The Official Space Exploration Thread

[Nicklab]

I'll have to dig it up.  But Oberg (a longtime NASA guy) did a piece as early as the 1970's about two brothers in northern Italy who were amateur radio enthusiasts.  Somehow they figured out how to receive the transmissions from the Soviet space craft, and monitored the exchanges between the Cosmonauts in the spacecraft and the ground.  NASA caught word of this through the Italian intelligence agency and CIA.  And they wound up consulting with the brothers on how to receive the transmissions.

[Nicklab]

Check out this article : http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/1302/lost_in_space.html for more on the Judica-Cordiglia brothers and what they may have recorded

[DSJ™]

That's a good artile Nick, well worth the read. Amazing how much was coverd up back in the day & stuff we still don't know about. After reading it I looked up Baikonur found a few good links.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome

Baikonur Cosmodrome - Space Launch Facility

1967: Russian cosmonaut dies in space crash

Remember this baby?

[DSJ™]

Just finished watching Space Shuttle Disaster on NOVA about the shuttle Columbia that disintegrated during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. The show repeats again tonight, well worth the watch.

Also some collective works of Wernher von Braun will be auctioned off at Bonhams auction agency tomorrow.



Plan of an orbit-to-orbit space ship for a trip around the moon, drawn by von Braun. Credit: Bonhams.



Wernher von Braun's sketch of a three-stage rocket used to transport a satellite to orbit, to be auctioned off by Bonhams. Credit: Bonhams.

[DSJ™]

Holy crap! The Wernher von Braun works sold for $132,000 inclusive of buyer's premium, the estimated value was between $15,000 & $25,000. 

On October 1st this year, NASA celebrated it's 50th anniversary. Next year, NASA celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Check out the The Apollo Missions: 40 Years Later Apollo Program; NASA's giant leap to the moon which NASA will update intime but for now, they have video clips of Remembering Gus Grissom, Ed White & Roger Chaffee (Apollo 1) & The Wally, Walt & Donn Show (click the video for Apollo 7 history). 

For now, check out what the Earth looks like at night. The image below is actually a composite of hundreds of pictures made by the orbiting DMSP satellites. Clicky pic for high rez image.



Oh, & check out the The Moon Landing. The Lost Tapes. (Language Warning).   

[Matt_Fury]

That picture is the standard desktop walpaper on AF computer.

Love the video btw.   

Also...we forgot to celebrate NASA's 50th birthday on 1 October.

[DSJ™]

Yeah, that video clip is a hoot! 

While digging through my stuff in storage, I found a few things I collected back in the day. I found a collection of VHS tapes that I bought from the Easton Press back in 1988. This set is 5 binders containing 2 VHS per so 10 tapes in total. These are America's Achievements In Space, some tapes were veiwed & others are still sealed in shrinkwrap.

Vol 1 New View of Space, Friendship 7.
Vol 2 Apollo 8, Genini 4, Mariner 9.
Vol 3 Voyagers, Gemini 8, Whos Out There.
Vol 4 Columbia 1, Apollo 9,Pioneer 10.
Vol 5 Apollo 11, Freedom 7,Gemini 12.
Vol 6 Universe, Apollo 13, Columbia 2.
Vol 7 Skylab, Faith 7, Apollo 15.
Vol 8 Apollo 16, Mars, Apollo-Soyuz.
Vol 9 Apollo 17, Mariner 10, Shuttles 5-8.
Vol 10 Mercury, Gemini, Apollo.

Here's a pic of the set that I grabbed off the bay.



That will give me something to watch for Apollo's 40th anniversary. 

[DSJ™]

Just want to throw this out here, looks like this may finally be closed.

Fossett plane found, sheriff says

Closure can finally be made... RIP Steve. 

Bones are Fossett's, DNA testing shows

[DSJ™]

Endeavour is set to blast off next week.



Space shuttle Endeavour stands poised for space soon after being moved to Launch Pad 39A for the launch of STS-126 on Nov. 14, 2008. Credit: NASA/Troy Cryder.

During the 15-day mission, astronauts will conduct four space walks, including operations to clean and service machinery that has been jammed for a year and interfered with the operations of the space station's solar panels.

Endeavour's payload will include an extra toilet and sleeping quarters for the space station to expand the living space on the station to support six crew members. Currently, there is enough room for only three astronauts.

[DSJ™]

Phoenix Lander silent; Mars mission over, NASA says

The end seems to have finally come for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission at the planet's north pole, scientists said Monday.

"At this time we're pretty convinced that the vehicle is no longer available for us to use," said Phoenix project manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"We knew this would happen eventually," Goldstein added.

Mission controllers lost touch with the lander on Nov. 2. That "was actually the last time we actually heard form Phoenix," Goldstein said. The spacecraft has been studying the arctic surface of the red planet for just over five months, since landing there May 25.

[Darth_Anton]

Just want to throw this out here, looks like this may finally be closed.

Fossett plane found, sheriff says

Closure can finally be made... RIP Steve. 

Bones are Fossett's, DNA testing shows

My neighbor works for the NTSB. Had he not elected to have his shoulder worked on, he would have been out there looking for plane parts and piecing them together in the hanger.

[name]

That makes for an interesting study in global energy consumption doesn't it?  Kinda puts us in perspective....

[DSJ™]

Shuttle Endeavour's mission STS-126: The ISS renovation project

It's the Home Improvement show on this mission folks. 

Endeavour is slated to launch toward the space station Friday at 7:55 p.m. EST (0055 Nov. 15 GMT) on a planned 15-day mission.



The space shuttle Endeavour stands atop Launch Pad 39A for the planned Nov. 14, 2008 launch of its STS-126 mission to the ISS. Credit: NASA/Troy Cryder.

[DSJ™]

Astronomers capture first images of new planets



This 2006 Hubble Space Telescope optical image shows the belt of dust and debris (bright oval) surrounding the star Fomalhaut and the planet (inset) that orbits the star every 872 years and sculpts the inner edge of the belt. Credit: Paul Kalas/UC Berkeley; STScI.



The three exoplanets (red dots in the right panel) are shown orbiting HR 8799, whose residual light is shown as the multi-colored specks in the center of the right panel. An infrared image of one of the planets, which lies at 38 AU from the star, is shown in the right panel. Credit: National Research Council Canada.



This 3D representation of the three planets orbiting the star HR 8799 shows the system is located 90 degrees away from the Milky Way galactic center, lower than the sun. (All orbital diameters are greatly exaggerated.) Credit: 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF.

[iFett]

Nice to see these force fed images of what we're "allowed" to see.