If There Is Magic On This Planet, It Is Contained In Water :D

The Body’s Price on Space Exploration

It can be easy to get wrapped up in the dollar amount when talking about the price of sending humans to Mars but there is a factor that no amount of government or private funding can overcome: the human body.

Read more on Miss Aerospace

in 20-70 million years, Mars’ moon Phobos will get close enough to the surface of the planet that it will be ripped apart by the tidal forces. The resulting debris will most likely give Mars a planetary ring.

This is a picture from the Curiosity Rover on Mars showing Earth from the Perspective of Mars. You are literally looking at your home from the Perspective of another planet. Epic times indeed

What Did Astronaut Scott Kelly Do After a #YearInSpace?

Astronaut Scott Kelly just returned from his One-Year Mission aboard the International Space Station. After spending 340 days on orbit, you can imagine that he started to miss a few Earthly activities. Here are a few things he did after his return home:

Watched a Sunset

While on the International Space Station for his One-Year Mission, astronaut Scott Kelly saw 16 sunrises/sunsets each day…so he definitely didn’t miss out on the beauty. That said, watching a sunset while on Earth is something that he had to wait to see. Tweet available HERE. 

Ate Fresh Food

After spending a year on the International Space Station, eating precooked food, anyone would be excited to dig into a REAL salad. Astronaut Scott Kelly was no exception, and posted about his first salad on Earth after his one-year mission. Learn more about what astronauts eat while in space HERE. Tweet available HERE.

Jumped into a Pool

Water is a precious resource in space. Unfortunately, that means that there isn’t a pool on the space station. Luckily, astronaut Scott Kelly was able to jump into some water after his return to Earth. Tweet/video available HERE.

Sat at a Dinner Table

While living on the International Space Station, crew members regularly enjoy their meals together, but do so while floating in microgravity. The comfort of pulling up a chair to the dinner table is something they can only experience once they’re back home on Earth. Tweet available HERE.

Enjoyed the Weather

When crew members live on the space station they can’t just step outside for a stroll. The only time they go outside the orbiting laboratory is during a spacewalk. Even then, they are confined inside a bulky spacesuit. Experiencing the cool breeze or drops of rain are Earthly luxuries. Tweet available HERE.

Stopped by the Doctor’s Office

The One-Year Mission doesn’t stop now that astronaut Scott Kelly is back on Earth. Follow-up exams and tests will help scientists understand the impacts of microgravity on the human body during long-duration spaceflight. This research will help us on our journey to Mars. Tweet available HERE. 

Visited the Denist

When you spend a year in space, you’ll probably need to catch up on certain things when you return to Earth. Astronaut Scott Kelly made sure to include a visit to the dentist on his “return home checklist”. Tweet available HERE.

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The Soul Nebula Pictured, bright massive stars near the center of W5, the Soul Nebula, are exploding and emitting ionizing light and energetic winds. The outward-moving light and gas push away and evaporate much surrounding gas and dust, but leave pillars of gas behind dense protective knots. Inside these knots, though, stars also form. The featured image highlights the inner sanctum of W5, an arena spanning about 1,000 light years that is rich in star forming pillars. The Soul Nebula, also cataloged as IC 1848, lies about 6,500 light years away toward the constellation of the Queen of Aethopia (Cassiopeia). Likely, in few hundred million years, only a cluster of the resulting stars will remain. Then, these stars will drift apart. (APOD/NASA)

Image Credit: José Jiménez Priego (Astromet) 

Meet the all-female team of coders that brought us Apollo 11.

In 1969, the world watched as Neil Armstrong marked his historic achievement with the words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” His now-famous transmission was heard around the globe thanks to NASA’s Deep Space Network, which made communication from outer space possible.

That network was built by a woman named Susan Finley. She was part of an all-female team of coders whose work was integral to the success of the Apollo 11 mission. Science writer Nathalia Holt brings us their stories in her book, Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us from Missiles to the Moon to Mars.

Listen to their story here.

[Images via NASA]

The Earth at night. Photographs taken by NASA.

(Source)

Unfollow me if you wish, but this blog will NEVER support Trump and instead supports the LGBT community, racial minorities, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, Muslims, Jewish people, and anyone else who is afraid now. I am with you, and this will always be a safe space for you.

Two very alarming changes have already been made on the White House website. Reason, empathy and progress must be fought for. I hope this isn’t indicative of upcoming policies but fear it obviously is.

Also I just edited this post to add my own screenshot: the White House’s website for combating antibiotic resistant bacteria is gone too.

I want to note that most of the great steps of social progress in American history were *not* made by presidents or politicians acting of their own accord. America thrives in a state of constant *peaceful* revolt. Protest, political dissent and civil disobedience are what change things.

Voting is great and we need more to do it, but the women’s suffrage movement didn’t get voted into victory. Republican President Nixon (Nixon!) didn’t create the Environmental Protection Agency because he had an environmentalist’s stance on the Earth.

It’s important to always remember that when people wield their concerns and press power to answer for itself, they change the world.

(Images courtesy of screenshots from a friend and from myself)

NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg is a self proclaimed crafter. A week ago she made a stuffed dinosaur from scraps on the space station. The little T-rex is made form the lining of Russian food containers and the toy is stuffed with scraps from an old T-shirt. While many toys have flown into space, this is the first produced in space.

Photos: Karen Nyberg, via CollectSpace