Mission control are addressing 3 helium leaks detected on #Boeing#Starliner crewship on route to #ISS. Deemed safe for crew and mission continuing to rendezvous as planned so far.
A helium leak originally delayed the first crewed launch by several weeks.
"Over the weekend the crew of the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission shared a wealth of details about the intriguing private mission that will send humans farther than they have flown from Earth in half a century."
Here's an article by Eric Berger of @arstechnica: "Why a rich guy going to space for a second time actually matters."
The primary structure of the Gateway space station's HALO module is one step closer to launch following welding completion in Turin, Italy. HALO is one of four Gateway modules where astronauts will live, conduct science, and prepare for lunar surface missions.
Thomas P. Stafford, who took part in four space missions, has died at 93. Stafford retired as an Air Force three-star general and remained the agency’s go-to guy for independent advice on everything from human Mars missions to safety issues. “The most impressive sight, I think, that really changed your view of things is when you first see Earth,” Stafford once said about the view from lunar orbit. AP has more: https://flip.it/YMDk_Z #Space#NASA#Astronauts#SpaceExploration#Moon
It’s sometimes amusing to listen to some of the air to ground transmission on the #Apollo flights. A lot of the chatter is the #astronauts talking about #poo, actually #p00, with no hint of adolescent smirking, like this gem on #Apollo12:
109:46:48 Conrad: And, Houston, whenever you’re ready, we’re ready to give you P00 and Data.
P00 was the quiescent state of the #Guidance#Computer where it was ready to receive instructions and data either from the #DSKY#keyboard or #Houston.
Four astronauts from four countries return to Earth after six months in orbit.
AP reports: "NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli, a Marine helicopter pilot, led the returning crew of Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and Russia’s Konstantin Borisov."
Four new astronauts head to the International Space Station for a 6-month stay.
AP reports "SpaceX’s Falcon rocket blasted off from Kennedy Space Center, carrying NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin."
In 1969 we landed a crew of #astronauts on the #Moon and brought them home safely. We currently have robotic rovers and flying drones on #Mars. Yet everyone is pissing themselves because #Odysseus landed (and fell over, lol) on the Moon.
I know it’s a diffecult undertaking, but has no one been taking notes at #NASA? We’ve had around 60 (or more) years of technological development. We’ve successfully landed on an asteroid and brought back samples. It just seems to me that this is the kind of thing that should be in our “wheelhouse” by now.
Through Astronaut Eyes: Photographing Early Human Spaceflight
Featuring over seventy images from the heroic age of space exploration, Through Astronaut Eyes presents the story of how human daring along with technological ingenuity allowed people to see the Earth and stars as they never had before.
Video posted by @wonderofscience with the text below. Astronaut Alan Bean enjoying weightlessness in the open space of the orbital workshop on the Skylab space station in 1973. The man is doing a series of somersaults in a circle before another astronaut enters the frame
• When you’re in #microgravity, all those systems still work to push fluids to the upper body, unopposed by gravity, so you get this #swelling of tissues in the head 🤯
• In some crew members, in addition to mild visual changes, there have been findings such as optic nerve swelling, retinal changes, changes in the shape of the eye 👁️ and a suggestion that there might be an increase in intracranial pressure
• Up to a third of muscle 💪 from particular muscle groups being lost 〽️ within seven to 10 days of flight. This also includes deterioration of heart ❤️ muscle
• Lack of gravity also has the effect of causing bone 🦴 to, almost literally, dissolve away
• With a new dawn 🌅 every 90 minutes, #astronauts struggle to adapt to artificial night times 😴
• There is growing evidence that #spaceflight has a detrimental effect on the immune system ⚕️.
• Astronauts often report “seeing” bright flashes ⚡ of light, which are caused by cosmic rays passing through their brains 🧠 https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140506-space-trips-bad-for-your-health
Thursday's flare temporarily disrupted radio 📻 communication on #Earth for a couple of hours, with multiple #pilots 🛬 reporting #communication problems.