS-51-I's primary mission was the deployment of three communications satellites. The Australian Aussat-1 and American ASC-1 were deployed on the first day of the mission, and the Department of Defense-leased Leasat 4 was deployed two days later. All three satellites reached their geosynchronous orbits without issue.

Discovery over the Pacific Ocean during STS-51-I. Typhoons Pat and Odessa can be seen. This is the first ever photograph of paired typhoons taken from space.

Discovery also performed a rendezvous with the malfunctioning Leasat 3 satellite, which was repaired during two extra-vehicular activities performed by Mission Specialists William Fisher and James van Hoften. Both EVAs totaled 11 hours and 46 minutes, owed in part to an issue with the Space Shuttle's Remote Manipulator System.

STS-51-I on-orbit crew portrait, from left: Mission Specialist James van Hoften, Mission Specialist William Fisher, Commander Joe Engle, Pilot Richard Covey, and Mission Specialist John Lounge.

Discovery completed STS-51-I on September 3, 1985 when it touched down on Runway 23 at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Discovery landing at Edwards Air Force Base, completing STS-51-I.

NASA 1, 2, 3, 4