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NASA SCI Files - Stars

NASA Sci Files segment explo …

5/14/03

Description	NASA Sci Files segment exploring the different types of stars and how they are viewed through telescopes.
Date	5/14/03

NASA TV's This Week @NASA, A …

The crew of STS-131 returned …

04/23/10

Description	The crew of STS-131 returned home to Houston following their fifteen days in space aboard shuttle Discovery. * The first images are in from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, and scientists who study the sun say they are a stunning treasure trove of data about Earth's star. * NASA helped celebrate Earth Day's fortieth anniversary with nine consecutive days of activities and public exhibits on the National Mall in Washington. * Robonaut 2, or R2, as it, or he, is also known, is scheduled to become the first human-like robot to take up permanent residence on the International Space Station. * Hundreds of students from middle schools, high schools, and colleges representing 20 states were in northern Alabama for the annual Space Launch Initiative, or LaunchFest. * The STS-130 crew paid a visit to NASA Headquarters where they played highlights of their February mission to the International Space Station for employees and guests. The six-astronaut crew of space shuttle Endeavour was commanded by George Zamka, Terry Virts was the pilot, Mission Specialists were Nicholas Patrick, Bob Behnken, Steve Robinson and Kay Hire. * On April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Since then, the observatory orbiting 350 miles above Earth has produced hundreds of thousands of unprecedented images of different corners of the universe.
Date	04/23/10

OSO Launch

Title	OSO Launch
Full Description	NASA successfully launched more than 200 Earth-orbiting satellites, including Goddard's eighth Orbiting Solar Observatory aboard this Delta rocket on June 21,1975, at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite-the final in a series of spacecraft specifically designed to look at the Sun in high-energy wavelength bands that scientists cannot see on Earth-gathered data on energy transfer in the Sun's hot, gaseous atmosphere and its 11-year sunspot cycle. Sunspots are cooler regions that appear as dark patches in the visible surface of the Sun and are more plentiful every 11 years. Flares and other powerful solar events that sometimes wreak havoc with Earth's communications systems also are associated with heightened sunspot activity. In addition to looking at the Sun, the satellite investigated celestial sources of X-rays in the Milky Way and beyond. It carried eight experiments.
Date	01/01/1975
NASA Center	Goddard Space Flight Center

Dynamic Test Chamber

Title	Dynamic Test Chamber
Full Description	NASA's International Sun-Earth Explorer C (ISEE C) was undergoing testing and evaluation inside Goddard's dynamic test chamber when this photo was taken. Working inside a dynamic test chamber, Goddard engineers wear protective "clean room" clothing to prevent microscopic dust particles from damaging the sophisticated instrumentation. NASA launched the 16-sided polyhedron, which weighed 1,032 lbs. (469 kg.), from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 12, 1978. From its halo orbit 932,000 miles (1.5 million km.) from Earth, the satellite monitored the characteristics of solar phenomena about one hour before its companion satellites-ISEE-A and ISEE-B-observed the same phenomena from a much closer near-Earth orbit. The correlated measurements supported the work of 117 scientific investigators who were trying to get a better understanding of how the Sun controls Earth's near-space environment. The scientists represented 35 universities in 10 nations
Date	11/06/1976
NASA Center	Goddard Space Flight Center

Engineers checkout Early Bird-Communication Satellite

Engineers checkout Early Bir …

Title	Engineers checkout Early Bird-Communication Satellite
Full Description	Engineers Stanley R. Peterson (left) and Ray Bowerman (right), checkout the Early Bird, the world's first communication satellite. NASA launched the satellite built by Hughes Aircraft Corporation on April 6, 1955 at 6:48pm E.S.T. from Complex 17a at Cape Kennedy, Florida. Early Bird was built for the Communications Satellite Corporation and weighed about 85 pounds after being placed in a synchronous orbit of 22,300 miles above the earth. It was positioned over the Atlantic to provide 240 two-way telephone channels or 2-way television between Europe and North America. The outer surface of Early Bird was covered with 6,000 silicon-coated solar cells, which absorbed the sun's rays to provide power to the satellite for its intricate transmitting and receiving equipment.
Date	11/05/1984
NASA Center	Headquarters

Inspecting Cassini's nuclear power source

Inspecting Cassini's nuclear …

Title	Inspecting Cassini's nuclear power source
Full Description	Environmental Health Specialist Jamie A. Keeley of EG&G Florida Inc., KSC's base operations contractor, uses an ion chamber dose rate meter to measure radiation levels in one of the three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) that will provide electrical power to the Cassini spacecraft. Technicians tested and monitored four RTGs, including one spare, in the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator Storage building in KSC's Industrial Area. The RTGs use heat from the natural decay of plutonium to generate electric power. This nuclear powered system enables the spacecraft to operate far from the Sun, where solar power systems are not feasible. Similar RTGs powered the Galileo and Ulysses spacecraft. A close-up study of Saturn and its moons, the Cassini/Huygens mission launched from Cape Canaveral Air Station in October 1997 and reached the Saturnian system in July 2004 for four years of observation. Scientific instruments carried aboard the Cassini orbiter will study Saturn's atmosphere, magnetic field, rings, and several moons, while the Huygens probe will separate and land on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The Cassini-Huygens mission owes its name to the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens and Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. Both had spectacular careers as observers of the heavens, which included important discoveries about Saturn and its satellites. Huygens (1629-1695) discovered Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in 1655 and in 1656 described the shape and phase changes of Saturn's rings. Cassini (1625-1712) was the first to observe four of Saturn's moons, Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys, and Dione, in the 1670s and 1680s. He also, in 1675, discovered the gap in Saturn's rings, now called the Cassini Division, and proposed that the rings were formed from many tiny particles. Cassini-Huygens is a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). JPL is managing the Cassini project for NASA. The mission was proposed in November 1982 by a group of European and American scientists from the European Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences. The Solar System Exploration Committee of the NASA Advisory Council endorsed the idea in April 1983, and NASA and ESA began a joint assessment study in 1984. ESA officially adopted the project in November 1988, and Congress approved funding for NASA's portion of the mission in FY 89.
Date	06/17/1997
NASA Center	Kennedy Space Center

Astronomers Use Innovative Technique to Find Extrasolar Planet

Astronomers Use Innovative T …

Title	Astronomers Use Innovative Technique to Find Extrasolar Planet

Astronomers Use Innovative T …

Title	Astronomers Use Innovative Technique to Find Extrasolar Planet

Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory, measures lthe vertical motion of the Sun's surface at a million different points once a minute. The researchers used this information to calculate the time it takes sounds to travel between many different points on the solar surface. Because the paths of these sound waves loop down into the interior, the scientists can use this information to map the temperature and flow patterns beneath the surface. "We can do this by using a maghematical technique similar to that used in computer-aided tomography to produce CAT scans," Duvall said. Thus, after a solid week of number crunching on a supercomputer, the researchers were able to reconstruct a picture of the three-dimensional flows in a volume at the Sun's equator that extends for 110,000 miles horizontally and penetrates to a depth of 4,800 miles below the photosphere. Additional observations at other times and locations are needed to determine whether the features that the map reveals are characteristic, the scientists stress. Nevertheless, it provides a tantalizing first view of how the convection zone is organized internally. For example, the map provides the first direct evidence for the depth of the features called granuled, which cover the face of the Sun and are typically about 1,000 miles across. Granules typically are organized into larger domaine called supergranules that average about 15,000 miles across. Theoretical calculations predicted that supergranule thickness should be between 25 and 30 percent of their width. But the mapping effort suggests that they are shaped more like pancakes, with a thickness only one-tenth of their width. More significantly, the new map shows no evidence of giant convection cells that had been predicted by a popular theory called the global circulation model, the scientists said. It does, however, show evidence of narrow plumes of cooler gases streaming downward toward the boundary with the radiative layer - a view consistent with the result of some numerical simulations of the region. According to the simulations, these plumes extend all the way down to the boundary between the convective and radiative zones. When the material in the plumes plunges into the radiative zone, it may create the magnetic loops that produce the fiery flares that rise above the Sun's surface and that are intimately involved in the formation of sunspots. Surprisingly, however, the plumes appear to originate from the middle of the supergranuled, rather than at their edges as had been proposed. Onboard SOHO, the doppler imager has begun a continuous, 60-day observing program. This will allow the researchers to make a "movie" of this part of the convection zone so that they can observe how its structure changes over time.

First Map of Subsurface Flow …

Description

First Map of Subsurface Flows in the Sun's Convection Zone This map provides the first view of an important part of the Sun's interior, the region call the convection zone. The convection zone lies directly beneath the photosphere, which forms the Sun's visible surface and effectively hides what is below. As a result, very little is known about the convection zone's internal structure, despite the fact that it is the source of sunspots, solar flares and most other forms of solar activity that affect Earth. "This map is important for two reasons," said team member Alexander G. Kosovichev, a senior research scientist at Stanford. "First, it gives us a new window into the solar interior. Second, it appears to provide support for one of two theories that have been proposed to explain the dynamics of this region." Kosovichev and Thomas L. Duvall, Jr., a scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD., reported the successful mapping effort on Tuesday, June 11, at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society held in Madison, Wis. Also collaborating on the project were Stanford physics research Professor Philip H. Scherrer and Peter N. Milford of Parallel rules Inc. of Los Gatos, Calif. The Scientists constructed the map using detailed data of the Sun's surface motion provided by an instrument called a doppler imager carried aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. SOHO is a $1.1 billion spacecraft that is a joint project of the European Space Agency and NASA. The observatory was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida last December and now has taken up a station 930,000 miles sunward from the Earth. Its mission is to provide new knowledge about the Sun, Earth's nearest star. Accordfing to current understanding, the Sun's interior is divided into threevery different regions: The core, which extends out about 100,000 miles for the Sun's center, contains about half of its mass and generates about 98 percent of its energy through processes of nuclear fusion. Next, there is a relatively stable radiative zone that conducts heat smoothly from the core to within 125,000 miles of the Sun's surface. Finally, there is the convection zone, where the Sun's gases boil much like water in a pot on the stove, forming giant cells of rising and falling gases that carry heat to the surface. Most knowledge about the Sun has come form studying the light emitted from the photosphere. Although the photosphere is only about 200 miles thick, it has proven very difficult for scientists to pierce its fiery veil. In the last 30 years, solar scientists have developed a technique called global helioseismology, which uses low-pitched sound waves to study the Sun's deep interior. This method has allowed researchers to measure limportant properties of the solar interior, such as temperature and rotational variation. But it has not provided much information about the convection layer. The Michelson Doppler Imager on board SOHO, built by Stanford and, Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory, measures lthe vertical motion of the Sun's surface at a million different points once a minute. The researchers used this information to calculate the time it takes sounds to travel between many different points on the solar surface. Because the paths of these sound waves loop down into the interior, the scientists can use this information to map the temperature and flow patterns beneath the surface. "We can do this by using a maghematical technique similar to that used in computer-aided tomography to produce CAT scans," Duvall said. Thus, after a solid week of number crunching on a supercomputer, the researchers were able to reconstruct a picture of the three-dimensional flows in a volume at the Sun's equator that extends for 110,000 miles horizontally and penetrates to a depth of 4,800 miles below the photosphere. Additional observations at other times and locations are needed to determine whether the features that the map reveals are characteristic, the scientists stress. Nevertheless, it provides a tantalizing first view of how the convection zone is organized internally. For example, the map provides the first direct evidence for the depth of the features called granuled, which cover the face of the Sun and are typically about 1,000 miles across. Granules typically are organized into larger domaine called supergranules that average about 15,000 miles across. Theoretical calculations predicted that supergranule thickness should be between 25 and 30 percent of their width. But the mapping effort suggests that they are shaped more like pancakes, with a thickness only one-tenth of their width. More significantly, the new map shows no evidence of giant convection cells that had been predicted by a popular theory called the global circulation model, the scientists said. It does, however, show evidence of narrow plumes of cooler gases streaming downward toward the boundary with the radiative layer - a view consistent with the result of some numerical simulations of the region. According to the simulations, these plumes extend all the way down to the boundary between the convective and radiative zones. When the material in the plumes plunges into the radiative zone, it may create the magnetic loops that produce the fiery flares that rise above the Sun's surface and that are intimately involved in the formation of sunspots. Surprisingly, however, the plumes appear to originate from the middle of the supergranuled, rather than at their edges as had been proposed. Onboard SOHO, the doppler imager has begun a continuous, 60-day observing program. This will allow the researchers to make a "movie" of this part of the convection zone so that they can observe how its structure changes over time.

MAP '05 Models Hurricane Katrina's Winds from August 23, 2005 through August 31, 2005

MAP '05 Models Hurricane Kat …

Title	MAP '05 Models Hurricane Katrina's Winds from August 23, 2005 through August 31, 2005
Abstract	During the summer of 2005, the Earth-Sun Exploration Division of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center(GSFC) brought together resources from NASA to study tropical cyclones. The MAP '05 Project, so named for its affiliation with NASA's Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction (MAP) program, applies NASA's advanced satellite remote sensing technologies and earth system modeling capabilities to improve our understanding of tropical cyclones that develop in and move across the Atlantic basin. MAP '05 implemented the most recent version of the NASA/Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) fifth-generation global atmospheric model and the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) analysis system under development as a collaboration between NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at GSFC. This animation displays MAP '05's wind analysis data for every 6 hour interval from August 23 through August 31, 2005.
Completed	2006-05-30

MAP '05 Models Hurricane Kat …

Title	MAP '05 Models Hurricane Katrina's Winds from August 23, 2005 through August 31, 2005
Abstract	During the summer of 2005, the Earth-Sun Exploration Division of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center(GSFC) brought together resources from NASA to study tropical cyclones. The MAP '05 Project, so named for its affiliation with NASA's Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction (MAP) program, applies NASA's advanced satellite remote sensing technologies and earth system modeling capabilities to improve our understanding of tropical cyclones that develop in and move across the Atlantic basin. MAP '05 implemented the most recent version of the NASA/Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) fifth-generation global atmospheric model and the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) analysis system under development as a collaboration between NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at GSFC. This animation displays MAP '05's wind analysis data for every 6 hour interval from August 23 through August 31, 2005.
Completed	2006-05-30

The sun sets on the Space Shuttle Discovery during post-flight processing in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD), following its landing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. The gantry-like MDD structure is used for servicing the shuttle orbiters in preparation for their ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including mounting the shuttle atop NASA?s modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Space Shuttle Discovery landed safely at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 5:11:22 a.m. PDT, August 9, 2005, following the very successful 14-day STS-114 return to flight mission. During their two weeks in space, Commander Eileen Collins and her six crewmates tested out new safety procedures and delivered supplies and equipment the International Space Station. Discovery spent two weeks in space, where the crew demonstrated new methods to inspect and repair the Shuttle in orbit. The crew also delivered supplies, outfitted and performed maintenance on the International Space Station. A number of these tasks were conducted during three spacewalks. In an unprecedented event, spacewalkers were called upon to remove protruding gap fillers from the heat shield on Discovery's underbelly. In other spacewalk activities, astronauts installed an external platform onto the Station's Quest Airlock and replaced one of the orbital outpost's Control Moment Gyroscopes. Inside the Station, the STS-114 crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition 11 crew. They unloaded fresh supplies from the Shuttle and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. Before Discovery undocked, the crews filled Raffeallo with unneeded items and returned to Shuttle payload bay. Discovery launched on July 26 and spent almost 14 days on orbit.

Photo Description	The sun sets on the Space Shuttle Discovery during post-flight processing in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD), following its landing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. The gantry-like MDD structure is used for servicing the shuttle orbiters in preparation for their ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including mounting the shuttle atop NASA?s modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Space Shuttle Discovery landed safely at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 5:11:22 a.m. PDT, August 9, 2005, following the very successful 14-day STS-114 return to flight mission. During their two weeks in space, Commander Eileen Collins and her six crewmates tested out new safety procedures and delivered supplies and equipment the International Space Station. Discovery spent two weeks in space, where the crew demonstrated new methods to inspect and repair the Shuttle in orbit. The crew also delivered supplies, outfitted and performed maintenance on the International Space Station. A number of these tasks were conducted during three spacewalks. In an unprecedented event, spacewalkers were called upon to remove protruding gap fillers from the heat shield on Discovery's underbelly. In other spacewalk activities, astronauts installed an external platform onto the Station's Quest Airlock and replaced one of the orbital outpost's Control Moment Gyroscopes. Inside the Station, the STS-114 crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition 11 crew. They unloaded fresh supplies from the Shuttle and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. Before Discovery undocked, the crews filled Raffeallo with unneeded items and returned to Shuttle payload bay. Discovery launched on July 26 and spent almost 14 days on orbit.
Photo Date	August 14, 2005

Photo Description	The sun sets on the Space Shuttle Discovery during post-flight processing in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD), following its landing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. The gantry-like MDD structure is used for servicing the shuttle orbiters in preparation for their ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including mounting the shuttle atop NASA?s modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Space Shuttle Discovery landed safely at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 5:11:22 a.m. PDT, August 9, 2005, following the very successful 14-day STS-114 return to flight mission. During their two weeks in space, Commander Eileen Collins and her six crewmates tested out new safety procedures and delivered supplies and equipment the International Space Station. Discovery spent two weeks in space, where the crew demonstrated new methods to inspect and repair the Shuttle in orbit. The crew also delivered supplies, outfitted and performed maintenance on the International Space Station. A number of these tasks were conducted during three spacewalks. In an unprecedented event, spacewalkers were called upon to remove protruding gap fillers from the heat shield on Discovery's underbelly. In other spacewalk activities, astronauts installed an external platform onto the Station's Quest Airlock and replaced one of the orbital outpost's Control Moment Gyroscopes. Inside the Station, the STS-114 crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition 11 crew. They unloaded fresh supplies from the Shuttle and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. Before Discovery undocked, the crews filled Raffeallo with unneeded items and returned to Shuttle payload bay. Discovery launched on July 26 and spent almost 14 days on orbit.
Photo Date	August 14, 2005

Photo Description	The sun sets on the Space Shuttle Discovery during post-flight processing in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD), following its landing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. The gantry-like MDD structure is used for servicing the shuttle orbiters in preparation for their ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including mounting the shuttle atop NASA?s modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Space Shuttle Discovery landed safely at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 5:11:22 a.m. PDT, August 9, 2005, following the very successful 14-day STS-114 return to flight mission. During their two weeks in space, Commander Eileen Collins and her six crewmates tested out new safety procedures and delivered supplies and equipment the International Space Station. Discovery spent two weeks in space, where the crew demonstrated new methods to inspect and repair the Shuttle in orbit. The crew also delivered supplies, outfitted and performed maintenance on the International Space Station. A number of these tasks were conducted during three spacewalks. In an unprecedented event, spacewalkers were called upon to remove protruding gap fillers from the heat shield on Discovery's underbelly. In other spacewalk activities, astronauts installed an external platform onto the Station's Quest Airlock and replaced one of the orbital outpost's Control Moment Gyroscopes. Inside the Station, the STS-114 crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition 11 crew. They unloaded fresh supplies from the Shuttle and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. Before Discovery undocked, the crews filled Raffeallo with unneeded items and returned to Shuttle payload bay. Discovery launched on July 26 and spent almost 14 days on orbit.
Photo Date	August 14, 2005

The first rays of the morning sun light up the side of NASA?s Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) as it departs for the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, with the orbiter from STS-35 attached to its back.

STS-35 Leaves Dryden on 747 …

Photo Description	The first rays of the morning sun light up the side of NASA?s Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) as it departs for the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, with the orbiter from STS-35 attached to its back.
Project Description	470,000 pounds. The engines burn a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. In orbit, the Space Shuttles circle the earth at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour with each orbit taking about 90 minutes. A Space Shuttle crew sees a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. When Space Shuttle flights began in April 1981, Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, was the primary landing site for the Shuttles. Now Kennedy Space Center, Florida, is the primary landing site with Dryden remaining as the principal alternate landing site., Space Shuttles are the main element of America?s Space Transportation System and are used for space research and other space applications. The shuttles are the first vehicles capable of being launched into space and returning to Earth on a routine basis. Space Shuttles are used as orbiting laboratories in which scientists and mission specialists conduct a wide variety of scientific experiments. Crews aboard shuttles place satellites in orbit, rendezvous with satellites to carry out repair missions and return them to space, and retrieve satellites and return them to Earth for refurbishment and reuse. Space Shuttles are true aerospace vehicles. They leave Earth and its atmosphere under rocket power provided by three liquid-propellant main engines with two solid-propellant boosters attached plus an external liquid-fuel tank. After their orbital missions, they streak back through the atmosphere and land like airplanes. The returning shuttles, however, land like gliders, without power and on runways. Other rockets can place heavy payloads into orbit, but, they can only be used once. Space Shuttles are designed to be continually reused. When Space Shuttles are used to transport complete scientific laboratories into space, the laboratories remain inside the payload bay throughout the mission. They are then removed after the Space Shuttle returns to Earth and can be reused on future flights. Some of these orbital laboratories, like the Spacelab, provide facilities for several specialists to conduct experiments in such fields as medicine, astronomy, and materials manufacturing. Some types of satellites deployed by Space Shuttles include those involved in environmental and resources protection, astronomy, weather forecasting, navigation, oceanographic studies, and other scientific fields. The Space Shuttles can also launch spacecraft into orbits higher than the Shuttle?s altitude limit through the use of Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) propulsion units. After release from the Space Shuttle payload bay, the IUS is ignited to carry the spacecraft into deep space. The Space Shuttles are also being used to carry elements of the International Space Station into space where they are assembled in orbit. The Space Shuttles were built by Rockwell International?s Space Transportation Systems Division, Downey, California. Rockwell?s Rocketdyne Division (now part of Boeing) builds the three main engines, and Thiokol, Brigham City, Utah, makes the solid rocket booster motors. Martin Marietta Corporation (now Lockheed Martin), New Orleans, Louisiana, makes the external tanks. Each orbiter (Space Shuttle) is 121 feet long, has a wingspan of 78 feet, and a height of 57 feet. The Space Shuttle is approximately the size of a DC-9 commercial airliner and can carry a payload of 65,000 pounds into orbit. The payload bay is 60 feet long and 15 feet in diameter. Each main engine is capable of producing a sea level thrust of 375,000 pounds and a vacuum (orbital) thrust of
Photo Date	December 1990

The Space Shuttle Discovery settles to the main runway at Edwards, California, at 2:13 p.m. (PDT) 20 September 1994, to conclude mission STS-64. The spacecraft, with a crew of six, was launched into a 57-degree high inclination orbit from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 3:23 p.m. (PDT), 9 September 1994. The mission featured the study of clouds and the atmosphere with a laser beaming system called Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE), and the first untethered space walk in over ten years. A Spartan satellite was also deployed and later retrieved in the study of the sun's corona and the solar wind. The mission was scheduled to end Sunday, 18 September, but was extended one day to continue science work. Bad weather at the Kennedy Space Center on September 19, forced a one-day delay to September 20, with a weather divert that day to Edwards. Mission commander was Richard Richards, the pilot Blaine Hammond, while mission specialists were Jerry Linenger, Susan Helms, Carl Meade, and Mark Lee.

STS-64 Landing at Edwards

Photo Description	The Space Shuttle Discovery settles to the main runway at Edwards, California, at 2:13 p.m. (PDT) 20 September 1994, to conclude mission STS-64. The spacecraft, with a crew of six, was launched into a 57-degree high inclination orbit from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 3:23 p.m. (PDT), 9 September 1994. The mission featured the study of clouds and the atmosphere with a laser beaming system called Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE), and the first untethered space walk in over ten years. A Spartan satellite was also deployed and later retrieved in the study of the sun's corona and the solar wind. The mission was scheduled to end Sunday, 18 September, but was extended one day to continue science work. Bad weather at the Kennedy Space Center on September 19, forced a one-day delay to September 20, with a weather divert that day to Edwards. Mission commander was Richard Richards, the pilot Blaine Hammond, while mission specialists were Jerry Linenger, Susan Helms, Carl Meade, and Mark Lee.
Project Description	470,000 pounds. The engines burn a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. In orbit, the Space Shuttles circle the earth at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour with each orbit taking about 90 minutes. A Space Shuttle crew sees a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. When Space Shuttle flights began in April 1981, Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, was the primary landing site for the Shuttles. Now Kennedy Space Center, Florida, is the primary landing site with Dryden, Space Shuttles are the main element of America?s Space Transportation System and are used for space research and other space applications. The shuttles are the first vehicles capable of being launched into space and returning to Earth on a routine basis. Space Shuttles are used as orbiting laboratories in which scientists and mission specialists conduct a wide variety of scientific experiments. Crews aboard shuttles place satellites in orbit, rendezvous with satellites to carry out repair missions and return them to space, and retrieve satellites and return them to Earth for refurbishment and reuse. Space Shuttles are true aerospace vehicles. They leave Earth and its atmosphere under rocket power provided by three liquid-propellant main engines with two solid-propellant boosters attached plus an external liquid-fuel tank. After their orbital missions, they streak back through the atmosphere and land like airplanes. The returning shuttles, however, land like gliders, without power and on runways. Other rockets can place heavy payloads into orbit, but, they can only be used once. Space Shuttles are designed to be continually reused. When Space Shuttles are used to transport complete scientific laboratories into space, the laboratories remain inside the payload bay throughout the mission. They are then removed after the Space Shuttle returns to Earth and can be reused on future flights. Some of these orbital laboratories, like the Spacelab, provide facilities for several specialists to conduct experiments in such fields as medicine, astronomy, and materials manufacturing. Some types of satellites deployed by Space Shuttles include those involved in environmental and resources protection, astronomy, weather forecasting, navigation, oceanographic studies, and other scientific fields. The Space Shuttles can also launch spacecraft into orbits higher than the Shuttle?s altitude limit through the use of Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) propulsion units. After release from the Space Shuttle payload bay, the IUS is ignited to carry the spacecraft into deep space. The Space Shuttles are also being used to carry elements of the International Space Station into space where they are assembled in orbit. The Space Shuttles were built by Rockwell International?s Space Transportation Systems Division, Downey, California. Rockwell?s Rocketdyne Division (now part of Boeing) builds the three main engines, and Thiokol, Brigham City, Utah, makes the solid rocket booster motors. Martin Marietta Corporation (now Lockheed Martin), New Orleans, Louisiana, makes the external tanks. Each orbiter (Space Shuttle) is 121 feet long, has a wingspan of 78 feet, and a height of 57 feet. The Space Shuttle is approximately the size of a DC-9 commercial airliner and can carry a payload of 65,000 pounds into orbit. The payload bay is 60 feet long and 15 feet in diameter. Each main engine is capable of producing a sea level thrust of 375,000 pounds and a vacuum (orbital) thrust of
Photo Date	September 1994

The Space Shuttle Discovery, mated to NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), takes to the air for its ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft, with a crew of six, was launched into a 57-degree high inclination orbit from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 3:23 p.m., 9 September 1994. The mission featured the study of clouds and the atmosphere with a laser beaming system called Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE), and the first untethered space walk in ten years. A Spartan satellite was also deployed and later retrieved in the study of the sun's corona and solar wind. The mission was scheduled to end Sunday, 18 September, but was extended one day to continue science work. Bad weather at the Kennedy Space Center on 19 September, forced a one-day delay to September 20, with a weather divert that day to Edwards. Mission commander was Richard Richards, the pilot Blaine Hammond, while mission specialists were Jerry Linenger, Susan Helms, Carl Meade, and Mark Lee.

Photo Description	The Space Shuttle Discovery, mated to NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), takes to the air for its ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft, with a crew of six, was launched into a 57-degree high inclination orbit from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 3:23 p.m., 9 September 1994. The mission featured the study of clouds and the atmosphere with a laser beaming system called Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE), and the first untethered space walk in ten years. A Spartan satellite was also deployed and later retrieved in the study of the sun's corona and solar wind. The mission was scheduled to end Sunday, 18 September, but was extended one day to continue science work. Bad weather at the Kennedy Space Center on 19 September, forced a one-day delay to September 20, with a weather divert that day to Edwards. Mission commander was Richard Richards, the pilot Blaine Hammond, while mission specialists were Jerry Linenger, Susan Helms, Carl Meade, and Mark Lee.
Project Description	470,000 pounds. The engines burn a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. In orbit, the Space Shuttles circle the earth at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour with each orbit taking about 90 minutes. A Space Shuttle crew sees a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. When Space Shuttle flights began in April 1981, Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, was the primary landing site for the Shuttles. Now Kennedy Space Center, Florida, is the primary landing site with Dryden remaining as the principal alternate landing site., Space Shuttles are the main element of America?s Space Transportation System and are used for space research and other space applications. The shuttles are the first vehicles capable of being launched into space and returning to Earth on a routine basis. Space Shuttles are used as orbiting laboratories in which scientists and mission specialists conduct a wide variety of scientific experiments. Crews aboard shuttles place satellites in orbit, rendezvous with satellites to carry out repair missions and return them to space, and retrieve satellites and return them to Earth for refurbishment and reuse. Space Shuttles are true aerospace vehicles. They leave Earth and its atmosphere under rocket power provided by three liquid-propellant main engines with two solid-propellant boosters attached plus an external liquid-fuel tank. After their orbital missions, they streak back through the atmosphere and land like airplanes. The returning shuttles, however, land like gliders, without power and on runways. Other rockets can place heavy payloads into orbit, but, they can only be used once. Space Shuttles are designed to be continually reused. When Space Shuttles are used to transport complete scientific laboratories into space, the laboratories remain inside the payload bay throughout the mission. They are then removed after the Space Shuttle returns to Earth and can be reused on future flights. Some of these orbital laboratories, like the Spacelab, provide facilities for several specialists to conduct experiments in such fields as medicine, astronomy, and materials manufacturing. Some types of satellites deployed by Space Shuttles include those involved in environmental and resources protection, astronomy, weather forecasting, navigation, oceanographic studies, and other scientific fields. The Space Shuttles can also launch spacecraft into orbits higher than the Shuttle?s altitude limit through the use of Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) propulsion units. After release from the Space Shuttle payload bay, the IUS is ignited to carry the spacecraft into deep space. The Space Shuttles are also being used to carry elements of the International Space Station into space where they are assembled in orbit. The Space Shuttles were built by Rockwell International?s Space Transportation Systems Division, Downey, California. Rockwell?s Rocketdyne Division (now part of Boeing) builds the three main engines, and Thiokol, Brigham City, Utah, makes the solid rocket booster motors. Martin Marietta Corporation (now Lockheed Martin), New Orleans, Louisiana, makes the external tanks. Each orbiter (Space Shuttle) is 121 feet long, has a wingspan of 78 feet, and a height of 57 feet. The Space Shuttle is approximately the size of a DC-9 commercial airliner and can carry a payload of 65,000 pounds into orbit. The payload bay is 60 feet long and 15 feet in diameter. Each main engine is capable of producing a sea level thrust of 375,000 pounds and a vacuum (orbital) thrust of
Photo Date	September 1994

Anticrepuscular Rays Over Fl …

Title	Anticrepuscular Rays Over Florida
Explanation	What's happening over the horizon? Although the scene may appear somehow supernatural [ http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/astrology.html ], nothing more unusual is occurring than a setting Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980526.html ] and some well placed clouds. Strangely, the actual sunset was occurring in the opposite direction from where the camera was pointing. Pictured above are anticrepuscular rays [ http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/atoptics/anti1.htm ]. To understand them, start by picturing common crepuscular rays [ http://www.ems.psu.edu/~demark/471/CrepuscularRays.html ] that are seen any time that sunlight pours though scattered clouds. Now although sunlight indeed travels along straight lines [ http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/patricia/grelb.html ], the projections of these lines onto the spherical sky [ http://math.rice.edu/~pcmi/sphere/ ] are great circles [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_circles ]. Therefore, the crepuscular rays [ http://www.allthesky.com/atmosphere/sunrays.html ] from a setting (or rising) sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030123.html ] will appear to re-converge on the other side of the sky. At the anti-solar point 180 degrees around from the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/sun.html ], they are referred to as anticrepuscular rays [ http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/atoptics/antray2.htm ]. While enjoying the sunset after visiting NASA's Kennedy Space Center [ http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/index.html ] in Florida [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida ], the photographer chanced to find that an even more spectacular sight was occurring in the other direction just over the Atlantic Ocean [ https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/zh.html ] -- a particularly vivid set of anticrepuscular rays [ http://www.gcrg.org/bqr/6-4/optics.htm ].

A 2000 Leonid Through Orion

Title	A 2000 Leonid Through Orion
Explanation	The Leonid Meteor Shower this year could be described as good but not great. During November 17 and 18 the Earth crossed through several streams of sand-sized grit [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981121.html ] left orbiting the Sun by Comet Tempel-Tuttle [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991113.html ]. Several distinct peaks in meteor activity were reported [ http://www.imo.net/leo99/leo99index.html ], with rates approaching 400 meteors per hour for brief periods for some dark locations. Pictured above, a Leonid meteor [ http://leonids.hq.nasa.gov/leonids/ ] was caught from Florida [ http://www.state.fl.us ] streaking through the constellation of Orion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000611.html ] on the morning of 2000 November 18. Visible as a red-tinged smudge to the left of the three nearly linear stars that compose Orion's belt [ http://www.itss.raytheon.com/cafe/qadir/q1981.html ] is the picturesque star-forming region known as the Orion Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001122.html ]. Next year, the Leonids Meteor Shower is expected [ http://www.arm.ac.uk/leonid/info2000.html ] by many to be much more active.

Discovery Spring

Title	Discovery Spring
Explanation	Welcome to the equinox [ http://solar.physics.montana.edu/YPOP/Classroom/Lessons/ Sundials/equinox.html ]! Moving northward in Earth's sky, today the Sun crosses [ http://www.analemma.com/ ] the celestial equator at 13:31 Universal Time [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/UT.html ] bringing Spring to the north and Fall to the south. The change of season is known as an equinox as the Sun rises [ http://solar.physics.montana.edu/YPOP/Classroom/Lessons/ Sundials/sundials.html ] due east on the horizon and sets due west -- providing an equal night [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000923.html ], 12 night and 12 daylight hours, for both northern and southern hemispheres. In this picture [ http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/captions/ 2001/mar/01pp0440.htm ] from March 8, the Sun peers over the eastern horizon at the space shuttle Discovery's dramatic morning launch on mission STS-102. Having delivered supplies and taxied crew to the International Space Station [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010228.html ], Discovery will remain in orbit for this first day of northern hemisphere Spring. Discovery is scheduled to land [ http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/nasafact/landing.htm ] at Kennedy Space Center [ http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/ ] in Florida early tomorrow.

Atlantis Landing

Title	Atlantis Landing
Explanation	Space Shuttle Atlantis [ http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/atlantis.html ] lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Space Shuttle is the first orbital space vehicle to land on a runway like an airplane. Space Shuttles sometimes have the option of landing in White Sands, New Mexico or at the Shuttle Landing Facility [ http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/facilities/slf.html ] at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The runways the shuttles land on are among the longest in the world. Shuttles that do not land in Florida must generally be strapped to the back of a 747 airplane and flown back. Tomorrow's picture: The Sun Flares

A Cloud Shadow Sunrise

Title	A Cloud Shadow Sunrise
Explanation	What could cause a ray of dark? Such a ray was caught in spectacular fashion above the Florida Everglades [ http://www.nps.gov/ever/ ] two years ago. The cause is something surprisingly familiar: a shadow [ http://pbskids.org/zoom/do/shadowanimals.html ]. The gold-tinged cloud near the horizon blocks sunlight [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010219.html ] from reflecting off air behind the cloud, making that column of air appear unusually dark [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990830.html ]. Cloud shadows [ http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/atoptics/clshad.htm ] can be thought of the inverse of the more commonly highlighted crepuscular rays [ http://www.ems.psu.edu/~demark/471/CrepuscularRays.html ], where sunlight pours though [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011030.html ] cloud holes. Another seemingly opposite phenomenon, a sun pillar [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010313.html ], involves small ice crystals floating [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020227.html http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/ice/sp.rxml ] high in the atmosphere.

New Horizons Launches to Plu …

Title	New Horizons Launches to Pluto
Explanation	Destination: Pluto. The New Horizons [ http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/mission_timeline.html ] spacecraft roared off its launch pad at Cape Canaveral [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011022.html ] in Florida [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida ], USA [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html ] last week toward adventures in the distant Solar System [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ]. The craft is one of the fastest spaceships [ http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=46995 ] ever launched [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap041212.html ] by humans, having passed the Moon only nine hours after launch and is on track to buzz Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050911.html ] in early 2007. Even traveling over 75,000 kilometers per hour, the New Horizons craft [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons ] will not arrive at Pluto until 2015. Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011018.html ] is the only remaining planet that has never been visited by a spacecraft or photographed up close. After Pluto [ http://www.nineplanets.org/pluto.html ], the robot spaceship will visit one or more Kuiper Belt Objects [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt ] orbiting the Sun even further out than Pluto. Pictured [ http://www.launchphotography.com/NewHorizons.html ], the New Horizons craft launches into space [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020724.html ] atop a powerful Atlas V [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020916.html ] rocket.

Altair

Title	Altair
Description	For the first time ever, a star spinning so fast its mid-section is stretched out has been directly measured by an ultra-high-resolution NASA telescope system on Palomar Mountain near San Diego."Measuring the shape of this star, Altair, was as difficult as standing in Los Angeles, looking at a hen's egg in New York, and trying to prove that it's oval-shaped and not circular," said Dr. Charles Beichman, chief scientist for astronomy and physics at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Altair is a well-known member of the Summer Triangle, clearly visible in the summer night sky across the United States. Scientists using the Palomar Testbed Interferometer, which links multiple telescopes, measured the star's radius at different angles on the sky. They noticed the size of the star varied with changing angles, which was the first tip-off that Altair is not perfectly round."This surprising observation led to a bit of challenging detective work to properly interpret the data," said principal investigator Dr. Gerard van Belle of JPL. "We measured the size of another star, Vega, at the same time, which didn't change with angle, so we knew this wasn't just a fluke of the telescope." Previous studies of Altair raised the prospect that the star might have midriff bulge, but never before had the shape been measured directly. Earlier measurements of the star's spectrum, or light-wave pattern, had hinted that Altair was rotating very fast. When a gaseous orb, like a star, spins fast enough, it tends to expand at the middle, like a beach ball that is squeezed at the top and bottom. Altair is a perfect example -- it rotates at least once every 10.4 hours, and the new Palomar observations reveal the diameter at its equator is at least 14 percent greater than at its poles. For a star that spins slowly, this effect is miniscule. For example, our Sun rotates once every 30 days and has an equator only .001 percent greater in diameter than its poles. By measuring Altair's size at separate positions along its edge, van Belle and his colleagues determined that Altair rotates at a speed of at least 210 kilometers per second (470,000 miles per hour) at the equator. Future studies may pin down the speed more precisely."Determining the shape of another star helps us learn about the forces that control the shape and structure of all stars, including our star, the Sun," Beichman said. "This tells us more about the Sun's behavior and ultimate fate." The Palomar Testbed Interferometer has three 50-centimeter (20-inch) telescopes. To study Altair, the telescopes were used two at a time. The combined light from the telescope pairs provided sharpness comparable to a telescope as large as a football field."Altair is the twelfth brightest star in the sky -- you'd think that everything there is to know about this star would have been discovered already," said co-investigator Dr. David Ciardi of the University of Florida, Gainesville. "It's a good example of, the surprises you're going to encounter when you are able to look at even familiar stars with unprecedented resolution." The Palomar Testbed Interferometer is paving the way for the Keck Interferometer, Space Interferometry Mission and Terrestrial Planet Finder, all part of NASA's Origins program. The program will hunt for Earthlike planets that might harbor life around other stars. "In the long run, we'll use these interferometric capabilities to search for planets around nearby stars. This is an important first step," said Beichman. Van Belle and Ciardi co-authored the Altair paper, scheduled to appear in the October 1 issue of the Astrophysical Journal, with Robert Thompson of JPL and the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Dr. Rachel Akeson of the JPL/Caltech Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Pasadena, Calif., and Dr. Elizabeth Lada of the University of Florida, Gainesville. Their research was funded by NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C., along with the National Science Foundation. Palomar Observatory is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, which also manages JPL for NASA. The Palomar Testbed Interferometer was designed and built by a team of JPL researchers led by Drs. Mark Colavita and Michael Shao. Funded by NASA and managed by JPL, the interferometer is located at the Palomar Observatory near the historic 200-inch Hale Telescope. Images and animation of Altair are available athttp://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/stars/index.html [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/stars/index.html ]. Information on the Palomar Testbed Interferometer is available athttp://huey.jpl.nasa.gov/palomar [ http://huey.jpl.nasa.gov/palomar ]. Information on NASA's Origins Program is available athttp://origins.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://origins.jpl.nasa.gov ].
Date	12.01.1999

STS-35 Leaves Dryden on 747 …

Title	STS-35 Leaves Dryden on 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) Bound for Kennedy Space Center
Description	The first rays of the morning sun light up the side of NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) as it departs for the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, with the orbiter from STS-35 attached to its back. Space Shuttles are the main element of America's Space Transportation System and are used for space research and other space applications. The shuttles are the first vehicles capable of being launched into space and returning to Earth on a routine basis. Space Shuttles are used as orbiting laboratories in which scientists and mission specialists conduct a wide variety of scientific experiments. Crews aboard shuttles place satellites in orbit, rendezvous with satellites to carry out repair missions and return them to space, and retrieve satellites and return them to Earth for refurbishment and reuse. Space Shuttles are true aerospace vehicles. They leave Earth and its atmosphere under rocket power provided by three liquid-propellant main engines with two solid-propellant boosters attached plus an external liquid-fuel tank. After their orbital missions, they streak back through the atmosphere and land like airplanes. The returning shuttles, however, land like gliders, without power and on runways. Other rockets can place heavy payloads into orbit, but, they can only be used once. Space Shuttles are designed to be continually reused. When Space Shuttles are used to transport complete scientific laboratories into space, the laboratories remain inside the payload bay throughout the mission. They are then removed after the Space Shuttle returns to Earth and can be reused on future flights. Some of these orbital laboratories, like the Spacelab, provide facilities for several specialists to conduct experiments in such fields as medicine, astronomy, and materials manufacturing. Some types of satellites deployed by Space Shuttles include those involved in environmental and resources protection, astronomy, weather forecasting, navigation, oceanographic studies, and other scientific fields. The Space Shuttles can also launch spacecraft into orbits higher than the Shuttle's altitude limit through the use of Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) propulsion units. After release from the Space Shuttle payload bay, the IUS is ignited to carry the spacecraft into deep space. The Space Shuttles are also being used to carry elements of the International Space Station into space where they are assembled in orbit. The Space Shuttles were built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division, Downey, California. Rockwell's Rocketdyne Division (now part of Boeing) builds the three main engines, and Thiokol, Brigham City, Utah, makes the solid rocket booster motors. Martin Marietta Corporation (now Lockheed Martin), New Orleans, Louisiana, makes the external tanks. Each orbiter (Space Shuttle) is 121 feet long, has a wingspan of 78 feet, and a height of 57 feet. The Space Shuttle is approximately the size of a DC-9 commercial airliner and can carry a payload, of 65,000 pounds into orbit. The payload bay is 60 feet long and 15 feet in diameter. Each main engine is capable of producing a sea level thrust of 375,000 pounds and a vacuum (orbital) thrust of 470,000 pounds. The engines burn a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. In orbit, the Space Shuttles circle the earth at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour with each orbit taking about 90 minutes. A Space Shuttle crew sees a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. When Space Shuttle flights began in April 1981, Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, was the primary landing site for the Shuttles. Now Kennedy Space Center, Florida, is the primary landing site with Dryden remaining as the principal alternate landing site.
Date	12.01.1990

STS-64 and 747-SCA Ferry Fli …

Title	STS-64 and 747-SCA Ferry Flight Takeoff
Description	The Space Shuttle Discovery, mated to NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), takes to the air for its ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft, with a crew of six, was launched into a 57-degree high inclination orbit from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 3:23 p.m., 9 September 1994. The mission featured the study of clouds and the atmosphere with a laser beaming system called Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE), and the first untethered space walk in ten years. A Spartan satellite was also deployed and later retrieved in the study of the sun's corona and solar wind. The mission was scheduled to end Sunday, 18 September, but was extended one day to continue science work. Bad weather at the Kennedy Space Center on 19 September, forced a one-day delay to September 20, with a weather divert that day to Edwards. Mission commander was Richard Richards, the pilot Blaine Hammond, while mission specialists were Jerry Linenger, Susan Helms, Carl Meade, and Mark Lee. Space Shuttles are the main element of America's Space Transportation System and are used for space research and other space applications. The shuttles are the first vehicles capable of being launched into space and returning to Earth on a routine basis. Space Shuttles are used as orbiting laboratories in which scientists and mission specialists conduct a wide variety of scientific experiments. Crews aboard shuttles place satellites in orbit, rendezvous with satellites to carry out repair missions and return them to space, and retrieve satellites and return them to Earth for refurbishment and reuse. Space Shuttles are true aerospace vehicles. They leave Earth and its atmosphere under rocket power provided by three liquid-propellant main engines with two solid-propellant boosters attached plus an external liquid-fuel tank. After their orbital missions, they streak back through the atmosphere and land like airplanes. The returning shuttles, however, land like gliders, without power and on runways. Other rockets can place heavy payloads into orbit, but, they can only be used once. Space Shuttles are designed to be continually reused. When Space Shuttles are used to transport complete scientific laboratories into space, the laboratories remain inside the payload bay throughout the mission. They are then removed after the Space Shuttle returns to Earth and can be reused on future flights. Some of these orbital laboratories, like the Spacelab, provide facilities for several specialists to conduct experiments in such fields as medicine, astronomy, and materials manufacturing. Some types of satellites deployed by Space Shuttles include those involved in environmental and resources protection, astronomy, weather forecasting, navigation, oceanographic studies, and other scientific fields. The Space Shuttles can also launch spacecraft into orbits higher than the Shuttle's altitude limit through the use of Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) propulsion units. After, release from the Space Shuttle payload bay, the IUS is ignited to carry the spacecraft into deep space. The Space Shuttles are also being used to carry elements of the International Space Station into space where they are assembled in orbit. The Space Shuttles were built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division, Downey, California. Rockwell's Rocketdyne Division (now part of Boeing) builds the three main engines, and Thiokol, Brigham City, Utah, makes the solid rocket booster motors. Martin Marietta Corporation (now Lockheed Martin), New Orleans, Louisiana, makes the external tanks. Each orbiter (Space Shuttle) is 121 feet long, has a wingspan of 78 feet, and a height of 57 feet. The Space Shuttle is approximately the size of a DC-9 commercial airliner and can carry a payload of 65,000 pounds into orbit. The payload bay is 60 feet long and 15 feet in diameter. Each main engine is capable of producing a sea level thrust of 375,000 pounds and a vacuum (orbital) thrust of 470,000 pounds. The engines burn a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. In orbit, the Space Shuttles circle the earth at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour with each orbit taking about 90 minutes. A Space Shuttle crew sees a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. When Space Shuttle flights began in April 1981, Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, was the primary landing site for the Shuttles. Now Kennedy Space Center, Florida, is the primary landing site with Dryden remaining as the principal alternate landing site.
Date	09.01.1994

STS-92 - Orbiter in Mate-Dem …

Title	STS-92 - Orbiter in Mate-Demate Device (MDD)
Description	The early-morning Sun bathes the Space Shuttle Discovery in hues of purple, pink and gold as it is encased in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD) at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California. The gantry-like MDD structure is used to prepare the shuttle for its ferry flight back to the Kennedy space Center in Florida, including mounting the shuttle atop NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. STS-92 was the 100th mission since the fleet of four Space Shuttles began flying in 1981. (Due to schedule changes, missions are not always launched in the order that was originally planned.) The almost 13-day mission, the 46th Shuttle mission to land at Edwards, was the last construction mission for the International Space Station prior to the first scientists taking up residency in the orbiting space laboratory the following month. The seven-member crew on STS-92 included mission specialists Koichi Wakata, Michael Lopez-Alegria, Jeff Wisoff, Bill McArthur and Leroy Chiao, pilot Pam Melroy and mission commander Brian Duffy.
Date	10.29.2000

STS-92 - Orbiter in Mate-Dem …

Title	STS-92 - Orbiter in Mate-Demate Device (MDD) at sunrise with Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) in backg
Description	The early-morning Sun provides a golden backdrop to the Space Shuttle Discovery encased in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD) at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California. The gantry-like MDD structure is used to prepare the shuttle for its ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including mounting the shuttle atop NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. STS-92 was the 100th mission since the fleet of four Space Shuttles began flying in 1981. (Due to schedule changes, missions are not always launched in the order that was originally planned.) The almost 13-day mission was the last construction mission for the International Space Station prior to the first scientists taking up residency in the orbiting space laboratory the following month. The seven-member crew on STS-92 included mission specialists Koichi Wakata, Michael Lopez-Alegria, Jeff Wisoff, Bill McArthur and Leroy Chiao, pilot Pam Melroy and mission commander Brian Duffy.
Date	10.29.2000

STS-92 - Orbiter in Mate-Dem …

Title	STS-92 - Orbiter in Mate-Demate Device (MDD) at sunrise with Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) in backg
Description	The early-morning Sun bathes the Space Shuttle Discovery in hues of purple, pink and gold as it is encased in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD) at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California. The gantry-like MDD structure is used to prepare the shuttle for its ferry flight back to the Kennedy space Center in Florida, including mounting the shuttle atop NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. STS-92 was the 100th mission since the fleet of four Space Shuttles began flying in 1981. (Due to schedule changes, missions are not always launched in the order that was originally planned.) The almost 13-day mission, the 46th Shuttle mission to land at Edwards, was the last construction mission for the International Space Station prior to the first scientists taking up residency in the orbiting space laboratory the following month. The seven-member crew on STS-92 included mission specialists Koichi Wakata, Michael Lopez-Alegria, Jeff Wisoff, Bill McArthur and Leroy Chiao, pilot Pam Melroy and mission commander Brian Duffy.
Date	10.29.2000

STS-92 - Shuttle Carrier Air …

Title	STS-92 - Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA)
Description	One of NASA's two modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is bathed in the morning Sun at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California. The modified jumbo jetliners are used to ferry the Space Shuttle orbiters between Dryden and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Boeing's Reusable Space Systems modification facility at Palmdale, California. Features which distinguish the two SCAs from standard 747 jetliners are three struts, with associated interior structural strengthening, which protrude from the top of the fuselage (two aft, one forward) on which the orbiter is attached, and two additional vertical stabilizers, one on each end of the standard horizontal stabilizer, to enhance directional stability. All interior furnishings and equipment aft of the forward No. 1 doors have also been removed to reduce weight. The two SCAs are under the operational control of NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. STS-92 was the 100th mission since the fleet of four Space Shuttles began flying in 1981. (Due to schedule changes, missions are not always launched in the order that was originally planned.) The almost 13-day mission, the 46th Shuttle mission to land at Edwards, was the last construction mission for the International Space Station prior to the first scientists taking up residency in the orbiting space laboratory the following month. The seven-member crew on STS-92 included mission specialists Koichi Wakata, Michael Lopez-Alegria, Jeff Wisoff, Bill McArthur and Leroy Chiao, pilot Pam Melroy and mission commander Brian Duffy.
Date	10.29.2000

2001 Mars Odyssey Turns 5

title	2001 Mars Odyssey Turns 5
Description	Five years after leaving Florida for Mars, NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft is still orbiting the red planet, collecting scientific data and relaying communications from NASA's two Mars rovers to Earth. Images such as this spectacular, color view of sun-bathed, layered escarpments and wind-scalloped, basalt dunes in the solar system's largest canyon continue to beckon space explorers and guide the way for future missions. Basaltic dunes are common on Mars but rare on Earth. Rounded knobs and mesas on the canyon floor are reminiscent of desert geology in the southwestern U.S. A team led by Phil Christensen, principal investigator for Odyssey's cameras at Arizona State University, Jim Bell at Cornell University, and space artist Don Davis created this panorama. They added color to radiance files from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), a camera on Odyssey that takes images in both the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum. They correlated the radiance - intensity of reflected sunlight - with that of other color images from Mars and mimimized the effects of residual scattered light in the images. In addition to producing images such as this, Mars Odyssey has made global observations of Martian climate, geology, and mineralogy. The spacecraft's Gamma Ray Spectrometer has allowed scientists to make maps of the elemental distribution of hydrogen, silicon, iron, potassium, thorium, and chlorine on the Martian surface. A global map of minerals associated with water, essential to life as we know it, guided NASA in its selection of Meridiani Planum, the landing site for NASA's Opportunity rover, an area rich in hematite. Odyssey is currently supporting landing site selection for the Phoenix Scout Mission, to be launched in 2007, using data showing that surface areas near the poles of Mars consist of more than 50 percent water ice by volume. Other Odyssey accomplishments include measurement of radiation, a prerequisite for future human exploration because of its potential health effects, and a groundbreaking program in education outreach that has allowed students to take pictures of Mars and conduct scientific investigations with cameras on Odyssey. Mars Odyssey was launched April 7, 2001 on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and reached Mars on October 24, 2001. Odyssey employed a technique called "aerobraking" that used the atmosphere of Mars to slow down and gradually bring the spacecraft closer to Mars with each orbit. Odyssey's science mapping mission began in February 2002. The primary science mission continued through August 2004. Odyssey is currently in its extended mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Cornell/Don Davis

Wetland Changes Affect South Florida Freezes: Image of the Day

Wetland Changes Affect South …

nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …

* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima …

florida_etm_2000

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2000
creator	NASA -- Image Courtesy NASA/JPL onearth.jpl.nasa.gov/ OnEarth, based on the 2000 Landsat global mosaic
identifier	florida_etm_2000

Advanced Weather Satellite GOES-N Launches: Image of the Day

Advanced Weather Satellite G …

nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …

At 6:11 p.m., Eastern Daylig …

launch_goe_2006114

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2006-05-24
creator	NASA -- Photographs courtesy Carleton Bailie
identifier	launch_goe_2006114

The Moon's Shadow : Image of …

nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …

Solar eclipses occur when th …

modis_eclipse

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2000-12-25
creator	NASA -- Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, modis-land.gsfc.nasa.gov/ MODIS Land Group, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
identifier	modis_eclipse

Hurricane Alley Heats Up: Image of the Day

Hurricane Alley Heats Up: Im …

nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …

A band of abnormally warm wa …

Atlantic2_amsre_2005216

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2005-08-05
creator	NASA -- Sea Surface Temperature data from the Advanced Microwave Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E), courtesy www.ssmi.com/ Remote Sensing Systems
identifier	Atlantic2_amsre_2005216

Hurricane Alley Heats Up: Im …

nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …

A band of abnormally warm wa …

Atlantic2_amsre_2005216

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2005-08-05
creator	NASA -- Sea Surface Temperature data from the Advanced Microwave Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E), courtesy www.ssmi.com/ Remote Sensing Systems
identifier	Atlantic2_amsre_2005216

Scattered Fires in Florida : Image of the Day

Scattered Fires in Florida : …

nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …

According to news sources, t …

Florida.A2001139.1633

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2001-05-21
creator	NASA -- Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, modland.nascom.nasa.gov/ MODIS Land Rapid Response Team
identifier	Florida.A2001139.1633

Dust Crosses the Atlantic: Image of the Day

Dust Crosses the Atlantic: I …

nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …

Floridians looking for a bre …

S2005202.AfricanDust

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2005-07-21
creator	NASA -- Image provided by the seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SeaWiFS/ SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and www.orbimage.com/ ORBIMAGE
identifier	S2005202.AfricanDust

Low Pressure System over the U.S. : Image of the Day

Low Pressure System over the …

nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …

A large low-pressure system …

modis_eastus_20010524

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2001-05-24
creator	NASA -- Image courtesy Patrick Coronado and the Direct Readout Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
identifier	modis_eastus_20010524

Saharan Dust Cloud Sails Tow …

PIA03539

Sol (our sun)

Multi-angle Imaging SpectroR …

Title	Saharan Dust Cloud Sails Toward U.S.
Original Caption Released with Image	A huge dust cloud blown westward from the Algerian desert is now wafting over the southeastern United States. The cloud, about the size of the entire continent, was expected to produce dramatic sunsets and possibly a light coating of red-brown dust on vehicles from Florida to Texas. This image, captured by JPL's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) aboard the NASA Earth Observing System's Terra Satellite on July 20, 2005, shows the dust cloud just off the west coast of Africa near Mauritania and Senegal. The image covers about 1,800 kilometers (1,200 miles) north-south, and 400 kilometers (260 miles) east-west. MISR, which views Earth at nine different angles in four wavelengths, can derive the amount, size and shape of airborne particles. This means it can distinguish desert dust, by far the most common non-spherical atmospheric aerosol, from pollution and forest fire particles, which are typically spherical. This image was taken by MISR's 26 degree forward-viewing camera on Terra Orbit 29724, Path 208, Blocks 69-81. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer [ http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] observes the daylit Earth continuously from pole to pole, and the entire globe about once per week. MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

Global View of Earth in the Near-Infrared

Global View of Earth in the …

PIA00226

Sol (our sun)

Solid-State Imaging

Title	Global View of Earth in the Near-Infrared
Original Caption Released with Image	This near-infrared photograph of the Earth was taken by the Galileo spacecraft at 6:07 a.m. PST on Dec. 11, 1990, at a range of about 1.32 million miles. The camera used light with a wavelength of 1 micron, which easily penetrates atmospheric hazes and enhances the brightness of land surfaces. South America is prominent near the center, at the top, the East Coast of the United States, including Florida, is visible. The West Coast of Africa is visible on the horizon at right.

Anaglyph, North America

PIA03378

Sol (our sun)

C-Band Interferometric Radar

Title	Anaglyph, North America
Original Caption Released with Image	This anaglyph (stereoscopic view) of North America was generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). It is best viewed at or near full resolution with anaglyph glasses. For this broad view the resolution of the data was first reduced to 30 arcseconds (about 928 meters north-south and 736 meters east-west in central North America), matching the best previously existing global digital topographic data set called GTOPO30. The data were then resampled to a Mercator projection with approximately square pixels (about one kilometer, or 0.6 miles, on each side). Even at this decreased resolution the variety of landforms comprising the North American continent is readily apparent. Active tectonics (structural deformation of the Earth's crust) along and near the Pacific North American plate boundary creates the great topographic relief seen along the Pacific coast. Earth's crustal plates converge in southern Mexico and in the northwest United States, melting the crust and producing volcanic cones. Along the California coast, the plates are sliding laterally past each other, producing a pattern of slices within the San Andreas fault system. And, where the plates are diverging, the crust appears torn apart as one huge tear along the Gulf of California (northwest Mexico), and as the several fractures comprising the Basin and Range province (in and around Nevada). Across the Great Plains, erosional patterns dominate, with stream channels surrounding and penetrating the remnants of older smooth slopes east of the Rocky Mountains. This same erosion process is exposing the bedrock structural patterns of the Black Hills in South Dakota and the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. Lateral erosion and sediment deposition by the Mississippi River has produced the flatlands of the lower Mississippi Valley and the Mississippi Delta. To the north, evidence of the glaciers of the last ice age is widely found, particularly east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and around the Great Lakes. From northeastern British Columbia, across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba to North Dakota and Minnesota, huge striations clearly show the flow pattern of the glaciers. And southwest of Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, arcing ridges of sediment, called terminal moraines, show where glaciers dumped sediment at their melting ends. In eastern Canada, New York, and New England, the terrain has been scoured by glaciers, and eroded by streams, particularly along fractures in the bedrock. In Labrador and Quebec, the Mistastin, Manicougan, and Clearwater Lakes meteor impact craters can also be seen. Further south, narrow curving ridges of upturned and eroded layered rocks form most of the Appalachian Mountains. In contrast, around the Caribbean Sea region (Yucatan, Florida, and the Bahamas), flat-lying, stable limestone platforms are common, while the most eastern islands of the Caribbean include active volcanoes along another convergence zone of tectonic plates. This, anaglyph was created by deriving a shaded relief image from the SRTM data, draping it back over the SRTM elevation model, and then generating two differing perspectives, one for each eye. Illumination is from the north (top). When viewed through special glasses, the anaglyph is a vertically exaggerated view of the Earth's surface in its full three dimensions. Anaglyph glasses cover the left eye with a red filter and cover the right eye with a blue filter. Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the SRTM aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C. Location: 15 to 60 degrees North latitude, 50 to 130 degrees West longitude Orientation: North toward the top, Mercator projection Image Data: Shaded SRTM elevation model Original Data Resolution: SRTM 1 arcsecond (about 30 meters or 98 feet) Date Acquired: February 2000

Shaded Relief with Height as Color, North America

Shaded Relief with Height as …

PIA03377

Sol (our sun)

C-Band Interferometric Radar

Title	Shaded Relief with Height as Color, North America
Original Caption Released with Image	This image of North America was generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). For this broad view the resolution of the data was first reduced to 30 arcseconds (about 928 meters north-south and 736 meters east-west in central North America), matching the best previously existing global digital topographic data set called GTOPO30. The data were then resampled to a Mercator projection with approximately square pixels (about one kilometer, or 0.6 miles, on each side). Even at this decreased resolution the variety of landforms comprising the North American continent is readily apparent. Active tectonics (structural deformation of the Earth's crust) along and near the Pacific -- North American plate boundary creates the great topographic relief seen along the Pacific coast. Earth's crustal plates converge in southern Mexico and in the northwest United States, melting the crust and producing volcanic cones. Along the California coast, the plates are sliding laterally past each other, producing a pattern of slices within the San Andreas fault system. And, where the plates are diverging, the crust appears torn apart as one huge tear along the Gulf of California (northwest Mexico), and as the several fractures comprising the Basin and Range province (in and around Nevada). Across the Great Plains, erosional patterns dominate, with streams channels surrounding and penetrating the remnants of older smooth slopes east of the Rocky Mountains. This same erosion process is exposing the bedrock structural patterns of the Black Hills in South Dakota and the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. Lateral erosion and sediment deposition by the Mississippi River has produced the flatlands of the lower Mississippi Valley and the Mississippi Delta. To the north, evidence of the glaciers of the last ice age is widely found, particularly east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and around the Great Lakes. From northeastern British Columbia, across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba to North Dakota and Minnesota, huge striations clearly show the flow pattern of the glaciers. And southwest of Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, arcing ridges of sediment, called terminal moraines, show where glaciers dumped sediment at their melting ends. In eastern Canada, New York, and New England, the terrain has been scoured by glaciers, and eroded by streams, particularly along fractures in the bedrock. In Labrador and Quebec, the Mistastin, Manicougan, and Clearwater Lakes meteor impact craters can also be seen. Further south, narrow curving ridges of upturned and eroded layered rocks form most of the Appalachian Mountains. In contrast, around the Caribbean Sea region (Yucatan, Florida, and the Bahamas), flat-lying, stable limestone platforms are common, while the most eastern islands of the Caribbean include active volcanoes along another convergence zone of tectonic plates. Two visualization methods were combined to produce the image: shading and color coding of, topographic height. The shade image was derived by computing topographic slope in the northwest-southeast direction, so that northwest slopes appear bright and southeast slopes appear dark. Color coding is directly related to topographic height, with green at the lower elevations, rising through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations. Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C. Location: 15 to 60 degrees North latitude, 50 to 130 degrees West longitude Orientation: North toward the top, Mercator projection Image Data: shaded and colored SRTM elevation model Original Data Resolution: SRTM 1 arcsecond (about 30 meters or 98 feet) Date Acquired: February 2000

Southern Florida, Shaded Relief and Colored Height

Southern Florida, Shaded Rel …

PIA06666

Sol (our sun)

C-Band Radar, X-Band Radar

Title	Southern Florida, Shaded Relief and Colored Height
Original Caption Released with Image	The very low topography of southern Florida is evident in this color-coded shaded relief map generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The image on the left is a standard view, with the green colors indicating low elevations, rising through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations. In this exaggerated view even those highest elevations are only about 60 meters (197 feet) above sea level. For the view on the right, elevations below 5 meters (16 feet) above sea level have been colored dark blue, and lighter blue indicates elevations below 10 meters (33 feet). This is a dramatic demonstration of how Florida's low topography, especially along the coastline, make it especially vulnerable to flooding associated with storm surges. Planners can use data like these to predict which areas are in the most danger and help develop mitigation plans in the event of particular flood events. Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Location: 27 degrees north latitude, 81 degrees west longitude Orientation: North toward the top, Mercator projection Size: 397 by 445 kilometers (246 by 276 miles) Image Data: shaded and colored SRTM elevation model Date Acquired: February 2000

Gulf Coast, Shaded Relief and Colored Height

Gulf Coast, Shaded Relief an …

PIA06667

Sol (our sun)

C-Band Radar, X-Band Radar

Title	Gulf Coast, Shaded Relief and Colored Height
Original Caption Released with Image	The topography of the Gulf Coast states is well shown in this color-coded shaded relief map generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The image on the top (see Figure 1) is a standard view showing southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. Green colors indicate low elevations, rising through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations. For the view on the bottom (see Figure 2), elevations below 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level have been colored light blue. These low coastal elevations are especially vulnerable to flooding associated with storm surges. Planners can use data like these to predict which areas are in the most danger and help develop mitigation plans in the event of particular flood events. Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Location: 31 degrees north latitude, 88 degrees west longitude Orientation: North toward the top, Mercator projection Size: 702 by 433 kilometers (435 by 268 miles) Image Data: shaded and colored SRTM elevation model Date Acquired: February 2000

Gulf Coast, Shaded Relief an …

PIA06667

Sol (our sun)

C-Band Radar, X-Band Radar

Title	Gulf Coast, Shaded Relief and Colored Height
Original Caption Released with Image	The topography of the Gulf Coast states is well shown in this color-coded shaded relief map generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The image on the top (see Figure 1) is a standard view showing southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. Green colors indicate low elevations, rising through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations. For the view on the bottom (see Figure 2), elevations below 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level have been colored light blue. These low coastal elevations are especially vulnerable to flooding associated with storm surges. Planners can use data like these to predict which areas are in the most danger and help develop mitigation plans in the event of particular flood events. Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Location: 31 degrees north latitude, 88 degrees west longitude Orientation: North toward the top, Mercator projection Size: 702 by 433 kilometers (435 by 268 miles) Image Data: shaded and colored SRTM elevation model Date Acquired: February 2000

Gulf Coast, Shaded Relief an …

PIA06667

Sol (our sun)

C-Band Radar, X-Band Radar

Title	Gulf Coast, Shaded Relief and Colored Height
Original Caption Released with Image	The topography of the Gulf Coast states is well shown in this color-coded shaded relief map generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The image on the top (see Figure 1) is a standard view showing southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. Green colors indicate low elevations, rising through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations. For the view on the bottom (see Figure 2), elevations below 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level have been colored light blue. These low coastal elevations are especially vulnerable to flooding associated with storm surges. Planners can use data like these to predict which areas are in the most danger and help develop mitigation plans in the event of particular flood events. Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Location: 31 degrees north latitude, 88 degrees west longitude Orientation: North toward the top, Mercator projection Size: 702 by 433 kilometers (435 by 268 miles) Image Data: shaded and colored SRTM elevation model Date Acquired: February 2000

Hurricane Jeanne Cloud Height and Motion

Hurricane Jeanne Cloud Heigh …

PIA04368

Sol (our sun)

Multi-angle Imaging SpectroR …

Title	Hurricane Jeanne Cloud Height and Motion
Original Caption Released with Image	After causing widespread destruction on Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Hurricane Jeanne was weakened to Tropical Storm status for several days before it regained strength over the Bahamas as a Category 2 hurricane. When Jeanne made landfall in U.S. territory on September 26 it was the fourth major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season to strike Florida. These visualizations of Hurricane Jeanne on September 24 were captured by NASA's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR). The still panels include a natural color view from MISR's 26-degree forward-viewing camera (left) and a two dimensional map of cloud-top heights (right). In addition, a "multi-angle fly-over" is provided as an animation using views from all nine MISR cameras. The nine camera views which make up the animation have been processed to give an approximate perspective view. The animation makes visible the relative heights of clouds within the scene. Some of the real cloud motion over the seven minutes during which all nine MISR cameras observed the scene are also indicated by the animation. The cloud height map was produced by automated computer recognition of the distinctive spatial features between images acquired at different view angles. Two-dimensional maps of cloud height such as these offer an opportunity to compare simulated cloud fields against actual hurricane observations. Results indicate that clouds within Jeanne had attained altitudes of more than 16 kilometers above sea level. The height field pictured here is uncorrected for the effects of cloud motion. Wind-corrected heights have higher accuracy but sparser spatial coverage. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82Â° north and 82Â° south latitude. These data products were generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbit 25372. The still image panels cover an area of about 400 kilometers x 884 kilometers, and utilize data from within blocks 68 to 71 and within World Reference System-2 path 10. MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technolog

Tracking Hurricane Wilma Across the Caribbean

Tracking Hurricane Wilma Acr …

PIA04386

Sol (our sun)

Multi-angle Imaging SpectroR …

Title	Tracking Hurricane Wilma Across the Caribbean
Original Caption Released with Image	Information on cloud top heights at different stages in the life cycle of the rapidly intensifying Hurricane Wilma may prove useful for evaluating the ability of numerical weather models to predict the intensity changes of hurricanes. NASA's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) acquired this sequence of images and cloud-top height observations for Hurricane Wilma as it progressed across the Caribbean in October 2005. Each pair in the sequence has a photo-like view of the storm on the left and a matching color-coded image of cloud-top height on the right. Cloud-top heights range from 0 (purple) to 18 (red) kilometers altitude. Areas where cloud heights could not be determined are shown in dark gray. The pair on the left show Wilma on Tuesday, October 18, when Hurricane watches were posted for Cuba and Mexico. The central pair shows the eye of Hurricane Wilma just hours before the storm began to cross the Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, October 21. At that time, Wilma was a powerful Category 4 Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and had a minimum recorded central pressure of 930 millibars. Hurricane Wilma surged from tropical storm to Category 5 hurricane status in record time, but the storm slowed and weakened considerably after battering Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and the Caribbean. The right-hand image pair displays the eastern edges of a weakened Wilma, when Wilma had been reduced to Category 2 status and was just starting to reach southern Florida on the morning of Sunday, October 23. Wilma gathered speed and strengthened on Sunday night, crossing Florida as a Category 3 storm on Monday, October 24. On the 18th, Wilma looked a bit ragged. Its eye is located at the center of the left edge, and its outer bands of clouds appear to be dominated by a rather loose collection of thunderstorms. In the photo-like images, these look like areas of "boiling clouds," and in the cloud-height image, these appear as orange blobs, sometimes topped with pinkish-red. On October 21 (center), when Wilma was a Category 4 storm, cloud-top height on the eastern side of the storm near the eye reached 18 kilometers in altitude, with lower heights on the western side. The image from the 23rd shows the eastern edge of Wilma as it approached Florida (upper right) and Cuba (center right). MISR has nine different cameras which view the Earth from a variety of angles. Shifts in the clouds' apparent position from one camera's perspective to another's allows MISR to measure the height of the cloud-tops. MISR scientists have programmed computers to compare the different views, identify features that appear to shift from view to view, and use that information to calculate cloud height automatically. The height fields pictured have not been corrected for the effects of cloud motion. Wind-corrected heights (which have higher accuracy but sparser spatial coverage) are within about 1 kilometer of the heights shown here. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer, observes the daylit Earth continuously, viewing the entire globe between 82° north and 82° south latitude every nine days. Each image covers an area of about 380 kilometers by 1830 kilometers. The data products were generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbits 31037, 31081 and 31110, and utilize data from within blocks 68-83 within World Reference System-2 paths 13, 16 and 18, respectively. MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology.

MISR Views Florida

PIA02610

Sol (our sun)

Multi-angle Imaging SpectroR …

Title	MISR Views Florida
Original Caption Released with Image	Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) images of Florida acquired on April 9, 2000 during Terra orbit 1650. The image at the top is a color view acquired by the vertical (nadir) camera. It has been reoriented so that the flight path is from left to right, to facilitate comparison with the lower image, a stereo "anaglyph" generated using 275-m resolution red band data from the cameras viewing 45.6 degrees and 70.5 degrees aft of nadir. The anaglyph provides a three-dimensional effect when viewed using red/blue glasses with the red filter placed over the left eye. This stereoscopic "depth perception" and the variation in brightness as a function of view angle enables scientists to assess the climate impact of different types of cloud fields. The plume from a large brush fire that burned about 15,000 acres is visible at the western edge of the Big Cypress Swamp in southern Florida. East is toward the top. MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. For more information: http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov

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