Behind The Scenes - Blog Posts

as flight directors, you are in charge of a lot of the operations, but do you ever get to experience handling controls or zero gravity simulation? do you have to know every aspect of everyone's job?

Hi do you guys really say Houston when responding to each other !?!🤪

Digital Creators: Apply to Watch Astronauts Launch to Space with NASA

Do you spend a lot of time online? Would you like to see our next crew of astronauts lift off to the International Space Station?

We're looking for digital content creators of all backgrounds to join us at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for our Crew-6 mission to the space station, set to lift off no earlier than Sunday, Feb. 26. Applications close Friday, Jan. 27 at 3 p.m. EST (2000 UTC)—we'd love to see you there! Apply now.

Can't make this one? Click here to stay updated about future opportunities.

Sit Back and Space Out

Peer out on the depths of universe from the cupola windows,

Meander through the hallways of space,

Float in the home office of the star sailors.

Allow yourself to - space out - and imagine life through the eyes of NASA Astronauts on the International Space Station. 

Check out other ways to enjoy #NASAatHome, HERE. We've curated videos, activities and fun in one out-of-this world place.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

How did your launch abort affect your future space flights?

Which is scarier? Launch VS re-entry?

What can you see from the space station? Can you see stars, the moon and sun, and Earth weather like lightening storms?

How does it feel to take a walk in space?

How had your background in the US Air Force as a flight test engineer prepare you for the challenges and demands of being an astronaut?

What is your advise to people who wanna be astronaut?

What is a typical day in the international space station like?? I cant help but express my admiration for you.

What is some advice that really helped you get to where you are now?

What is the best and worst thing about being in a zero gravity environment?

What’s it like launching into space?

Do you listen to music in space? If so, what are you jamming to?

What was it like to be in a vessel as it aborted mission? How do you handle a situation like that and continue with future missions?

Wonder what it’s like to fly for NASA Earth science expeditions? Ask our research pilot anything! 

This January, we’re kicking off five new airborne Earth science expeditions aimed at studying our home planet from the land, sea and air. Here’s your chance to hear what it’s like from the cockpit! 

Research pilot Dean “Gucci” Neeley will be taking your questions in an Answer Time session on Friday, January 10 from 12-1pm ET here on NASA’s Tumblr! Find out what it’s like to fly research aircraft that use the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of Earth, improve lives and safeguard our future! Make sure to ask your question now by visiting http://nasa.tumblr.com/ask!

Dean Neeley, retired U.S. Air Force officer and pilot, joined our Armstrong Flight Research Center in 2012 as a research pilot. Neeley flies a diverse array of highly modified airborne science, research and mission support aircraft such as the single-seat Lockheed ER-2 high-altitude science jet. The ER-2 collects information about Earth resources, celestial observations, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics and oceanic processes. Neeley has also flown the Gulfstream G-II mission support aircraft, which explores environmentally friendly aircraft concepts, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), which observes the solar system and beyond at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths, and the C-20A (G-III) science platform aircraft, which carries our Jet Propulsion Laboratory's synthetic aperture radar. 

Dean Neeley Fun Facts 

Dean’s call sign Gucci came from flying KC-10 “Gucci Boys” before being hired to fly U-2 aircraft. Some say he spends too much time/money on his hair, clothes, cars. 😂

He played drums in two rock bands in the 80s and 90s; Agent Orange and the Defoliants; The Mod Sky Gods.

He spent his years in the Air Force as a reconnaissance squadron commander, wing chief of safety, stealth fighter squadron director and bomber in multiple worldwide aerial combat campaigns.

Dean holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and a Master of Aeronautical Science degree.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

Bringing The Space Station Perspective to Earth in VR!

Only a few humans ever get to experience the awe-inspiring vantage point provided by the space station, but a new virtual reality (VR) experience, Space Explorers: The ISS Experience (ISS Experience), attempts to bring this perspective back to Earth for the rest of us.

Partnering with the ISS National Lab and Time, a team from Felix and Paul Studios launched a high quality 360 degree camera to space to help tell the story of science and life aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The project, currently in the process of being filmed by the station astronauts themselves, serves as an outreach project as well a technology demonstration, testing the limits of filming in the harsh environment of space.

The camera flew to the station on 16th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission in December 2018 along with a number of other scientific experiments.

Since then, the team has recorded many moments, including the SPHERES robots flying around the station (see below) , the growing and harvesting of vegetables, jam session among the astronauts, crew meals and the arrival of new astronauts.

So far, the footage coming back seems to be achieving the goal of immersing audiences in science and life aboard the space station. NASA astronaut Sunita Williams got the chance to watch some of the initial footage and says it was like I was back on the station.

While most of the filming has been completed, the biggest technical challenge is yet to come: capturing a spacewalk in virtual reality. The team expects to launch a new camera for spacewalk filming and begin production of spacewalk filming in 2020.

Learn more about ISS Experience here.

For daily updates, follow @ISS_Research on Twitter, Space Station Research and Technology News or our Facebook. Follow the ISS National Lab for information on its sponsored investigations. For opportunities to see the space station pass over your town, check out Spot the Station.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.