The Life of a Hurricane: 8 days in 90 seconds

Just found this amazing video from NASA! The video uses the GOES-13 satellite's images to show you Hurricane Irene's birth, life, and demise.



Tragedy and Triumph

It's a fact that soon (it's uncertain when), the Hubble Space Telescope will cease to function and as a result, will be de-orbited, causing it to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.  Hubble will go down in history for its astonishing contributions to science in addition to the thousands of breath-taking images in its portfolio.  To see everything Hubble brought us, just take a jaunt over to Hubble's main website http://hubblesite.org/ ... it's easy to spend hours at that website!  (You can even order prints of photographs the Hubble has taken, and they are reasonably priced.)

But where do you go after Hubble is gone? The answer is easy: The James Webb Space Telescope.  The Webb Space Telescope promises to take us even further back in time, to the farthest reaches of space! You can find out more about it at its main webpage at http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/. 

Recently, in New York City, a full sized model of the new space telescope was put on display.  The best part about this video is you get to see its true size!

Look for more posts in the future on the progress of the James Webb Space Telescope...

"NASA Tests Deep Space Capsule for Launch & Landing" from Space.com



There are a lot of questions out there about what is going to happen now that the Shuttle is retired.  As far as NASA is concerned, they are moving forward with the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV).  (Image above can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/582180main_Orion_LAS_full.jpg)

Here is an article with updates on how testing is going for the MPCV:

http://www.space.com/12680-nasa-deep-space-capsule-testing-orion-mpcv.html

By the way, those splash tests were a sight to see...here is a video clip (my favorite is the camera angle where the vehicle is coming straight at you!):

www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/exploration/mpcv-bta-splashtest.html



APOD: Shuttle Re-Entry Streak from Space

I had always wondered what it would look like from above to see a Shuttle as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.  Now we have a glimpse!  (This image can be found at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110801.html)

The streaking starts to occur at a point called entry interface (abbreviated EI) which occurs at an arbitrary altitude of 400,000 feet when the Shuttle begins to feel the effects of the Earth's atmosphere.

Want to know more about how a Shuttle comes home? Here is a link to the article about entry from the Human Space Flight page at NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/events/entry/.

Spaceflight Now | Space Station Mission Report | Space station could be abandoned in November

Spaceflight Now Space Station Mission Report Space station could be abandoned in November

Hopefully it doesn't come to this...so many research projects would go unfinished, and I imagine it will be hard to re-start manned missions to the ISS.