Rocket engine exhaust often contains a distinctive pattern known as shock diamonds or Mach diamonds. These are a series of shock waves and expansion fans that increase and decrease, respectively, the supersonic exhaust gases’ pressure until it equalizes with atmospheric pressure. The bright glowing spots visible to the naked eye are caused by excess fuel in the exhaust igniting. As awesome as shock diamonds look, they’re actually an indication of inefficiencies in the rocket: first, because the exhaust is over- or underexpanded, and second, because combustion inside the engine is incomplete. Both factors reduce a rocket engine’s efficiency (and both are, to some extent, inescapable). (Photo credit: XCOR)
Some estimations on the costs of going to mars [infographic] http://space-pics.tumblr.com/
October 13, 1966 – Gemini 12 astronaut Buzz Aldrin undergoes zero-gravity training aboard an Air Force KC-135 vomit comet. (NASA)
A Reddit user captured several phenomenal photos of the solar eclipse, from the cockpit of an airplane.
Boeing 747 carrying space shuttle Endeavor
The mission objective of the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM) is to extend the NASA exploration of the solar system beyond the neighborhood of the outer planets to the outer limits of the Sun’s sphere of influence, and possibly beyond. This extended mission is continuing to characterize the outer solar system environment and search for the heliopause boundary, the outer limits of the Sun’s magnetic field and outward flow of the solar wind.
"I don't know who will read this. I guess someone will find it eventually. Maybe in a hundred years or so." -Mark Watney
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