Jaw-Dropping Time Lapse of Earth

I thought this video was mesmerizing and absolutely breath-taking.  Bruce Berry, takes videos and stills from Astronauts living in the International Space Station and "color grades, denoises, deflickers, slows down, and stabilizes the footage to create one of the most impressive time-lapse films you'll ever see,"  Check it out, it's pretty cool.

The Evolution of "Star Trek" (Infogrpahic)

This is absolutely terrific.  Especially if you're a Star Trek fan or just curious about the franchise in general.  Thank you Space.com for sharing this amazing piece of work!

Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

On Sept. 8, 1966, an American science fiction icon was born. The “Star Trek” television show lasted only three seasons, but spawned a lasting legacy that has stretched across decades and led to four spinoff live-action shows, a cartoon series and a dozen feature films.

Gene Roddenberry and his team set their show aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, a sophisticated starship with a competent crew of professional astronauts.

A pilot episode starring Jeffrey Hunter was rejected by the NBC TV network as “too cerebral” for a general audience. The show was retooled with William Shatner in the starring role of Captain James T. Kirk. Leonard Nimoy was featured as the alien officer Spock.

After its cancellation in 1969, the show grew even more popular, appearing several times per week (or even daily) in syndication. 

The Star Wars phenomenon of 1977 led Roddenberry to consider bringing the show back to television. Soon the plan changed, and “Star Trek the Motion Picture” appeared in 1979 to lukewarm reviews. Not wanting to waste their investment, the studio replaced Roddenberry at the helm and made several sequel films with much lower budgets.

In 1987, Roddenberry created a new TV show from the ground up with an entirely new cast led by Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.  “Star Trek the Next Generation” debuted directly into syndication, not appearing on any of the major TV networks. Its popularity grew slowly but eventually it became successful enough to spawn its own set of feature films.

Three more TV series would follow: “Deep Space Nine,” “Voyager” and “Enterprise.” When the latter went off the air in 2005, an unbroken run of 18 years of Star Trek on television was ended.

By 2009 Star Trek had faded from pop culture prominence, but a reboot movie, called simply “Star Trek,” changed all that. Director J.J. Abrams reimagined the original TV series, casting Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in the lead roles of Kirk and Spock. The film became the highest-grossing of the franchise.

In 2013, Abrams’ sequel “Star Trek into Darkness” features Benedict Cumberbatch as a terrorist villain.

Wringing a Wet Towel in Space

I spotted this video last Saturday and had to share it.  Astronaut Chris Hadfield wrung a towel of water aboard the International Space Station and what do you think happened?  

What you'll witness is pretty darn bizarre - but really cool.  I'm sure the 10th graders who posed the question were equally impressed.  Check it out.

Though, I'm kinda confused. I didn't know Canada had a space program. Things that make you go hmmm...

Must Watch: Spacebound

This short film is about a boy and his small dog who have crash-landed in outer space.  The film isn't so much about what they're going to do with the little oxygen that remains.  But more about what they're going to do together with the time they have left.  Check it out - it's really powerful.

When Death’s door is only a few breaths away, how would you choose to spend your last moments?

The film was made by two seniors attending the School of Visual Arts, Ellen Su and Kyle Moy. [vimeo]

Star Wars Family Tree - Take 2

You might remember last month's post from Chart Geek.  Well, today I bring you another great Star Wars Family Tree from graphic designer and illustrator Joe Stone.

New Work
Following on from my Marvel Universe Family Tree series I decided to continue the idea and expand it into other areas of pop culture. As a huge Star Wars fan, and with the news that a new series of films were to be made, it seemed like the only option.

The characters are limited purely to the film and canonical TV series’ (sorry Mara Jade fans - although I’m not ruling out the possibility of drawing up an extended universe version at some point).

Click here to view the full thing on my portfolio site, where you can also download a whole bunch of iPhone wallpapers featuring some of the most popular characters for the price of a tweet.

The Sun As You've Never Seen It Before!

This video is pretty darn amazing.  I love science, the planets, and Star Trek!!!  LOL.  Seriously though, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory put this together and it's absolutely stunning.

About the video - "This extraordinary video looks back on the 3rd year of operation of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Since its launch in 2010, SDO's data and imagery have exceeded everyone's hopes and expectations, providing stunningly detailed views of the sun. The observatory has continued to return breathtaking pictures and movies of eruptive events on the sun. These images are more than just pretty. By highlighting different wavelengths of light, scientists can track how material on the sun moves. Such movement, in turn, holds clues as to what causes these giant explosions."

Your Weight In Outer Space

So here's a little something...

If you ever wanted to weigh less than what you weigh here on earth; Let's say 160 lbs. for example.  You may want to go to Mars where your weight would hover around 62 lbs..  Better yet, go to the Moon - you'll weigh 26, but whatever you do - don't go to Jupiter, you'll weigh a whopping 424 lbs.

Check out this chart provided by houseofhands, and find out how much you would weigh?

 

The Launch of a Lego Space Shuttle

For any lover of space or science fiction, you will love this fantastic video!  The music and the whole idea of it was just impressive.  It's heartbreaking to know that we will no longer hear of our Space Shuttle or when the next launch date will be.  I never realized how much this would affect me, but the Space Shuttle program started and ended in my lifetime.  I was in 8th grade when the Space Challenger exploded and it was the greatest tragedy I had ever experienced.  Who knew that a toy could make me feel so much nostalgia.

In the following video Raul Oaida used a helium-filled weather balloon to launch a Lego Space Shuttle to an altitude of 114,000 feet. He explains why he did it and how much effort went into completing this project on his website.

YouTube Description: My name is Raul Oaida (from Romania) and this is my LEGO tribute to the end of the space shuttle era. Proving that although retired, this machine can still fly, albeit in toy form.

The launch took place from central Germany (easy flight clearance) and reached a max altitude of 35000m. A 1600g meteo balloon filled with helium was used alongside a GoPro Hero, Spot GPS and of course Lego Space Shuttle model 3367.

We launched it on the 31st of December 2011, the equipment was recovered via GPS tracking 240 km S-E from a remote area.

I wish to thank Steve Sammartino for the opportunity to do this project and the german airtraffic control for the understanding.

WTF Has Obama Done? - Issue No. 020 - Space Exploration & Space Station

We all know that President Obama is to blame for everything; According to the REDs anyway.  But unfortunately for them, they are wrong, and most of the country knows they are.  I can't name the number of times I've heard these fools at work or family say that its Obama's fault the Space Shuttle program ended, and that the Soviet Union (they forget there's no more Soviet Union) will regain their dominance in space and blow us to bits.  Lord help them.  I think they forgot China is on the rise, not RUSSIA.

The beginning of the end of the Space Shuttle program came with the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in February, 2003 (6 years before Obama took office).  "Immediately after the accident, NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe activated the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, or CAIB. Very early in the investigation one common topic of discussion among CAIB members and staff was whether the shuttle was too dangerous to continue flying, and whether the CAIB should recommend its immediate retirement."  Those are not my words, those are from the Space Review.  The date for its 2010 retirement was set way, way before our current President took office, and until the REDs pull their heads out of their ass and read some articles from time to time, they will never learn the truth. Ugh. They frustrate me so.

Let's get started with today's achievements...

WTF-58

Worked with international allies on International Space Station

With the release of his fiscal year 2011 budget, President Barack Obama advanced his promise to continue working with the United States' international partners on the International Space Station.

Continuing to use the ISS over the longer term is not a foregone conclusion, since its expected retirement date is officially January 2016. But in seeking to continue utilizing the station until at least 2020, Obama followed the recommendation of the U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, a blue-ribbon panel more commonly known as the Augustine Committee, after its chairman, Norman Augustine, the former CEO of Lockheed Martin.

That committee advised that "the return on investment of (the International Space Station) to both the United States and the international partners would be significantly enhanced by an extension of ISS life to 2020," according to a summary released last September. "It seems unwise to de-orbit the station after 25 years of assembly and only five years of operational life. Not to extend its operation would significantly impair U.S. ability to develop and lead future international space flight partnerships. Further, the ISS should be funded to enable it to achieve its full potential: as the nation's newest national laboratory, as an enhanced test bed for technologies and operational techniques that support exploration, and as a framework that can support expanded international collaboration."  [Read More]

WTF-59

Increased spending to prepare for longer space missions

Because Republicans in congress would rather spend money on causing wars, than spending it on space, this has yet to pass, but it is still considered an achievement and promise kept for the President.

During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama said his administration would "support increased investment in research, data analysis and technology development across the full suite of exploration missions including the Mars Sample Return mission and future missions to the moon, asteroids, Lagrange points, the outer solar system and other destinations."

Obama's budget proposes canceling Constellation, the successor system for the space shuttle, and jettisoning the idea of returning astronauts to the moon by 2020. Instead, NASA would allocate billions of dollars to "commercial crew" programs and the development of new technologies, as well as $3 billion over five years to pursue robotic missions "to scout locations and demonstrate technologies to increase the safety and capability of future human missions and provide scientific dividends."

As with all elements of the president's budget, nothing is final until Congress passes the relevant appropriations bills and the president signs them. In the case of exploration missions, securing the degree of investment the president wants depends in part on his administration's ability to wring savings from its proposed cancellation of Constellation, whose defenders in Congress could pose an obstacle to the president's broader space agenda. (Some of the money would come from a less controversial source, the end of the space shuttle program.)

That said, the president has not only stated a commitment to further space exploration but has proposed funding levels that outpace inflation. In our view, he has lived up to his promise to "support" such a course. Even though Congress has not yet acted to implement it, we are moving this promise from Stalled to Promise Kept. [Read More]

WTF-60

Added another Space Shuttle flight

Obama "supports congressional efforts to add at least one additional Space Shuttle flight to fly a valuable mission and to keep the workforce engaged. He will work to ensure there is adequate funding to support that additional flight so that it does not interfere with developing the Shuttle's successor."

As the clock ticks on the soon-to-be-retired space shuttle, the president has kept alive the hopes of scientists who want to install a device that would be used for one more experiment on the International Space Station.

First, an update on the space shuttle. The shuttle, which first orbited the Earth in 1981, is slated for retirement in 2010. The Bush administration in 2004 decided to wind down the program so that funding allocated to the shuttle could be redirected to building its successor. As a result, NASA had to cut the number of shuttle flights assigned to assembling and supporting the International Space Station. Originally, the shuttle had been expected to operate throughout the lifetime of the ISS. Under the new Bush policy, all flights were to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2010, specifically Sept. 30, 2010. 

Once in office, Obama did two things. First, with passage of the fiscal 2010 budget resolution on April 29, 2009, he presided over the removal of the Sept. 30, 2010, cutoff date for the shuttle program, giving NASA the scheduling flexibility to complete the remaining flights without excessive time pressure. Second, on May 7, 2009, Obama requested funds for the AMS mission in his fiscal year 2010 NASA budget. The mission is scheduled to launch in mid to late 2010, although it is widely expected that some shuttle launches will slip into the first half of fiscal year 2011.  [Read More]

I promise to come back to this topic in another issue, until then, please feel free to read my previous issues by clicking here.

Make sure to read the next issue
Issue No. 021 - Transparency & Accountability

WTF Has Obama Done is an ongoing series posted daily or weekly on BLADE 7184 until Election Day, 2012!

Temporal Distortion

If you're a lover of the stars, the galaxy, or science fiction, you will love this video by Randy Halverson. What you're about to see is real, and cannot be seen with the naked eye.
The video contains hours and hours of edited footage spliced together which allows you to see The Milky Way, Aurora and other phenomena you would otherwise witness in your lifetime.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Final Images of the Space Shuttle Atlantis Flight Deck

Well, the stripping has started for the Space Shuttle Atlantis.  The shuttle will be stripped of it's interior to make it lighter for it's public display at The Kennedy Space Center.  On July 8, the Space Shuttle flew it's final mission which also concluded NASA's 30-year program.  At that time, I posted a video of the Space Shuttles' illustrious career. Feel free to check it out.

The lovely folks at collectSPACE were were able to take final images of the Space Shuttle's flight deck, airlock, bay, and a few with the engines out and wheels down.

According to collectSPACE, it is now being prepared for its public display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Its insides being pulled out to ensure it is safe for exhibit, as well as significantly lighten it for its planned steep-angled display, Atlantis is scheduled to be powered down this week for the final time.

collectSPACE had the rare opportunity recently to tour Atlantis to photograph its preparation and capture its glass cockpit powered and lit for one of its last times.

The following photo gallery starts on Atlantis' flight deck, and then proceeds to its now mostly empty middeck, out into and above the 60-foot payload bay, and then around and under the winged spacecraft.

These photographs were taken inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 (OPF-2) at the Kennedy Space Center, where access platforms envelop Atlantis.

 

Make sure to check out collectSPACE's website to see the entire gallery.

Alien Worlds

According to Space.com, astronomers have discovered more than 700 alien planets beyond the solar system, and the count is rising all the time. Some are large and hot, and others are smaller and cooler, but scientists are still on the lookout for an Earth twin.

They just got closer, with the announcement Dec. 5 of a planet found by NASA's Kepler space telescope to lie in the habitable zone around its star where liquid water, and perhaps life, could exist.

click on picture to visit space.com

Flying Over Planet Earth

This is a pretty amazing video. The International Space Station took these shots as it orbited our earth at night; going from North America to South America, and ending up over Antarctica.

The YouTube description reads:

A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line), a satellite (55sec) and the stars of our galaxy.

One Giant Leap For Mankind

On Friday I blogged about the last space shuttle mission that occurred on July 8th, and the lasting impact it has left on all of us. It was an era in space exploration that spanned over 3 decades.

Today, I bring you a video courtesy of NPR.  It covers the Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour Space Shuttles, which flew a little over 100 missions in it's illustrious career - it really is a sight to behold.

Movies to Watch: Apollo 18

This looks like it could possibly be a good movie.  As to why it keeps getting pushed back, I have no idea.  Maybe that's a government conspiracy as well.  According to it's You Tube page, "in 2011, the release date was pushed back to January 6, 2012.  Apollo 18 is currently scheduled for release on January 6, 2012. Originally scheduled for March 2011, the film's release date was moved three times during the year (to April 2011, January 2012, August 2011, then September 2, 2012)"

The trailer is pretty darn freaky, I actually liked it.  Supposedly the footage in the movie "was found," and is not theatrical makeup.  I don't know, it sounds kinda fishy to me.  Maybe Michele, here, can answer it for you. LOL.

Here's the description from the trailer's YouTube page:

Apollo 18 is a found footage-style film set in December 1974, about a post-Apollo 17 mission to the Moon that takes on a premise of why NASA discontinued the Apollo moon missions. The plot involves a government coverup of the Apollo 18 mission after parasitic lifeforms on the Moon discovered the crew and began to attack them. Much of the back-story remains unknown; however, the movie posters in English indicate the Russian KGB role in Soviet lunar conspiracy and the Russian movie posters show inscriptions in English suggesting an American government cover up in lunar conspiracy. In the trailer, an American astronaut finds a dead cosmonaut and a Soviet LK Lander on the lunar surface.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dimension Films head Bob Weinstein denied the film was a work of fiction, stating that "We didn't shoot anything, we found it. Found baby!". This claim was met with some skepticism. The film will be distributed by Dimension Films.

Spacesuits Over The Years

I thought this chart (infographic) was great and had to share it. Especially since I'm about to post the creepy trailer to Apollo 18.

click to enlarge

Space Shuttle Facts

Now that the space shuttle orbiter is retired, and the remaining ships are going to their "chosen" cities (cries foul), I thought I'd share this informative chart on our popular spaceship.  

Both Challenger and Columbia encountered terrible disasters which happened during my lifetime.  Challenger exploded in 1986 while flying up into space, and Columbia fell apart over Texas during re-entry in 2003.

Houston Shut Out

The news of the day was directed at our hometown of Houston all day yesterday.  Why, you ask?  Because our city, as diverse as it is, got snubbed, spit, kicked in the groin, told to eat shit, and die.  It may not have come out that way, but it sure felt like it.

Here is the fourth largest city in the country, who plays host to millions of visitors every year, many of who specifically come to visit the Johnson Space Center.  A city which has been at the forefront of space development and exploration for over 50 years, 

'In fact, the most famous and the most infamous words ever spoken in the vacuum of space by humans - "Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed," and "Houston, we have a problem" - were directed at the JSC here in Houston.' - The Houston Chronicle

But the most important topic of the conversation, was the blame game that came immediately afterward.  And like with everything else, why not blame Obama.  Republicans and conservatives cried foul yesterday blaming Obama for the decision, when in fact it was Charles Bolden's decision.  While I feel that no one should have disregarded the rich history and contribution our city has made, our local planning committee was really late in fighting for one of the shuttles.  All the cities had three years to make their bid, Houston didn't join until last year, and even so, I feel we shouldn't have been snubbed.  But to blame Obama for this is ludicrous at best.  Let us not forget 20 other cities were snubbed as well.