darggga-blog
'Your bones are made of the same dust as the planets (... ) You are full of the world'
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What You Should Know About Scott Kelly’s #YearInSpace
1. It’s Actually More Like a Three-Year Mission
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko may have had a year-long stay in space, but the science of their mission will span more than three years. One year before they left Earth, Kelly and Kornienko began participating in a suite of investigations aimed at better understanding how the human body responds to long-duration spaceflight. Samples of their blood, urine, saliva, and more all make up the data set scientists will study. The same kinds of samples continued to be taken throughout their stay in space, and will continue for a year or more once they return.
2. What We Learn is Helping Us Get to Mars
One of the biggest hurdles of getting to Mars is ensuring humans are “go” for a long-duration mission and that crew members will maintain their health and full capabilities for the duration of a Mars mission and after their return to Earth. Scientists have solid data about how bodies respond to living in microgravity for six months, but significant data beyond that timeframe had not been collected…until now. A mission to Mars will likely last about three years, about half the time coming and going to Mars and about half the time on Mars. We need to understand how human systems like vision and bone health are affected by the 12 to 16 months living on a spacecraft in microgravity and what countermeasures can be taken to reduce or mitigate risks to crew members during the flight to and from Mars. Understanding the challenges facing humans is just one of the ways research aboard the space station helps our journey to Mars.
3. The Science Will Take Some Time
While scientists will begin analyzing data from Kelly and Kornienko as soon as they return to Earth, it could be anywhere from six months to six years before we see published results from the research. The scientific process takes time, and processing the data from all the investigations tied to the one-year mission will be no easy task. Additionally, some blood, urine and saliva samples from Kelly and Kornienko will still be stored in the space station freezers until they can be returned on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Early on in the analytical process scientists may see indications of what we can expect, but final results will come long after Kelly and Kornienko land.
4. This Isn’t the First Time Someone Has Spent a Year in Space
This is the first time that extensive research using exciting new techniques like genetic studies has been conducted on very long-duration crew members. Astronaut Scott Kelly is the first American to complete a continuous, year-long mission in space and is now the American who has spent the most cumulative time in space, but it’s not the first time humans have reached this goal. Previously, only four humans have spent a year or more in orbit on a single mission, all aboard the Russian Mir Space Station. They all participated in significant research proving that humans are capable of living and working in space for a year or more.
Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov spent 438 days aboard Mir between January 1994 and March 1995 and holds the all-time record for the most continuous days spent in space.
Cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev spent 380 days on Mir between August 1998 and August 1999.
Cosmonauts Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov completed a 366-day mission from December 1987 to December 1988.
5. International Collaboration is Key
The International Space Station is just that: international. The one-year mission embodies the spirit of collaboration across countries in the effort to mitigate as many risks as possible for humans on long-duration missions. Data collected on both Kelly and Kornienko will be shared between the United States and Russia, and international partners. These kinds of collaborations help increase more rapidly the biomedical knowledge necessary for human exploration, reduce costs, improve processes and procedures, and improve efficiency on future space station missions.
6. So Much Science!
During Kelly’s year-long mission aboard the orbiting laboratory, his participation in science wasn’t limited to the one-year mission investigations. In all, he worked on close to 400 science studies that help us reach for new heights, reveal the unknown, and benefit all of humanity. His time aboard the station included blood draws, urine collection, saliva samples, computer tests, journaling, caring for two crops in the Veggie plant growth facility, ocular scans, ultrasounds, using the space cup, performing runs with the SPHERES robotic satellites, measuring sound, assisting in configuring cubesats to be deployed, measuring radiation, participating in fluid shifts testing in the Russian CHIBIS pants, logging his sleep and much, much more. All of this was in addition to regular duties of station maintenance, including three spacewalks!
7. No More Food in Pouches
After months of eating food from pouches and cans and drinking through straws, Kelly and Kornienko will be able to celebrate their return to Earth with food of their choice. While aboard the space station, their food intake is closely monitored and designed to provide exactly the nutrients they need. Crew members do have a say in their on-orbit menus but often miss their favorite meals from back home. Once they return, they won’t face the same menu limitations as they did in space. As soon as they land on Earth and exit the space capsule, they are usually given a piece of fruit or a cucumber to eat as they begin their initial health checks. After Kelly makes the long flight home to Houston, he will no doubt greatly savor those first meals.
8. After the Return Comes Reconditioning
You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Use it or lose it.” The same thing can be said for astronauts’ muscles and bones. Muscles and bones can atrophy in microgravity. While in space, astronauts have a hearty exercise regimen to fight these effects, and they continue strength training and reconditioning once they return to Earth. They will also participate in Field Tests immediately after landing. Once they are back at our Johnson Space Center, Functional Task Tests will assess how the human body responds to living in microgravity for such a long time. Understanding how astronauts recover after long-duration spaceflight is a critical piece in planning for missions to deep space.
9. Twins Studies Have Researchers Seeing Double
One of the unique aspects of Kelly’s participation in the one-year mission is that he has an identical twin brother, Mark, who is a former astronaut. The pair have taken part in a suite of studies that use Mark as a human control on the ground during Scott’s year-long stay in space. The Twins Study is comprised of 10 different investigations coordinating together and sharing all data and analysis as one large, integrated research team. The investigations focus on human physiology, behavioral health, microbiology/microbiome and molecular/omics. The Twins Study is multi-faceted national cooperation between investigations at universities, corporations, and government laboratories.
10. This Mission Will Help Determine What Comes Next
The completion of the one-year mission and its studies will help guide the next steps in planning for long-duration deep space missions that will be necessary as humans move farther into the solar system. Kelly and Kornienko’s mission will inform future decisions and planning for other long-duration missions, whether they are aboard the space station, a deep space habitat in lunar orbit, or a mission to Mars.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157485756070131&id=353851465130
Spacex's rocket landing. Again.
I Got Humans
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon with Neil Armstrong refected in the visor, July 20, 1969. (Florida Memory)
Solar System by Breath Art
Infographic about Planet 9, the required planet to explain the trajectory of six of the most distand known Kuiper Belt Objects.
Source: http://imgur.com/S5faizX
Apollo 12 astronauts train for the Moon, September 1969.
Saturn Wip // Michael MacRae
Animation visualising milestones during the launch of the ExoMars 2016 mission and its cruise to Mars.
The mission comprises the Trace Gas Orbiter and an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, Schiaparelli, which are scheduled to be launched on a four-stage Proton-M/Breeze-M rocket from Baikonur during the 14–25 March 2016 window. About ten-and-a-half hours after launch, the spacecraft will separate from the rocket and deploy its solar wings. Two weeks later, its high-gain antenna will be deployed. After a seven-month cruise to Mars, Schiaparelli will separate from TGO on 16 October. Three days later it will enter the martian atmosphere, while TGO begins its entry into Mars orbit.
The European Space Agency’s Sentinel-3 satellite, launched this week, is seen crossing the sky not long after launch with a jettisoned rocket stage right behind it, all amidst the beautiful northern lights display in northern Finland.
Breathtaking.
Crazy Facts About the #YearInSpace
Astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned from their One-Year Mission on March 1. When you spend a year doing anything, you’re bound to accumulate some crazy stats. Here are a few:
During their year in space, Kelly and Kornienko traveled over 143 million miles, conducting research to prepare us for our journey to Mars, which will be about 140,000,000 miles from Earth.
The International Space Station travels at a speed of 5 miles per second and orbits the Earth every 90 minutes.
These visiting vehicles brought food, supplies, experiments and more crew members to the space station.
Since the space station is orbiting the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour, the crew onboard sees 16 sunrises and sunsets each day.
Water is a precious and limited resource in space, so crew members recycle it whenever possible. That includes recycling their own urine.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
What You Should Know About Scott Kelly’s #YearInSpace
1. It’s Actually More Like a Three-Year Mission
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko may have had a year-long stay in space, but the science of their mission will span more than three years. One year before they left Earth, Kelly and Kornienko began participating in a suite of investigations aimed at better understanding how the human body responds to long-duration spaceflight. Samples of their blood, urine, saliva, and more all make up the data set scientists will study. The same kinds of samples continued to be taken throughout their stay in space, and will continue for a year or more once they return.
2. What We Learn is Helping Us Get to Mars
One of the biggest hurdles of getting to Mars is ensuring humans are “go” for a long-duration mission and that crew members will maintain their health and full capabilities for the duration of a Mars mission and after their return to Earth. Scientists have solid data about how bodies respond to living in microgravity for six months, but significant data beyond that timeframe had not been collected…until now. A mission to Mars will likely last about three years, about half the time coming and going to Mars and about half the time on Mars. We need to understand how human systems like vision and bone health are affected by the 12 to 16 months living on a spacecraft in microgravity and what countermeasures can be taken to reduce or mitigate risks to crew members during the flight to and from Mars. Understanding the challenges facing humans is just one of the ways research aboard the space station helps our journey to Mars.
3. The Science Will Take Some Time
While scientists will begin analyzing data from Kelly and Kornienko as soon as they return to Earth, it could be anywhere from six months to six years before we see published results from the research. The scientific process takes time, and processing the data from all the investigations tied to the one-year mission will be no easy task. Additionally, some blood, urine and saliva samples from Kelly and Kornienko will still be stored in the space station freezers until they can be returned on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Early on in the analytical process scientists may see indications of what we can expect, but final results will come long after Kelly and Kornienko land.
4. This Isn’t the First Time Someone Has Spent a Year in Space
This is the first time that extensive research using exciting new techniques like genetic studies has been conducted on very long-duration crew members. Astronaut Scott Kelly is the first American to complete a continuous, year-long mission in space and is now the American who has spent the most cumulative time in space, but it’s not the first time humans have reached this goal. Previously, only four humans have spent a year or more in orbit on a single mission, all aboard the Russian Mir Space Station. They all participated in significant research proving that humans are capable of living and working in space for a year or more.
Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov spent 438 days aboard Mir between January 1994 and March 1995 and holds the all-time record for the most continuous days spent in space.
Cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev spent 380 days on Mir between August 1998 and August 1999.
Cosmonauts Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov completed a 366-day mission from December 1987 to December 1988.
5. International Collaboration is Key
The International Space Station is just that: international. The one-year mission embodies the spirit of collaboration across countries in the effort to mitigate as many risks as possible for humans on long-duration missions. Data collected on both Kelly and Kornienko will be shared between the United States and Russia, and international partners. These kinds of collaborations help increase more rapidly the biomedical knowledge necessary for human exploration, reduce costs, improve processes and procedures, and improve efficiency on future space station missions.
6. So Much Science!
During Kelly’s year-long mission aboard the orbiting laboratory, his participation in science wasn’t limited to the one-year mission investigations. In all, he worked on close to 400 science studies that help us reach for new heights, reveal the unknown, and benefit all of humanity. His time aboard the station included blood draws, urine collection, saliva samples, computer tests, journaling, caring for two crops in the Veggie plant growth facility, ocular scans, ultrasounds, using the space cup, performing runs with the SPHERES robotic satellites, measuring sound, assisting in configuring cubesats to be deployed, measuring radiation, participating in fluid shifts testing in the Russian CHIBIS pants, logging his sleep and much, much more. All of this was in addition to regular duties of station maintenance, including three spacewalks!
7. No More Food in Pouches
After months of eating food from pouches and cans and drinking through straws, Kelly and Kornienko will be able to celebrate their return to Earth with food of their choice. While aboard the space station, their food intake is closely monitored and designed to provide exactly the nutrients they need. Crew members do have a say in their on-orbit menus but often miss their favorite meals from back home. Once they return, they won’t face the same menu limitations as they did in space. As soon as they land on Earth and exit the space capsule, they are usually given a piece of fruit or a cucumber to eat as they begin their initial health checks. After Kelly makes the long flight home to Houston, he will no doubt greatly savor those first meals.
8. After the Return Comes Reconditioning
You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Use it or lose it.” The same thing can be said for astronauts’ muscles and bones. Muscles and bones can atrophy in microgravity. While in space, astronauts have a hearty exercise regimen to fight these effects, and they continue strength training and reconditioning once they return to Earth. They will also participate in Field Tests immediately after landing. Once they are back at our Johnson Space Center, Functional Task Tests will assess how the human body responds to living in microgravity for such a long time. Understanding how astronauts recover after long-duration spaceflight is a critical piece in planning for missions to deep space.
9. Twins Studies Have Researchers Seeing Double
One of the unique aspects of Kelly’s participation in the one-year mission is that he has an identical twin brother, Mark, who is a former astronaut. The pair have taken part in a suite of studies that use Mark as a human control on the ground during Scott’s year-long stay in space. The Twins Study is comprised of 10 different investigations coordinating together and sharing all data and analysis as one large, integrated research team. The investigations focus on human physiology, behavioral health, microbiology/microbiome and molecular/omics. The Twins Study is multi-faceted national cooperation between investigations at universities, corporations, and government laboratories.
10. This Mission Will Help Determine What Comes Next
The completion of the one-year mission and its studies will help guide the next steps in planning for long-duration deep space missions that will be necessary as humans move farther into the solar system. Kelly and Kornienko’s mission will inform future decisions and planning for other long-duration missions, whether they are aboard the space station, a deep space habitat in lunar orbit, or a mission to Mars.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
Mars Pathfinder & Sojourner Rover (360 View) Explained
Thanks to new technology, we can take a 360-degree tour of the 1997 Pathfinder mission landing site, including Sojourner, the first Mars rover. Check out this interactive YouTube panorama, and then…
…keep scrolling to find out more about each point of interest, how the Pathfinder mission compares to “The Martian” and NASA’s real Journey to Mars.
Yogi
“Yogi” is a meter-size rock about 5 meters northwest of the Mars Pathfinder lander and the second rock visited by the Sojourner Rover’s alpha proton X-ray spectrometer (APXS) instrument. This mosaic shows super resolution techniques applied to help to address questions about the texture of this rock and what it might tell us about how it came to be.
Twin Peaks
The Twin Peaks are modest-size hills to the southwest of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. They were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the July 4, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. They’re about 30-35 meters tall.
Barnacle Bill
“Barnacle Bill” is a small rock immediately west-northwest of the Mars Pathfinder lander and was the first rock visited by the Sojourner Rover’s alpha proton X-ray spectrometer (APXS) instrument. If you have some old-school red-cyan glasses, put them on and see this pic in eye-popping 3-D.
Rock Garden
The Rock Garden is a cluster of large, angular rocks tilted in a downstream direction from ancient floods on Mars. The rocky surface is comprised of materials washed down from the highlands and deposited in this ancient outflow channel.
MOAR INFO
Pathfinder Lander & Sojourner Rover
Mission Facts [PDF]
Science Results
Rock & Soil Types
This vista was stitched together from many images taken in 1997 by Pathfinder.
Pathfinder and Sojourner figure into Mark Watney’s quest for survival on the Red Planet in the book and movie, “The Martian.” See JPL’s role in making “The Martian” a reality: http://go.nasa.gov/1McRrXw and discover nine real NASA technologies depicted in “The Martian”: http://go.nasa.gov/1QiyUiC.
So what about the real-life “Journey to Mars”? NASA is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to Mars in the 2030s. Discover more at http://nasa.gov/journeytomars and don’t forget to visit me when you make it to the Red Planet. Until then, stay curious and I’ll see you online.
What’s Up for March 2016?
In March, Jupiter, it’s moons and moon shadows will all be visible in the sky. Find out when and where to look up:
Jupiter dominates the evening sky this month, rising at sunset and setting at dawn. On March 8, Jupiter reaches what is called “opposition”. Imagine that Jupiter and the sun are at opposite ends of a straight line, with the Earth in between. This brings Jupiter its closest to Earth, so it shines brighter and appears larger in telescopes.
On the nights of March 14 – 15, March 21 – 22 and March 29, two of Jupiter’s moons will cross the planet’s disk.
When the planet is at opposition and the sun shines on Jupiter’s moons, we can see the moon’s shadow crossing the planet. There are actually 11 of these double shadow transits in March!
The next six months will be awesome times for you to image Jupiter when it’s highest in the sky; near midnight now, and a little earlier each night through the late summer.
Even through the smallest telescopes or binoculars, you should be able to see the two prominent belts on each side of Jupiter’s equator made up of the four Galilean moons: Io, Europa Ganymede and Calisto. If you have a good enough view, you may even see Jupiter’s Red Spot!
Our Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter on July 4th of this year and will go into orbit around the giant planet. Right now, the Juno mission science team is actively seeking amateur and professional images of the planet. These images are uploaded to a Juno website, and the public is invited to discuss points of interest in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Locations will later be voted on and the favorites will be targets for JunoCam, the spacecraft’s imaging camera. Once JunoCam has taken the images, they’ll be posted online. Imaging participants can then process these raw mission images and re-upload them for others to view.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
Earthset from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter : On the Moon, the Earth never rises or sets. If you were to sit on the surface of the Moon, you would see the Earth just hang in the sky. This is because the Moon always keeps the same side toward the Earth. Curiously, the featured image does picture the Earth setting over a lunar edge. This was possible because the image was taken from a spacecraft orbiting the Moon - specifically the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter . In fact, LRO orbits the Moon so fast that, from the spacecraft, the Earth appears to set anew about every two hours. The featured image captured one such Earthset about three months ago. By contrast, from the surface of the Earth, the Moon sets about once a day with the primary cause being the rotation of the Earth. LRO was launched in 2009 and, while creating a detailed three dimensional map of the Moons surface, is also surveying the Moon for water and possible good landing spots for future astronauts. via NASA
js
ESA's first step to Mars
The moon in the morning sky
I adore Elon Musk so much! People like him are the future of our civilization :)
The Milky Way and Andromeda above Yosemite’s Valley and Half Dome
Source: https://imgur.com/Y64D076
Almost a month ago, the spaceflight company Blue Origin sent a rocket up to the edge of space and then guided it gracefully back down to earth, intact. It was a historic first.
But Blue Origin’s major competitor, SpaceX, was quick to point out that the rocket wasn’t going fast enough (or sideways enough) to place a satellite into orbit - just 4,600 kph (~2,860 mph). It went straight up, and then straight down.
Now, SpaceX has managed to put 11 satellites in orbit with a “reusable” rocket. Their rocket didn’t just go up and down - it reached a horizontal velocity of 6,000 kph (3,600 mph) before returning to earth. If SpaceX is able to refurbish the rocket and use it in another launch, they’ll have figured out a way to dramatically reduce the cost of spaceflight.
Here’s the full webcast. And here’s the full story.
Video credit: SpaceX
What You Didn’t Know About Scott Kelly and Living in Space (Floating Urine is Involved)
First Ever NASA Reddit AMA from Space Recap
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly hosted a Reddit Ask Me Anything on Jan. 23 where people, well, asked him anything.
Kelly answered a range of questions from whether the crew members play space pranks on one another (“Occasionally…” Kelly said without elaboration.) to whether Kelly’s recovery plan will be different than normal (“I think my rehab plan is the same as if I were here for 6 months, but I’m not positive.”).
To start off, here are a few quick facts we learned about Kelly during the AMA:
The advice he would’ve given himself before going into space on day 1 would be to pack lighter.
His favorite David Bowie song is “Modern Love,” and his favorite non-space related movie is “The Godfather."
He uses a Nikon D4 when taking pictures (camera settings and lenses vary).
He thought it was cool to watch the movie "Gravity” while he was on the space station, because that’s where the movie took place.
Once he lands, Kelly will miss the challenge of being aboard the space station the most.
Here are a few fun questions that astronaut Scott Kelly answered:
What’s the creepiest thing you’ve encountered while on the job?
Could a rogue spaceship sneak up on the space station?
We finally got an answer for one thing so many of you have been curious about…why does Scott Kelly always fold his arms?
When astronauts go up to space, they experience something very few others have and see Earth from a very unique perspective. What’s one thing Kelly will do differently once he returns home?
Kelly also told one user something unusual about being in space that people normally don’t think about: feet calluses.
Another user wanted to know what the largest societal misconception about space/space travel is. According to Kelly, it has nothing to do with science.
To read the entire Reddit AMA with Kelly, visit his IAmA thread.
Kelly’s #YearInSpace ends Mar. 2. Follow him until the end of the journey (and beyond) on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
Today marks 30 years since the world watched in horror as space shuttle Challenger broke apart on live TV just 73 seconds after takeoff. Seven crewmembers were killed, including high school teacher Christa McAuliffe, who had been selected as the first civilian to fly into space.
Whisps of the Orion nebula
Source: https://imgur.com/t8ylC
The 49th Anniversary of the Apollo 1 Fire begins today as it happened on January 27th, 1967
In memory of the crew of Apollo 1, January 27, 1967.
Three heros! After 49 years we remember, what you’ve done for humanity :)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1
Today is the anniversary of Apollo 1' accident. January 27, 1967 three astronauts gave their lifes for development of space travel. Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Robert B. Chaffee - the bravest men in the world. Thank you for your sacrifice. Rest in peace, Guys!