NASA’s Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera of asteroid Vesta on August 11, 2011. The image has a resolution of about 260 meters per pixel. [1024 x 1024]
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: On November 13, 1966, Gemini 12 astronaut Buzz Aldrin orbits the Earth with his trusty slide rule floating nearby and an unlit pipe in his mouth.
Prima immagine di OSIRIS-REx dallo spazio profondo, giunta a noi terrestri il 15 febbraio 2017, dopo cinque mesi di "crociera". Se state per dire che l'immagine è sfocata, sappiate che la sonda si trova a 673 milioni di km da Giove. - During Earth-Trojan asteroid search operations, the PolyCam imager aboard NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured this image of Jupiter (center) and three of its moons, Callisto (left), Io, and Ganymede. The image, which shows the bands of Jupiter, was taken at 3:34 a.m. EST, on Feb. 12, when the spacecraft was 76 million miles (122 million kilometers) from Earth and 418 million miles (673 million kilometers) from Jupiter. PolyCam is OSIRIS-REx’s longest range camera, capable of capturing images of the asteroid Bennu from a distance of two million kilometers.
This image was produced by taking two copies of the same image, adjusting the brightness of Jupiterandnbsp;separately from theandnbsp;significantly dimmer moons, and compositing them back together so that all four objects are visible in the same frame.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator, and the University of Arizona also leads the science team and the mission’s observation planning and processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft and is providing flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the agency’s New Frontiers Program for its Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
OSIRIS-REx
1981 NASA diagram gives a cutaway view inside a space shuttle.
ISS passes over Hurricane Irma
by NASA/JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
An address to the nation to be read by President Richard Nixon should the Apollo 11 astronauts become stranded on the moon,
To: H. R. Haldeman From: Bill Safire July 18, 1969. ——————————————————————————- IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER: Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice. These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding. They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by the nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown. In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man. In ancient days, men looked at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood. Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts. For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind. PRIOR TO THE PRESIDENT’S STATEMENT: The President should telephone each of the widows-to-be. AFTER THE PRESIDENT’S STATEMENT, AT THE POINT WHEN NASA ENDS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MEN: A clergyman should adopt the same procedure as a burial at sea, commending their souls to “the deepest of the deep,” concluding with the Lord’s Prayer.