OrbitalHub

Credits: NASA

Carnival of Space #98 is hosted by Fraser Cain at Universe Today.

This week you can read a movie review for Moon, see the original pilot for Star Trek, read about the Martian adventures of MER Spirit, colliding dark matter, and much more.

On April 12, 1981, STS-1 Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Pad A, launch Complex 39, at the Kennedy Space Center. This was the first launch of the Space Shuttle and occurred exactly 20 years after the first manned space flight.

Columbia flew with two crew members: astronaut John W. Young as commander, and Robert L. Crippen as pilot. The objectives of STS-1 were to check out the overall Space Shuttle system, make a safe ascent into orbit, and a safe landing.

Credits: NASA/Northrop Grumman

The launch date for the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), initially set for April 24, 2009, was pushed to June 2, 2009.

Dr. Anthony Colaprete, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center and the principal investigator for the LCROSS mission, gave a lecture as part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture series. The lecture was posted on NASA’s website as Prospecting for Water on the Moon: The Upcoming LCROSS Mission.

If you are an amateur astronomer and have a telescope, you can contribute to the LCROSS mission by participating in the LCROSS Observation Campaign. Images provided by the public will be a valuable addition to the mission archive.

Please stay tuned on OrbitalHub for more details about the LCROSS mission.

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin, became the first human to orbit the Earth. He was born on March 9, 1934 and died on March 27, 1968 while flying a MIG-15 during a routine training flight.

In 1960, Yuri Gagarin was selected with nineteen other cosmonauts for the Soviet Space Program. On the day of the Vostok 1 flight, cosmonaut Gherman Titov was his backup.

Credits: NASA/CXC/J.Hester (ASU); NASA/ESA/J.Hester & A.Loll (ASU); NASA/JPL-Caltech/R.Gehrz (Univ. Minn.)

Carnival of Space #97 is hosted by Cheap Astronomy.

This week you can read about the Mars Express webcam, HiRISE images of a Martian avalanche, dark energy, high speed solar sails, and much more.

This week, OrbitalHub presents the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR). NuSTAR is a high-energy X-ray space telescope that will expand our understanding of the origins and the development of stars and galaxies.

Constellation Program is NASA’s new generation space transportation system. It is designed to cover a wide range of space missions, such as delivering supplies and human crews to the International Space Station (ISS) and traveling beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). The goal of the program is to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon and then go to Mars.

Read more about the Constellation Program…