STS-119 NASA Crew Portrait Released

STS-119 Crew Portrait

STS119 --- Attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits, these seven astronauts take a break from training to pose for the STS-119 crew portrait. From the right (front row) are NASA astronauts Lee Archambault, commander, and Tony Antonelli, pilot. From the left (back row) are NASA astronauts Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, all mission specialists. Wakata is scheduled to join Expedition 18 as flight engineer after launching to the International Space Station on STS-119.

Photo Credit:NASA

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Latest STS-125 Photos

Shuttle Atlantis (STS-125) Inside the


Vehicle Assembly Building Latest Photos



(09/03/2008) --- CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Atlantis stands ready in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the pending rollout to Launch Pad 39A. Visible behind Atlantis (upper left) is the external fuel tank. The Sept. 2 rollout date was postponed due to Tropical Storm Hanna’s shift to a northern track. Managers are closely following Hanna to determine when would be the best time this week to move space shuttle Atlantis to its launch pad. The tentative rollout time is 10 a.m. Sept. 4, depending on the track Hanna follows along the Florida coast. Atlantis is scheduled to launch on the STS-125 mission to service NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Launch is targeted for Oct. 8.

Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

(08/23/2008) --- CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Atlantis approaches the floor of the mobile launcher platform in high bay 3. Behind the shuttle are the external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters already stacked there. Atlantis will be mated to the tank and boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for 1:34 a.m. EDT Oct. 8. Photo credit:

NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

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Next Space Shuttle Crew STS-125

STS-125


The next scheduled space shuttle mission is STS-125, and it will be the final flight to the Hubble Space Telescope.

The crew consists of Michael J. Massimino, Michael T. Good, both mission specialists; Gregory C. Johnson, pilot; Scott D. Altman, commander; K. Megan McArthur, John M. Grunsfeld and Andrew J. Feustel, all mission specialists.

Astronaut Michael Good. Photo Credit:NASA

Astronaut Gregory C Johnson. Photo Credit:NASA

Astronaut Megan McArthur.Photo Credit:NASA

Astronaut Andrew Feustel:Photo Credit:NASA

All of these great portraits and a whole lot more are available from the SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store.

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International Space Station Expedition 18 Crew Photos

NASA Expedition 18 Crew Photos

NASA astronaut Michael Fincke (right), Expedition 18 commander; Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov (center), flight engineer; and American spaceflight participant Richard Garriott pose for a portrait following an Expedition 18/Soyuz 17 pre-flight press conference at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Fincke, Lonchakov and Garriott are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in a Soyuz spacecraft in October.

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NASA astronaut Michael Fincke (center), Expedition 18 commander; Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov (right), flight engineer; and American spaceflight participant Richard Garriott pose for a portrait following an Expedition 18/Soyuz 17 pre-flight press conference at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Fincke, Lonchakov and Garriott are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in a Soyuz spacecraft in October.

NASA astronauts Michael Fincke (left), Expedition 18 commander; Sandra Magnus, flight engineer; and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, flight engineer, pose for a portrait following an Expedition 18/Soyuz 17 pre-flight press conference at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Fincke and Lonchakov are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in a Soyuz spacecraft in October. Magnus is scheduled to join Expedition 18 as flight engineer after launching to the station on mission STS-126.

NASA astronaut Michael Fincke (center), Expedition 18 commander; Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov (left), and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, both flight engineers, pose for a portrait following an Expedition 18/Soyuz 17 pre-flight press conference at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Fincke and Lonchakov are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in a Soyuz spacecraft in October. Wakata is scheduled to join Expedition 18 as flight engineer after launching to the station on mission STS-119.

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STS-124 Crew To Land in Norfolk

STS-124 Visit Norfolk

http://www.norfolk-exchange.org.uk/articles/20080801

This may be part of a wider nationwide tour - we'll keep you posted. In the mean time the crew portrait and individual astronaut portraits can be obtained from the SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store.

These seven astronauts take a break from training to pose for the STS-124 crew portrait. From the left are astronauts Gregory E. Chamitoff, Michael E. Fossum, both STS-124 mission specialists; Kenneth T. Ham, pilot; Mark E. Kelly, commander; Karen L. Nyberg, Ronald J. Garan and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Akihiko Hoshide, all mission specialists. Chamitoff is scheduled to join Expedition 17 as flight engineer after launching to the International Space Station on mission STS-124. The crewmembers are attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits. Photo Credit: NASA. Crew Portrait

Astronaut Gregory E. Chamitoff, flight engineer. Photo Credit:NASA

Astronaut Michael E. Fossum, mission specialist. Photo Credit:NASA

Astronaut Mark E. Kelly, commander : Photo Credit:NASA

Astronaut Ronald J. Garan Jr., mission specialist ; Photo Credit: NASA

Astronaut Kenneth T. Ham, pilot . Photo Credit:NASA

Astronaut Karen L. Nyberg, mission specialist. Photo Credit: NASA

Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, mission specialist representing the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) . Photo Credit:NASA

STS-124 Mission Patch

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Project Mercury

Project Mercury

Initiated in 1958, completed in 1963, Project Mercury was the United States' first man-in-space program. The objectives of the program, which made six manned flights from 1961 to 1963, were specific:

• To orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth;
  
• To investigate man's ability to function in space;
  
• To recover both man and spacecraft safely.

The Manned Flights Summary

Mercury-Redstone 3 FREEDOM 7

May 5, 1961 Alan B. Shepard, Jr.

15 minutes, 28 secondsSuborbital flight that successfully put the first American in space.

Launch of Freedom 7, the first American manned suborbital space flight. Astronaut Alan Shepard aboard, the Mercury-Redstone (MR-3) rocket is launched from Pad 5. NASA Image.

Mercury-Redstone 4 LIBERTY BELL 7

July 21, 1961 Virgil I. Grissom

15 minutes, 37 secondsAlso suborbital; successful flight but the spacecraft sank shortly after splashdown.

Prior to his own historic mission Astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom checks the installation of the periscope from which astronaut Alan B. Sheppard, Jr. viewed the Earth on his historic ride into space in the Freedom 7 space capsule. NASA Image

Mercury-Atlas 6 FRIENDSHIP 7

February 20, 1962John H. Glenn, Jr.

04 hours, 55 minutes 23 seconds Three-orbit flight that placed the first American into orbit.

Overall view of astronaut John Glenn, Jr., as he enters into the spacecraft Friendship 7 prior to MA-6 launch operations at Launch Complex 14. Astronaut Glenn is entering his spacecraft to begin the first American manned Earth orbital mission. NASA Image.

Mercury-Atlas 7 AURORA 7

May 24, 1962 M. Scott Carpenter

04 hours, 56 minutes, 5 seconds Confirmed the success of Mercury-Atlas 6 by duplicating flight.

Inside Hangar S at the White Room Facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Mercury astronaut M. Scott Carpenter examines the honeycomb protective material on the main pressure bulkhead (heat shield) of his Mercury capsule nicknamed "Aurora 7." NASA Image.

Mercury-Atlas 8 SIGMA 7

October 03, 1962 Walter M. Schirra, Jr.

09 hours, 13 minutes, 11 secondsSix-orbit engineering test flight.

Astronaut Walter M. Schirra Jr. in Mercury pressure suit with model of Mercury capsule behind him. NASA Image.

Mercury-Atlas 9 FAITH 7

May 15-16, 1963L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.

34 hours, 19 minutes, 49 secondsLast Mercury mission; completed 22 orbits to evaluate effects of one day in space.

Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper in white room, waiting for Terminal Countdown Demonstrations Test (TCDT) activities to resume in preparation for his Mercury- Atlas 9 launch. NASA Image.

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Repairs Continue to Launch Pad 39A

Launch Pad 39A

A backhoe is used during repair work under way on the flame trench on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Damage to the trench occurred during the launch of Discovery on the STS-124 mission. A 75- by 20-foot section of the east wall was destroyed and debris scattered as far as the pad perimeter fence. Repairs are to be completed before the targeted Oct. 8 launch of Atlantis on the STS-125 mission.

Image Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

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Suiting Up - NASA International Space Station

Suiting Up

Attired in his Russian Orlan spacesuit, Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Expedition 17 flight engineer, prepared for the July 10 spacewalk. During the full dress rehearsal "dry run" that took place on July 8, Kononenko and fellow cosmonaut Commander Sergei Volkov tested translation capability and the status of the suits' communications gear and other systems while in the Pirs Docking Compartment of the International Space Station.Durin the 6-hour, 18-minute spacewalk, they inspected their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft and retrieved a pyro bolt from it.

Image Credit: NASA

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An Orbiting Partnership is Born

An Orbiting Partnership is Born - Apollo-Soyuz

On July 17, 1975, something momentous happened: two Cold War-rivals met in space. When their respective spacecraft rendezvoused and docked, a new era of cooperative ventures in space began.



For more than a decade, American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts have been regularly living and working together in Earth orbit, first in the Shuttle-Mir program, and now on the International Space Station. But, before the two Cold War-rivals first met in orbit in 1975, such a partnership seemed unlikely.

Since Sputnik bleeped into orbit in 1957, there had indeed been a Space Race, with the U.S. and then-Soviet Union driven more by competition than cooperation. When President Kennedy called for a manned moon landing in 1961, he spoke of "battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny" and referred to the "head start obtained by the Soviets with their large rocket engines."But by the mid-70s things had changed.

The U.S. had "won" the race to the moon, with six Apollo landings between 1969 and 1972. Both nations had launched space stations, the Russian Salyut and and American Skylab. With the space shuttle still a few years off and the diplomatic chill thawing, the time was right for a joint mission.

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project would send NASA astronauts Tom Stafford, Donald K. "Deke" Slayton and Vance Brand in an Apollo Command and Service Module to meet Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Leonov and Valeriy Kubasov in a Soyuz capsule. A jointly designed, U.S.-built docking module fulfilled the main technical goal of the mission, demonstrating that two dissimilar craft could dock in orbit. But the human side of the mission went far beyond that.

Image Credit: NASA

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NASA Small Magellanic Cloud

Extraterrestrial Fireworks


Reminiscent of a fireworks celebration, this Hubble Space Telescope image of a cosmic explosion that is quite similar to fireworks on Earth. In the upper right corner of the image, the Small Magellanic Cloud is a delicate glowing structure ablaze in a multitude of lavenders and peach. Nearby, a massive star has exploded as a supernova and begun to dissipate its interior into a spectacular display of colorful filaments.




The supernova remnant known as "E0102" is the greenish-blue shell of debris just below the center of the Hubble image. Its name is derived from its cataloged placement (or coordinates) in the celestial sphere. More formally known as 1E0102.2-7219, it is located almost 50 light-years away from the edge of the massive star-forming region, N 76, also known as Henize 1956, in the Small Magellanic Cloud.



Determined to be only about 2,000 years old, young supernova remnants like E0102 allow astronomers to examine material from the cores of massive stars directly. This in turn gives insight on how stars form, their composition and the chemical enrichment of the surrounding area. As well, young remnants are a great learning tool to better understand the physics of supernova explosions.



The Small Magellanic Cloud is a nearby dwarf galaxy to our own Milky Way. It is visible in the Southern Hemisphere, in the direction of the constellation Tucana, and lies roughly 210,000 light-years distant.Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)/J. Green (University of Colorado, Boulder)



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Making History

Whitson Makes History

Backdropped by a sparkling blue and white Earth, Expedition 16 commander Peggy A. Whitson participated in the 100th spacewalk for the construction and maintenance of the station.

Whitson made history as the first female commander of the station.

During the spacewalk, Whitson and flight engineer Dan Tani searched for the cause of partial loss of electrical power to one of the International Space Station's two Beta Gimbal Assemblies for starboard solar wings and examined damage to the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint. Image Credit: NASA

STS-126 Crew Portrait

STS-126 Crew Portrait

Attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits, these seven astronauts take a break from training to pose for the STS-126 crew portrait.

Photo Credit:NASA


Astronaut Christopher J. Ferguson, commander, is at center; and astronaut Eric A. Boe, pilot, is third from the right. Remaining crewmembers, pictured from left to right, are astronauts Sandra H. Magnus, Stephen G. Bowen, Donald R. Pettit, Robert S. (Shane) Kimbrough and Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, all mission specialists.



Magnus is scheduled to join Expedition 18 as flight engineer after launching to the International Space Station on mission STS-126.

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STS-125 Crew Portrait - Return to Hubble

STS-125 Crew Portrait

Photo Credit: NASA

These seven astronauts take a break from training to pose for the STS-125 crew portrait. From the left are astronauts Michael J. Massimino, Michael T. Good, both mission specialists; Gregory C. Johnson, pilot; Scott D. Altman, commander; K. Megan McArthur, John M. Grunsfeld and Andrew J. Feustel, all mission specialists. The STS-125 mission will be the final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope scheduled for a launch date of 08 October 2008 (subject to change).

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STS-124 Mission Roundup #1

STS-124 Mission Success

With another successful space mission drawing to a close it is always difficult to create a photographic review. This is mainly because there are so many images to choose from.

Here goes with part 1.

To see these and many more images from the STS-124 Mission please follow this link to the NASA Human Spaceflight Gallery

To purchase NASA mission souvenirs including crew images, space mission patches and decals please be sure to visit the SPACEBOOSTERS Online store.

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