OrbitalHub

They will always be remembered…

Apollo 1 (January 27, 1967)

Virgil “Gus” Grissom – Commander, Edward White – Command Pilot, Roger Chaffee – Pilot

STS-51 L (January 28, 1986)

Francis R. Scobee – Commander, Michael J. Smith – Pilot, Judith A. Resnik – Mission Specialist 1, Ellison Onizuka – Mission Specialist 2, Ronald E. McNair – Mission Specialist 3, Gregory B. Jarvis – Payload Specialist 1, Sharon Christa McAuliffe – Payload Specialist 2

STS-107 (February 1, 2003)

Rick D. Husband – Commander, William C. McCool – Pilot, Michael P. Anderson – Payload Commander, David M. Brown – Mission Specialist 1, Kalpana Chawla – Mission Specialist 2, Laurel Clark – Mission Specialist 3, Ilan Ramon – Payload Specialist 1

NASA dixit:

“Three days prior to its planned impact on a lunar mountain, on December 17, 2012, mission controllers activated the camera aboard one of NASA\’s GRAIL twins to take some final photos from lunar orbit.”

Credit: NASA

Read more about NASA\’s GRAIL mission…

NASA SDO dixit:

“This video covers January 5 through 7 and shows the 171 angstroms channel, which is especially good at showing coronal loops – the arcs extending off of the Sun where plasma moves along the magnetic field lines. The brightest spots seen here are locations where the magnetic field near the surface is exceptionally strong. The characteristic temperature here is 1 million K (or 1.8 million F). Many of these loops could fit several Earths inside of them. “

Credit: NASA SDO

Read more about coronal loops…

 


 

SpaceX dixit:

“SpaceX\’s Grasshopper takes a 12-story leap towards full and rapid rocket reusability in a test flight conducted December 17, 2012 at SpaceX\’s rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. Grasshopper, a vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (VTVL), rose 131 feet (40 meters), hovered and landed safely on the pad using closed loop thrust vector and throttle control. The total test duration was 29 seconds. Grasshopper stands 10 stories tall and consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage, Merlin 1D engine, four steel landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure.”

Credit: SpaceX

Read more about SpaceX…

ESA dixit:

“A new rendering of Huygens descent and touchdown created using real data recorded by the probe\’s instruments as it descended to the surface of Titan, Saturn\’s largest moon, on 14 January 2005. The animation takes into account Titan\’s atmospheric conditions, including the Sun and wind direction, the behaviour of the parachute (with some artistic interpretation only on the movement of the ropes after touchdown), and the dynamics of the landing itself. Even the stones immediately facing Huygens were rendered to match the photograph of the landing site returned from the probe, which is revealed at the end of the animation. Split into four sequences, the animation first shows a wide-angle view of the descent and landing followed by two close-ups of the touchdown from different angles, and finally a simulated view from Huygens itself — the true Huygens experience. This animation was released on the eighth anniversary of Huygen\’s touchdown on Titan as a Space Science Image of the Week feature.”

Credit: Animation: ESA–C. Carreau/Schröder, Karkoschka et al (2012). Image from Titan\’s surface: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Read more about Huygens…

NASA JPL dixit:

“With optical telescopes, it\’s difficult to make out the surface features of asteroid Toutatis. Radar gives us a different picture. On Dec. 12 and 13, 2012, scientists pointed NASA\’s Goldstone Solar System Radar precisely on the asteroid while it was over four million miles/6.9 million kilometers away. Using the bounced radar signals scientists assembled these “images” showing the surface features of Toutatis, an asteroid measuring about 3 miles long (4.8 km). The orbit of Toutatis is well understood. An analysis indicates there is zero possibility of an Earth impact over the entire interval over which its motion can be accurately computed, which is about the next four centuries.”

Credit: NASA JPL

Read more about Toutatis…