Recent Space Photos.... (gonna miss the Shuttle too)

Before the Fall

Backlighted by sunshine streaming over Earth's horizon, the European Space Agency's Johannes Kepler automated transfer vehicle separates from the International Space Station on June 20. Stuffed with garbage—including astronaut urine—the unmanned craft tumbled back to Earth the next day, becoming a fireball over a remote section of the Pacific Ocean

Arc of an Eclipse
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In a multiple-exposure picture, the full moon emerges from near darkness as a lunar eclipse slowly ends over Seoul, South Korea, during the early morning of June 16

Ring Around the Ringed Planet
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Like a dog chasing its tail, a giant storm on Saturn encircles the ringed planet in a picture taken by NASA's Cassini orbiter on February 25 and released July 6. Cassini detected lightning strikes emitting radio waves about 10,000 times more powerful than those from Earth lightning, according to a new study in the journal Nature—likely due in part to the fact that Saturn, for reasons unknown, saves its electrical energy for decades before releasing it in massive storms.

Once More Into the Bleach
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The Rho Ophiuchi star-formation region, about 400 light-years from Earth, beguiles with its candy colors in this false-color image, but it's the relatively dim domain circled in red that excited scientists this week. Astronomers using the APEX telescope found the first known traces of hydrogen peroxide in interstellar space here, the European Southern Observatory announced Wednesday. In addition to bleaching hair, hydrogen peroxide can produce water when it reacts with hydrogen under certain circumstances—so the new discovery could help explain how Earth's earliest water came to be

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Source: news.nationalgeographic.com...#/space152-cargo-vesse l-acv-johannes-kepler-space-station_37228_600x450.jpg


I just love this stuff. I didn't know about Saturn having massive storms like that-from decades of built up energy. 10,000 time more powerful that Earth storms. Note. mental note-skratch Saturn off my bucket list..

Oh what a wonderful time our future citizens will have, after catching a ride into space with a Russian rocket, will have so much to see, explore and enjoy.

I keep thinking what our ancestors would think if they could see the stars the was we can now. And, what will the future generations be able to see and do-when it comes to Space Exploration.

Too bad we'll all be long gone by the time any major changes happen for the NASA programs.

You'll have to go to the main article for the other pics, including the one of a space shuttle being dismantled. I couldn't put that one up.

Why are they halting the Shuttles anyway? Anyone know? Too expensive? They say they're too old, but I don't buy that one. And if that was truly the real reason, then they saw this coming, so that leads to my next question:

Why is there a 5 year gap from the Shuttles to the new program? And 2012 would happen to be within that very gap! I'm thinking IF something like a comet was going to strike earth, everyone would beg with NASA to take them up, but as long as everyone thinks the Shuttles are not in use anymore, no one will be begging to get off earth before the comet strikes.

It just seems very odd that a major nation like the USA would have this big, 5 year gap in between Space Programs. What country would do that? Now we have to pay the Russians if we want to go up or put something up there? Why would they do that in this economy?

There HAS to be a reason that we don't know about...yet. No country would have a 5 year gap. They would have planned ahead to make sure the Programs over-lapped and there was no disruption in the Space Program.

reply to post by OneNationUnder


Some say it is Obama wanting to stiffle the NASA program so CHINA and it's space allies can catch up or surpass USA.

Unless the USA has something hidden up it's sleeve, they would appear to have been bushwacked and forced into closing shop.

The decision to end the Shuttle program was done before Obama's presidency.

This also isn't the first time there's been a gap in the US manned space program. NASA didn't have a manned spacecraft between 1975 (last flight of the Apollo command/service module during the apollo-soyuz test project) and 1981 (the first space shuttle flight).

It is amazing to me that I have lived from the beginning of the space age to the end of it.

reply to post by spyder550



Wow, me too. I hadn' thought of that.

As far as the comment about ending the Shuttle program... What was the talk of replacing etc?

I believe that is where the problems lays. The "next step" was also cut.

Yeah it's a shame that we won't be using our own equipment over at NASA any more. From my understand it's not a full 'shop closing', more of a temporary reprieve.

For the next few years, we'll be using the Russians to help get our astronaughts into space. I believe its at a price of about 50 million per launch. Once again, not our rockets, but still our missions.

China is who to watch as far as space missions go, now. Over the next couple of years they'll be ramping it up big time.

When you elect people who feel that a passion for learning is elitism, and funding for good teachers and education is a waste of money, people who cannot see farther than their noses or believe the US was only good around 1800.. People like this are not going to see the use of research for the sake of research -- every dime must be allocated for a dimes worth of value, these people have no imagination no true sense of greatness, no creativity.

From them we get nothing but the chafe. The end of an era.

reply to post by OneNationUnder


In 2014 they will start trying out our new space shuttle which can get to mars within 5 months instead of the shuttle we have now that would take us 5 years. Also we needed to find a more cost efficient way instead of using all that fuel, the new space ship will be controlled from earth with a some sort of magnetic system they have all planned up.
Were also upgrading our commercial airlines to planes that can travel around the world in 2 hours. Its just evolving to newer better things.