• NASA says new pump fixed space station leak

    AP Photo / NASA

    In this photo from Saturday made available by NASA, astronaut Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn (not pictured) perform a space walk to inspect and replace a pump controller box on the International Space Station after an ammonia coolant leak was discovered.

    By Marcia Dunn, AP

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An impromptu spacewalk over the weekend seems to have fixed a big ammonia leak at the International Space Station, NASA said Thursday.

    The "gusher" erupted a week ago, prompting the hastiest repair job ever by residents of the orbiting lab. Spacewalking astronauts replaced a suspect ammonia pump on Saturday, just two days after the trouble arose.

    NASA is now calling the old, removed pump "Mr. Leaky," said flight controller Anthony Vareha.

    "Right now, we're feeling pretty good. We definitely got the big leak," Vareha said in a NASA broadcast from Mission Control in Houston.

    Vareha said engineers don't know whether the pump replacement also took care of a smaller leak that has plagued the system for years. It will take at least a couple months of monitoring to know the full status.

    Ammonia is used as a coolant in the space station's radiator system.

    The leak forced one of the station's seven power channels to go offline. NASA hopes to resume normal operations early next week, following computer software updates.

    One of the spacewalkers, NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn, is now back on Earth. He returned this week aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule, ending a five-month mission.

    The other spacewalker, Christopher Cassidy, a recent arrival, spent Thursday chatting with three of the actors and a writer-producer of the newest Star Trek movie, "Star Trek Into Darkness." The film was beamed up to the space station a few days before its U.S. opening in theaters Thursday.

    Cassidy watched the first half-hour of the movie while he was exercising Thursday morning and offered a stellar review.

    "I was riveted as you're racing through the woods and jumping off cliffs," he told the actors. "I won't spoil the rest of the movie for anybody who hasn't seen it. But pretty cool scenes."

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    NASA

  • Space station leaking vital coolant, NASA says

    NASA

    This image from a NASA space shuttle mission shows the International Space Station in orbit. The space station is the size of a football field and home to six astronauts. (Image was taken on Feb. 10, 2010.)

    By Clara Moskowitz
    Space.com

    Astronauts on the International Space Station have discovered a leak of ammonia coolant on their orbiting habitat, and NASA is looking into the problem, though it poses no immediate danger to the crew, officials said Thursday.

    The space station uses chilled liquid ammonia to cool down the power systems on its eight giant solar array panels. A minor leak of this ammonia was first noticed in 2007, and NASA has been studying the issue ever since. In November 2012 two astronauts took a spacewalk to fix the problem, rewiring some coolant lines and installing a spare radiator due to fears the original radiator was damaged by a micrometeorite impact.

    At the time, those measures appeared to fix the problem, but today astronauts on the football field-size space station noticed a steady stream of frozen ammonia flakes leaking from the area of the suspect coolant loop in the Photovoltaic Thermal Control System (PVTCS). [Gallery: Building the International Space Station]

    "It is in the same area, but we don't know whether it's the same leak," NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries of the Johnson Space Center in Houston told Space.com. Humphries said the agency was taking the leak seriously because it affects an important system — if they loose the ability to cool that particular solar array, it won't be able to generate power for the station. In fact, the leak has worsened to the point that Mission Control expects that particular loop to shut down within the next 24 hours.

    However, "the crew is in no danger," Humphries stressed. It's too soon to speculate on a possible spacewalk or other measure to deal with the issue, he added.

    Mission Control has been discussing the problem with the astronauts on the station throughout the afternoon.

    "What you guys have provided in the way of imagery and video has been just like gold to us on the ground," astronaut Doug Wheelock from Mission Control radioed to space station commander Chris Hadfield, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut. "We are fairly confident that it's coming from the vicinity of the TCS." However, flight controllers noted they were still unable to pinpoint the leak's exact location.

    NASA engineers are reviewing plans to potentially move the station's robotic arm over to the area of the port truss, the scaffolding-like backbone of the station (the original leak was traced to the Port 6 truss).

    "Tomorrow we'll plan to get the arm in the game to see if we can better pinpoint the location of the leak," Wheelock said.

    Hadfield said he and his crewmates had noticed the rate of the leak varied depending on the orientation of the station with the sun, suggesting particular angles allowed the ammonia coolant to leak more quickly.

    Hadfield is in charge of the station's Expedition 35 crew, which also includes NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy, and Russian cosmonauts Roman Romanenko, Pavel Vinogradov, and Alexander Misurkin. He asked Mission Control to send the crew a summary of what they know about the problem, and the possible courses to take to address it, before their bedtime. 

    "It would just be good for the six of us to know," Hadfield said.

    Today had otherwise been a relatively light day for the crew of the International Space Station, which had taken some time off to celebrate the Russian holiday Victory Day. Hadfield, Marshburn and Romanenko are due to depart the space station on Monday to return to Earth after a roughly five-month stay. Three new crew members plan to launch on May 28 from Kazakhstan on a Russian spacecraft to take up residence on the orbiting outpost.

    Hadfield asked Wheelock if the leak, and resulting power loss from that solar array, could delay his planned undocking.

    "We don't see anything technically that we can't overcome with the undocking but we are still getting our arms fully around that issue," Wheelock responded, adding that they should have more information for the astronauts in the morning.

    Follow Clara Moskowitz on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

    Copyright 2013 Space.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Astronaut photographs cosmic 'bullet hole' in space station

    Chris Hadfield (via Twitter as (at)Cmdr_Hadfield)

    Astronaut Chris Hadfield snapped this shot of a "bullet hole" created by a micrometeoroid or piece of space junk in one of the space station's solar arrays.

    By Miriam Kramer
    Space.com

    Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have dodged a cosmic bullet ... literally.

    A small piece of space junk or naturally occurring celestial debris created the tiny hole in one of the space station's wing-like solar arrays at some point in the outpost's 14-year history in orbit. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield spotted the puncture and posted a photo of it on Twitter on Monday.

    "Bullet hole — a small stone from the universe went through our solar array," Hadfield wrote, suspecting the hole was caused by a tiny space rock called a micrometeoroid. "Glad it missed the hull." [Chris Hadfield's Video Guide to Life in Space]

    NASA experts estimate that millions of micrometeorites and bits of man-made debris orbit the Earth in the range of operational satellites and the space station. These shards of satellites, rockets and rocky debris are traveling at an average speed of 22,000 mph (35,406 km/h). The space station, for comparison, orbits the Earth at a speed of about 17,500 mph (28,164 km/h).

    "The 'bullet' that created the hole in the solar array was probably due to a 1 mm to 2 mm diameter MMOD (micrometeoroids and orbital debris) impact, assuming the hole was on the order of 0.25 inches in diameter," William Jeffs, a NASA spokesman, told Space.com in an email. "A 2 mm size MMOD particle is expected to hit somewhere on (the International Space Station) every 6 months or so."

    If the piece of space debris were to collide with the hull, the space station's shielding would probably protect the crew from being adversely impacted, Jeffs added.

    NASA scientists regularly track pieces of space debris larger than 4 inches (10 centimeters) across in order to avoid potentially destructive collisions. Radar systems track these larger pieces of space junk to alert space station operators and satellite controllers to any threats.

    "Collision with these particles can cause serious damage or catastrophic failure to spacecraft or satellites and is a life-threatening risk to astronauts conducting extra-vehicular activities in space," NASA officials from the agency's Johnson Space Center wrote on the White Sands Test Facility website.

    The International Space Station can maneuver out of the way of larger meteoroids and bits of debris if their orbits are tracked well ahead of time.

    Particles smaller than 4 inches (10 cm) and larger than 0.4 inches (1 cm) pose a unique problem for tracking efforts, however.

    "Fortunately, small particles less than 1 cm pose less of a catastrophic threat, but they do cause surface abrasions and microscopic holes to spacecraft and satellites," NASA officials said. "The greatest challenge is medium-size particles (objects with a diameter between 1 cm to 10 cm), because they are not easily tracked and are large enough to cause catastrophic damage to spacecraft and satellites."

    In total, NASA estimates that about 95 percent of all objects in orbit around the Earth are debris and not active satellites.

    Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter and Google+. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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  • Russian cargo spacecraft docks with space station despite glitch

    NASA TV

    A Russian Progress 51 robotic spacecraft successfully docked to the International Space Station on Friday morning.

    By Miriam Kramer
    Space.com

    An unmanned cargo-carrying spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station Friday morning, despite a glitch in the capsule's navigation system.

    After its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the Russian Progress 51 spacecraft failed to deploy one of the two antennas used for the Kurs automated docking system. Russian ground controllers were able to reposition the antenna, allowing the automated docking to go ahead as planned.

    Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko kept an eye on Progress as it moved into position.

    "We have contact," one of the cosmonauts said after docking, "We have capture."

    Although the cosmonauts were prepared to take over docking procedures, the automated system worked and the spacecraft fully docked to the station at 8:34 a.m. EDT while flying 251 miles (404 kilometers) over the border between China and Kazakhstan. 

    NASA TV

    The Russian Progress 51 nears the International Space Station after a glitch involving a navigational antenna.

    The approach to the space station was slower than usual because controllers on the ground and astronauts on the International Space Station were carefully monitoring Progress' position, NASA officials said.

    At first the Progress was "soft-docked" and not secured in place with hooks in latches, giving the station crew and flight controllers a chance to make sure its stuck antenna posed no risk to the station's exterior. When they saw it was safe, the Progress was slowly drawn into the port and secured.

    Progress delivered 1,764 pounds (800 kg) of propellant, 57 pounds (26 kg) of air, 48 pounds (21 kg) of oxygen, 926 pounds (420 kg) of water and 3,348 pounds (1519 kg) of experiment hardware, spare parts and other supplies to the residents of the space station, NASA officials said.

    Vinogradov and Romanenko are flight engineers on the station's Expedition 25 crew, along with NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. The crew is led by commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency.

    Romanenko, Marshburn and Hadfield are expected to leave the space station in May after six months onboard. Once they leave, Vinogradov will take over for Hadfield as the commander of the Expedition 36 mission.

    Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter and Google+. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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  • Space opens up whole new world of cancer research

    NASA

    Sunlight glints off the International Space Station with the blue limb of Earth providing a dramatic backdrop in this photo taken by an astronaut on the shuttle Endeavour just before it docked after midnight on Feb. 10, 2010 during the STS-130.

    By Charles Q. Choi
    Space.com

    Advanced strategies to fight cancer are taking inspiration from experiments in the final frontier of outer space, researchers say.

    The gravity experienced in low-Earth orbit, which is 10,000 to 1 million times less powerful than that felt on Earth's surface, allows researchers to study cell behavior that's normally masked by responses to gravity. Learning more about these processes is shedding light on how cells usually work, and how they can malfunction in the case of cancer.

    "When you take away the force of gravity, you can unmask some things you can't readily see on Earth," said cell biologist Jeanne Becker of Nano3D Biosciences in Houston. "When gravitational force is reduced, cell shape changes, the way they grow changes, the genes they activate change, the proteins they make change." [6 Cool Space Shuttle Experiments]

    Scientists have been taking note of such effects for decades. For instance, experiments in the 1970s on Skylab, the first U.S. space station, discovered that red blood cells develop bumpy surfaces in space, a change that disappeared within hours once astronauts returned to Earth.

    More recently, research investigating 10,000 genes found that the behavior of 1,632 of them — including genes linked with cell death and tumor suppression — was altered in microgravity.

    Although microgravity can distort normal biology, conventional procedures for studying cells on Earth can introduce their own problems. For instance, experiments on Earth often grow cells as flat layers in dishes, obscuring how they behave in real life when they can interact with each other in three dimensions in complex ways.

    "When you grow cancers in three dimensions as opposed to flat layers, their response to drugs is vastly different — they become more resistant to drugs," Becker told Space.com.

    These discoveries spurred the creation of devices that could mimic the effects of microgravity on Earth so researchers could see how cells behave in three dimensions. For example, so-called rotating wall vessel bioreactors constantly spin cells, keeping them as close to the free-fall seen in space as possible.

    Other devices use magnetic fields to levitate cells and counteract the pull of gravity.

    Such machines have supported analyses of a wide variety of cancers, such as those of the breast, cervix, kidney, colon, liver, skin, lung, bone, ovaries and prostate.

    "The work we do can help address how cancer grows, reveal new ways of tackling drug resistance," Becker said.

    Although devices that seek to mimic or induce microgravity are valuable to science, they cannot fully replace the effects seen in orbit. For instance, the crew of the final doomed flight of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003 found that prostate cancer cells grown in space developed into golf-ball-size structures, while clumps grown in rotating wall vessel bioreactors only reached 3 to 5 millimeters (0.1 to 0.2 inches) in size.

    "With the International Space Station, we have a lab that doesn't exist anywhere else," Becker said. "It's an exciting platform for discovery."

    Space-based science also has improved microencapsulation technology that envelops molecules in capsules, helping develop new delivery systems for cancer drugs. In addition, research exploring how plants respond to light has also shown new ways to reduce pain associated with cancer treatments.

    Although NASA's space shuttle program retired in 2011, "we have commercial access to the space station coming up the pipeline, and we still have access to it through vehicles like the Russians' Progress spacecraft," Becker said. "So the opportunities are really limitless."

    Becker and her colleague Glauco Souza detailed this research online Friday in the journal Nature Reviews Cancer.

    Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

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  • On Earth and in space, it's Yuri's Night!

    ESA

    On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space when he launched into orbit on the Vostok 3KA-3 spacecraft (Vostok 1).

    By Miriam Kramer
    Space.com

    Space enthusiasts unite! Friday night, a 1-ton rover on Mars will celebrate 52 years of human spaceflight from the Red Planet while space groupies on Earth party the night away.

    "Yuri's Night" honors more than five decades of human spaceflight with parties and special events commemorating a very special day in the history of human voyages into orbit. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is getting in on the celebratory action this year as well with a festive message scheduled to beam down via social media at 4:00 p.m. EDT Friday. 

    On April 12, 1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space when he launched off planet Earth in a Vostok space capsule. On the same day in 1981, NASA launched its first shuttle mission, kicking off a 30-year spaceflight program that led to the International Space Station. [Photos: Yuri Gagarin, First Man in Space]

    "We're honored to be working with the Curiosity team to take the celebration of space to new heights," Ryan Kobrick, the executive director of Yuri's Night, said. "As we continue to reach for the stars and inspire others to do the same, we're looking forward to this being the first of many Yuri's Night parties to be held on other planets."

    More than 320 parties in 50 different countries on Earth have been registered through the Yuri's Night's website, including at least one in Antarctica, said Yuri's Night spokesman Brice Russ.

    The special night is also being celebrated by astronauts living far above the Earth's surface.

    "I'm really glad to be with you on Yuri's Night, the day — no matter where we are — where we come together to celebrate the past, the present and the future and the future of human space exploration," Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, the space station's current commander, said in a video message to mark the occasion.

    Gagarin's first flight was 108 minutes — much less than the six months astronauts such as Hadfield spend on board the space station — but it catapulted him into the history books. Gagarin's Vostok 1 spacecraft orbited once around the planet before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. The capsule had no way to slow itself down, so Gagarin ejected and floated to the planet's surface using a parachute instead.

    Exactly 20 years later, NASA launched its first space shuttle mission. The space shuttle Columbia's first trip to space (dubbed STS-1) took two astronauts — commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen — into orbit for two days. During the 54.5-hour mission, the shuttle orbited the Earth 37 times before touching down on April 14.

    NASA's space shuttles launched on 135 missions to pursue science and space station-building missions. There were two devastating failures: the 1986 Challenger shuttle accident that killed seven astronauts just after launch; and the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster that killed seven astronauts returning home from orbit after a 16-day mission. .

    The Columbia shuttle disaster led NASA to eventually retire its space shuttle fleet in 2011 after completing the shuttle fleet's obligations to space station construction. The space agency's remaining shuttles — Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour and the test shuttle Enterprise — are now in museums for public display across the United States.

    NASA now is developing a new spacecraft and rocket, the Orion capsule and giant Space Launch System mega-rocket, aimed at launching astronauts on deep-space missions to an asteroid and Mars, beginning in 2021. In the meantime, the agency plans to rely on new private spaceships to ferry Americans to and from the International Space Station.

    To find a "Yuri's Night" party near you, you can use the "Find a Party" page through the Yuri's Night website.

    Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

    Copyright 2013 Space.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Astronaut celebrates St. Patrick's Day in space

    Canadian Space Agency/Chris Hadfield

    Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield floats inside the International Space Station clad all in green for St. Patrick's Day on March 17, 2013.

    By Tariq Malik, SPACE.com

    You don't need gravity to have a great St. Patrick's Day, just ask astronaut Chris Hadfield on the International Space Station.

    Hadfield, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, is celebrating the Irish holiday in orbit by wearing a green shirt and a bright green bow tie Sunday while photographing Ireland from space.

    "Maidin mhaith from the International Space Station! Happy Saint Patrick's Day to the Irish all around the globe. Good morning!" Hadfield wrote in one of several Irish-themed Twitter posts today. Maidin mhaith is Gaelic for "Good Morning."

    Hadfield also snapped a photo of Tralee, Ireland, as the space station passed over the region this morning and even recorded a cosmic version of the traditional Irish song "Danny Boy." Tralee was the first patch of green land Hadfield saw as the space station soared over the Atlantic Ocean today. [Astronaut Chris Hadfield's Amazing Space Photos]

    "Danny Boy strikes home with me now more than ever. I've recorded a version for today in orbit," Hadfield wrote. He posted his version of Danny Boy on the Soundcloud.com audio website.

    Hadfield is an accomplished guitarist and is the first astronaut to record an original song in space. Last month, he was one of several astronauts to perform with the Irish band The Chieftains during a Feb. 15 concert in Houston. NASA astronauts Cady Coleman and Dan Burbank joined the Chieftains live on stage during the concert, with Hadfield prerecording his portion for the show.

    Coleman also performed with the Chieftains from space during a mission to the International Space Station that ran from December 2010 to May 2011. She took five different flutes to the space station and also performed an Irish song in space for St. Patrick's Day.

    Hadfield commands the Expedition 35 mission on the International Space Station and took charge the orbiting lab last week when the previous Expedition 34 crew returned to Earth. He is the first Canadian ever to command the space station. 

    Canadian Space Agency/Chris Hadfield

    Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield took this photo of Tralee, Ireland, from space on March 17, 2013, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day on the International Space Station.

    The space station's Expedition 35 crew consists of Hadfield, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko. The three men launched to the space station in December and are due to return to Earth in May.

    Hadfield and his crew will welcome three more crewmembers on March 28, bringing the space station back up to its full six-person crew size.

    You can listen to Chris Hadfield's version of Danny Boy on SoundCloud.com here.

    Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

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  • Dragon delivers a whole load of science to space station

    NASA

    The Dragon capsule has begun its scheduled three-week-long stay at the orbiting space station.

    By Miriam Kramer
    Space.com

    The International Space Station is now home to more than 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of supplies delivered by an unmanned, privately built space capsule that reached the orbiting science laboratory on Sunday.

    Among the goods SpaceX's Dragon capsule transported to the station were science experiments primed and ready for the six international residents of the space station.

    "Dragon is scheduled to return to Earth on March 25, bringing home nearly double the amount of supplies it brought up, about 2,668 pounds (1,210 kilograms)," NASA officials said in a statement. "Returning investigation samples will demonstrate how life in microgravity affects the growth of plant seedlings, changes to the human body, the behavior of semiconductors and detergents, and more."

    Some of the experiments will only stay on board for three weeks, making a round trip back to Earth with Dragon when the capsule detaches from the station. One of those experiments involves thale cress, a plant used in many experiments because of its small, relatively easy-to-map genome.

    Scientists affiliated with NASA and the European Space Agency sent up one experiment called "Seedling Growth-1," designed to investigate how well plants grow amid stresses such as low oxygen. [See video of SpaceX's Dragon docking in orbit]

    NASA

    The Experiment Container with Plant Seedling Seed Cassettes (seedlings, inset lower right) is an example of the samples returning aboard the SpaceX Dragon vehicle for ground analysis.

    "The experiment will study how plants adapt to micro- and low-gravity environments," NASA officials wrote in a statement. "Researchers hope to determine the ability of vegetation to provide a complete, sustainable, dependable and economical means for human life-support in space."

    Beyond helping scientists learn how to grow food in space, the research might contribute to better agricultural practices back on Earth. Understanding how these plants react to a stressful environment could lend insight into how farmers could mitigate those taxing situations back on the planet's surface.

    Some of the experiments sent to the International Space Station will play a role in education, as well.

    "Students from several California schools developed investigations to study bacteria, iron corrosion, battery performance and carbon dioxide levels aboard the station, all of which will be delivered by Dragon," NASA officials wrote in a statement.

    NASA

    The NanoRacks Plate Reader, shown here, will enable in-orbit analysis of research samples for certain studies aboard the International Space Station.

    Personal product manufacturer Procter & Gamble sent up another experiment that will study how to better preserve toothpaste, gels and creams.

    "Particle additives can make a product last longer by maintaining its consistency, but they sink and clump together after a certain amount of time, which can spoil a product," NASA officials said. "It's difficult to study these dynamics on Earth because gravity gets in the way, making the space station an ideal research platform for these important industrial processes."

    Although Dragon's launch went flawlessly, once the capsule parted from the Falcon 9 rocket used to boost it into orbit, one glitch became apparent. A thruster problem delayed Dragon's approach to the space station by a day. The spacecraft is expected to return to Earth with experiment results and other gear on March 25.

    Dragon also brought a few treats for the astronauts, with bananas and apples among the first items unloaded to the space station.

    Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This article was first published on Space.com.

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  • Astronaut photographs East Coast 'sunglint'

    NASA / JSC

    Looking out at the Earth's surface from the International Space Station, astronauts frequently observe sunglint highlighting both ocean and inland water surfaces.

    By Clara Moskowitz
    LiveScience

    The coast of the northeast United States is silhouetted against the shimmering water of Cape Cod Bay and Long Island Sound in a new photo captured by astronauts on the International Space Station.

    The phenomenon of light from a setting sun reflecting off water to create a shining, mirrorlike surface is called sunglint, and is evident throughout the photo.

    "The Atlantic Ocean — including Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay, along the coastlines of Massachusetts and Rhode Island — has a burnished, mirrorlike appearance in this image," the NASA's Earth Observatory wrote. "This is due to sunlight reflected off the water surface back towards the astronaut-photographer."

    The photo was taken on Feb. 14 at 4:26 p.m. EST by the space station's Expedition 34 crew, which includes commander Kevin Ford of NASA, as well as U.S. astronaut Tom Marshburn, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy, Evgeny Tarelkin and Roman Romanenko.

    At that time of day, the sun was low on the horizon, as evidenced by the wide extent of the sunglint effect, which reaches all the way from Long Island Sound to the waters of Chesapeake Bay, more than 250 miles (400 kilometers) away. From the vantage of the International Space Station, 260 miles (420 km) above Earth, much of the region is visible, as well as the limb of the planet and its thin atmosphere fading away into the blackness of space.

    On the photo's right side, the waters off the Massachusetts coast and in Long Island Sound are especially bright where the peak reflection point is, according to the Earth Observatory.

    The photo shows the northeast United States just days after a powerful blizzard blanketed many areas in heavy snow on Feb. 9.

    "There is little in this image to indicate that the region was still recovering from a major winter storm that dropped almost one meter (three feet) of snow over much of the northeastern USA less than a week earlier," the Earth Observatory wrote.

    Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet. We're also on Facebook  and Google+.

    Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Russia robotic supply ship docks with space station

    NASA TV

    The Progress 50 robotic supply ship approaches the International Space Station during the fly-around prior to docking on Monday.

    By Tariq Malik
    Space.com

    An unmanned Russian spacecraft carrying nearly 3 tons of supplies arrived at the International Space Station Monday, less than six hours after blasting off.

    The robotic Progress 50 resupply ship docked with the orbiting lab at 3:35 p.m. EST Monday after launching from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:41 a.m. EST. Such unmanned cargo trips have traditionally taken about two days.

    The Progress 50 spacecraft is packed with about 2.9 tons of supplies for the space station's six-man Expedition 34 crew. On Saturday, the station astronauts discarded an older unmanned cargo ship, called Progress 48, in order to make room for Progress 50.

    The outgoing Progress vehicle was filled with tons of trash and unneeded items and intentionally destroyed by burning up in Earth's atmosphere. [Space Station's Robot Cargo Ship Fleet (Photos)]

    NASA TV

    The unmanned Progress 50 supply ship blasts off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome on Monday.

    Progress 50, meanwhile, is delivering about 764 pounds (346 kilograms) of propellant, 110 pounds (50 kg) of oxygen and air, 926 pounds (420 kg) of water and about 3,000 pounds (1,360 kg) of spare parts, science gear and other supplies, according to a NASA description.

    The Russian Federal Space Agency's Progress spacecraft are disposable vehicles similar in design to its three-segment Soyuz crew capsules, but with a propellant module in place of the central crew return capsule on the Soyuz.

    Progress vehicles are designed to be disposable and are intentionally ditched into Earth's atmosphere at the end of their mission. Robotic resupply ships for the station built by Europe and Japan are also disposed of in the same way.

    The only robotic supply ship for the space station that can return supplies back to Earth is the Dragon space capsule built by the private spaceflight company SpaceX.

    Dragon space capsules visited the space station twice in 2012, with the next one slated to launch from Florida atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket in March. Dragon vehicles are equipped with a heat shield to protect them during re-entry and are built for ocean splashdown landings in order to return experiments and other gear to Earth.

    The space station's current Expedition 34 is commanded by NASA astronaut Kevin Ford. The other crew members are fellow NASA spaceflyer Tom Marshburn, Canadian Chris Hadfield and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy, Evgeny Tarelkin and Roman Romanenko.

    Hadfield will become the first-ever Canadian to command a station mission when he takes over Expedition 35, which will begin in March with the departure of Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin.

    You can follow Space.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow Space.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook  and Google+. 

     

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  • Robotic Russian supply ship leaves space station

    NASA TV

    A camera aboard Russia's robotic Progress 48 supply ship sees the International Space Station just after undocking from the orbiting laboratory on Feb. 9, 2013, to end its cargo delivery mission to the station.

    By Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor

    An unmanned Russian cargo ship undocked from the International Space Station Saturday to make way for a fresh delivery of supplies for the six astronauts living on the orbiting laboratory next week.

    The trash-filled Progress 48 supply ship undocked from the space station's Russian Pirs docking port at 8:15 a.m. EST (1315 GMT) and was expected to intentionally destroy itself by burning up in Earth's atmosphere a few hours later.

    "We just undocked a spaceship from our Space Station," Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, a flight engineer on the space station, wrote in a Twitter post Saturday. "The Progress robot ship is loaded with trash, to burn up like a meteorite in 3.5 hrs."

    The departure of Progress 48 clears a parking spot for the next Russian cargo ship to use when it launches toward the International Space Station on Monday. That spacecraft, the Progress 50 supply ship, will launch from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:41 a.m. EST (1441 GMT on Monday, though it will late evening at the launch site.  Russia's Progress cargo ships are vital spacecraft that have helped keep astronauts stocked with food, clothing and other vital supplies during their six-month missions.

    Like recent Progress missions to the space station, the flight of Progress 50 will last just six hours. The spacecraft is due to dock at the space station at 3:40 p.m. EST (2040 GMT) after four orbits of Earth. The flight plan is faster way for Progress ships to reach the station. Before it was implemented, Progress flights took two days to reach the space station, much like Russia's manned Soyuz space capsule flights. [Space Station's Robot Cargo Ship Fleet (Photos)]

    Progress 50 will deliver nearly 2.9 tons of supplies for the space station's Expedition 34 crew, which includes three Russian cosmonauts, two American astronauts and Hadfield, who represents the Canadian Space Agency. The new cargo ship will deliver about 764 pounds (346 kilograms) of rocket propellant, 110 pounds (50 kg) of oxygen and air, 926 pounds (420 kg) of water and 3,000 pounds (1,360 kg) of spare parts, science equipment and other supplies, NASA officials said.

    The Russian Federal Space Agency's three-module Progress spacecraft are similar in appearance to its crew-carrying Soyuz spacecraft. Both vehicles have orbital and propulsion modules, but the Progress spacecraft does not have a crew return capsule in its middle. Instead, it has another cargo module to carry propellant for the space station's maneuvers.

    Since Progress cargo ships are not designed to return to Earth, they are regularly filled with tons of trash and unneeded items, and then sent to burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. Robotic resupply ships for the station built by Europe and Japan also meet the same fate.

    The American unmanned Dragon cargo ships built by the private spaceflight company SpaceX, which flew to the space station twice in 2012, are designed to re-enter the atmosphere and can return science experiments and other gear to Earth.

    NASA will broadcast live views of Monday's Progress 50 spacecraft launch and docking via NASA TV. You can watch the Progress 50 spacecraft live on SPACE.com here, courtesy of NASA's feed.

    You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+. 

  • Last moonwalker calls space station, compares cosmic elbow room

    NASA TV/collectSPACE.com

    Apollo 17 moonwalker Gene Cernan, left, gives a thumbs up to the astronauts on the International Space Station from Mission Control in Houston on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013.

    By Robert Z. Pearlman, collectSPACE.com Editor

    HOUSTON — The last man to walk on the moon made an unexpected call to the most recent men to live in space this week during a visit to NASA's Mission Control room. 

    Gene Cernan, who in December 1972 commanded Apollo 17, the sixth and final lunar landing mission, was touring the Johnson Space Center here with some friends when he was invited by flight controllers to talk live with Expedition 34  commander Kevin Ford and flight engineers Chris Hadfield and Tom Marshburn in the U.S. Destiny laboratory on the International Space Station, 260 miles above the Earth.

    "I didn't know I was going to be able to do this," Cernan told the station's crew during the visit on Feb. 5. The moonwalker, who was using a phone receiver to talk with the astronauts in space, could see Ford, Marshburn and Hadfield on the large screens at the front of the control center room.

    The ISS residents were in turn able to see Cernan via live streaming video on one of their laptop computers.

    "I'm personally proud," Cernan commented. "I'm at the age now where most of you were probably in diapers or knee pants when I went to the moon, but at least what we did worked because it inspired you to do what you're doing." [Apollo 17 Moonwalker Calls Space Station (Video)]

    "I think I was 12 when you came home from the moon for the last time," Ford responded, "and you did inspire us for sure, just like whole world, frankly. Every place I go in the world, they know NASA because what you guys did back then that long ago."

    Elbow room in space
    The space-to-ground conversation, which aired on NASA's television channel and was streamed through the space agency's website, showed Ford, Marshburn and Hadfield floating inside the orbiting laboratory with room to spare. And they were inside just one of the space station's dozen modules, which they share with three other crewmates, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy, Evgeny Tarelkin and Roman Romanenko.

     Cernan was struck by the sheer size of the space station, especially given his own experiences in orbit.

     "You guys live in a hotel. You're living in a palatial palace up there," Cernan stated. "I got to go back to the Gemini days when you had to share elbow room with your buddy and you never got out of your spacesuit for three days."

     Cernan flew three times to space, including two missions to the moon. He made his first flight seated inside NASA's two-seater Gemini spacecraft. Cernan's only opportunity to stretch his legs during the Gemini 9 mission was during a two-hour spacewalk.

    "We talked about living up there like we live down here, we didn't even have hot water on the moon to warm a cup of coffee," Cernan said.

    "You're right, the space station is a palace, actually," Ford radioed. "We did fly up here in a [Russian] Soyuz though, and I bet you, inch-for-inch for elbow room, that it's pretty tight, too. But we didn't have to spend a lot of time in it, and we only have four hours home from here."

    "I've been here for a little over 100 days now and Tom and Chris have been up here 45 or so," the station commander told Cernan. "Living in space is something we can do now because of what you guys did those years ago."

    Cernan's visit to Mission Control was with some friends from Space Center Houston, the official visitor center for Johnson Space Center. Thousands of young children visit the museum and attraction to learn about NASA's past, present and future activities in space.

    "You're doing one heck of a great job and you have got a big legacy to build upon. From where you leave off, we're going to get those kids excited down here about pressing on and going even further," Cernan told Ford and his crew members.

    "It is going to make a huge difference to generations 100 years from now," Ford replied. "[They] are going to benefit from what we're doing up here and of course, benefit from what you did those years ago."

     "Yours is a remarkable story, we can't compete with that," Ford said to Cernan. "Great to have you in the center and truly have you aboard the International Space Station."

     "One last thought," said Cernan. "We always used to look at it as we stood on the shoulders of giants of the nation. Remember, when you guys get back, the job is not done. You are now the shoulders for those kids to stand upon."

     Follow collectSPACE on Facebook and Twitter @collectSPACE and editor Robert Pearlman @robertpearlman. Copyright 2012 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.

     

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