NASA / Thierry Legault

FOUR 'WALKS DOWN, ONE MORE TO GO... And by 'walk, I mean extravehicular activity. Nothing nerdy like the term 'spacewalk' or something...

Whatever, I'm justing coming up with an excuse to post these photos.









All Hubble images courtesy of NASA

HUBBLE-Bound... At 11:01 AM, Pacific Time today, space shuttle Atlantis launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to start an 11-day mission (STS-125) to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. Godspeed Atlantis... Here’s hoping this voyage goes completely well...and that space shuttle Endeavour will find herself re-located to Launch Pad 39A a few weeks from now (for STS-127), instead of having to launch from Pad 39B on a rescue flight if the worse, God forbid, happens to Atlantis. And obviously, I’m looking forward to seeing some kick-ass imagery by Hubble once it becomes better than ever following the end of Atlantis' mission. That is all.


Canon / Scott Andrews

THREE AWESOME VIEWS...for one last time. That's assuming, of course, there isn't another piece of equipment failure onboard the Hubble Space Telescope before Atlantis launches for the orbiting observatory on May 12. Click here to see images from last year's twin shuttle-viewing opportunity.






Photos courtesy of NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis & Kim Shiflett

NASA / Kim Shiflett

BACK ON EARTH... I was gonna post a lengthy entry about how the International Space Station (ISS) now resembles artists’ renderings of the outpost when it was first conceived in 1984 (as Space Station Freedom), but I don’t wanna. Instead, here’s a pic of Discovery touching down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida today...and another of the ISS in all its (81% completed) glory...


NASA

UPDATE (March 29): This photo is now my desktop wallpaper...


NASA

THANKS to a last-second heads-up by one of my friends yesterday, I was able to spot the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle Discovery as they passed over Southern California at different times last night. The ISS appeared first...passing around 225 miles (in a southwest-to-east direction) above SoCal between 7:18 and 7:21 PM, and Discovery orbiting around 150 miles overhead (in a southwest-to-northeast direction) between 7:37 and 7:41 PM (all times Pacific). Discovery is set to dock with the ISS today at 2:13 PM, PDT.

In my enthusiasm, I decided to post two pics I took of the ISS...despite the fact these will probably be the crappiest space-related images you'll ever see. I used a 7.3 megapixel digital camera, without a telescope to attach it to, if you must know.


(The sky was already too dark for me to get a shot of Discovery once it flew overhead.)



If you want to know when the ISS and shuttle will pass over your area, click here to look up the next sighting opportunity.

NASA / Tony Gray, Tom Farrar

DISCOVERY LAUNCHES... At 4:43 PM, Pacific Time today, space shuttle Discovery took off on a 13-day mission to continue assembly on the International Space Station (ISS). By next Sunday, the ISS will finally have the appearance that artists and engineers envisioned since the space station was first proposed during the Reagan era more than 20 years ago (below). The reason for this: Astronauts will install and deploy the final set of solar wings that will bring the outpost to full electrical power once it is attached during a series of spacewalks this week. On a side note, with today’s flawless launch since the original attempt was scrubbed last Wednesday, nice to know that NASA proved me wrong.



NASA

On a personal note, it’s pretty cool that the vehicle I saw in person last month is finally up in space. With all the delays that STS-119 dealt with over the past month or so, I grew used to seeing the photos I took of Discovery as it stood at Launch Complex 39A with that protective gantry (a.k.a. the Rotating Service Structure) concealing it. Will I go back to Kennedy Space Center to actually witness a shuttle launch before it’s retired next year? As I said above, with the amount of delays a launch can unexpectedly face when you think all is going well, plus the fact I almost spent a grand going on that 4-day Florida trip last month, plus the 2010 shuttle deadline, probably not. Would I go to a launch once the Ares rockets come online (hopefully) late next decade? What do you think?

LINK: Photos I took at Kennedy Space Center

BETTER LUCK ON SUNDAY... Or should I say, April 7? If space shuttle Discovery doesn’t get off the ground by this Tuesday (March 17), then it will have to wait till the first week of April for another launch attempt. The reason for this is because Russia is planning to launch a Soyuz spacecraft carrying a new crew (Expedition 19) to the International Space Station on March 26. Here’s hoping that NASA is able to resolve what caused today’s launch scrub (a hydrogen gas leak during the fueling of the shuttle’s external tank) and have a successful lift-off this weekend.

Of course, knowing NASA’s luck since the STS-114 "Return To Flight" mission in 2005 [Shuttle launches have been delayed due to problems with foam still coming off of external tanks, issues with the tanks’ engine cut-off (ECO) fuel sensors, a freak hailstorm, the threat of an incoming hurricane, equipment failure onboard the Hubble Space Telescope and concerns over damaged 'flow control valves'. PLEASE don’t make me link to the individual shuttle missions these incidents refer to], that will most likely not be the case. But hey— Prove me wrong NASA. Prove me wrong.


NASA / Bill Ingalls

Obama Will Stick with Bush Moon Plan... This is great news, especially if you’re as much a space geek as I am. Here’s hoping Obama doesn’t get any second thoughts about this...unless he decides that NASA should try sending astronauts back to the Moon by 2018 and not 2020, haha. Anyways, here’s the article as posted on aviationweek.com, by Frank Morring, Jr.:

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"The fiscal 2010 NASA budget outline to be released by the Obama Administration Feb. 26 adds almost $700 million to the out-year figure proposed in the fiscal 2009 budget request submitted by former President Bush, and sticks with the goal of returning humans to the moon by 2020.

The $18.7 billion that Obama will request for NASA - up from $18.026 billion for fiscal 2010 in the last Bush budget request - does not include the $1 billion NASA will receive in the $787 billion stimulus package that President Barack Obama signed Feb. 16.

Aviation Week has learned that in addition to the human-lunar return, Obama wants to continue robotic exploration with probes to Mars and other Solar System destinations, as well as a space telescope to probe deeper into the universe.

He will request increases in Earth Science, in keeping with his call Feb. 24 for action on global warming. And he will ask for additional funds for the NextGen satellite-based air traffic control modernization effort within NASA's aeronautics request.

In addition to those newly requested funds, under the stimulus package the space agency will receive $400 million for back-to-the-moon exploration work; $400 million for science directed at climate-change space missions and the supercomputing capability needed for climate modeling; $150 million for aeronautics, including NextGen, and $50 million for repairs to hurricane damage suffered in 2008."

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NASA / Lockheed Martin

Before you start thinking to yourselves about how the money going to our space program (if you're American) is better spent on more social matters, like helping out "Octomom" and her 14 kids, keep in mind that NASA's budget only accounts for less than 2% of the overall federal budget (which exceeds 1 trillion dollars...despite the current economic crisis).

According to a recent survey, nearly 9 out of 10 Americans see value in America's space program. Click here for more details.


NASA / Marshall Space Flight Center

PARMAN’S PAGE Update... Yesterday, I finished creating a new section on my website devoted to my visit at Kennedy Space Center 2 weeks ago. I took more than 600 photos during my 4-day trip, but 80 are uploaded to my site (despite the fact I’m planning to print out 102 pics for my actual photo album, haha).

You can view the images by clicking here.

I’M BACK! I was gonna post a Blog after I got home from Florida last night, but was too tired to after spending more than 5 hours on the plane after it had to constantly veer away from bad weather that plagued the southern U.S. There were thunderstorms over Houston, Texas, and overlooking the fact it was cool to watch lightning flash every other second inside the clouds from the safety of my passenger cabin, it was also pretty freaky when the plane flew right next to these storm cells (which lingered off to the starboard side of the aircraft, where my seat was located). Add to this the fact there was considerable turbulence when the airliner flew through clear skies above New Mexico and Arizona. My flight landed at LAX around 9:49 PM, PST (original arrival time was 9:29 PM, PST), but I didn’t get home till a little before midnight. I didn’t go to bed till 2:30 AM, but yes, I was too tired to post a Blog.



Anyways, in terms of the trip itself, it was awesome! Completely successful. I got the pics I wanted, in front of space shuttle Discovery as it continues to get prepped for its Feb. 22 launch (on mission STS-119) from Launch Complex 39A, inside the Space Station Processing Facility and outside the mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). I also took photos of LC-39B as modifications continue to be done to it for the Constellation Program.



The weather was great! It was the complete opposite from the wind and downpour that thwarted the final days of my trip to Florida last August, thanks to Tropical Storm Fay (just click on the labels near the bottom of this journal entry for more info). I should hopefully have pics posted on my official website before, um, the end of this month. But seeing as how I took more than 600 photos during my 4-day trip, it’s gonna be pretty interesting to see which images I actually upload to my page. Stay tuned.



Oh, and one more thing... I bought some astronaut ice cream when I was at KSC. Pretty delicious.