TODAY IN HISTORY: The Retired Space Shuttle Endeavour Makes Its Way To The California Science Center

Elevated walkway and visitor centre added to 12th century abbey ruins by Binario Architectes »

My question is, is the IDA going to be a standard for spacecraft? Do we have standard ports already?

Spacewalk Friday: Installing a New "Parking Spot" on Station

This Friday, Aug. 19, two U.S. astronauts will install a new gateway for American commercial crew spacecraft at the International Space Station. 

Commercial crew flights from Florida’s Space Coast to the International Space Station will restore America’s human spaceflight launch capability and increase the time U.S. crews can dedicate to scientific research.

The adapter being installed (imaged below) was launched on a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft and arrived on orbit July 20. This ring is known as an International Docking Adapter, or IDA, and its main purpose is to provide a port for spacecraft bringing astronauts to the station in the future. Outfitted with a host of sensors and systems, the adapter is built so spacecraft systems can automatically perform all the steps of arrival and docking with the station without input from the astronauts. 

NASA astronauts Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins will perform the spacewalk to install the equipment this Friday, Aug. 19. This will be the fourth spacewalk in Williams’ career and the first for Rubins.

Four previous spacewalks…like the one below…helped set the stage for installation of this docking adapter. During those previous spacewalks, other crew members laid hundreds of feet of power and data cables outside the space station. 

On Wednesday, the robotics team using the Canadarm2 and its attached “Dextre” manipulator, will reach into the SpaceX Dragon trunk and pull out the docking adapter and position it for Friday’s spacewalk activities.

The morning of the spacewalk, while the astronauts are getting suited up, the robotic arm will position the docking adaptor near the port so that it will be ready for installation.

The two astronauts will venture outside the space station to install the first International Docking Adapter (IDA). This new adapter port will provide a parking space for U.S. Commercial Crew vehicles.

Watch LIVE!

Coverage of the spacewalk begins at 6:30 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 19; with the spacewalk scheduled to begin at 8:05 a.m. EDT. Stream live online HERE. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Vote down ballot - the presidency isn't the only office of importance!

Time for another political essay. If you’re not an American citizen or able to vote in this upcoming election, my apologies.

I make no secret that I fucking despise Donald Trump. I actually like Hillary Clinton, which seems to be a weird rarity considering the amount of good work she’s done and the fact that all of the bad press about her is the result of the Republicans trying (and failing) to tear her and her husband down for thirty years.

Trump is now trailing far behind Clinton, which I consider a cause for celebration. But it is NOT a cause for complacency.

The biggest landslide election in US history was the election of Warren G. Harding in 1920, when Harding won with about 60% of the vote to his opponent’s 34.2%.

Some polls are reporting Trump with as little as 35% of the popular vote right now.

If turnout is large enough and loud enough, we can make Donald Trump the least supported major candidate in US history. Since the recording of him bragging about sexual assault came out, he has turned to dragging the whole election into the mud by striking back at Bill Clinton’s affairs; the usual goal of that kind of tactic is to drive down voter turnout. Trump’s band of Redcaps is pretty much guaranteed to vote, so they figure if they reduce turnout enough, they’ll win.

I want their plan to fail. I want their plan to fail so fucking spectacularly that NO ONE will dare to run for President on a platform of thinly-veiled fascism again.

The Republicans thought the House of Representatives was safe this year. In 2010, they gerrymandered the shit out of district lines to keep the House safe for them for at least ten years. But there’s a problem with gerrymandering: if the demographics shift unexpectedly between censuses, then suddenly a lot of districts wind up flipping against the party that the gerrymandering was meant to support. And Donald Trump is driving away the Republicans’ most secure core of voters, the evangelicals. And as I’ve said before: Congress is MORE important than the presidency.

If turnout is strong enough, and if people vote down ballot, the possibility exists for a massive upset. A Democratic presidency, a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate. They’re within our grasp. All you need to do, voters, is show up.

Motherfuckers don’t want you to vote. Young people, people of color, women, LGBTQ+ folks–they want you to be scared away, or to be convinced that voting doesn’t matter. They want your voice silenced. Don’t give the fuckers the satisfaction of letting it happen.

GO VOTE. VOTE DOWN-BALLOT. MAKE TRUMP THE BIGGEST LOSER IN US HISTORY.

IF YOU CAN’T BE BOTHERED TO VOTE OUT OF CONVICTION, THEN DO IT OUT OF SPITE.

Biomimicry in action to aid robots in walking

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZBD2tcKOU4)

learning to lead

you think you’re gonna be like

but really it’s like

hey man at least I can keep my feet while I’m turning a girl o-kay

Asteroid Terms: Explained

There are interesting asteroid characters in our solar system, including an asteroid that has its own moon and even one that is shaped like a dog bone! Our OSIRIS-REx mission launches at 7:05 p.m. EDT today and will travel to asteroid Bennu.

Scientists chose Bennu as the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission because of its composition, size and proximity to Earth. Bennu is a rare B-type asteroid (primitive and carbon-rich), which is expected to have organic compounds and water-bearing minerals like clays.

Our OSIRIS-REx mission will travel to Bennu and bring a small sample back to Earth for study.

When talking about asteroids, there are some terms scientists use that might not be in your typical vocabulary…but we’ll help with that!

Here are a few terms you should know:

Orbital Eccentricity: This number describes the shape of an asteroid’s orbit by how elliptical it is. For asteroids in orbit around the sun, eccentricity is a number between 0 and 1, with 0 being a perfectly circular orbit and 0.99 being a highly elliptical orbit.

Inclination: The angle, in degrees, of how tilted an asteroid’s orbit is compared to another plane of reference, usually the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

Orbital Period: The number of days it takes for an asteroid to revolve once around the sun. For example, the Earth’s orbital period is 365 days.

Perihelion Distance: The distance between an asteroid and the sun when the asteroid is closest to the sun.

Aphelion Distance: The distance between the asteroid and the sun when the asteroid is farthest away from the sun.

Astronomical unit: A distance unit commonly used to describe orbits of objects around the sun. The distance from the Earth to the sun is one astronomical unit, or 1 AU, equivalent to about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.

Diameter: A measure of the size of an asteroid. It is the length of a line from a point on the surface, through the center of the asteroid, extending out to the opposite surface. Irregularly shaped asteroids may have different diameters depending on which direction they are measured.

Rotation Period: The time it takes for an asteroid to complete one revolution around its axis of rotation. For example, the rotation period of the Earth is approximately 24 hours, or 1 day.

Spectral Type: The classification of an asteroid, based on a measurement of the light reflected by the asteroid. 

Watch live launch coverage of OSIRIS-REx to asteroid Bennu starting at 5:30 p.m, on NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Pretty sure that's a tank

Tinspider’s first steps at the Exploratorium! 🕷

The best squad. [ Via @awkwardyeti]