Jbrackettssa - John Brackett, NASA / JPL Solar System Ambassador

I waited 44 years to be this close to an Orbiter. Nice to meet you, Atlantis. You look amazing! #spaceshuttleatlantis #spaceshuttle #ksc #kennedyspacecenter #nasa #solarsystemambassador https://www.instagram.com/p/CP_DCSCDQtg/?utm_medium=tumblr

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxYDkafxqs9/?igshid=NzZhOTFlYzFmZQ==

Spent some time yesterday checking out Atlantis at KSC. #atlantis #spaceshuttleatlantis #nasa #solarsystemambassador (at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/CP6dFLNjlTO/?utm_medium=tumblr

On this date, in 1968, Apollo 6 launched as an unmanned test flight. The mission was plagued with trouble, including engine problems that caused a severe pogo effect that could have shaken the rocket apart. Overall, the mission was a “successful failure” because it led to important changes in the F-1 engines. Due to the tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, there was almost no press coverage of this launch. The Apollo 6 CM now sits at the Fernbank Science Center (not to be confused with the Fernbank Museum of Natural History) in Atlanta Georgia. #nasa #apollo #space #atlanta #georgia #solarsystemambassador https://www.instagram.com/p/CNQYFrwDI8Q/?igshid=1t7n3j398zbtm

Gravity, Hazard of Alteration

A human journey to Mars, at first glance, offers an inexhaustible amount of complexities. To bring a mission to the Red Planet from fiction to fact, NASA’s Human Research Program has organized some of the hazards astronauts will encounter on a continual basis into five classifications.

The variance of gravity fields that astronauts will encounter on a mission to Mars is the fourth hazard.

On Mars, astronauts would need to live and work in three-eighths of Earth’s gravitational pull for up to two years. Additionally, on the six-month trek between the planets, explorers will experience total weightlessness. 

Besides Mars and deep space there is a third gravity field that must be considered. When astronauts finally return home they will need to readapt many of the systems in their bodies to Earth’s gravity.

To further complicate the problem, when astronauts transition from one gravity field to another, it’s usually quite an intense experience. Blasting off from the surface of a planet or a hurdling descent through an atmosphere is many times the force of gravity.

Research is being conducted to ensure that astronauts stay healthy before, during and after their mission. Specifically researchers study astronauts’ vision, fine motor skills, fluid distribution, exercise protocols and response to pharmaceuticals.

Exploration to the Moon and Mars will expose astronauts to five known hazards of spaceflight, including gravity. To learn more, and find out what NASA’s Human Research Program is doing to protect humans in space, check out the “Hazards of Human Spaceflight" website. Or, check out this week’s episode of “Houston We Have a Podcast,” in which host Gary Jordan further dives into the threat of gravity with Peter Norsk, Senior Research Director/ Element Scientist at the Johnson Space Center.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

Get your boarding pass and join me in celebrating the upcoming launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon - Resilience. Four astronauts are scheduled to ride a SpaceX Falcon 9 to the ISS on Saturday, November 14, 2020. #spacex #nasa #iss #launchamerica #spacestation20th #internationalspacestation #crewdragon #falcon9 https://fb.me/e/1OVkkJk4Q https://www.instagram.com/p/CHRiOwjDBHk/?igshid=1w7e8usp6ffy4

The first space selfie was taken by Buzz Aldrin exactly 52 years ago today during the Gemini XII mission

via reddit

Tomorrow, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will perform a “touch and go” maneuver with the asteroid Bennu, with the intent to collect a sample and return it to Earth. As the spacecraft orbited Bennu, a team of 3,600 people, including myself, analyzed 4,500 images to mark every crater, rock, and boulder in order to find the ideal spot for the “TAG”. We made 14 million notations! https://www.facebook.com/OSIRISREx/videos/2826486524306208/?vh=e&extid=0&d=n #bennu #osirisrex #space #tobennuandback @nasa @nasasolarsystem #nasaeducation https://www.instagram.com/p/CGjSy_yDuM-/?igshid=10jw6a0fmwa2h

My published Mission Juno image…

The Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle program, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011. The four reusable orbiters were launched vertically, like conventional rockets, and then landed horizontally on a runway. The program became politically untenable after Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 were lost. The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft in history. It was designed to be launched vertically, then land horizontally on a runway. The Space Shuttle program was a major part of the United States' space exploration efforts. It began with the development of a space shuttle proposal in 1972, which was approved for production as part of an inter-agency program between NASA and the Department of Defense. The first test flight occurred in 1981 and its first operational flight was STS-5, which launched on November 11, 1982. After a series of delays due to both technical issues and external events like the 1986 Challenger Disaster and 2003 Columbia Accident, it flew on 135 missions from 1981 until its decommissioning in 2011; its final launch being STS-135 by Atlantis on July 8th 2010. In 2011, the United States' Space Shuttle was retired from service after 30 years of service. In the current era of spaceflight, the United States is planning for its next crewed spacecraft Orion and its primary launch vehicle SLS; their first flight is set for 2022 with no crew members onboard followed by a crewed flight in 2023. Orion has been under development since 2004. It was originally planned to be launched atop an Atlas V rocket but has since switched over to being launched by a new SLS rocket under development by NASA as part of its Space Launch System program. The first mission using this new vehicle will be Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) which will send astronauts on a lunar flyby mission before returning them safely back home again via parachute landing system similar to what occurred during the Apollo era. #explorepage #sts #spaceshuttle #nasa #columbia #challenger #discovery #atlantis #endeavour #kennedyspacecenter #stemeducation https://www.instagram.com/p/CfwYMqPuUMc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=