NASA VIDEO: U.S. SPACE STATION CREW MEMBERS BEGIN SPACEWALK TRILOGY TO PREPARE FOR FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

NASA VIDEO: POWER SPACEWALK ON THIS WEEK @NASA

VIEW OF A SPACEWALK AT THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

FROM:  NASA 

Caption By NASA.  On Oct. 7, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman (pictured here) and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst completed the first of three spacewalks for the Expedition 41 crew aboard the International Space Station. The spacewalkers worked outside the space station's Quest airlock for 6 hours and 13 minutes, relocating a failed cooling pump to external stowage and installing gear that provides back up power to external robotics equipment. Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore of NASA operated the Canadian robotic arm, maneuvered Gerst during the course of the spacewalk and served as the spacewalk coordinator. A second U.S. spacewalk is set for Oct. 15. Wilmore will don a U.S. spacesuit and follow Wiseman outside the Quest airlock for a 6-1/2 hour excursion. Gerst will serve as the spacewalk choreographer. The goal of the excursion is to replace a failed voltage regulator component on the starboard truss of the station. They will also move external camera equipment in advance of a major reconfiguration of station modules next year for the arrival of new docking adapters for commercial crew vehicles. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Alexander Gerst.

A CHRISTMAS EVE SELFIE IN SPACE

FROM:  NASA
Astronaut Mike Hopkins on Dec. 24 Spacewalk

On Dec. 24, 2013, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, Expedition 38 Flight Engineer, participates in the second of two spacewalks, spread over a four-day period, which were designed to allow the crew to change out a degraded pump module on the exterior of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station. He was joined on both spacewalks by NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, whose image shows up in Hopkins' helmet visor.

The pump module controls the flow of ammonia through cooling loops and radiators outside the space station, and, combined with water-based cooling loops inside the station, removes excess heat into the vacuum of space.  Image Credit: NASA

ISS CELEBRATES 15 YEARS IN SPACE

Image Credit: NASA

FROM:  NASA
Celebrating Fifteen Years of the International Space Station

Astronaut James H. Newman waves during a spacewalk preparing for release of the first combined elements of the International Space Station. The Russian-built Zarya module, with its solar array panel visible here, was launched into orbit fifteen years ago on Nov. 20, 1998. Two weeks later, on Dec. 4, 1998, NASA's space shuttle Endeavour launched Unity, the first U.S. piece of the complex. Endeavour's forward section is reflected in Newman's helmet visor in this image. During three spacewalks on the STS-88 mission, the two space modules built on opposite sides of the planet were joined together in space, making the space station truly international.

Since that first meeting of Zarya and Unity, the space station grew piece by piece with additions from each of the international partners built across three continents and leading to the largest and most complex spacecraft ever constructed. The space station, now four times larger than Mir and five times larger than Skylab, represents a collaboration between NASA, Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, representing 15 countries in all.

In support of station assembly and maintenance, station and shuttle crews have conducted 174 spacewalks totaling almost 1,100 hours – the equivalent to nearly 46 days of spacewalks to build and maintain the complex. The station, with a mass of almost a million pounds and the size of a football field, is second only to the moon as the brightest object in the night sky.

Over the years, a great deal of research has been done on the space laboratory, which has already yielded tremendous results toward various fields. The science of the space station has provided benefits to humankind in areas such as human health, Earth observation and education. Many more results and benefits for both space exploration and life on Earth are expected in the coming years.
> Celebrating 15 Years Since the Sunrise

NASA VIDEO: SPACEWALK TALK

FROM: NASA

 

SPACEDOCK

FROM:  NASA
Astronaut Ron Garan took this image during the spacewalk conducted on Tues., July 12, 2011. It shows the International Space Station with Space Shuttle Atlantis docked on the right and a Russian Soyuz on the far left. In the foreground is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) experiment installed during the STS-134 mission.


AMS is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector designed to use the unique environment of space to advance knowledge of the universe and lead to the understanding of the universe's origin by searching for antimatter and dark matter, and measuring cosmic rays.

Image Credit: NASA

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES

 

 

FROM:  NASA
Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka (top), Expedition 32 commander; and Yuri Malenchenko, flight engineer, participate in a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) to continue outfitting the International Space Station. During the five-hour, 51-minute spacewalk on August 20, 2012, Padalka and Malenchenko moved the Strela-2 cargo boom from the Pirs docking compartment to the Zarya module to prepare Pirs for its eventual replacement with a new Russian multipurpose laboratory module. The two spacewalking cosmonauts also installed micrometeoroid debris shields on the exterior of the Zvezda service module and deployed a small science satellite.

Image Credit: NASA

NASA PHOTOS

FROM:  NASA
On Feb. 12, 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless, ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut had ever been. This space first was made possible by a nitrogen jet propelled backpack, previously known at NASA as the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU.


After a series of test maneuvers inside and above Challenger's payload bay, McCandless went "free-flying" to a distance of 320 feet away from the Orbiter. This stunning orbital panorama view shows McCandless out there amongst the black and blue of Earth and space.

Bruce McCandless Image CreditNASA

　

Earth's MoonPhotographed by the Expedition 28 crew aboard the International Space Station, this image shows the moon, the Earth's only natural satellite, at center with the limb of Earth near the bottom transitioning into the orange-colored troposphere, the lowest and most dense portion of the Earth's atmosphere. The troposphere ends abruptly at the tropopause, which appears in the image as the sharp boundary between the orange- and blue-colored atmosphere. The
silvery-blue noctilucent clouds extend far above the Earth's troposphere.

Image Credit: NASA