Shuttle fascinators. Spring’s hottest accessory.
Photo gallery: Smithsonian welcomes Discovery.
Photo by Bill O’Leary (The Washington Post)
Cool photo of Space Shuttle Discovery, flying over DC (with the National Building Museum in the foreground).
Photo by Erin O’Brien
Many more photos here: https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23spottheshuttle/grid/photos
![imwithkanye:
Plan to watch the Shuttle Discovery’s final flight over D.C.? My friend John made an interactive map based off the information provided by the Smithsonian, NASA and fellow photographers on the best places to watch the shuttle. The flyover is expected to take place between 10 and 11 a.m. today. [map] [flight]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2mhb4g6z01qanm80o1_1280.png)
Plan to watch the Shuttle Discovery’s final flight over D.C.? My friend John made an interactive map based off the information provided by the Smithsonian, NASA and fellow photographers on the best places to watch the shuttle. The flyover is expected to take place between 10 and 11 a.m. today. [map] [flight]
(via kittykittybangbang)
Positively Radiant: Amazing Pictures Of Recent Solar Storm
The sun erupted late on Sunday, January 22, causing the strongest solar radiation storm since September 2005. The solar storm has the potential to disrupt some satellite communications and bring some auroras to high-latitude skies, but isn’t a danger to humans on Earth. NASA has more on the solar storm here. This filter shows where cooler dense plumes of plasma are located above the visible surface of the Sun, according to NASA. Many of the following images wouldn’t be visible to the naked or, or even many telescopes. (via Positively Radiant | TPM Media)
The Highest Resolution Image of Earth Ever
This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012.
Photo courtesy of NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring
Ed note: Perfect for your desktop background. Click the photo for the 8000x8000 image
h/t Gizmodo
Wow.. that’s a big planet.
(via theatlantic)
cwnl:
Amazing Archive of High-Res Photos from NASA’s Gemini Missions
There’s something about old photographs. The perfect combination of faded light, outdated coloring, and nostalgia seems to make them more beautiful with age.
Perhaps that’s why this collection of images from NASA’s Gemini Program is so great. The Project Gemini Online Digital Archive, released this weekend by NASA and Arizona State University, features high-resolution digital scans from the original Gemini flight films.
As NASA’s second human spaceflight program, which had 10 manned flights between 1965 and 1966, Gemini saw such milestones as the first American spacewalk, first week-long spaceflight, and the first docking maneuver with another vehicle in space. The success of these objectives paved the way for the Apollo program, which immediately followed Gemini and landed the first men on the moon.
Follow the source for more gorgeous imagery highlighting the Gemini missions and the serene perspectives caught through it.
(via gilmoure)
India at night during Diwali. Satellite photo from NASA.
(via architectureofhappiness)
(via integrityintennisshoes)
"I got NASA to loan me a moon rock, carbon-dated 3.6 billion years old. I put it on the table in the Oval Office and when people started the crazy stuff, I’d say, ‘Wait a minute guys. See that rock, it’s 3.6 billion years old. We’re all just passing through, take a deep breath, calm down, let’s see what makes sense.’ It had an incredible calming effect!"
—
How Bill Clinton “defused the madness” as President | FT.com (via somethingchanged)
I’d love to have my own moon rock, for perspective, or just to have a moon rock.
(via mohandasgandhi)
Here is the customs form that the U.S. government made the Apollo 11 astronauts fill out on their way back from THE MOON.
(via interestingsnippets)
JUST BLAZE One person had a unique view of this weekend’s Perseid meteor showers: astronaut Ron Garan took this photo of one of those meteors burning up in Earth’s atmosphere from aboard the International Space Station. (Photo: Garan / NASA via MSNBC.com)
NASA Picks Seven Commercial Spaceships for the Next Generation of Suborbital Science Missions
The new post-shuttle NASA has said it aims to work more cooperatively with private space industry and outside sources of innovation in writing the next chapter in space exploration and science, and the agency is putting its money where its mouth is. After selecting 30 future technology proposals for funding earlier this week, NASA has now inked a number of much larger contracts with seven private space companies—including Virgin Galactic—to integrate and fly various technology payloads aboard their suborbital spacecraft.
The sun gave off the largest solar flare in five years on Aug. 9, 2011, sending a mass of charged particles into space. It was not pointed toward Earth, which is protected anyhow by its atmosphere and strong magnetic field, but scientists say the sun is becoming more active after a long quiet period. (NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory) (Taken with instagram)
