BBC America and Space Channel to introduce the 12th Dr Who

BBC America and Space Channel to introduce the 12th Dr Who

When 2 pm

Where Space Channel on Bell TV

Satellite Channels 627 and 1746 HD

Bell Media Press Release 

Neil Armstrong, August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012

It is was with sadness that we heard that Neil Armstrong had died. Without the space program so many things we take for granted would not have been invented.

From his first historic moon walk Neil saw the lunar project mission expand to the building of the space station, the first and last space shuttle flights, Robonaut2 and the SpaceX Dragon Launch.

Take a moment to consider that the future was made possible by the courage and determination of dedicated space engineers, explorers and astronauts, many of whom were inspired by Neil most famous words

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." 


Thank you NASA for putting into words what we wanted to say

NASA - Neil Armstrong: 1930-2012

We walked on the moon 43 years ago

At 10.56 pm EST, (2.56 GMT) Neil Armstrong became the first human to step on the moon and say "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."   Word that have gone down in history.


Just thought we would remind everyone about this historic event and ask that you take a moment to consider there would be no smartphone, gps or satellite tv if this first space flight had not happened.








Photo Credit: Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

SpaceX Dragon Launch

SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal.  They are the first commercial company to launch a spacecraft that will deliver supplies the ISS (International Space Station).  The launch of Dragon aboard the Falcon 9 Rocket went ahead 22nd May 2012 at  3.44am EST at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

NASA SpaceX Mission:  

The original May 19th SpaceX Dragon launch schedule had to be aborted when high pressure in combustion chamber 5 was detected.  


SpaceX have been working with NASA on the project for the last six years. On Friday 25th May 2012, if the Thursday "fly-under" the ISS is successful, the Dragon capsule will be captured by ISS astronauts, Donald Pettit and Andre Kuipers, using Canadarm 2.  


Once docked to the Harmony Node the capsules 460 kilograms cargo of food and supplies will be unloaded.  This operation will take around 2 weeks.  Before Dragon is detached from the Harmony Node it will then be loaded with 620 
kilograms of return cargo. If all goes to plan this will be how future supplies will be delivered to and from the space station since the retirement of the Space Shuttles last 
year and why this is an historic event. 

Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean is expected to occur roughly 4 - 4.5 hours after the capsule detaches from the space station. 

SpaceX Website
SpaceX Press Release : Successful launch kicks off SpaceX's historic mission
Nasa Press Release : SpaceX Launches NASA Demonstration Mission to Space Station




Update 31st May 2012: Mission will not be two weeks long, the capsule is now scheduled to return to earth May 31st.


Photo Credit:  NASA 

Angry Birds Space hits 10 million downloads

Angry Birds Space launched  22nd March 2012. In only 3 days Angry Birds Space has been downloaded ten million times.   That's a lot of flying feathers and tumbling pigs.  The Rovio Angry Bird game is already #1 in 99 countries.

Space Station Debris Avoidance Maneuver successful

The International Space Station (ISS) had to deploy the debris space avoidance maneuver Friday 13th January 2012 at 11.10 am EST.  Thrusters were burned to boost it's orbit in order to avoid a 4" diameter piece of broken satellite which was likely to pass within 0.6 to 15 miles of the ISS.  

The piece of space junk was from the Iridium 33 communication satellite that clashed with a Cosmos spacecraft in 2009, due to it's size the debris was being tracked by Nasa.

On the 28th June 2011 at 8.08am EDT the six astronauts manning the ISS had to shelter in two Russian Soyuz lifeboats when it was feared that a 10 centimetre diameter piece of debris would collide with and damage the International Space Station.

Image Credit:  NASA

Stratolaunch System - space transportation system

Stratolaunch System - could it be the future of space travel

Apollo 17 Mission Last Lunar landing

The last manned lunar landing was on the 11th December. 1972.  Apollo 17 (Challenger spacecraft)  had a three man crew - Eugene Ceman, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt.  The lunar lander touched down on the lunar surface at 2:55 PM EST on December 11.  


The Apolllo 17 mission Challenger spacecraft returned to earth on the 19th December.

Tank on The Moon - Lunokhod

November 17 1970 Russian mission Lunar17 containing Lunokhod landed on the moon. The first lunar rover controlled remotely from the earth was a triumph of Soviet engineering.  

The design team had to meet weight, size, heating, cooling and low level power restrictions as well as overcome the demands of operating in space.  The final unit weighed 840kg approx. and moved at 1.3km per hour.   Onboard were four television cameras, an  x ray telescope, a penetrometer to take soil samples, a cone shaped antenna and a helical antenna.  Eventually it fell into a crater and due to overheating, it still remains on the moon. The Lunokhod rover was programmed to hibernate at night and during the 14 day lunar night .  The rover was designed to operate for 90 days it ran for 11 months and covered 7 miles of the moons surface.   The mission ended 4th October 1971.

Photo Credit:
Lunokhod: Reflections on a Moon Robot 

Credit: Lavochkin Association

Lunokhod Designers
Georgi Nikolayevich Babakhin 
Alexandra Kermurdzhian

Science Channel Video
Tank on the Moon - Lunokhod (03.01)

In 1973 lunar 21 lands and delivers Lunokhod 2 on the moon May 9th 1973 the rover travelled 24 miles and transmitted images back to earth.

The Lunaokhod technology once again deployed in Mikehal Milenkhov's Remote STR1 bulldozer, which was designed and deployed to clear Chernobyl debris in 1986

Marsakhod, designed to explore Mars was originally created in 1977.  It sat in a warehouse until 1992 when it became the basis for the Mars Rover (1992/1993) when Alexandra Kermurdzhian worked  with Nasa on the project.

Historic Space Date 20th July

20th July 1969 -  Apollo 11's lunar module Eagle, which had separated from the command module carried a crew of two down to the lunar surface. 


While Michael Collins waited in the command module, Neil Armstrong and Edwin E "Buzz" Aldrin landed on the moon.  Mission control were told by Neil Armstrong "The Eagle has Landed." 

First Man On The Moon
 UK Commemorative  Cover

Back on Earth the world watched and waited. At 10.56 pm EST, (2.56 GMT) Neil Armstrong became the first human to step on the moon and said the historic words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."   


At 11.11pm EST "Buzz" Aldrin joined Armstrong and together, following the tradition of centuries of explorers, they planted a flag, the US flag.


It is fitting then that 20th july 2011 sees the return of Space Shuttle Atlantis marking the end of the NASA Space Shuttle Flight Program and lunar missions.
  

Last Space Shuttle Program Flight - Final shuttle Atlantis

Today ends 30 years of service for NASA's fleet of space shuttles.  The last space shuttle Altantis which has already had 9 successful flights. was going to be decommissioned in 2008 but on inspection was given clearance to continue missions. The first space shuttle, Columbia launched 12th  Aprtil 1981. 

At 9 July 2011 Space Shuttle Atlantis will embark on her final space mission.  The Kennedy Space Center iCape Canaveral launch is scheduled for 11.26 am ET. The crew are on a 12 day mission to deliver supplies, parts  and a docking module to the  the International Space Station (ISS).  The shuttle will also be taking the first iPhone into orbit.

Atlantis flight STS 135 has a crew of 4  -  Commander Chris Ferguson,  pilot Doug Hurley,  mission specialistists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.

Altlantis first flight was 3rd October 1985,  her last will be the 33rd flight. The final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program will be the 135th mission.

Altlantis is due to land back on Earth JUly 20th 2011 at 7.06 am 
ET.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Reflections

This image of space shuttle Atlantis was taken shortly after the rotating service structure was rolled back at Launch Pad 39A, Thursday, July 7, 2011. Atlantis is set to lift off today, Friday, July 8, on the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program.

...

UrtheCast See the earth from space

UrtheCast Web Platform will run 24 hours a day allow users to track the location of the International Space Station and at a rate of 3 feet per pixel receive streaming HD video of Earth straight from the International Space Station. The streaming video will include search, rewind and tag options and is designed to integrate with popular social media platfroms.


The project is scheduled to launch noon 28th June 2011 at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.  Astronaut, Dr Dave Williams  of NASA will be the guest speaker.
UrtheCast is  expected to go live March 2012.

Space HD launches 6th July 2011

Space channel which currently can be viewed on Bell TV( Channel  627) in standard definition will be available in HD on channel 1746 on the 6th July 2011

First Space Tourist - 10 year anniversary

On  the 28th April 2001, American,  Dennis Anthony Tito became the first Space Tourist, his destination the International Space Station.

Mr Tito, who is a millionaire and aerospace engineer  was  70 years old when he joined the  Soyuz TM-32, Russian Space Agency, crew.

During the mission which lasted 7 days and 22 hours the spaceship orbitted the earth 128 times.

Since then there have been six more "personal space explorers"



Image Credit :
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons

First Orbit - The Arts Junction: Yuri Gagarin, the First Man in Space - Tuesday, April 12, 1961

First Orbit a free film to download & share

created to celebrate the first 50 years of human spaceflight.
The movie depicts the 108 minutes of the historic space mission and includes original footage and narration.




Full informationation :

The Arts Junction: Yuri Gagarin, the First Man in Space - Tuesday, April 12, 1961

Original article and movie by firstorbit on Mar 9, 2011 

Yuri Gagarin the first man in space

Fifty years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first cosmonaut in space on the 12th April 1961.  Shortly after his 27th birthday, he boarded the Russian Vostok 1 spacecraft and completed a 108 minute orbital flight.  He was born on the 9th March 1934 and died March 27th 1968. His ashes were buried in the walls of the Kremlin, Red Square.

Without the space program being pursued by Russian and the USA, satellite tv, mobile phones and GPS (global positioning systems) might never have been invented. 

Spacewalk 3D Game

Following our post about spacewalks, this link for a ISS spacewalk game which is on the Nasa Website was emailed to us.

The game can be played online or downloaded to a PC or Mac computer.

First Spacewalk

In 1965 a Russian Voskhad 3KD Spacecraft launched.  It was manned by Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov.  On the 18th March 1965 cosmonaut  Aleksei Leonov became the first person to walk in space.

Alexei was out of the spacecraft for 12 minutes and 9 seconds.  He was joined by a 5.35 meter tether to the spacecraft.  It was later released that the spacewalk (float) would have ended in disaster had Alexei not undergone extensive training and been a quick thinker.  When he reached the spacecraft's airlock  Alexei realized that his space suit had inflated, the only solution was to deflate the suit and in doing so release the pressure that was building up.  A dangerous maneuver due to the time scale in which his body had to react and adapt the the strains being placed upon it. In his weakened state Alexei could only just manage to climb back inside the spacecraft.

The first US Astronaut spacewalk was on the 3rd June 1965, during the Gemini 4 mission manned by Ed White and James McDivitt ). Ed White went a total of 48 meters (3 x his 8 meter tether) and was out in space for 23 minutes.

Image Credit:
Commander James McDivit, Nasa

Following these spacewalks the possibility of space stations and humans working and living in space became more than just a possibility.

The space program has helped develop many technologies that we take for granted: ceramic hobs; satellite tv; wireless signals; weather monitoring; gps locating and mapping. These and other innovative experiments are still ongoing. The most recent spacewalk took place at the  International Space Station on the 16th February 2011.  Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka (Expedition 26 Flight Engineers) were outside for 4 hours and 51 minutes. Their mission to install a pair of earthquake and lightning sensing experiments and to retrieve a pair of spacecraft material evaluation panels.  

It is amazing to see what has been achieved in the last 46 years and encouraging to  wonder what the future will hold.


 A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - Confucius 

Robonaut2 goes to space in Discovery Shuttle

If it wasn't for the space program there would be no satellite tv, today marks a landmark occasion for space missions :

As firsts and lasts go this is quite impressive.  Space Shuttle Discovery embarks on her final space mission and Robonaut2 is set to become the first humanoid robot in space ever.  This flight STS 133 has a crew of 6  -  Steve Lindsay,  Eric Boe,  Alvin Drew,  Steve Bowen,  Michael Barratt and Nicole Stott.

The versatile and dexterous Robonaut2 was developed by NASA and General Motors, is called R2 for short.  Robonaut2 will be responsible for the Twitter Feed and will be the test subject to determine how robots can be utilized in space and how they perform in space.  The long term objective is for R2 to explore   near earth objects comets, asteroids and eventually planets.

Get tweets from space
Follow Space Shuttle Discovery - mission control, live shots  -  Space Flight live


Image Credit - NASA