Earth

Endeavour’s last visit to the International Space Station

Pete Baker on June 8, 2011, 6:48 pm

| Readers 6

The BBC flagged up the stunning first-ever detailed image of a Space Shuttle docked at the International Space Station – Endeavour’s final voyage. Now NasaTV have released the video. The video was shot by European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli from the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that undocked from the station on May 23. He, Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman were departing the station for a return to Earth after five months on the station. Nespoli documented the …

First Orbit – 50 years on

Pete Baker on April 12, 2011, 2:24 pm

| Readers 32

On 12 April 1961, Vostok 1 was launched and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the planet. The BBC have a number of articles online as Russia marks the 50th anniversary of that flight – or, as the Guardian’s GrrlScientist calls it, Happy Yuri’s Night! Nasa have some images, and this short clip of the launch from their archives. And, if you have the time, the Guardian point to this feature length documentary, First Orbit. But remember, compared to the rest of …

Look to the north!

Pete Baker on February 17, 2011, 5:13 pm

| Readers 3

The BBC points to the possibility, given clear skies, of further displays of the Aurora Borealis being visible from Northern Ireland following a series of large solar flares – including a level X2.2 flare on the 15th, the most powerful since 2006. But, as the Professor and a separate BBC report notes, there are some practical concerns. The China Meteorological Administration reported that the solar flare caused “sudden ionospheric disturbances” in the atmosphere above China and jammed short-wave radio communications in the …