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International Space Station (ISS) and Earth of Russia and Johnson Space Center (JSC)
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Chernobyl, Ukraine
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Chernobyl, Ukraine |
| Description |
Eighteen years ago, on April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear power accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the Ukrainian-Belarus border. Toxic radionuclides like Cs137 and Sr90 contaminated an area of 155,000 square kilometers in what is today Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, sickened from radiation-induced illnesses, or resettled to uncontaminated land. Today, the immediate area remains off limits to humans. The plant was permanently closed in 2000. The surrounding agricultural land has been abandoned, and the two nearby towns (Pripyat to the north and Chernobyl to the south) where plant workers lived are largely ghost towns. Instead of people, abundant wildlife—packs of wolves, deer, and birds—roam and live near Chernobyl. This image, taken seven years ago from the Russian Mir spacecraft, shows Chernobyl and the surrounding countryside. The power plant is situated on the northwest end of a cooling pond on the Pripyat River, which flows into the Dnepr River just 80 miles north of Kiev. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16519 ] The main features visible in the image are the massive concrete dams and levees that were constructed to contain elements of the power plant and prevent contaminated runoff from entering the local streams. The cooling water canals leading to the pond, and the levees in the middle of the pond that channeled the water circulation can also be seen. The darker green regions are forests and the light green areas are cleared land used for agriculture. Image NM23-745-116 [ http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=NM23&roll=745&frame=116 ] was taken April 27, 1997, from the Russian Mir Space Station with a Hasselblad medium format camera equipped with a 250-mm lens and is provided by the Earth Observations Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The NASA-Mir program was the first phase of the International Space Station Program, [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ ] which now supports the Earth Observations Laboratory. The program trains astronauts to take pictures of Earth that are of value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. [ http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Simushir Island, Kuril Archi
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Simushir Island, Kuril Archipelago |
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Simushir is a deserted, 5-mile-wide volcanic island in the Kuril Islands chain, half way between northern Japan and the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia. Four volcanoes—Milne [ http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0900-161 ], Prevo [ http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0900-19= ], Urataman [ http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0900-191 ], and Zavaritski [ http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0900-18= ]—have built cones tall enough to rise above the green forest. The remaining remnant of Zavaritski Volcano is a caldera, formed when a volcano collapses into its emptied magma chamber. A small lake fills the innermost of three nested calderas that make up Zavaritski Caldera. The larger caldera of Urataman Volcano is connected to the sea. The islands and volcanoes of the Kuril chain are part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire," [ http://www.pbs.org/edens/kamchatka/ring.html ] marking the edge of the Pacific tectonic plate. Low stratus clouds approaching from the northwest (from the Sea of Okhotsk) bank against the northwest side of the island, forming complex cloud patterns. A small finger of cloud enters the northernmost caldera (Urataman) at sea level. When this image was taken, the cloud layer had stopped at the island's northwest coast, not flowing over even the low points between the volcanoes. The cloud pattern suggests that an air mass flowed up and over the island, descending on the southeast side. When air rises, it often cools, water vapor in the air condenses into cloud droplets. When air sinks, it often warms, causing cloud droplets to evaporate. It appears that in this situation, the descending motion of the air warmed the atmosphere enough so that a cloud-free zone formed on the southeastern, lee side, of the island. Astronaut photograph ISS015-E-26171 [ http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS015&roll=E&frame=26171 ] was acquired on September 1, 2007, with a Kodak 760C digital camera using an 180 mm lens. The image was taken by the Expedition 15 [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/index.html ] crew, and it is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. The International Space Station Program [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/home/index.html ] supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. [ http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/ ] |
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A Supply Ship Approaches the
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A Supply Ship Approaches the Space Station |
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Looking out a window of the International Space Station [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060920.html ] brings breathtaking views. Visible vistas include a vast and colorful Earth, a deep dark sky, and an occasional spaceship sent to visit the station. Visible on September 20 of last year was a Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TMA-9 ] carrying not only supplies but also three new astronauts. A few days before this picture [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-13/html/iss013e82934.html ] was taken, the U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so8axV56ujY ] had just departed. The three new approaching astronauts were American Michael E. Lopez-Alegria [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/exp14_interview_lopez-alegria.html ], Russian Mikhail Tyurin [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/exp14_interview_tyurin.html ], and Iranian-American Anousheh Ansari [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anousheh_Ansari ]. Ms. Ansari visited the International Space Station (ISS) briefly as a paying spaceflight participant for the Federal Space Agency [ http://www.roscosmos.ru/index.asp?Lang=ENG ] of Russia, and wrote a popular blog [ http://spaceblog.xprize.org/ ] about her experiences. Lopez-Alegria would lead the ISS crew dubbed Expedition 14 [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/index.html ], which included the flight engineer and Soyuz pilot Tyurin, flight engineer American Sunita Williams [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/exp14_interview_williams.html ], and flight engineer German Thomas Reiter [ http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/reiter-t.html ]. Tyurin returned [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html ] to the Earth with Lopez-Alegria this past week. |
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The Space Shuttle Docked wit
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The Space Shuttle Docked with Mir |
| Explanation |
Before there was the International Space Station [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020423.html ], the reigning orbiting spaceport was Russia's Mir. Pictured above [ http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2000-001315.html ] in 1995, the United States Space Shuttle Atlantis [ http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/atlantis.html ] docked with the segmented Mir [ http://www.cosmicimages.com/Mir/index.html ]. During shuttle mission STS-71 [ http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/shuttle/missions/sts-71/mission-sts-71.html ], astronauts answered questions from school students over amateur radio [ http://www.arrl.org/hamradio.html ] and performed science experiments [ http://www.sciserv.org/isef/ ] aboard Spacelab [ http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/sts71/sts71.stm ]. The Spacelab experiments helped to increase understanding of the effects of long-duration space flights [ http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/news/expandnews.cfm?id=988 ] on the human body [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/ ]. Last year, after 15 years of successful service, the decaying Mir space station [ http://www.russianspaceweb.com/mir_close_calls.html ] broke up as it entered [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010323.html ] the Earth's atmosphere [ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/atmosphere.html ]. |
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Mir is 10
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Mir is 10 |
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The first module of the Russian Space Agency's Mir Space Station [ http://www.osf.hq.nasa.gov/mir/Welcome.html ] was launched into orbit 10 years ago (on February 20, 1986). Mir has since been substantially expanded [ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/rsa/mir.html ] in orbit by adding additional modules including the Kvant Astrophysics Module [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/kvant.html ](1987) and recently a docking module. NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950812.html ] was modified to allow it to dock with Mir in 1995 (STS-71, [ http://lib04.jsc.nasa.gov/sts-71/ ], STS 74 [ http://lib04.jsc.nasa.gov/sts-74/glance/ ]) beginning a series of Shuttle-Mir flights [ http://www.rzg.mpg.de/~bdp/vsohp/mir-shuttle.html ] scheduled to continue through 1997. In this wide angle view - poised above planet Earth with sunlight glinting from solar panels - Mir and Atlantis are seen connected via the docking module from the perspective of the shuttle payload bay. The image is from an IMAX movie frame [ http://lib04.jsc.nasa.gov/sts-74/images/imax/ ] taken during the STS 74 mission. In late 1997, building on this jointly developed understanding and experience, the US and Russia will launch the first modules of the International Space Station [ http://issa-www.jsc.nasa.gov/ss/spacestation.html ]. |
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STS-108 Shuttle Mission Imagery |
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| General Description |
STS-108 Shuttle Mission Imagery |
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| General Description |
STS-108 Shuttle Mission Imagery |
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| General Description |
STS-108 Shuttle Mission Imagery |
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| General Description |
STS-111 Shuttle Mission Imagery |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Members of the STS-102 crew, known as the Expedition II crew, and workers from Johnson Space Center get a close look at the Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA-3) in the Space Station Processing Facility. The PMA-3 is a component of the International Space Station (ISS). Making up the Expedition II crew are James S. Voss, Susan J. Helms and Yuriy Vladimirovich Usachev, of Russia. Along with the crew, Mission STS-102 also will be carrying the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) to the ISS. The Leonardo will be filled with equipment and supplies to outfit the U.S. laboratory module, which will have been carried to the ISS on a preceding Shuttle flight. In order to function as an attached station module as well as a cargo transport, logistics modules (there are three) also include components that provide some life support, fire detection and suppression, electrical distribution and computer functions. Eventually, the modules also will carry refrigerator freezers for transporting experiment samples and food to and from the station. On the return of STS-102 to Earth, it will bring back the first crew on the station: Bill Shepherd, Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko. STS-102 is scheduled to launch no earlier than Oct. 19, 2000, from Launch Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center |
| Release Date |
12/02/1999 |
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JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, HOUSTO
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JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, HOUSTON, TEXAS - STS-111 INSIGNIA -- The STS-111 patch symbolizes the hardware, people, and partner nations that contribute to the flight. The Space Shuttle rises on the plume of the Astronaut Office symbol, carrying the Canadian Mobile Base System (MBS) for installation while docked to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission is named UF-2 for ISS Utilization Flight number two. The ISS orbit completes the Astronaut Office symbol and is colored red, white, and blue to represent the flags of the United States, Russia, France, and Costa Rica. The Earth background shows Italy, which contributes the Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) used on this flight to re-supply ISS. The ten stars in the sky represent the ten astronauts and cosmonauts on orbit during the flight, and the star at the top of the patch represents the Johnson Space Center, in the state of Texas, from which the flight is managed. The names of the STS-111 crew border the upper part of the patch, and the Expedition Five (going up) and Expedition Four (coming down) crews' names form the bottom of the patch. The NASA insignia design for Shuttle flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the forms of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which is not anticipated, the change will be publicly announced. The NASA insignia design for Space Shuttle flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the form of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which we do not anticipate, it will be publicly announced |
| Release Date |
01/02/2002 |
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