Parting Shot: Head On
NASA believes they’ve captured the first-ever image of two asteroids colliding using the Hubble Space Telescope.
Photo: NASA
President Obama just dashed the dreams of millions of space geeks by asking NASA to kill their proposed 2020 mission to the moon and focus on more important stuff instead. |NYT|
NASA announced a huge development in their space program: Astronauts can now tweet from the International Space Station. Previously, the crew had to email personnel who would then post it for them, but now they can go live and direct. Earlier today, Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer (@Astro_TJ) logged in and using the ultimate wireless internet connection ever, updated his Twitter, making him the first astronaut to do so unassisted, sorry @Astro_Mike.
For anyone interested in purchasing a space shuttle, talk to NASA, they’re selling off the whole fleet—CHEAP! They first offered the used spacecraft for $42 million apiece, but no one was biting, so the agency is slashing its prices to $28.8 million each and throwing in a used shuttle engine…plus free shipping! |Daily Finance|
Parting Shot: Against the Grain
An astronaut floating over the Tenéré region of the Sahara Desert captured this photograph illustrating two sand styles, zibar and linear dunes, shown running perpendicular and parallel to the northeasterly winds in Niger.
Photo via NASA
The Aftermath of Last Weekend’s Snowstorm From Above
While everyone has photos of the white stuff from ground level, NASA upped the ante with this satellite image—which we cropped for relevancy—of a snow blanketed East Coast a day after the snowstorm swept through, which happened to be December 21st, the official start of winter.
Image by NASA
Parting Shot: Out of This World
The Hubble Telescope captured the deepest visible-light image yet of the universe, showing never-before-seen galaxies, likely the oldest ever identified. |BBC|
Photo by HO/AFP/Getty Images
Atlantis Returns To Earth
Although it took the equivalent of about 40,000,000 horsepower to launch the space shuttle Atlantis and its cargo into space, the orbiter, affectionately referred to as the “flying brick,” returned to Earth today as a powerless glider—Captain Sully style! It landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center this morning with the help of a little gravity, aerodynamics, and a very steady hand. Read more »
Musical legends Kool Keith and Tom Waits collaborated on this “Spacious Thoughts” track with NASA—not that one space geeks—the collective of musicians founded by Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon. More on the making of the stunning animated video here or just go ahead and press play already (3D glasses are encouraged). |Boingboing|
Space Shuttle Atlantis Blasts Off
Wow! If you’ve never seen a space shuttle launch I suggest you do so. There’s only six missions left before they scrub the shuttle program altogether and between the brilliance of the fire spewing out of the booster rockets, plumes of smoke and bone-rattling rumblings, it’s quite impressive—even for the non-geeky mindset. Here’s a view of Atlantis blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center today for its last and final mission, STS-129, which has something to do with bringing spare parts to the International Space Station.
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