Astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the Apollo 11 Lunar Module

This July 20, 1969 photograph of the interior view of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module shows astronaut Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. during the lunar landing mission. The picture was taken by astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, prior to the landing.

Buzz Aldrin was born in Montclair, New Jersey, on Jan. 20, 1930. Aldrin became an astronaut during the selection of the third group by NASA in October 1963. On Nov. 11, 1966 he orbited aboard the Gemini XII spacecraft, a 4-day 59-revolution flight that successfully ended the Gemini program. During Project Gemini, Aldrin became one of the key figures working on the problem of rendezvous of spacecraft in Earth or lunar orbit, and docking them together for spaceflight. Aldrin was chosen as a member of the three-person Apollo 11 crew that landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, fulfilling the mandate of President John F. Kennedy to send Americans to the moon before the end of the decade. Aldrin was the second American to set foot on the lunar surface.

Image Credit: NASA via NASA http://ift.tt/1C3pGiR

from WordPress http://ift.tt/1zu7Ky6

NASA’s NEOWISE Images Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)

Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is one of more than 32 comets imaged by NASA’s NEOWISE mission from December 2013 to December 2014. This image of comet Lovejoy combines a series of observations made in November 2013, when comet Lovejoy was 1.7 astronomical units from the sun. (An astronomical unit is the distance between Earth and the sun.)

The image spans half of one degree. It shows the comet moving in a mostly west and slightly south direction. (North is 26 degrees to the right of up in the image, and west is 26 degrees downward from directly right.) The red color is caused by the strong signal in the NEOWISE 4.6-micron wavelength detector, owing to a combination of gas and dust in the comet’s coma.

Comet Lovejoy is the brightest comet in Earth’s sky in early 2015. A chart of its location in the sky during dates in January 2015 is at http://ift.tt/1yl30Lt .

For more information about NEOWISE (the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer), see http://ift.tt/1lZyHkn.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech via NASA http://ift.tt/1yl33a1

from WordPress http://ift.tt/15dvw4e

Interior View From the International Space Station Cupola

This image of the interior view from the International Space Station’s Cupola module was taken on Jan. 4, 2015. The large bay windows allows the Expedition 42 crew to see outside. The Cupola houses one of the space station’s two robotic work stations used by astronauts to manipulate the large robotic arm seen through the right window. The robotic arm, or Canadarm2, was used throughout the construction of the station and is still used to grapple visiting cargo vehicles and assist astronauts during spacewalks. The Cupola is attached to the nadir side of the space station and also gives a full panoramic view of the Earth.

Image Credit: NASA via NASA http://ift.tt/1E3IoGg

from WordPress http://ift.tt/1u9KZbH

Ten Years Ago, Huygens Probe Lands on Surface of Titan

Ten years ago, an explorer from Earth parachuted into the haze of an alien moon toward an uncertain fate. After a gentle descent lasting more than two hours, it landed with a thud on a frigid floodplain, surrounded by icy cobblestones. With this feat, the Huygens probe accomplished humanity’s first landing on a moon in the outer solar system. Huygens was safely on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.

These images of Saturn’s moon Titan were taken on Jan. 14, 2005 by the Huygens probe at four different altitudes. The images are a flattened (Mercator) projection of the view from the descent imager/spectral radiometer on the probe as it landed on Titan’s surface.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter. NASA supplied two instruments on the Huygens probe, the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer and the Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer.

> More: NASA and ESA Celebrate 10 Years Since Titan Landing

Image Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona via NASA http://ift.tt/1IKA1jI

from WordPress http://ift.tt/1AQwkHj

First Notable Solar Flare of 2015

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 11:24 p.m. EST on Jan. 12, 2015. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

Image Credit: NASA/SDO via NASA http://ift.tt/1AM5obC

from WordPress http://ift.tt/1DUuBSk

Jan. 12, 1986 Early Morning Space Shuttle Launch

On Jan. 12, 1986, the space shuttle Columbia launched at 6:55 a.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center on the STS-61C mission. It was the first spaceflight for NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, who was a Pilot on the STS-61C crew along with Mission Commander Robert L. Gibson, Mission Specialists Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, Steven A. Hawley and George D. Nelson and Payload Specialists Robert J. Cenker of RCA and U.S. Rep. (now Senator) Bill Nelson. During the six-day flight, crew members deployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing. The mission was accomplished in 96 orbits of Earth, ending with a successful night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on Jan. 18, 1986.

Image Credit: NASA via NASA http://ift.tt/1z0u4iN

from WordPress http://ift.tt/1AIFdmm

Watching Their Every Step by PATRICIA R. OLSEN

By PATRICIA R. OLSEN

Stacy Steffen, a biomechanist at the Brooks Running Company, studies athletes’ motion and physiology to build a better running shoe.

Published: January 10, 2015 at 07:00PM

from NYT Job Market http://ift.tt/1BZAX1p

via IFTTT

from WordPress http://ift.tt/17tA0oE