The Nobel-prize-winning physicist and bestselling author might be the heir to Richard Feynman, but can the guy catch a break here people?
He was one of the most vocal supporters of the Superconducting Supercollider, that big, bad Texan atom smasher that, had it been built, would have made the LHC look like its prison bitch.
We all know how THAT turned out.
Well, thanks to NASA, Weinberg must have deja vu these days. Read on.
Well, this is striking news: Space, apparently, has a peculiar scent all its own, according to a nose that would know — an astronaut on the International Space Station. I know, I know — huh? But International Space Station science officer Don Pettit swears that space bears a distinctive if somewhat ephemeral odor, a "pleasant sweet metallic sensation," like "sweet smelling welding fumes." Um, maybe I should just let him describe it in full:
Few people have experienced traveling into space. Even fewer have experienced the smell of space. Now this sounds strange, that a vacuum could have a smell and that a human being could live to smell that smell. It seems about as improbable as listening to sounds in space, yet space has a definite smell. Being creatures of an atmosphere, we can only smell space indirectly. Sort of like the way a pit viper smells by waving its tongue in the air and then pressing it to the roof of its mouth where sensors process the molecules that have been adsorbed onto the waggling appendage.
I had the pleasure of operating the airlock for two of my crewmates while they went on several space walks. Each time, when I repressed the airlock, opened the hatch and welcomed two tired workers inside, a peculiar odor tickled my olfactory senses. At first I couldn't quite place it. It must have come from the air ducts that re-pressed the compartment. Then I noticed that this smell was on their suit, helmet, gloves, and tools. It was more pronounced on fabrics than on metal or plastic surfaces.
Continue reading 'Space has a smell; astronaut swears 'it wasn't me'' >
Living on the International Space Station kinda sucks. The food mostly blows, the bus is always late and you have to hear the Japanese guys go on and on about their paper airplane projects. But every now and then, you get to see something in person no one else will ever see, and it's all worth it. Check out these images of auroras taken by ISS crew members during a mild geothermal storm over Newfoundland:
Although the auroras appear to be located below the ISS, they occur at the same altitude, and sometimes the space station passes through them. More solar streams are expected soon, so astronauts can expect a few more pretty, sleepless nights.
One more pic after the jump.
Continue reading 'Geomagnetic storm as seen from International Space Station gives good image' >
Two days ago, President Bush released his $17.6 NASA budget for FY09. There are a few notable points here: the Langley Research Center took a $92 million hit; Mars exploration has been pushed to the periphery with no new landings scheduled after the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory; and over $173 million has been earmarked for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, restoring some money Congress cut from the $500 million program late last year.
Interestingly, this is the first year that NASA’s Constellation program has received more funding than the Space Shuttle, which will retire in September 2010. Though Constellation will receive an extra $6.5 billion by that time (directly from shuttle program coffers) the program won’t be operational until at least 2015, forcing NASA to rely on the Russians for access to the International Space Station in the interim.
Florida Senator Mel Martinez, for one, is aghast: “Relying on the Russians to put a person in space for us? C’mon, this is the United States of America!” Get ‘em Mel!
This holiday season, while you’re waiting for Atlantis to launch, why not drop a line to the astronauts who will be decking the halls of the International Space Station? There’s a link at the right-hand side of this web page, where you can select, write and “stamp” one of four postcards to send to the crew members, who will literally be celebrating all over the world.
(Look carefully at this one – what do YOU see in the reflection off the astronaut’s mirrored helmet?)
To really personalize your greeting, choose someone to address your postcard to; you can read about some of them here.
Scroll down a little further on the page to watch Expedition 16’s official holiday message, just for you.
And in case you’re wondering, here’s how will they be celebrating the holidays:
Continue reading 'Felices Navidades, International Space Station' >
Welcome to ShuttleWatch, our new all-shuttle, all-the-time news update. From spacewalk crises to astronaut-taking-a-piss updates, this is your one-stop dock for all the latest shuttley happenings.
The Latest:
Woo hoo, we're launching! We're ready for anything! OK, how about... not launching? Try again tomorrow, y'all.
The Details:
Atlantis's launch was scrubbed because two of the four fuel sensors were saying the shuttle's liquid-hydrogen tank was empty, when it was really full. The seven-person crew's main mission is to install Columbus, the European Space Agency's long-delayed science lab, in the International Space Station. There are three spacewalks planned, and NASA is hoping to extend the mission from 11 days to 13.
For Your Cocktail Party:
Listen up, kids: It may start with a quick puff in the high-school bathroom, but before long you're jonesing for a nicotine fix right in the middle of a spacewalk. And in space, not even Joe Camel can hear you scream.
NASA imposed a ban on spacewalks this week after an astronaut reported smelling smoke in his suit during ground tests in Houston. There's been no evidence of a "combustion event" thus far, but engineers are running tests on the suit to determine if their are any dangerous generic flaws in the suit architecture.
"During the test, the astronaut smelled just a little bit of smoke," Dean said, adding that even a slight odor is cause for concern given the spacesuit's 100 percent oxygen environment. "They got the crew member out of there in less than a minute."
Quentin Schwinn, NASA
Despite a troubling four-inch block of ice that had NASA techs running around with visions of flaming tragedy two hours before launch, the shuttle Discovery took off around 11:38 this morning without a hitch. Commander Pamela Melroy is only the second female shuttle commander in history, and she leads a team who plan to perform the most complex orbital additions ever to everyone's favorite crumbling camper-van-in-space: the International Space Station.
The crew will help install Harmony, an Italian-built living compartment the size of a bus. No word on whether Harmony includes Natuzzi leather couches or DeLonghi espresso machines, but a group of 130 schoolchildren who named it in a competition got to attend the launch.
Continue reading 'Discovery shuttle launches, fails to inspire George Lucas (hopefully)' >
