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China's Chang'e-5 Moon Samples Shown Abroad for First Time in Thailand
The lunar samples brought to Earth by China's Chang'e 5 spacecraft in 2020 have captivated visitors at a fair in Bangkok, Thailand's capital city, sparking awe and enthusiasm for the future of space discovery.
Chang'e-5 Moon Landing Site: Mons Rümker, region of Oceanus Procellarum—a vast lunar mare on the western edge of the near side of the Moon.
The Chang'e-5 lunar sample return mission was the first of its kind since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976. This successful mission made China the third country to return samples from the Moon after the United States and the former Soviet Union. India has plans for its own lunar sample return mission later in this decade.
Chang'e-5 Earth Launch: November 23, 2020
Chang'e-5 Moon Landing: December 1, 2020
Chang'e-5 Earth Landing: December 16, 2020
Chang'e-5 landed in China's Inner Mongolia region.
The English Channel and The North Sea| International Space Station
The English Channel and the North Sea separate the island of Great Britain from the northwest European nations of The Netherlands, Belgium, and France in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 258 miles above.
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
NASA's Artemis II Moon Rocket Core Stage Arrives at Kennedy Space Center
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage for the Artemis II mission is inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Tugboats and towing vessels moved the barge and core stage 900-miles to the Florida spaceport from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where it was manufactured and assembled.
The 212-foot-tall core stage arrived at NASA Kennedy’s Complex 39 turn basin wharf on July 23rd, 2024. Team members with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program safely transferred it from the agency’s Pegasus barge, onto the self-propelled module transporter that is used to move large elements of hardware. It was then rolled to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) transfer aisle where teams will process it until it is ready for rocket stacking operations.
In the coming months, teams will integrate the rocket core stage atop the mobile launcher with the additional Artemis II flight hardware, including the twin solid rocket boosters, launch vehicle stage adapter, and the Orion spacecraft.
The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, as well as Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back.
Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:
NASA's "Espacio a Tierra" | Marineros estrella: 26 de julio 2024
Espacio a Tierra, la versión en español de las cápsulas Space to Ground de la NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la Estación Espacial Internacional.
Monitoring North American Wildfires by Satellite | NOAA
Roughly 100 wildfires are raging out of control across the western United States and hundreds more are burning in Canada, destroying homes, forcing evacuations, and affecting air quality. NOAA satellites have been closely monitoring these blazes, including California’s Park Fire, which is currently the largest active wildfire in the U.S.
The Park Fire, which started on July 24, 2024, is believed to have been ignited by arson. A suspect has been arrested, accused of pushing a burning car into a gully, sparking the blaze. As of Aug. 1, the fire has consumed 392,480 acres across Butte, Plumas, Shasta, and Tehama counties. Fueled by very dry grass and brush, and driven by strong winds, the fire was only 18% contained.
Video Credits: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, CIRA
Startrails above the Víctor Blanco Telescope in Chile
Startrails circle the southern sky in this timelapse video of the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope in Cerro Tololo, Chile, at work.
The 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope was commissioned in 1974. It is a near twin of the Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. In 1995 it was dedicated and named in honor of Puerto Rican astronomer Víctor Manuel Blanco. It is also part of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), a visible and near-infrared survey that aims to probe the dynamics of the expansion of the Universe.
What's in the Night Sky Tonight? August 2024 | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
What's in the night sky tonight? Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel discuss August 2024's astronomy and stargazing highlights, including a lunar occultation of Saturn, the Perseid meteor shower and the glorious sights of the Summer Milky Way.
What's Up for August 2024: Skywatching Tips from NASA | JPL
Examples of skywatching highlights in the northern hemisphere for August 2024: Mars and Jupiter have a super close meetup, the conditions look good for the Perseid meteors, and how to observe a stellar nursery—the Lagoon Nebula.
0:00 Intro
0:14 Moon & planet highlights
1:14 Perseid meteor shower peaks
1:51 Observing the Lagoon Nebula (M8)
3:59 August Moon phases
Video Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
In August, a flock of star-studded figures soars overhead. Look for the Vega and Lyra constellations that point to Epsilon Lyrae and the Ring Nebula. You can also spot three bright summer stars: Vega, Deneb, and Altair. They form the Summer Triangle. Keep watching for space-based views of these and other stars and nebulas.
“Tonight’s Sky” is a monthly video of constellations you can observe in the night sky. The series is produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute, home of science operations for the Hubble Space Telescope, in partnership with NASA’s Universe of Learning: Caltech/IPAC, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University.
Tour of the Artemis Moon Rocket Mobile Launcher: Part 2 | Kennedy Space Center
Point-of-View: You are an astronaut about to launch around the Moon.
Walk the path of our NASA Artemis II astronauts onto the crew access arm of Mobile Launcher 1, explore the emergency egress system, and stand in the flame trench used to deflect the 8.8 million pounds of thrust from NASA's Space Launch System during liftoff.
Head to part 1 to start from the beginning and walk the pad surface, ride up the elevator, and stroll the highest level of the launcher tower for a stellar view of Kennedy Space Center.
Mobile launcher 1 is the ground structure that is used to assemble, process, and launch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft from Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for missions to deep space destinations, such as the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
During preparations for launch, the crawler-transporter picks up and moves the mobile launcher into High Bay 3 in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The launcher is secured atop support posts and the crawler moves out. The Orion spacecraft is stacked atop the SLS rocket and processed on the mobile launcher.
The mobile launcher consists of a two-story base that is the platform for the rocket and a tower equipped with a number of connection lines, called umbilicals, and launch accessories that provide SLS and Orion with power, communications, coolant, fuel, and stabilization prior to launch. The tower also contains a walkway for personnel and equipment entering the crew module during launch preparations.
The launcher rolls out to the pad for launch on top of the crawler-transporter, carrying SLS and Orion. After the crawler-transporter makes its eight-hour trek to the pad just over four miles away, engineers lower the launcher onto the pad and remove the crawler-transporter. During launch, each umbilical and launch accessory releases from its connection point, allowing the rocket and spacecraft to lift off safely from the launch pad.
Fun Facts:
Total height above ground: 380 feet
Tower: 40 feet square, about 355 feet tall, 662 steps
Tower floor levels: every 20 feet for personnel access to vehicle and ground support equipment
Tour of the Artemis Moon Rocket Mobile Launcher: Part 1 | Kennedy Space Center
Point-of-View: You are an astronaut about to launch around the Moon.
Explore Mobile Launcher 1 by walking the Launch Complex 39B pad surface, riding up the elevator like the NASA Artemis II crew, and strolling the highest level of the launcher tower for a stellar view of the surrounding landscape.
In part two, we will walk the crew access arm, explore the emergency egress system, and stand in the flame trench used to deflect the 8.8 million pounds of thrust from NASA's Space Launch System during liftoff.
Mobile launcher 1 is the ground structure that is used to assemble, process, and launch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft from Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for missions to deep space destinations, such as the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
During preparations for launch, the crawler-transporter picks up and moves the mobile launcher into High Bay 3 in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The launcher is secured atop support posts and the crawler moves out. The Orion spacecraft is stacked atop the SLS rocket and processed on the mobile launcher.
The mobile launcher consists of a two-story base that is the platform for the rocket and a tower equipped with a number of connection lines, called umbilicals, and launch accessories that provide SLS and Orion with power, communications, coolant, fuel, and stabilization prior to launch. The tower also contains a walkway for personnel and equipment entering the crew module during launch preparations.
The launcher rolls out to the pad for launch on top of the crawler-transporter, carrying SLS and Orion. After the crawler-transporter makes its eight-hour trek to the pad just over four miles away, engineers lower the launcher onto the pad and remove the crawler-transporter. During launch, each umbilical and launch accessory releases from its connection point, allowing the rocket and spacecraft to lift off safely from the launch pad.
Fun Facts:
Total height above ground: 380 feet
Tower: 40 feet square, about 355 feet tall, 662 steps
Tower floor levels: every 20 feet for personnel access to vehicle and ground support equipment
In Darkness viewing Jakarta | International Space Station
Silhouetted against the backdrop of the Earth below, is the Soyuz MS-25 crew ship docked to the Prichal docking module during an orbital nighttime pass. The International Space Station was soaring 261 miles above Jakarta on Indonesia's island of Java at the time of this photograph.
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
Shenzhou-18 Astronauts Conduct Microgravity Experiments | China Space Station
Halfway through their mission, the Shenzhou-18 crew members aboard China's orbiting Tiangong space station have recently completed a range of microgravity experiments to ensure their physical well-being in orbit, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
A significant challenge astronauts face during their space missions is adapting to the effects of weightlessness as prolonged exposure to the space environment may lead to "space adaptation syndrome," with bone loss being a key challenge confronting astronauts.
To safeguard the astronauts' health in zero gravity, researchers have developed a bone loss countermeasure device based on the principle of bone fluid flow vibration. By stimulating bone fluid flow through vibration in weightless environment, this device triggers interactions between osteoblasts and osteoclasts, therefore effectively inhibiting bone loss.
In a video footage released by the CMSA, the astronauts are trying the device, placing it on the inner side of the midsection of the tibia in both lower limbs. The high-frequency, low-amplitude, short-duration force loading stimulation enhances the activity of bone cells, increases the flow of nutrients within the bones, boosts osteoblast activity, ultimately aiming to increase bone mass.
Meanwhile, the trio has conducted muscle adaptability experiments. Using ultrasound testing to measure Achilles tendon stiffness, along with muscle structure and function measurement devices and foot pressure collection equipment for lower limb kinematic and plantar pressure testing, they are capturing changes in their' muscle structure and functionality.
Through comparative analysis of human biomechanical characteristics before and after the mission, researchers can analyze the impact of long-term weightlessness and in-orbit exercise on lower limb biomechanical characteristics. Also with non-invasive muscle function tests done before, during, and after the mission, combined with in-orbit exercise data, they can analyze the dynamic changes in exercise adaptability under long-term spaceflight conditions.
The astronauts aboard the space station also use a nerve-muscle stimulation device for muscle atrophy prevention and muscle relaxation as prescribed.
These experiments and device applications are crucial for ensuring the skeletal and muscular health of the astronauts during their stay in orbit.
The Shenzhou-18 trio was launched on April 25, 2024, to the orbiting Tiangong space station for a six-month mission as the third manned mission in the application and development stage of China's space station, and the 32nd flight mission of the country's overall crewed space program.
New Expedition 71 Crew Photos: July 2024 | International Space Station
NASA astronaut Suni Williams studies plant watering in space. Williams investigates using fluid physics techniques such as surface tension, as well as hydroponics and air circulation, to overcome the lack of gravity when watering and nourishing plants grown in space. The Plant Water Management investigation uses facilities in the International Space Station's Harmony module to promote space agricultural activities on spacecraft and space habitats.
Astronaut Tracy Dyson unpacks and examines research gear. She is working inside the NanoRacks Bishop airlock located in the port side of the International Space Station's Tranquility module. The duo installed the the ArgUS Mission-1 technology demonstration hardware inside Bishop for placement outside in the vacuum of space to test the external operations of communications, computer processing, and high-definition video gear.
NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick and Mike Barratt install the NanoRacks external platform inside the Kibo laboratory module's airlock. The platform from NanoRacks can host a variety of payloads placed outside the International Space Station and exposed to the external space environment for science experiments, technology demonstrations, and more.
NASA astronauts (from left) Tracy Dyson, Expedition 71 Flight Engineer, and Suni Williams, Pilot for Boeing's Crew Flight Test, work inside the NanoRacks Bishop airlock located in the port side of the International Space Station's Tranquility module. The duo installed the the ArgUS Mission-1 technology demonstration hardware inside Bishop for placement outside in the vacuum of space to test the external operations of communications, computer processing, and high-definition video gear.
NASA astronaut and Boeing's Crew Flight Test Pilot Suni Williams is pictured after conducting an exercise session on the COLBERT treadmill located inside the International Space Station's Tranquility module.
NASA astronaut and Boeing Crew Flight Test Commander Butch Wilmore investigates using fluid physics techniques such as surface tension, as well as hydroponics and air circulation, to overcome the lack of gravity when watering and nourishing plants grown in space. The Plant Water Management investigation uses facilities in the International Space Station's Harmony module to promote space agricultural activities on spacecraft and space habitats.
NASA astronaut and Boeing's Crew Flight Test Commander Butch Wilmore reviews procedures on a computer tablet for life support maintenance work aboard the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut and Boeing Crew Flight Test Pilot Suni Williams investigates using fluid physics techniques such as surface tension, as well as hydroponics and air circulation, to overcome the lack of gravity when watering and nourishing plants grown in space. The Plant Water Management investigation uses facilities in the International Space Station's Harmony module to promote space agricultural activities on spacecraft and space habitats.
The next cargo mission to resupply the residents living and working aboard the International Space Station is counting down to a launch at 11:28 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 8,200 pounds of science, supplies, and hardware for the station. Cygnus will orbit Earth for just over a day-and-a-half before approaching the orbital outpost where the Canadarm2 robotic arm will be waiting to capture the spacecraft.
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Training for International Space Station Mission
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission will carry four people to the International Space Station for a long-duration science expedition. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, and Stephanie Wilson, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia trained for their mission across the world, including NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and international training sites as well. Once aboard the space station, the crew will become Expedition 71/72 flight engineers, spending their time conducting science experiments, doing technology demonstrations in microgravity, performing spacewalks, and maintaining the space station.
This will be Gorbunov’s first trip to space and the station. Born in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk region, Russia, he studied engineering with qualifications in spacecraft and upper stages from the Moscow Aviation Institute. Gorbunov graduated from the military department with a specialty in operation and repair of aircraft, helicopters, and aircraft engines. Before being selected as a cosmonaut in 2018, he worked as an engineer for Rocket Space Corporation Energia and supported cargo spacecraft launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome.
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
This is the ninth rotational mission to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. It works with the American aerospace industry to meet the goal of safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the orbital outpost on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil.
Find more information on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:
Experience Powerful Gamma-ray Burst GRB 190829A | DESY
The most powerful events in the known universe—gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)—are short-lived outbursts of the highest-energy light. Dive into a cosmic experience in this animation about Gamma-ray Burst GRB 190829A that happened in our cosmic backyard, a "mere" billion light years away. See what happens in a GRB, and how the gamma-ray observatory High Energy Stereoscopic System H.E.S.S. in Namibia, southern Africa, followed the event.
In a distant galaxy, a massive dying star collapses and a neutron star or black hole forms. Relativistic jets break out of the collapsing star, and a supernova is produced. The jet ploughs through the surrounding gas sweeping up particles. Particles scatter on magnetic fields around the blast wave and are accelerated. The accelerated electrons emit high energy photons in the X-ray and gamma-ray regime at every deflection. This emission is called synchrotron radiation. Relativistic beaming occurs in the jet direction. When looking exactly down a jet, the event becomes visible as a gamma-ray burst (GRB).
Roughly 900 million years later, radiation from this gamma-ray burst arrives at Earth and is detected by satellites and telescopes as GRB 190829A. High-energy photons hitting Earth's atmosphere produce particle showers that emit so-called Cherenkov light for a couple of nanoseconds. This glow can be detected by telescopes such as H.E.S.S. This way, H.E.S.S. could follow GRB 190829A for three nights in a row in unprecedented detail.
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