Launch day highlights for STS128 Space Shuttle Discovery

Relax with a flight over Neptune's Moon Triton

This simulated voyage over the surface of Neptune's large moon Triton was produced using topographic maps derived from images acquired by NASA's Voyager spacecraft during its August 1989 flyby.

Mike Moses and Pete Nickolenko explain technical reason for 2nd launch scrub of STS128 Space Shuttle

Bush plan to discover oil in Heaven, tubby Astronauts and COLBERT send off message

Stephen Colbert's greeting message to NASA prior to the launch of arguably the most important payload yet delivered to the International Space Station. The C.O.L.B.E.R.T. exercise treadmill will be delivered to the ISS by Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-128 NASA mission.

COLBERT treadmill will power International Space Station

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Astronaut Sunita Williams on the Colbert Report earlier this year announces the chosen name of Tranquility for International Space Station's Node 3 module, despite Colbert winning the popular vote. In consolation an exercise treadmill will be named after Colbert called the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill or C.O.L.B.E.R.T for short??? and will be installed inside the Node 3 module during the STS128 flight to the space station.

Augustine Human Spaceflight decision options for launch vehicles and missions

Integrated Options - Part 1

Integrated options - Part 2

Ed Crawley, Augustine Committee member presents at the Washington DC Public Meeting on 12th Aug 09 the various decision scenarios for developing launch vehicles including shuttle derived side and top mounted, heavy evolved expendable launch vehicle, Ares 1, Ares V and Ares V lite. This presentation also covers the types of possible missions including Moon base, Moon global, deep space or Mars direct.

The story of how the UK launched its first and only satellite with a British rocket

In 1971 a British made Black Arrow rocket launched the Prospero satellite into orbit from the Woomera launch facility in Southern Australia. This documentary recounts the events leading up to the launch of Prospero and includes interviews with the engineers involved in the development and launch of the Black Arrow rocket.

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Mars Society Robert Zubrin presents his shortcut to Mars before the Augustine Human Spaceflight Review Committee

Mars Society President Robert Zubrin delivers an enthusiastic presentation at the 5th August public meeting in Washington DC, making the case for a low cost human mission to land on Mars within 10 years. It is argued that much of the training for adapting humans to the Martian environment can be conducted for a fraction of the cost in the Arctic region.

ESA Herschel infrared telescope will investigate the birth and life cycle of Stars and Galaxies

Herschel which is a European Space Agency space observatory, will be the most powerful infrared telescope flown in space so far. Herschel's mission is to study the origin and evolution of stars and galaxies to help us understand how the Universe came to be what it is today.

ESA Planck overview of its mission to study Cosmic Microwave radiation leftover from the Big Bang

ESA's Planck mission is the first European space mission to study the Cosmic Microwave background which is the relic radiation from the Big Bang. Planck will provide the sharpest picture ever obtained of the young Universe and will help to describe its birth and evolution.

Charlie Bolden, planetary systems and eclipsing binary Epsilon Aurigae on Astrocast TV for August 09

In the August 2009 edition of Astrocast TV: Charlie Bolden becomes NASA's new administrator and faces the planned ending of Space Shuttle program and technical problems and delays with the Constellation program.

Current understanding of how planetary systems following Star formation is explained and compared to the formation of our own Solar System, plus amateur astronomers are being invited to take part in observing the upcoming eclipsing Binary Epsilon Aurigue.

Astronaut office chief Steven Lindsey presents Astronaut opinions on the future of human spaceflight

Appearing at the Augustine Committee public meeting in Houston on 28th July 2009, Steven Lindsey comments and answers questions on the future of human space exploration.

Astronauts would like to see a doubling in the safety factor for ascent and descent to be incorporated into new spacecraft and launch vehicles. The Space Shuttle is a 1 in 77 vehicle (1 in 64 based on number of missions flown so far) which compares to the risk in climbing Mount Everest (1 in 62) and a D Day landing soldier (1 in 62), considering this Steven Lindsey did not consider NASA to be a risk adverse organization. However if there was to be another Shuttle failure and subsequent loss of crew, it would probably mark the end of the Space Shuttle program altogether.

Currently there are concerns about not only the up mass capability to ISS beyond Shuttle but also the down mass capability, despite support from the smaller cargo spacecraft Russian Progress, ESA's Automatic Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS).

In order to concentrate the NASA budget on missions beyond low earth orbit (LEO), Steven Lindsey would like to see the COTS program takeover responsibility for LEO missions.

Not enough is known about manned planetary missions and long duration missions to ISS and Moon are considered essential steps for understanding and learning how to conduct a successful long duration mission to Mars.