The Daily Orbit @orbital-sunrise - Tumblr Blog

Absolutely hypnotic!

Sit back and get mesmerized as this incredible art changes right in front of your eyes (clay, pottery wheel, music, improvisation)!! Mind.Blown.

Art - Mikhail Sadovnikov / Music: “Far the Days Come” by Letterbox.

Also in Colossal

#video #geometry #Arts

ourtech

Best Moments from a Year in Space

Creepily enough I have not meet Astronaut Scott Kelly in person, yet through my experience as a NASA Johnson Space intern I have followed his whole journey. While sitting in Mission Control I would see Kelly float through the International Space Station (ISS) to his next experiment, struggle with space food and occasionally pull a space prank. After a record breaking year in space Kelly will return to Earth March 1st and you can watch here 9:15pmCT. He has had many great moments and below are my personal favorites…

Extra Terrestrial Lettuce

Scott Kelly taking a selfie with space lettuce - NASA

Astronauts consumed a space grown harvest for the first time! Kelly, Kjell Lindgren, and Kimiya Yui tried crisp red romaine lettuce, first plain and then with vinaigrette. NASA was testing the effectiveness of a plant growth facility, Veggie, using rooting “pillows,” which contain the seeds. Providing fresh food for astronauts, NASA plans to grow food on spacecrafts and on other planets in the future.

Space flowers, zinnia, were also grown in the Veggie during Kelly’s mission blooming with oddly curled petals. NASA ground support treated Kelly like an autonomous gardener with only a one page flower care guide. These zinnia were not the first flowers to bloom on the ISS, in 2012 Astronaut Don Pettit grew a sunflower, broccoli and zucchini plant for a personal experiment. The zucchini bloomed a yellow flower but did not produce a full zucchini with the time allotted. Pettit wrote a “Diary of a Space Zucchini” from the perspective of the orbiting zucchini plant. The first flower to bloom in space was a Arabidopsis flown on board the then Soviet Union’s Salyut-7 space station in 1982.

Space Selfies

Scott Kelly taking a selfie during his first space walk Oct 28th, 2015 - NASA

Selfie during Kelly’s space walk December 21st, 2015 - NASA

While there is a lot of science to get excited about in space sometimes its acceptable to take a moment to appreciate a good space selfie. Kelly was pretty selfie happy religiously posting to Twitter and sneaking in a few selfies during down time on space walks. In addition to selfies Kelly has taken thousands of stunning photos of Earth from his extraterrestrial perspective. During his over 5,000 orbits around the Earth Scott Kelly has taken thousands upon thousands of photos documenting Earth’s beauty and fluid environment. He has captured Northern Lights, illuminated cities, painted deserts, reaching rivers and looming storms. All of these photos that make Earth look like an unknown planet can be found on his Instagram and Twitter. For the record Buzz Aldrin the took first space selfie in 1966.

Green Goo

Scott Kelly observing a tablet fizzing in water - NASA

Unfortunately this is not a slime ball alien. Scott Kelly dissolved a fizzing tablet and food coloring in a floating ball of water. This bubbling phenomenon was captured using a camera ultra high-definition cameras. NASA explains that higher resolution images and higher frame rate videos can reveal more information when used on science investigations. The floating sphere’s form was disturbed by its internal popping and bubbling. Personally I thought this experiment was the most hypnotic.

Watch this odd ball I deem to be better than a lava lamp.

Halfway There

Scott Kelly admiring fresh fruit delivered halfway into his yearlong mission - NASA

Woah, livin’ on a prayer!

Seriously though, a year in space takes some serious endurance. A sane completion of half a year in space is well worth a celebration. On board the crew received a delivery of fresh fruit in late August on the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV4) Kounotori, a Japanese cargo ship. On ground, Mission Control celebrated with cupcakes and Skyped with Kelly. Kounotori was one of nine cargo ships Kelly welcomed to ISS. The successful docking of a cargo ship is critical as they carry needed food, experiments, tools and replacement equipment.

15 Years of the International Space Station

Expedition 45 Crew celebrates ISS’ 15th birthday - NASA

Scott Kelly celebrated the International Space Station’s 15th birthday on November 2nd, 2015 celebrating the first crew’s docking back in 2000. Over 1,760 research investigations have been conducted on board including Kelly’s Twin Study.

Read about all that has been accomplished on ISS.

Jitters In Orbit

Scott Kelly’s set up for Space Cup test - NASA

Liquid in Earth Gravity (right) and low gravity (Left) - NASA

Poor Scott Kelly had to sip coffee for hours to observe patterns of liquid tension in the new Space Cup. It was amusing to hear Kelly claim he took the longest sip of coffee in history. Although bags of coffee are already used on ISS, drinking a cup off coffee is more natural like back on Earth boosting astronaut moral. These Space Cups are engineered to accommodate to liquid’s behavior in low gravity. Liquid is very “sticky” in space desiring to adhere to surfaces and pooling. This phenomenon became a hazard when coolant leaked in astronaut Luca Parmitano’s space suit during an EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity/ Space Walk) in 2013. By studying the tendencies of liquid in space we can better understand chemical and biological processes in space.

Extra Vehicular Activity

Scott Kelly’s second space walk - NASA

Myself logging during Kelly’s second EVA - NASA

During Scott Kelly’s second ever space walk I got to follow along with their procedure and log when they successfully completed tasks. Honestly the procedure book is full of engineering jargon that the astronauts may not complete int he desired order, I never had a dull moment trying to keep up! I can’t imagine the focus space walkers must have following the procedure, fixing parts on the ISS, staying safe all for many hours without a bathroom and a granola bar. Kelly and Kjell Lindgren spent 7 hours and 48 minutes working outside the International Space Station. They fixed ISS’ ammonia cooling system. Scott Kelly performed three EVAs during his year in space.

Scott Kelly taking a selfie with the Earth - NASA

Fragile Exploration

The whole point of Scott Kelly’s year long mission is to observe the long term effects of space on a human’s body and mind. Humans are the most fragile thing we send up to space. Unfortunately we are not a robot society because by now we would have personally explored each planet in our solar system. To explore, humans have to leave Earth, exist in low gravity and land on other planets SAFELY. Scott Kelly’s year in space is a huge step in the right direction to identify our boundaries and expand them. With Scott Kelly on board and his twin brother Mark Kelly as the control on Earth we have a unique look at the effects of zero gravity. Once Scott Kelly lands the science has just begun! Scientists will evaluate the effects on the body in low gravity, observe how Scott Kelly adjusts to Earth’s gravity, and observe other changes Scott Kelly has experienced. It is so neat we get to watch this scientific exploration unfold!

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

Time Inc. produced a net video series called “A Year In Space” about Scott Kelly’s mission.

PBS and Time Inc. will team up to produce a two part series about the mission too.

Launch your career in aerospace.

Watch Scott Kelly’s Year In Space wrap up coverage on NASA TV here is the schedule:

spacewatching

The first Hermes A-1 test rocket was fired at White Sand Proving Ground (WSPG). Hermes was a modified V-2 German rocket, utilizing the German aerodynamic configuration; however, internally it was a completely new design. Although it did not result in an operational vehicle, the information that was gathered in the process contributed directly to the development of the Redstone rocket.

#Hermes A-1 #test #nasa #space #White Sand Proving Ground #v-2 #redstone

space-pics

Training for the next launch… (Found this at WatchKNews.com)

#space #nasa

scienceisbeauty

Periodic table showing the cosmogenic origin of each element.

Via APOD

Original source: Wikimedia Commons (Nucleosynthesis periodic table)

#cosmology #nuclear physics #chemistry #education

skunkbear

NEW CONTEST!

The history of science is full of surprises, mistakes and coincidences that led to new discoveries. Now @skunkbear is looking for modern examples. Share your story of serendipity in science with us here and you might win a trophy.

The prize is called the Golden Mole Award For Accidental Brilliance because golden moles are accidentally brilliant. This video explains.

Submit by February 5th - and tell all your scientist friends.

npr

Scientists! Skunk Bear wants to give you an award! -Emily

#npr #science

stationcdrkelly

Chasing Storms at 17,500mph

Flying 250 miles above the Earth aboard the International Space Station has given me the unique vantage point from which to view our planet. Spending a year in space has given me the unique opportunity to see a wide range of spectacular storm systems in space and on Earth.

The recent blizzard was remarkably visible from space. I took several photos of the first big storm system on Earth of year 2016 as it moved across the East Coast, Chicago and Washington D.C. Since my time here on the space station began in March 2015, I’ve been able to capture an array of storms on Earth and in space, ranging from hurricanes and dust storms to solar storms and most recently a rare thunder snowstorm.

Blizzard 2016

Hurricane Patricia 2015

Hurricane Joaquin 2015

Dust Storm in the Red Sea 2015

Dust Storm of Gobi Desert 2015

Aurora Solar Storm 2015

Aurora Solar Storm 2016

Thunderstorm over Italy 2015

Lightning and Aurora 2016

Rare Thunder Snowstorm 2016

Follow my Year In Space on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

staff

Astronaut Scott Kelly just signed up for Tumblr all the way from space. Outer space. So far, this the coolest weather blog of all time.

space-pics

A tribute to John Dobson http://space-pics.tumblr.com/ source:http://imgur.com/r/Astronomy/KkTmaAJ

spacettf

Aurora from Space by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

itsokaytobesmart

August 3, 2015, as captured by the Himawari-8 weather satellite, is now the most beautiful day ever, and you can live it over, and over, and over, and over for ∞.

So stop what you’re doing and go to glittering.blue right now* to view the full version.

🌎😍

*Warning: massive video file, not guaranteed to work on mobile, may cause moments of existential paralysis and paralyzing awe due to overview effect. You probably have questions about how this was made and what it shows. Creator Charlie Lloyd has your answers.

sci-universe

This is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.

nasa

What You Didn’t Know About Scott Kelly and Living in Space (Floating Urine is Involved)

First Ever NASA Reddit AMA from Space Recap

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly hosted a Reddit Ask Me Anything on Jan. 23 where people, well, asked him anything.

Kelly answered a range of questions from whether the crew members play space pranks on one another (“Occasionally…” Kelly said without elaboration.) to whether Kelly’s recovery plan will be different than normal (“I think my rehab plan is the same as if I were here for 6 months, but I’m not positive.”).

To start off, here are a few quick facts we learned about Kelly during the AMA:

The advice he would’ve given himself before going into space on day 1 would be to pack lighter.

His favorite David Bowie song is “Modern Love,” and his favorite non-space related movie is “The Godfather."

He uses a Nikon D4 when taking pictures (camera settings and lenses vary).

He thought it was cool to watch the movie "Gravity” while he was on the space station, because that’s where the movie took place.

Once he lands, Kelly will miss the challenge of being aboard the space station the most.

Here are a few fun questions that astronaut Scott Kelly answered:

What’s the creepiest thing you’ve encountered while on the job?

Could a rogue spaceship sneak up on the space station?

We finally got an answer for one thing so many of you have been curious about…why does Scott Kelly always fold his arms?

When astronauts go up to space, they experience something very few others have and see Earth from a very unique perspective. What’s one thing Kelly will do differently once he returns home?

Kelly also told one user something unusual about being in space that people normally don’t think about: feet calluses.

Another user wanted to know what the largest societal misconception about space/space travel is. According to Kelly, it has nothing to do with science.