A Galactic Portal: Galaxy NGC 4380 | Hubble

A Galactic Portal: Galaxy NGC 4380 | Hubble

The galaxy NGC 4380 looks like a special effect straight out of a science fiction or fantasy film in this Hubble Picture of the Week, swirling like a gaping portal to another dimension.

In the grand scheme of things, though, the galaxy is actually quite ordinary. Spiral galaxies like NGC 4380 are one of the most common types of galaxy in the Universe. These colossal collections of stars, often numbering in the hundreds of billions, are shaped like a flat disc, sometimes with a rounded bulge in the center. Graceful spiral arms outlined by dark lanes of dust wind around the bulging core, which glows brightly and has the highest concentration of stars in the galaxy.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, P. Erwin
Release Date: October 14, 2019


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #NGC4380 #Spiral #Virgo #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Spot The Astronauts! | International Space Station

Spot The Astronauts! | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir: "My view from Japan's Kibo module (JAXA) during yesterday’s spacewalk. NASA Astronauts Christina Koch and Andrew Morgan set us off to an epic start in this 5-spacewalk series to install new batteries on the International Space Station. Honored to fly the Canadarm2 to support the operations with this amazing team!"

Hint: Look way, way up to the top of the frame (center).

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: October 7, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #Batteries #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Robotics #Canadarm2 #Canada #Japan #日本 #JAXA #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 11, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 11, 2019

This week, NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, launched aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket on a mission to study the weather where Earth meets space. Also, the agency's Exploration Ground Systems contucted a swing arm test of multiple arms on the mobile launcher, another step toward launch of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft on Artemis I.

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 16 seconds
Release Date: October 11, 2019

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Weather #ICON #NorthropGrumman #PegasusXL #SLS #Rocket #SolarSystem #Exploration #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Power Play Spacewalks Aboard Space Station | This Week @NASA

Power Play Spacewalks Aboard Space Station

This Week @NASA

Week of Oct. 11, 2019: A pair of power plays aboard the space station, checking out progress of our Commercial Crew Program, and studying the frontier of space . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 3 minutes, 59 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 11, 2019

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #ISS #Earth #Science #SpaceX #EVA #Spacewalk #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #Batteries #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JWST #ICON #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA's Space to Ground: Extravehicular Marathon

Week of October 11, 2019 | NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.
Oct. 11, 2019: Expedition 61 Flight Engineers Christina Koch and Andrew Morgan of NASA concluded their spacewalk at the International Space Station at 2:23 p.m. EDT. During six-hour and 45-minute spacewalk, the two NASA astronauts continued the replacement of nickel-hydrogen batteries with newer, more powerful lithium-ion batteries on the far end of the station’s port truss.

Astronauts also were able to accomplish several get-ahead tasks setting up for the next spacewalk.

These new batteries provide an improved power capacity for operations with a lighter mass and a smaller volume than the nickel-hydrogen batteries. On Oct. 16, Morgan and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir are scheduled to venture outside for another spacewalk to continue the battery replacements on the first of the two power channels for the station’s far port truss. The following spacewalks dedicated to the battery upgrades are scheduled on Oct. 21 and 25.

After completion of the battery spacewalks, the second half of this sequence of spacewalks will focus on repairs to the space station’s Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Dates for those spacewalks still are being discussed, but they are expected to begin in November.

Space station crew members have conducted 220 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 57 days 13 hours and 12 minutes working outside the station.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

For more information about STEM on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/…/foreducat…/stem_on_station/index.html

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 21 seconds
Release Date: October 11, 2019

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #Batteries #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Kathy Sullivan: First American Woman to Walk in Space | NASA

Kathy Sullivan: First American Woman to Walk in Space 

35th Anniversary (1984-2019) 

Meet the Former NASA Astronaut

 

Thirty-five years ago, on October 11, 1984, NASA astronaut Kathy Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space. We video chatted with Kathy to ask her about this historic feat as well as her thoughts on the upcoming all-female spacewalk scheduled to take place October 21, 2019, with NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir.

More about women at NASA: https://women.nasa.gov

Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center
Duration: 1 minutes, 27 seconds
Release Date: October 11, 2019

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #Astronaut #KathySullivan #Women #Leadership #History #Career #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Future #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Japan's HTV-8 & Canadarm2 | International Space Station

The Kounotori H-II Transfer Vehicle 8 (HTV-8) from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is pictured attached to the International Space Station's Harmony module. The HTV-8 is loaded with more than four tons of supplies, spare parts and experiment hardware for the crew aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Named Kounotori, meaning “white stork” in Japanese, the craft delivered six new lithium-ion batteries and corresponding adapter plates that will replace aging nickel-hydrogen batteries for two power channels on the station’s far port truss segment. The batteries will be installed through a series of robotics and spacewalks the station’s crew members will conduct later this year.

Additional experiments on board HTV-8 include an upgrade to the Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF-L), a small-sized satellite optical communication system (SOLISS), and a payload for testing the effects of gravity on powder and granular material (Hourglass).

The Canadian Space Agency's Canadarm2 is a 17-meter-long robotic arm. The Canadian robotic arm lends a helping hand to:
1) perform International Space Station maintenance
2) move supplies, equipment, Dextre and even astronauts
3) perform "cosmic catches" by grappling visiting vehicles and berthing them to the ISS

Original timelapse by Riccardo Rossi (ISAA)
Italian Space and Astronautics Association (ISAA)

Raw imagery courtesy of Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
- Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License -

Music: "Peaceful Calm Ambient" by DHDMusic - Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License -
https://www.jamendo.com/artist/509200/dhdmusic

Timelapse HD 1080p video

Credit: AstronautiCAST/JSC
Duration: 3 minutes, 7 seconds
Capture Date: September 29, 2019
Release Date: October 4, 2019

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Planet #JAXA #Kounotori #Kounotori8 #HTV8 #Resupply #Cargo #Japan #日本 #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #Canadarm2 #Robotics #Canada #CSA #UnitedStates #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #STEM #Education #International #AstronautiCAST #ISAA #Timelapse #Video

NASA and SpaceX United

Returning flights of US astronauts from US soil

A view of one of the SpaceX suits that will be used for the Demo-2 launch at the SpaceX Headquarters, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019 in Hawthorne, California, USA.

The Crew Dragon will launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA is months away from setting a new course in Human Space Flight History. The Commercial Crew Program, a partnership between Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and Space X’s Crew Dragon are leading the way for the return to flight of US astronauts from US soil. NASA's Kennedy Space Center is leading the way in these efforts.

The agency has contracted six missions with up to four astronauts, per-mission, for each company. Commercial transportation to and from the space station will maintain a crew of seven astronauts, maximizing time dedicated to scientific research on the orbiting laboratory. This research is crucial for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight, which will allow humans to explore farther into space than ever before

Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
Image Date: October 10, 2019


#NASA #Space #Science #SpaceX #ElonMusk #CrewDragon #CommercialCrew #LaunchAmerica #Astronauts #Human #Spaceflight #Technology #Engineering #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #CapeCanaveral #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Japan's Kounotori HTV-8 | International Space Station

Japan's Kounotori HTV-8 | International Space Station

The Kounotori H-II Transfer Vehicle 8 (HTV-8) from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is pictured attached to the International Space Station's Harmony module (out of frame). The HTV-8 is loaded with more than four tons of supplies, spare parts and experiment hardware for the crew aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Named Kounotori, meaning “white stork” in Japanese, the craft delivered six new lithium-ion batteries and corresponding adapter plates that will replace aging nickel-hydrogen batteries for two power channels on the station’s far port truss segment. The batteries will be installed through a series of robotics and spacewalks the station’s crew members will conduct later this year.

Additional experiments on board HTV-8 include an upgrade to the Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF-L), a small-sized satellite optical communication system (SOLISS), and a payload for testing the effects of gravity on powder and granular material (Hourglass).

Special thanks to Mitsuko Inoue for your support!

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: October 3, 2019

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #JAXA #Kounotori #Kounotori8 #HTV8 #Resupply #Cargo #Japan #日本 #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #UnitedStates #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #International #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Japan's Kounotori HTV-8 | International Space Station

Japan's Kounotori HTV-8 | International Space Station

The Kounotori H-II Transfer Vehicle 8 (HTV-8) from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is pictured attached to the International Space Station's Harmony module (out of frame). The HTV-8 is loaded with more than four tons of supplies, spare parts and experiment hardware for the crew aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Named Kounotori, meaning “white stork” in Japanese, the craft delivered six new lithium-ion batteries and corresponding adapter plates that will replace aging nickel-hydrogen batteries for two power channels on the station’s far port truss segment. The batteries will be installed through a series of robotics and spacewalks the station’s crew members will conduct later this year.

Additional experiments on board HTV-8 include an upgrade to the Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF-L), a small-sized satellite optical communication system (SOLISS), and a payload for testing the effects of gravity on powder and granular material (Hourglass).

Special thanks to Mitsuko Inoue for your support!

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: October 3, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #JAXA #Kounotori #Kounotori8 #HTV8 #Resupply #Cargo #Japan #日本 #UnitedStates #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #International #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch: Official Portrait

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch: Official Portrait

Christina Hammock Koch was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2013. She completed astronaut candidate training in July 2015. Koch graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Physics and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. She is currently working onboard the International Space Station on her first spaceflight as part of Expedition 59, 60 and upcoming Expedition 61 scheduled for October. Koch is slated to set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with an expected total of 328 days in space.

Official Biography: NASA astronaut Christina Koch
https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/christina-h-kochhttps://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/christina-hammock-koch/biographyhttps://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/hammock-cm.pdf

Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: 2018

NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalks #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #Women #Engineer #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Spot the Spacewalker: NASA Astronaut Christina Koch

Spot the Spacewalker: NASA Astronaut Christina Koch

NASA astronaut Christina Koch (top center) conducts a spacewalk at the Port-6 (P6) truss structure work site to upgrade International Space Station power systems. She and fellow NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan (out of frame) worked outside in the vacuum of space for seven hours and one minute to begin the latest round of upgrading the station's large nickel-hydrogen batteries with newer, more powerful lithium-ion batteries.

Official Biography: NASA astronaut Christina Koch
https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/christina-h-koch
https://www.nasa.gov/…/bio…/christina-hammock-koch/biography
https://www.nasa.gov/…/def…/files/atoms/files/hammock-cm.pdf

Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: October 6, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalks #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Space Selfie Close-up: NASA Astronaut Andrew Morgan

Space Selfie Close-up: NASA Astronaut Andrew Morgan

NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan takes an out-of-this-world "space-selfie" during a spacewalk to upgrade International Space Station power systems on the Port-6 (P6) truss structure. He and fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch (out of frame) worked outside in the vacuum of space for seven hours and one minute to begin the latest round of upgrading the station's large nickel-hydrogen batteries with newer, more powerful lithium-ion batteries.

Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: October 6, 2019

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #Selfie #Photography #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA Astronaut Andrew Morgan on Spacewalk

NASA Astronaut Andrew Morgan on Spacewalk

NASA astronaut and U.S. Army Colonel Andrew Morgan conducts a spacewalk at the Port-6 (P6) truss structure work site to upgrade International Space Station power systems. He was photographed by fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch as they worked outside in the vacuum of space for seven hours and one minute to begin the latest round of upgrading the station's large nickel-hydrogen batteries with newer, more powerful lithium-ion batteries.

Official Biography: NASA Astronaut Andrew Morgan
https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/andrew-r-morganhttps://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/andrew-r-morgan/biographyhttps://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/morgan-ar.pdf

Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: October 6, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalks #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA Has All Eyes on Sea Ice | Earth Science

NASA Has All Eyes on Sea Ice | Earth Science

In April, instruments aboard NASA's Operation IceBridge airborne campaign and the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 succeeded in measuring the same Arctic sea ice at the same time, a tricky feat given the shifting sea ice. Scientists have now analyzed airborne and spaceborne height measurements, and found that the two datasets match almost exactly, demonstrating how precisely ICESat-2 can measure the heights of the sea ice's bumpy, cracked surface.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Ryan Fitzgibbons
Music: "Coveted Jewels," Universal Production Music
Duration: 52 seconds
Release Date: October 4, 2019


#NASA #Earth #Science #Space #Satellite #Greenland #Grønland #Arctic #Sea #Ice #Polar #OperationIcebridge #Icebridge #ICESat #ICESat2 #Aircraft #Airborne #Reconnaissance #Observatory #Climate #Environment #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #Laboratory #Research #Mapping #STEM #Education #Video

Once in a Blue Comet | ESO

Once in a Blue Comet | ESO

This image features a comet located in the outer reaches of the Solar System: comet C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS). As its name suggests, the comet was discovered in 2016 by the Pan-STARRS telescopes in Hawai’i. This new image seen here was captured by a project based at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in Chile named the Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars—or SPECULOOS for short.
Comets are balls of dust, ice, gas and rock. When they pass close to the Sun, their ice warms up, turns to gas, and escapes in a process called “outgassing”. This process forms fuzzy envelopes around the comets’ nucleus, called comas, and distinctive tails. Observations from SPECULOOS show that the tail of C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) changes dramatically across a single night, making for a dynamic set of images. The image shown here comes from observations taken on January 18, 2018 during the test phase of SPECULOOS’s Callisto telescope, and were taken when the comet was 2.85 AU from the Sun (1 AU being the Earth-Sun distance) and travelling inwards.

This comet is particularly exciting because of the rare compounds and molecules that scientists have detected in its coma: carbon monoxide and nitrogen ions. These compounds give the comet distinctive blue emission lines—so much so that it is nicknamed “the blue comet”. This shy comet only orbits the Sun once every 20,000 years, its most recent approach being in May 2018. This image was taken over a period of time as the telescope tracked the comet’s motion; the bright streaks of light in the background are faraway stars, but the comet and its gaseous coma are all in focus, a testament to the tracking power of SPECULOOS.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: October 7, 2019

#ESO #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Comet #C2016R2 #PANSTARRS #Sun #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #Paranal #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education