An astronaut’s guide to life in space

So now you have gone through all the training and finally made it to space. What now? We have discovered a great video guide NASA made in the 1980s to surviving in space. It shows playing, eating and exercising in zero-G. Enjoy this exciting yet funny video and let us know what you think via the comment function!

 

Source: http://www.astronautforhire.com/2011/09/astronauts-guide-to-life-in-space.html

First man in space

We want to take a second and remember a man who was a true pioneer. The first man who left our planet and took in an amazing look of our planet from outer space and made the history books: on April 12 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kayakhstan, which is today managed by the Russian Federal Space Agency. Even though the spaceflight only consisted of a single orbit of the Earth, taking a total of 108 minutes from launch to landing, the trip had a huge impact on following missions and shocked the American public while leaving the Soviet public in communal joy.

China is sending an astronaut to the moon!

After having put their first man in space, Yang Liwei, in 2003 aboard their Shenzhou spacecraft, the Chinese are now aiming to put a man on the moon as the second nation to accomplish this goal after the United States of America. The Soviet Union had abandoned their plans to do so after the Americans had beaten them in the race by putting Neil Armstrong on the Moon on July 20 1969.

While no official timetable has been released, it is rumoured that they aim at accomplishing this around 2025 after having put satellites in the Moon’s orbit and returning lunar samples to Earth by some form of Moon rover.

So while the Chinese are obviously making incredible new plans, the US plans for deep space manned travel seem to be going nowhere. However this new Chinese advance may push the Americans to wipe the dust off their manned spaceflight programmes and accelerate them.

Source: http://io9.com/5872662/china-is-sending-an-astronaut-to-the-moon

Apollo 11: First man on the Moon

While a total of twelve men have landed on the Moon, only one can be the first. “That’s one small step for a man … one … giant leap for mankind” are among the most famous and most recited words ever spoken.

First human footstep on the Moon

When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the Moon almost 43 years ago on July 21 1969, the entire planet was holding its breath.

Space Suits

What would an astronaut be without one? The famous and in many Hollywood movies featured space suit. But what does a space suit actually do for us and why do we need one when leaving the safety of our own atmosphere? To put it simply, without a space suit humans could not live for 10 seconds in space. 

ESA astronaut André Kuipers arrives at the ISS

Today, ESA astronaut André Kuipers and his cremates Oleg Kononeko and Don Pettit docked with the ISS today in their Soyuz spacecraft. They will stay there for about five months until they return to Earth. Their mission began when the Soyuz rocket lifted off from Kazakhstan on Wednesday. As usual, the docking procedure was automated.

During this mission, André and his colleagues will conduct over 25 experiments for ESA and around 20 for NASA and JAXA, the Japanese space agency. Topics include human research, biology, fluid physics, materials science, radiation research and technology. The lessons they may learn up there, will educate children in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. You may follow the entire mission on André’s blog at http://blogs.esa.int/promisse/

Source: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMJTOBX9WG_Life_0.html

Exciting exoplanets found – almost size of the earth

Two new exoplanet have been discovered by the orbital space telescope Kepler!

What is an exoplanet you may ask. An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star other than our own sun and is therefore lightyears away from Earth. What is exciting about the discovery of these two new exoplanets (named Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f) is that they are roughly the size of Earth.

Picture source: DPA

As illustrated on the right, one is slightly smaller than Earth (0.87  times earth’s diameter) and one slightly bigger (1.03 Earth).

NASA Candidate Selection Timeline released!

For all those aspiring to become an astronaut, we have exciting news. The timeline for the selection process for the NASA Astronaut Candidate Class of 2013 has been announced.

Astronomy, Stars, Planets and Space

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy the sheer beauty of the not so empty space that surrounds us. Is it just us or do you feel very small all of a sudden as well?

Astronomy, Stars, Planets and Space, a group on Flickr.

What does it feel like to fly over planet Earth?

We have discovered a great video on YouTube that we just have to share with you. It is a time-lapse taken from the front of the ISS as it orbits our planet at night. It begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Just lean back and enjoy this wonderful perspective of our great planet.