Results tagged “nasa”

In hopes of seeing whether there's water or ice on the moon, NASA is crashing two spacecraft onto the moon's surface. The AP explains, "The crashing spaceship was launched in June along with an orbiter that's now mapping the lunar surface. LCROSS -- short for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite and pronounced L-Cross -- is on a collision course with the moon, attached to an empty 2.2-ton rocket that helped get the probe off the ground."

There was a lot of chatter about strange lights in the sky last night, from the Bowery to Queens, with one tipster saying, "My boyfriend and I were eating dinner on our roof across from the New Museum and saw a strong point of light that slowly emitted a wash of light that grew then receded until it totally faded away. It was definitely NOT a chopper plane or anything we've ever seen." This took place around 8 p.m., prime time for an alien invasion.

Chris from the Boiled Peanut blog in Cincinnati points out that the Space Station could be seen above the Ohio city Sunday night, and according to NASA it'll be visible above New York City tonight! NASA has set up an entire page so you can find all space sightings that will take place world wide. Keep your eyes peeled around 8:42 p.m. tonight—our weather go-to-guy Joe Schumacher tells us, "I think there's a good chance the skies will be clear." But you know, there's always light pollution blocking us from seeing the sky's offerings. If there is no visibility, there's always the Urban Space Station, which will be completed in 2010. Except that'll be at NYU, which is way less exciting.

In tribute to both the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the passing of Walter Cronkite, blogger Jason Kottke has set up a page on his site where you can view the original Cronkite-anchored CBS newscast "40 years to the second after it originally happened." Coverage for the lunar landing begins at 4:10 p.m. followed by the first moonwalk (no, not that one) at 10:10 p.m. Kottke credits the real-time replays on other sites like WeChooseTheMoon.org and the ApolloPlus40 Twitterfeed for the inspiration, adding: "I hope that with the old time TV display and poor YouTube quality, you get a small sense of how someone 40 years ago might have experienced it."

       

Forty years ago today, NASA's Apollo crew went to the moon, with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong setting down on the moon's surface while Michael Collins orbited above. NASA has various features on its website, like a real-time replay of the mission. The space agency has also released a montage of the mission (below) and enhanced footage (after the jump):

Since being named director of the Hayden Planetarium in 1996, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson has transformed himself from a relatively obscure astrophysicist into one of the leading promoters in the public eye for science and scientific exploration. His advocacy work through his books and TV appearances has earned him accolades of all varieties—honorary degrees, medals of excellence, even an asteroid bearing his name—and popularity enough to get him a spot on People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" list in 2000.

Count Senator Charles Schumer amongst those who want the space shuttle Atlantis to retire at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Following NASA's announcement that they will send three space shuttles to institutions around the country, the Intrepid put their name in the hat. It's now being reported that "Schumer said Sunday he is supporting the Intrepid's bid for a space shuttle and he has appealed to Vice President Joe Biden to make it happen." If it all goes down, the shuttle would be housed in a glass enclosure at the end of Pier 86 around 2012.

Esquire has just released a far-out video showing Momofuku chef Dave Chang and crew sitting for one hour inside a translucent ten-foot square cube. The resulting portrait, made by Chicago-based artist Lincoln Schatz, is part of an ongoing series commissioned to celebrate both Esquire’s 75th anniversary and “the most influential people of the coming decades.” Through a collage of camera feeds and permuted edits, the video installation portrait never depicts the same image sequence twice.