Shenzhou-18 Crew Records Video Showcasing Work/Life | China Space Station

Shenzhou-18 Crew Records Video Showcasing Work/Life | China Space Station

The Shenzhou-18 crew members aboard China's orbiting space station recently recorded a video introduction to their life and work in space—from zero-gravity exercise to carrying out experiments that could impact future lunar missions.

The crew members, Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu, were sent into space for a six-month mission in April this year and are expected to return to Earth later this month.

Ye, the crew commander, along with the other two astronauts, provided a detailed introduction to the space station, including areas for work, dining, sleeping, and conducting experiments.

According to Ye and Li Cong, the core model is the most frequently used area of the Tiangong space station where they work, eat, and sleep.

The three astronauts come from distinct regions of China, so the food they eat on the space station is customized to suit their individual tastes, said Li Cong.

The video also provided a glimpse of the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules.

In the 17.9-meter-long Wentian module that primarily focuses on life science and biotechnology research, the astronauts have grown a variety of plants and even raised zebrafish. The fish were placed in an experimental closed ecosystem.

There are an even greater number of scientific experiments being carried out in the cabinets of the 17.88-meter-long Mengtian module.

Astronaut Li Cong provided a special introduction to the cargo airlock. It serves as the main passage for extravehicular loads and equipment entering and exiting the module.

In Mengtian, there are facilities for astronauts to perform physical exercise aimed at enhancing muscle strength and combating muscle atrophy and bone density loss caused by microgravity, according to Li Guangsu.

Recently, the crew has been carrying out their tasks in an orderly manner, preparing for the handover with the Shenzhou-19 members at the space station and their return to Earth, said Ye.

Video Credit: CCTV

Duration: 6 minutes, 31 seconds

Release Date: October 24, 2024

Shenzhou-18 Crew:

Ye Guangfu (叶光富, commander)

Li Cong (李聪, mission specialist)

Li Guangsu (李广苏, mission specialist)

Video Credit: CCTV

Duration: 1 minute, 54 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 13, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou18 #神舟十八 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号#Taikonauts #Astronauts #YeGuangfu #LongDurationSpaceflight #LiCong #LiGuangsu #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #CMSA #国家航天局 #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Dazzling Supernova 1987a in Nearby Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy

The Dazzling Supernova 1987a in Nearby Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy

This image, released on Feb. 24, 2017, shows Supernova 1987a (center) surrounded by dramatic red clouds of gas and dust within the Large Magellanic Cloud. This supernova, first discovered on Feb. 23, 1987, blazed with the power of 100 million Suns. Since that first sighting, SN 1987A has continued to fascinate astronomers with its spectacular light show. Located in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, it was the nearest supernova explosion observed in hundreds of years and the best opportunity yet for astronomers to study the phases before, during, and after the death of a star.

Distance: 168,000 light-years

Clouds of gas and dust in shades of red cover the top of the image and a little bit of the bottom. Right in the middle is Supernova 1987a, the remnant of an exploded star. The site of the supernova is surrounded by an illuminated pinkish ring. Two faint outer rings are also visible. Stars and galaxies shine throughout, giving off red and blue light.

A supernova is the biggest explosion that humans have ever seen. Each blast is the extremely bright, super-powerful explosion of a star.

SN 1987A represents a second type of supernova that can happen in systems where two stars orbit one another and at least one of those stars is an Earth-sized white dwarf. A white dwarf is what is left after a star the size of our sun has run out of fuel. If one white dwarf collides with another or pulls too much matter from its nearby star, the white dwarf can explode.

Learn more about supernovae here:

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/supernova/en/

Image Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation), and M. Mutchler and R. Avila of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Article Credit: NASA/Monika Luabeya

Release Date: Oct. 22, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Supernovae #Supernova1987a #SN1987A #SupernovaRemnant #TypeIISupernova #Dorado #Constellation #LMC #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophysics #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #CfA #UnitedStates #History #STEM #Education

Sun Releases Strong X3.3 Solar Flare | NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

Sun Releases Strong X3.3 Solar Flare | NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 11:57 p.m. ET on Oct. 23, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) watches the Sun constantly and captured images of the event.

A portion of the Sun fills the center, most of the top, and right side of the image. The left of the image is black. The Sun is dark orange with bright yellow areas. From a very bright yellow area, solar material bursts off the Sun, into the area of black space.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured these images of a solar flare—seen as the bright flash on the left—on Oct. 23, 2024. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares that is colorized in orange.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

This flare is classified as an X3.3 class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

To see how such space weather may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center https://spaceweather.gov/, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts. 

NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.

Image Credit: NASA/SDO

Article Credit: NASA/Abbey Interrante

Release Date: Oct. 1, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Earth #Moon #SpaceWeather #Sun #Star #Solar #SolarFlares #Sunspots #Ultraviolet #Plasma #MagneticField #Astrophysics #Heliophysics #Physics #Spacecraft #Satellites #ElectricalGrids #SDO #SolarSystem #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 Undocking Highlights | International Space Station

NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 Undocking Highlights | International Space Station

Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Matt Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia prepared to depart the space station following the closing of the hatch to the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour on October 23, 2024, ahead of their undocking from the space station a short time later. Crew-8 was completing a 7-month science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program. 

Expedition 72 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 72 Crew

Station Commander: Suni Williams

Roscosmos (Russia): Alexander Grebenkin, Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov

NASA: Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 26 minutes

Release Date: Oct. 23, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityExperiments #SpaceX #SpaceXCrew8 #CrewDragonSpacecraft #Earth #Astronauts #MatthewDominick #MichaelBarratt #JeanetteEpps #Cosmonaut #AleksandrGrebenkin #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #UnitedStates #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #Expedition72 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Pan of Spiral Galaxy Messier 90: Best View Yet | Hubble Space Telescope

Pan of Spiral Galaxy Messier 90: Best View Yet | Hubble Space Telescope

This striking spiral galaxy is Messier 90 (M90, also NGC 4569), located in the constellation Virgo. In 2019, an image of M90 was released using data from the older Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2—data taken in 1994 soon after the camera’s installation. That image has a distinctive stair-step pattern due to the layout of WFPC2’s sensors. WFPC2 was replaced in 2010 by the Wide Field Camera 3, and Hubble used WFC3 when it turned its aperture to Messier 90 again in 2019 and 2023. The resulting data was processed to create this stunning new image, providing a much fuller view of the galaxy’s dusty disc, its gaseous halo and its bright core.

The inner regions of M90’s disc are sites of star formation. This is highlighted here by red H-alpha light from nebulae, but this is absent in the rest of the galaxy. M90 sits among the galaxies of the relatively nearby Virgo Cluster, and the course of its orbit took it on a path near the cluster’s centre about three hundred million years ago. The density of gas in the inner cluster weighed on M90 like a strong headwind, stripping enormous quantities of gas from the galaxy and creating the diffuse halo that can be seen around it here. This gas is no longer available for M90 to form new stars with, and it will eventually fade as a spiral galaxy as a result.

M90 is located 55 million light-years from Earth, but it is one of the very few galaxies getting closer to us. Its orbit through the Virgo cluster has accelerated it so much that it is in the process of escaping the cluster entirely, and by happenstance it is moving in our direction—other galaxies in the Virgo cluster have been measured at similar speeds, but in the opposite direction. Over the coming billions of years, we will be treated to a yet better view of M90 while it evolves into a lenticular galaxy.

Image Description: A spiral galaxy. It has a bright core with light spilling out, and its disc is filled with thick clumps of dark reddish dust that swirls around the galaxy following its rotation. Parts of the disc are speckled with blue, showing brighter and hotter stars. A halo of faintly-lit gas wraps around the galaxy, extending beyond the edges of the image.

Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 14, 2024

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #Messier90 #M90 #NGC4569 #Virgo #Constellation #VirgoCluster #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Hubble & Webb Views of Young Star Cluster NGC 602 in Hydrus

Hubble & Webb Views of Young Star Cluster NGC 602 in Hydrus

This video features two views of the young star cluster NGC 602. It resides near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy roughly 200,000 light-years from Earth.

The first image shows the cluster as seen by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope that was published in 2017. 

The image on the right shows a new image of NGC 602 as seen by the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope.

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeidler, E. Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 23, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #StarClusters #NGC602 #StarCluster #Stars #BrownDwarfs #Hydrus #Constellation #SMC #Galaxy #Universe #Hubble #HST #JWST #SpaceTelescope #UnfoldTheUniverse #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #CSA #Canada #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Journey to Young Star Cluster NGC 602 in Hydrus | James Webb Space Telescope

Journey to Young Star Cluster NGC 602 in Hydrus | James Webb Space Telescope

This video takes the viewer to the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy roughly 200,000 light-years from Earth, featuring the young star cluster NGC 602. This new image is from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope. The image includes data from Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and  Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI).

The local environment of this cluster is a close analog of what existed in the early Universe with very low abundances of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. The existence of dark clouds of dense dust and the fact that the cluster is rich in ionized gas also suggest the presence of ongoing star formation processes. This cluster provides a valuable opportunity to examine star formation scenarios under dramatically different conditions from those in our solar neighborhood.

An international team of astronomers, including Peter Zeidler, Elena Sabbi, and Antonella Nota, used Webb to observe NGC 602 and detected candidates for the first young brown dwarfs outside our Milky Way.

Credit: European Space Agency/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeidler, E. Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)

Duration: 1 minute, 30 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 23, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #StarClusters #NGC602 #StarCluster #Stars #BrownDwarfs #Hydrus #Constellation #SMC #Galaxy #Universe #JWST #SpaceTelescope #UnfoldTheUniverse #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #CSA #Canada #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Pan of Young Star Cluster NGC 602 in Hydrus | James Webb Space Telescope

Pan of Young Star Cluster NGC 602 in Hydrus | James Webb Space Telescope

Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a satellite galaxy roughly 200,000 light-years from Earth, lies the young star cluster NGC 602. It is featured in this new image from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope. This image includes data from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-InfraRed Camera) and MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument).

The local environment of this cluster is a close analog of what existed in the early Universe with very low abundances of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. The existence of dark clouds of dense dust and the fact that the cluster is rich in ionized gas also suggest the presence of ongoing star formation processes. This cluster provides a valuable opportunity to examine star formation scenarios under dramatically different conditions from those in our solar neighborhood.

An international team of astronomers, including Peter Zeidler, Elena Sabbi, and Antonella Nota, used Webb to observe NGC 602 and detected candidates for the first young brown dwarfs outside our Milky Way. 

Image Description: A star cluster is shown inside a large nebula of many-colored gas and dust. The material forms dark ridges and peaks of gas and dust surrounding the cluster, lit on the inner side, while layers of diffuse, translucent clouds blanket over them. Around and within the gas, a huge number of distant galaxies can be seen, a number are quite large, as well as a few stars nearer to us that are very large and bright.

Credit: European Space Agency/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeidler, E. Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 23, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #StarClusters #NGC602 #StarCluster #Stars #BrownDwarfs #Hydrus #Constellation #SMC #Galaxy #Universe #JWST #SpaceTelescope #UnfoldTheUniverse #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #CSA #Canada #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Young Star Cluster NGC 602 in Hydrus | James Webb Space Telescope

Young Star Cluster NGC 602 in Hydrus | James Webb Space Telescope

Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a satellite galaxy roughly 200,000 light-years from Earth, lies the young star cluster NGC 602. It is featured in this new image from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope. This image includes data from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-InfraRed Camera) and MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument).

The local environment of this cluster is a close analog of what existed in the early Universe, with very low abundances of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. The existence of dark clouds of dense dust and the fact that the cluster is rich in ionized gas also suggest the presence of ongoing star formation processes. This cluster provides a valuable opportunity to examine star formation scenarios under dramatically different conditions from those in the solar neighborhood.

An international team of astronomers, including Peter Zeidler, Elena Sabbi, and Antonella Nota, used Webb to observe NGC 602 and detected candidates for the first young brown dwarfs outside our Milky Way. 

Image Description: A star cluster is shown inside a large nebula of many-colored gas and dust. The material forms dark ridges and peaks of gas and dust surrounding the cluster, lit on the inner side, while layers of diffuse, translucent clouds blanket over them. Around and within the gas, a huge number of distant galaxies can be seen, a number are quite large, as well as a few stars nearer to us that are very large and bright.

Credit: European Space Agency/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeidler, E. Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)

Release Date: Oct. 23, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #StarClusters #NGC602 #StarCluster #Stars #BrownDwarfs #Hydrus #Constellation #SMC #Galaxy #Universe #JWST #SpaceTelescope #UnfoldTheUniverse #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #CSA #Canada #STEM #Education

Warning: Ketchup "Science Demonstration" | International Space Station

Warning: Ketchup "Science Demonstration" | International Space Station

Before leaving for Earth, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominck had a 'moment of fun': "This one goes out to all the ketchup lovers out there. Everyone I’ve shared it with either thinks it is awesome or gross. Nothing in between. Also, some interesting science stuff happening . . ."

Note: "We advise you not try this at home!"

NASA and SpaceX mission managers continue monitoring weather conditions off the coast of Florida and are now targeting October 23, 2024, for the undocking of SpaceX Dragon Endeavour with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8: NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia. 

Expedition 72 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 72 Crew

Station Commander: Suni Williams

Roscosmos (Russia): Alexander Grebenkin, Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov

NASA: Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 19 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 22, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityExperiments #KetchupScience #SpaceX #SpaceXCrew8 #CrewDragonSpacecraft #Earth #Astronauts #MatthewDominick #MichaelBarratt #JeanetteEpps #Cosmonaut #AleksandrGrebenkin #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #UnitedStates #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #Expedition72 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Bright Blue Star Spica in Virgo | New Forest Observatory

The Bright Blue Star Spica in Virgo | New Forest Observatory

Shown here is spectacular Spica, the lead star in the constellation Virgo and the brightest blue star in the entire night sky. This photo was taken from the New Forest Observatory, U.K., on May 5, 2024. Viewed through a pair of decent binoculars, Spica's intense blue color, when its high in the sky, becomes quite obvious. Its B-V index (an indication of the redness or blueness of a star) is -0.23. Only 3 stars in the sky are bluer, but none are as bright.

Spica has a magnitude of 0.98.

Distance: 250 light years

It is a spectroscopic binary star and rotating ellipsoidal variable—a system whose two stars are so close together they are egg-shaped rather than spherical, and can only be separated by their spectra. The primary is a blue giant and a variable star of the Beta Cephei type.

Image & Caption Credit: Greg Parker

Location: New Forest Observatory, U.K. Coordinates: 50.819681, -1.590349

Release Date: Oct. 22, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Star #Spica #BlueStar #BlueGiant #BinaryStarSystem #Virgo #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Optical #Astrophotographer #GregParker #Astrophotography #UK #UnitedKingdom #STEM #Education #EPoD

Solar Sailing Our Way to The Outer Planets | NASA Space Tech

Solar Sailing Our Way to The Outer Planets | NASA Space Tech

NASA researchers are working on a concept to use solar sail technology to get to Neptune and Uranus in a fraction of the time that it would take with current propulsion technology. Using the power of the Sun, the concept called SCOPE—short for ScienceCraft for Outer Planet Exploration—could help us unlock the secrets of the scarcely visited ice giants in our outer solar system.

NASA 360 takes a look at the NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) that could help us learn more about Neptune and Uranus. To learn more visit: https://go.nasa.gov/45pzBRI

To watch the in-depth presentation about this topic please visit the 2022 NIAC Symposium Vimeo site:

https://vimeo.com/showcase/11002809/video/912877817#t=6900s

To learn more about NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program visit: https://www.nasa.gov/niac

This video represents a research study within the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. NIAC is a visionary and far-reaching aerospace program, one that has the potential to create breakthrough technologies for possible future space missions. However, such early-stage technology developments may never become actual NASA missions.

Video Credit: NASA Space Tech

Duration: 2 minutes, 13 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 22, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Engineering #Star #Starlight #Sun #Sunlight #SolarSail #Spacecraft #PropulsionTechnology #SCOPE #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #DeepSpace #SpaceExploration #Planets #Neptune #Uranus #IceGiants #SolarSystem #NIAC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Supermoon over Ohio

Supermoon over Ohio

This Supermoon was visible on September 17th, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. On this day, the full moon was a partial lunar eclipse; a supermoon; and a harvest moon. A “supermoon” occurs when a full Moon coincides with the Moon’s closest approach to Earth in its elliptical orbit, a point known as perigee. During every 27-day orbit around Earth, the Moon reaches both its perigee, about 226,000 miles (363,300 km) from Earth, and its farthest point, or apogee, about 251,000 miles (405,500 km) from Earth. Because the Moon’s orbit wobbles and differs depending on where the Sun and Earth are in their orbits, the exact distance of these closest and furthest points varies, with supermoons occurring closer or farther than others. 

“Supermoon" is not an official astronomical term, but typically it is used to describe a full Moon that comes within at least 90 percent of perigee. Supermoons only happen three to four times a year, and always appear consecutively. Throughout most of Earth's orbit around the sun, perigee and the full Moon do not overlap.

Image Credit: NASA/GRC/Jordan Salkin

Image Date: Sept. 17, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #SolarSystem #Sun #Moon #Perigee #Earth #NorthernHemisphere #Cleveland #Ohio #UnitedStates #HarvestMoon #SuperMoon #LunarEclipse #Astrophotography #Photography #STEM #Education

Shenzhou-19 Spacecraft & Rocket Rollout to Launchpad | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 Spacecraft & Rocket Rollout to Launchpad | China Space Station

 

The combination of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship and a Long March-2F Y19 carrier rocket has been successfully transferred to the launching area at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 22, 2024.

At 16:00, the combination was lifted from the assembly and test facility and smoothly transported via a vertical transfer method to the launch site. The entire transfer process covered a distance of 1.5 kilometers and took approximately two hours.

The spacecraft and rocket combination weighs over 40 tons and stands nearly 60 meters tall.

The completion of this vertical transport signifies that the rocket has officially entered the final phase of launch preparations.

Subsequent activities will include a series of function checks and joint tests, with a launch expected to take place later this month.

Gao Minzhong, a senior engineer with the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, highlighted the emphasis on safety and precision during the transport.

"We have optimized the control of positioning accuracy upon the combination's arrival at the destination and prepared multiple backup plans to guarantee a reliable and foolproof transfer," Gao said.

China is scheduled to launch the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship and welcome the Shenzhou-18 crew back to the Earth in late October, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The three-member Shenzhou-18 crew was sent into space on April 25.

Shenzhou-18 Crew:

Ye Guangfu (叶光富, commander)

Li Cong (李聪, mission specialist)

Li Guangsu (李广苏, mission specialist)

Video Credit: CCTV

Duration: 1 minute, 38 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 22, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou18 #神舟十八 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #LongMarchRocket #LongMarch2FY19 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #YeGuangfu #LongDurationSpaceflight #LiCong #LiGuangsu #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #CMSA #国家航天局 #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Shenzhou-19 Crewed Spacecraft Prepared for Launch | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 Crewed Spacecraft Prepared for Launch | China Space Station

The combination of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spacecraft atop its Long March-2F Y18 carrier rocket was made ready for the imminent vertical transfer to the launching area at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Tuesday, October 21, 2024.

At around 15:00 on Tuesday, the technical staff at the assembly test building were making final checks before transferring the combination to the launching pad 1.5 kilometers away.

The engineers had completed the removal of the air supply hose from the rocket fairing, and cleaned, closed and inspected all the connections between the fairing and the outside to ensure that the inside of the fairing is safely isolated from the outside environment during the transfer.

In an interview with CCTV, Gao Minzhong, senior engineer with the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, detailed more preparatory work at the final assembly test building ahead of the transfer.

"The pre-transfer work can be summarized into four major aspects. The first is the check and test of the rocket and escape tower in the technical area. The second is the propellant filling and cylinders filling of the spacecraft. The third is to dock the spacecraft escape tower and the assembled rocket assembly to form a spacecraft-rocket-escape tower combination. And the fourth is to complete all the preparatory work before the transfer today. Now, each system is working smoothly, and the preparatory work has been completed. The conditions for vertical transfer are in place," Gao said.

The combination is set to move towards the launching pad at around 16:00 on a mobile launch platform along a seamless rail. The engineer noted that the timing of the transfer depends mainly on the temperature, wind speed and track conditions.

The ideal temperature is 0 to 30 degrees Celsius, and the conditions at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center are just right, according to Gao.

"The total height of the spaceship-rocket-escape tower combination on the mobile launch platform is nearly 70 meters, so there are relatively strict requirements for the wind speed, which should be controlled to below 10 meters per second. There is a 1.5-kilometer specially-built track for vertical transfer from the assembling building to the launch pad. The transfer has high requirements for the track gauge, flatness and straightness, with millimeter-level accuracy," Gao explained.

China is scheduled to launch the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship and welcome the Shenzhou-18 crew back to the Earth in late October, according to the China Manned Space Agency earlier this month.

The three-member Shenzhou-18 crew was sent into space on April 25.

Shenzhou-18 Crew:

Ye Guangfu (叶光富, commander)

Li Cong (李聪, mission specialist)

Li Guangsu (李广苏, mission specialist)

Video Credit: CCTV

Duration: 2 minutes, 12 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 22, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou18 #神舟十八 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #YeGuangfu #LongDurationSpaceflight #LiCong #LiGuangsu #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #CMSA #国家航天局 #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Globular Star Cluster Messier 5 in Serpens Caput: Surprising 'Vitality' | Hubble

Globular Star Cluster Messier 5 in Serpens Caput: Surprising 'Vitality' | Hubble

The globular cluster Messier 5, shown here in this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image, is one of the oldest belonging to the Milky Way galaxy. The majority of its stars formed more than 12 billion years ago, but there are unexpected newcomers on the scene, adding vitality to this aging population.

Stars in globular clusters form in the same stellar nursery and grow old together. The most massive stars age quickly, exhausting their fuel supply in less than a million years, and end their lives in spectacular supernovae explosions. This process should have left the ancient cluster Messier 5 with only old, low-mass stars. These stars have aged and cooled and have become red giants, while the oldest stars have evolved even further into blue horizontal branch stars.

Yet astronomers have spotted many young, blue stars in this cluster, hiding amongst the much more luminous ancient ones. Astronomers think that these laggard youngsters, called blue stragglers, were created either by stellar collisions or by the transfer of mass between binary stars. Such events are easy to imagine in densely populated globular clusters where a few million stars are tightly packed together.

Messier 5 lies at a distance of about 25,000 light-years in the constellation of Serpens (The Snake). This image was taken with the Wide Field Channel of Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The picture was created from images taken through a blue filter (F435W, colored blue), a red filter (F625W, colored green) and a near-infrared filter (F814W, colored red). The total exposure times per filter were 750 s, 400 s and 567 s, respectively. The field of view is about 2.6 arcminutes across.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA 

Release Date: May 2, 2011

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #BlueStars #RedGiants #StarClusters #GlobularClusters #Messier5 #M5 #SerpensCaput #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education