SciFi films can be pretty scary, but it always helps to know that you’re watching fiction. Here are frightening facts from space that are anything but fictional.
Space Corpses in the Sky: Space exploration research has claimed a number of animal lives, and while the idea of sacrificing monkeys and dogs on the altar of science is rather disheartening, the notion that there are dead simian and canine space explorers in orbit RIGHT NOW just adds to the creepiness.
Several early space missions involved re-entry procedures, but not every spacecraft was recovered. This leads many to theorize that perhaps dozens of mummified animals are still making the orbital rounds up there. Think about that the next time you wish upon a star.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on 24 April, 1990. This tool, built as a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, is one of humanity’s most important tools in discovering the Universe. Since its start, it has shown us distant galaxies, nebulae, and has even given us a clear idea of the Earth’s age. It has answered some of the most lingering questions in astronomy, and is helping us discover whether life exists outside our planet. In this video, WatchMojo.com takes a look at some of the Hubble’s most notable and extraordinary discoveries.
Ok, so I lied… they only fired a couple of small rockets into the Moon to see if has ice beneath the surface. There is actually video content of the procedure happening live, but unfortunately its not as awesome as you might think. In any case, its nice to see NASA doing some “cool shit”. Read more from the AP and check out the video below:
NASA smacked two spacecraft into the lunar south pole Friday morning in a search for hidden ice. Instruments confirm that a large empty rocket hull barreled into the moon at 7:31 a.m., followed four minutes later by a probe with cameras taking pictures of the first crash.
But initial photos show that the moon didn’t give the reaction to the double jabs that NASA expected.
And the public definitely didn’t get the live explosive views they may have anticipated from the mission called LCROSS, short for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.
Screens got fuzz and no immediate pictures of the crash or the six-mile plume of lunar dust that the mission was supposed to kick up for scientists to study. The public, which followed the crashes on the Internet and at observatories, seemed puzzled.
NASA officials touted loads of data from the probe and telescopes around the world and in orbit. But the crash photos and videos they offered at a morning news conference were few and showed little more than a fuzzy white flash.
Still, NASA scientists were happy.
“This is so cool,” said Jennifer Heldmann, coordinator for NASA’s observation campaign. “We’re thrilled.”
Read the rest HERE
Nearly 270 rocks were given as gifts to 130 countries by the Nixon administration from both the Apollo 11 flight in 1969 and Apollo 17 flight in 1972.
Today, the whereabouts of these souvenirs are unknown. According to the Associated Press,
Of 135 rocks from the Apollo 17 mission given away to nations or their leaders, only about 25 have been located by CollectSpace.com, a Web site for space history buffs that has long attempted to compile a list.
That should not be taken to mean the others are lost - just that the records kept at the time are far from complete.
The AP reviewed declassified correspondence between the State Department and U.S. embassies in 1973 and was able to locate ten additional Apollo 17 rocks - in Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Barbados, France, Poland, Norway, Costa Rica, Egypt and Nepal.”
A common misconception about telescopes is that their main purpose is to magnify objects. This is false: in fact what a telescope does is capture more light than is possible by the naked eye. The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the world’s most important telescopes. Situated in orbit around Earth, but outside of its atmosphere, the Hubble gets a clearer view of the Universe and what lies within than any ground-based instrument. In this video, WatchMojo.com learns how the Hubble works.
According to FoxNews.com
“Forty years ago Thursday, Apollo 11 blasted off on its 280,000-mile journey, fulfilling President Kennedy’s 1961 call to reach the moon by the end of the decade.
To commemorate the anniversary, NASA released newly restored video footage of the Apollo 11 moon landings — but the fabled “lost” moon tapes weren’t among them.”
Good call Buzz. From The Tech Herald:
Legendary Moon walker and NASA spaceman Buzz Aldrin has said the race to establish a permanent Moon base should be the result of international cooperation with the real focus on a manned mission to Mars.
Speaking in a lengthy interview with Popular Mechanics magazine, Aldrin said the next race to be the first to host a manned presence on the Moon should not be a financially damaging “space race” but an international effort combining the resources of China, Europe, India, Japan and Russia.
“By renouncing our goal of being first on the Moon (again), we would call off Space Race II with the Chinese and encourage them to channel their ambitious lunar efforts into the consortium,” Aldrin said.
He added that the Mark II mission to the Moon is, in fact, a “damaging” detour from what should be NASA’s principal objective — namely, the preparation for a manned mission to Mars.
“The agency’s current Vision for Space Exploration will waste decades and hundreds of billions of dollars trying to reach the moon by 2020 — a glorified rehash of what we did 40 years ago,” he said. “Instead of a steppingstone to Mars, NASA’s current lunar plan is a detour.”
Approaching his 80th birthday, Aldrin was in no mood to hold back on criticism of the American space administration’s plan. In its place, Aldrin proposed a radical program he named the “Unified Space Vision,” which, controversially, calls for a permanently manned presence on Mars by 2035.
“Here’s my plan, which I call the Unified Space Vision,” he told the magazine. “It’s a blueprint that will maintain U.S. leadership in human spaceflight, avoid a counterproductive space race with China to be second back to the moon, and lead to a permanent American-led presence on Mars by 2035 at the latest.”
“That date happens to be 66 years after Neil Armstrong and I first landed on the moon — just as our landing was 66 years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight,” Aldrin said.
Apropos of nothing, but worth a read, is Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s tale of one of the most unusual things he saw during his 1969 mission to the moon. Aldrin was on a TCA panel for National Geographic Channel’s Expedition Week.
Here’s a lightly edited version of Aldrin’s story:
I guess the discovery that really baffled me started the first night en route to the moon beyond the Van Allen Belts. We closed the windows and turned out the lights and Mike Collins had the headset on to listen to Houston and Neil [Armstrong] and I were under the couch.
All of a sudden I saw a flash, and then another flash. And before I could move my eye to see what it was, it was gone. And then maybe a streak. And I kept seeing these, until I decided I wanted to go to sleep.
In this video Watchmojo.com challenges you through engaging and thought-provoking experiences in science.
Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve Bowen completed the first of four spacewalks scheduled for Endeavour’s mission to the International Space Station yesterday.
This spacewalk was the 115th in support of ISS construction. The majority of the six hour and 52 minute spacewalk was spent focusing on one of the station’s Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ).
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