Space Culture

Awesome Photo: Space Shuttle Atlantis "Looks" Homeward

2007-06-12T13:11:00.001-07:00

There is something so beautiful (and totally cool) about this photo of the Space Shuttle Atlantis "looking" back at planet Earth. Don't you agree?

Photo from: NASA's Human Space Flight Gallery

NASA in the News: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

2007-06-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

The title says it all. Eight interesting articles on NASA have popped up lately. In no particular order ...

1. AMAZING MARS IMAGES FROM NASA'S MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER (MRO) VIA U OF AZ INSTRUMENT
2. “NASA HEAD REGRETS GLOBAL WARMING REMARKS”
3. "AMERICA'S RETREAT FROM EARTH MONITORING?"
4. “SECURITY ISSUES AT JPL”
5. “PETTY POLITICS AND UNCOORDINATED OUTREACH AT NASA”
6. “THE NEW SPACE RACE” (opinion, USA TODAY)
7. Wired: Commentary: THE UNCOMFORTABLE REALITY OF SEX IN SPACE"
8. Wired: "LISA NOWAK AWARDED NASA SPACE FLIGHT MEDAL"

NASA asks students for space decor

2007-03-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hot on the heels of the competition that renamed Node2 to "Harmony", NASA has released another request: Design a space pennant to fly up to the station with Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan on STS-118 this summer.

This special banner would join numerous other military, sports, and college pennants that have flown into space. The student that designs the banner will get a trip to see the launch, a Space Day for their school, and a lot of other special opportunities.

The competition is co-sponsored by Mad Science and KAOL (AOL for Kids). Contest ends April 10.

Read more at KAOL Expeditons or see the release on collectSPACE.com.

Special thanks to Xeni Jardin at BoingBoing.net for covering the story.

Students give "Harmony" to ISS

2007-03-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

"Harmony" will be the new name of the Node 2 connections module for the space station. International laboratory modules will be attached to this piece of the station. The name was chosen by US students as a part of the NASA Exploring Space Challenges and announced on March 15 at Kennedy Space Center.

Students from across the United States put together proposals and models of module as a part of the program. Six schools submitted the name "Harmony" and were each recognized at the ceremony.

This is cute, uplifting, and heart-warming, but it is also a MAJOR departure from previous NASA naming standards. Renaming STS-1 the Enterprise took 100,000 letters from devoted fans! The new Constellation program, Orion capsule, and Ares rockets were all chosen in-house by NASA management. Perhaps this is a sign of a new, more open and inclusive NASA culture? Let's celebrate this milestone and push to have the public name the first Orion capsule as well!

NASA Exploring Space Challenges
NASA Node 2 information
Press Release on SpaceRef.com

Space Comic features Ham the Chimp!

2007-03-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

Ham is coming back into the spotlight! Oni Presswill release FIRST IN SPACE as a 96-page graphic novel in April of 2007. Set in the early 1960s and extensively researched by author/illustratorJames Vining, FIRST IN SPACE tells the "true adventures" of Ham America’s first chimpanzee launched into space by NASA.

In the comic, Ham is paired with his human handler to undergo his training for the space flight. Smart and quick, Ham quickly outpaces his fellow chimpanzees, but nearly misses his flight because his fondness for banana pellets gets in the way of weight restrictions.

“FIRST IN SPACE is not only a fun and heartwarming adventure, but it also takes a serious look at the use of animals in government safety tests, an examination that’s important to our history and particularly to our future,” said Oni Press managing editor Randal Jarrell. “But it’s also about monkeys in space! What could be better than that?”

The FIRST IN SPACE original graphic novel ships April 25, 2007 and retails for $9.95. It’s a 96 page 6x9 trade paperback, with black and white interiors and a full color cover. The ISBN is 978-1-932664-64-5, and the Diamond order code is FEB07 3672.

Check out some sample pages here.

Wacky Cosmonaut Marketing Mashup

2007-03-10T00:10:00.000-08:00

What do a cell phone company, new PC operating system, an 80's band, and dancing cosmonauts all have in common? They are all part of a viral campaign unleashed by T-Mobile and Microsoft to promote Windows Vista and T-Mobile Hot Spots. How Jefferson Startship got in the mix is still under investigation.

Until we figure it out, check out the site and have fun with the games and downloads. One warning: the Cosmonaut ring tones are addictive.

Check it out on the Seattle Times or Adrants.

Meteorite hits house in Illinois!

2007-03-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

No, this isn't a 1950's headline, it's a recent story about a woman in Bloomington, IL. The report recounts Dee Riddle's discovery that had something crash through her bedroom window and hit her computer table around 9:30am on Monday morning.

Was it really a meteorite? Could it have been some neighborhood kids playing? What about a piece of man-made space debris? What is it, really? According to Illinois State University professor Robert Nelson, the U.S. Geological Survey's meteorite center in Arizona is working on the answer to those questions.

See the full AP story on CNN.

Students take a turn at space outreach

2007-02-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

The Coalition for Space Exploration , an aerospace industry lobbying group, has partnered with the Texas Space Grant Consortium to sponsor the 2007 NASA Means Business Competition. The competition seeks innovative public outreach plans including three finished promotional pieces to illustrate the concepts. Teams of university students compete for $1000, behind-the-scenes tours of NASA facilities, and the opportunity to present their work to top NASA officials.

The competition has run for eight years and produced some results that have made it into NASA promotions. The 2004 Special Creativity Prize was awarded to the Art Center College of Design for their "Reach" video. After receiving praise from the space community, it was eventually integrated into the tour video at Kennedy Space Center. [full disclosure: Karen Lau was Creative Director for the video and co-manages this site]

Check out the competition and see the future of PR for space exploration!

Virgin Galactic + NASA

2007-02-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

NASA Ames Research Center signed a memorandum of understanding today with well-known suborbital space tourism company Virgin Galactic. This is not the first high-profile partnership for Ames: Google signed a somewhat similar MOU in 2005 and solidified their relationship with a formal Space Act Agreement in late 2006.

This new arrangement allows Ames and Virgin Galactic to explore areas that could be good for research collaboration including space suits, heat shields for spaceships, hybrid rocket motors and hypersonic vehicles. The two-year agreement was was negotiated through NASA’s Space Portal, a newly formed organization in the NASA Research Park at Ames. The agreement does not require NASA nor Virgin Galactic to pay any fees or provide funds to support the areas of possible collaboration.

Solid Rocket Booster Video

2007-02-17T07:09:00.000-08:00

If you've ever wanted to ride a solid rocket booster all the way down Slim Pickens style, here's your chance. Sort of. Be sure to watch all the way to the end to see the other nose cone splashdown in frame.

First Couple to Honeymoon in Space on Virgin Galactic

2007-02-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

Washington, D.C.- February 14, 2007- Loretta and George Whitesides, the first couple to honeymoon in space, launched a new website on Valentine's Day to share the excitement of their upcoming adventure with the public.

"Growing up, we both had the dream to go to space," said George Whitesides, newlywed and Executive Director of the National Space Society. "We feel incredibly lucky to be able to achieve that dream together."

Loretta and George are two of 100 Virgin Galactic 'Founders'- the people who have paid in full to be the first to fly on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Spaceline.

"We hope that with our flight, we can help bring love and peace to a place that is very important to us – space," said Loretta, who is the Executive Director of Yuri's Night, a worldwide celebration of spaceflight.

The sub-orbital spaceflight will launch the couple over 100 km high, past the boundary of space. The flight will include several minutes of weightlessness, a view of the blackness of space and the curvature of the Earth.

The Space Love website will document the preparation and lead-up to the flight, and include suggestions for others who wish to celebrate their own honeymoons, anniversaries or even weddings in space.

George and Loretta are no strangers to weightlessness, with both having flown as crew for Zero G Corporation's weightless flights. "We have even had our first Zero G kiss," commented Loretta, adding, "weightlessness just has a magic to it."

For more information on their space honeymoon and pictures, please visit www.spacelove.org.

For more information on Virgin Galactic please visit www.virgingalactic.com .

181 Lunary Things to Do

2007-02-09T21:45:00.000-08:00

Most would say space geeks are a bit loony, but NASA has taken the moon craze to the next level. NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate has "consulted more than 1,000 people from businesses, academia and 13 international space agencies to come up with a master list of 181 potential lunar objectives." From a radio telescope on the far side of the moon, a regolith laboratory to remotely-controlled rovers, the complete list is here. From this master list, NASA will select a few high priority goals for the initial return to the moon.

Over 1,000 minds and a survey and only 181 ideas?

NASA's Plans to Woo Youth, Congress, to Space Culture

2007-02-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

The executive summary of NASA’s new Strategic Communications Framework is a very telling document. If you’re interested in working to inspire the next generation of space explorers - and Congress - check it out!

Thanks to Keith Cowing at NASAwatch.com for posting these documents.

--L.W.

Popular Science Magazine is 'Calling All Inventors!'

2007-02-06T16:20:00.000-08:00

(And you thought I was going to blog about that astronaut love triangle in the news?)

Anyone got a cool space-related invention to pitch to Popular Science Magazine? Details from the Popular Science web site are pasted in below:

Calling All Inventors
Think you've created the next big thing? Submit your work for PopSci's Invention Awards issue by February 15th!

Think you’ve created the next amazing, breakthrough invention or know someone who has? We want to hear about it! PopSci is searching for the most original and clever inventions of the past year for an upcoming issue. Here’s what we’re looking for:

- Must be an item (not a service, concept or idea) that’s aimed toward commercialization; not a one-off build.

- Must be truly inventive—something original that solves a real problem in an elegant and clear way, not just an improvement on another existing product.

- Should be mainly the work of one person or a small group—industry- or university-affiliated inventors are fine (as are garage-based inventors), as long as the invention reflects the passionate vision of one inventor or a small team.

- Must have a working prototype.

How to submit: Send no more than 300 words describing your invention and the story behind it, as well as a photo (or links to photos) to h20@time4.com by Feb 15, 2007. Please include the best way to reach you in case we need more information.

Superbowl Space Ad

2007-02-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

Shipping company FedEx paid for this spot during the Superbowl on Sunday, February 4. Humor is definitely the biggest focus of the piece, but they highlight some of the everyday office tasks that would be difficult to perform in a reduced-gravity environment.

Cool science show debuts on PBS

2007-02-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

"Wired Science", an hour long science news show co-produced by Wired and KCLA for PBS, is extending the high-gloss styling of Wired Magazine onto the airwaves. Their first foray into the series was Jan 3.

The pilot episode includes an interview with Elon Musk where he talks about transportation technologies: specifically, Tesla Motors and Space Exploration Technologies. You can view the interview online and see how Elon moves seamlessly between 'backing up' the biosphere and saving the planet from oil over-indulgence.

Apollo documentary wins Sundance award

2007-02-01T14:22:00.000-08:00

In the Shadow of the Moon

The story of the men who went to the Moon, told in their own words.

Between 1968 and 1972 twenty-four Americans journeyed to the Moon. They remain the only human beings to have visited another world. In this film the Apollo astronauts tell their own story, and share their reflections on what these great voyages of exploration meant to them and to humanity. The film-makers have shot intimate and revealing interviews with prime crew members from every Apollo mission from Apollo 8, the first voyage around the Moon, to Apollo 17, the last lunar landing, during which two men lived on the surface for more than three days and nights. The interviews are interwoven with re-mastered NASA film footage, much of it never used before.
- from the director's website

The film was screened at this year's Sundance Film Festival. where it won the Audience Award in the category of World Cinema - Documentary.

Rocket Science is still Dangerous

2007-01-31T10:09:00.000-08:00

With commonplace rocket launches, sometimes we take rocket science for granted. On Tuesday January 30, a Zenit 3SL rocket exploded atop the Odyssey Sea Launch platform in the Pacific Ocean. Aboard the rocket, was a sophisticated telecommunications satellite payload (NSS 8). The condition of the Odyssey, a converted Norwegian oil-drilling platform is unknown as of present.

The disaster reminded the aerospace industry that there's still much to learn and even more for quality control. A committee is being created to review the launch and the conditions of the rocket.

Read more at SpaceFlight Now.

Powerpoints are the C.O.D. for Columbia

2007-01-31T09:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, at a lecture on the "Presentation of Data and Information", by Yale analytical designer Edward Tufte, an hour was spent talking about how Microsoft Powerpoint killed the presentation of the truth and the truthful display of evidence in regards to space shuttle Columbia's disaster. A group of Boeing engineers were asked to analyze the risk potential of the piece of foam insulation that impacted the Columbia's wing upon takeoff (this was while the crew was up in space carrying out their mission). The slides expressed "significant" danger, but in the way the information laid out in a Powerpoint's hierarchal bullets format, the magnitude of risk was not communicated effectively.

In an essay: "Powerpoint Does Rocket Science–and Better Techniques for Technical Reports", Tufte goes into detail why "significant" information should be presented significantly.

Tufte is a NASA advisor on the presentation of analytical information. The design and presentation of information should reflect our cognitive processes and not be limited by the templates and macros of applications.

[C.O.D. = cause of death]

Funk's up on Threadless

2007-01-31T09:20:00.000-08:00

A new way of doing business based on ecommerce and user-generated t-shirt and a democratic voting system, brings great T-shirt designs to life. Threadless has been the quintissential DIY cultural vessel for what the masses like and think are good enough designs that warrant a popular vote of the week. And so of course, there are funky astronauts involved.

Design by Christopher Golebiowski

Banana Art to hang over Texas

2007-01-29T14:01:00.000-08:00

No, this isn't a joke: there is an art project to put a high-altitude helium balloon in the shape of a banana into the sky over Texas.

Artist César Saëz and his team are pis already into the engineering design phase to determine exactly how this 300m-long airship will be constructed. They plans to fly it up to 30-50Km around Baja or Sorona, TX, in late 2008.

Is it legal? Is it safe? Does it belong in Texas? These questions remained to be answered, but we can definitely say it is "art".

More at Wired News and at GeostationaryBananaOverTexas.com

Marketing--for the masses?

2007-01-29T08:05:00.000-08:00

Bart Leahy discusses the history of promoting space and offers recommendations for engaging the public in his report published online in The Space Review. Women, minorities, and environmentalists join the often-cited youth demographic in his list of target audiences. Proposing messages "addressing the needs of specific audiences", Leahy cites almost every major demographic group as a niche. Should we focus on dividing the message of space's benefits into repackaged versions better suited to one market segment?

With a recent survey showing 27% of the 18-25 year-olds doubting that NASA went to the Moon (and one in ten thinking it was "highly unlikely” that a Moon landing had ever taken place), we most surely need to speak with the youth. But how? We have educated guesses as to why there is disbelief but no plan to address it directly.

So, what can we do to promote space in a way that hits everyone in a new and powerful way? And how do we carry out the plan without relying on NASA to do all the work for us?

Humor on a sphere

2007-01-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

Here is a funny little space factoid Craig Damlo made for Yuri's Night. It is a great illustration of how a little humor, and a bit of pop culture, can make a complicated concept and make it understandable--and even fun!

Falling into Orbit

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has this to say about flying: "There is an art to flying, or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Clearly, it is this second part—the missing—that provides the difficulties." Although mankind may never fully learn to fly, we have become very proficient at falling. And on April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to miss the ground.

That is all there is to space travel—falling, continuously falling. In the simplest of terms, a space launch works like this: take an object—in this case a space capsule—and throw it toward the horizon; if you throw it far enough, it simply will miss the ground as it falls back to Earth, and will enter an orbit around the planet. This may be, in fact, the greatest benefit of living on a round planet—well, that and the stability and strength of a sphere.

Space Cuisine

2007-01-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

Martha Stewart isn't the only one spicing up life onboard the space station. In August of 2006 Chef Emeril Lagasse also did an episode of his television show based around meals he created for delivery to the Expedition 13 crew.

The latest celebrity to cook for the final frontier is French master chef Alain Ducasse. His meals developed in collaboration with ESA and sent up with supplies late in 2006 and enjoyed by the Expedition 14 crew. According to ESA, German astronaut Thomas Reiter was delighted with the meal. "It was absolutely delicious," said Reiter. "But we have no doubt that it would taste much better if we had some wine with it as well!"

Read more from Wired, NASA, and ESA--including Ducasse's space menu!

Sci-Fi Fashion List

2007-01-26T11:01:00.000-08:00

Wired Magazine has compiled a list of the Top 10 Sci-Fi Flick Fashions. Among the winners are Queen Amidala’s gowns from Star Wars I-III and the suede vest worn by Khan in Start Trek II.

The list is surprisingly gender-neutral with garments worn by 4 women, 3 men, 1 alien, a replicant, and a cyborg. The clothing is all meant to be worn in standard 1-G environment (Barbarella's spent some time in weightlessness, but her clothing was still intended to function in the presence of gravity.)

Want to see what else made the list? Go to Wired.com