OTD In Space - April 19: World's 1st Space Station Launches Into Orbit
On April 19, 1971, the Soviet Union launched the world's first space station, Salyut 1. This space station was a modified version of the Soviet Union's Almaz space station, which was part of a highly classified military program and was still under development at the time. After NASA managed to put astronauts on the moon, the Soviet Union decided that its next big feat in the Space Race would be to put a crewed space station in orbit. The first crew to visit Salyut 1 in orbit launched just four days after the space station did. However, that crew had some technical problems while trying to dock with the space station in their Soyuz spacecraft, so they went back home without ever actually entering the station. Another crew launched two months later, and after a successful docking, they spent 23 days aboard the station.
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Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Axiom Space's record-setter to lead astronauts from 3 nations on private mission
Peggy Whitson has spent nearly two years of her life in space as an Axiom Space employee and former NASA astronaut. Next week she'll lead a mission with three men representing countries that haven't sent anyone to space in more than four decades. Whitson, 65, will command the Ax-4 mission targeting liftoff as early as 8:22 a.m. Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A. It will transport three Axiom customers: one each from India and Hungary, whose seats were paid for by their governments, and one from Poland through the European Space Agency. Whitson flew three times for NASA before joining Axiom, for which she commanded the Ax-2 mission in 2023 and tallied more than 675 days in space. She holds the record for most time in space by a woman and most for any American. All four of her missions were to the International Space Station - as is the Ax-4 flight. "For me, returning to space is always a special experience. Every mission is different," she said during a call with media Tuesday. "Every crew brings something new to the table. I've been incredibly impressed by the dedication and the work ethic and the passion of this team. "It's been a joy to train alongside them and I'm looking forward to seeing them in microgravity." That crew members are Shubhanshu Shukla of India, acting as mission pilot; mission specialist Sławosz Uznański of Poland, an ESA project astronaut; and mission specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary. The quartet will climb aboard a new SpaceX Crew Dragon - which will get its official name once it reaches orbit - launching atop a Falcon 9 rocket on only the second human spaceflight of the year from Space Coast following the March launch of Crew-10. The Dragon is slated to dock with the space station Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. for a planned two-week stay during which crew members will participate in a heavy schedule of science experiments, technology demonstrations and media outreach. "We'll be conducting research that spans biology, material and physical sciences as well as technology demonstrations," Whitson said. "We'll also be engaging with students around the world, sharing our experience and inspiring the next generation of explorers." One science experiment she's most interested in could pave the way for people who are diabetic to travel into space. "A person with diabetes can't fly in space because it's disqualifying and not considered to be safe, because we wouldn't know how their bodies would respond," Whitson said. "So if we have the appropriate technology to monitor the individuals, we feel that we can open up that door and that path for a lot of folks in the world and just open up space a little bit more." Delving into a customer base of countries which don't have as much access to space is part of Axiom's business plan. For this mission, the three countries represented first flew to space with the Soviet Union as cosmonauts on Soyuz spacecraft, but nothing since 1984, although a Hungarian-American millionaire flew to the space station twice as a tourist in 2007 and 2009. The governments paid Axiom an undisclosed amount for their representatives' trip to the space station. It marks the third time it has flown government-sponsored passengers after its first trip to the station in 2022 had three men who paid $55 million each for their visit. Whitson's last trip on Ax-2 had just one private passenger who paid their own way. The Saudi Arabian government paid for the other two passengers. Since then, Axiom has focused on only government-sponsored customers. Ax-3 in 2024 had passengers from Italy, Turkey and Sweden. Similar to Uznański on this mission, the ESA paid for the Swedish customer even though the agency has access to the space station as a partner with NASA, Canada, Japan and Russia. The trio of space newcomers on this mission all spoke of it as opening up possibilities for their nations. "I carry with me, not just instruments and equipment, but the hopes and dreams of a billion hearts," said India's Shukla, who will perform seven experiments for research institutions from his nation. "These experiments will pave the way for India's progress in microgravity science, and I'm proud to be the bridge between Earth and orbit for this pioneering research, balancing the scientific ambition with a rich cultural heritage." Poland's Uznański noted that he will enjoy the view. "I'm looking forward to floating in the cupola, which is our window back on Earth. I can't wait to see all the training places, and also our four countries from up there, but mostly to see Earth as a whole, as one planet, one home," he said. Kapu will do 25 experiments for Hungary while also using half of his personal luggage space to bring something that pays homage to the first Hungarian who flew to space in 1978. "There was a teddy bear which is wearing a cosmonaut space suit. This teddy bear is from a Hungarian TV show for kids," he said, noting it went along for the ride nearly 50 years ago. "I'm really proud to fly that again." It won't be the only stuffed animal on the flight. The other is a swan called Joy, named by Kapu, that will function as the crew's "zero-gravity indicator" - traditionally an object that lets astronauts know they've reached space as it begins to float around after launch. Whitson teased the swan's connection to the name reveal for the Crew Dragon capsule. The first four Crew Dragons were named Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance and Freedom. "The reason we selected this one might become more obvious once you hear the name of the vehicle," she said. "You'll have to wait for that one." -------------- Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why does NASA's Perseverance rover keep taking pictures of this maze on Mars?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. If you've spent any time perusing the carousel of raw images from NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, you might have stumbled across an odd subject: a tiny, intricate maze etched into a small plate, photographed over and over again. Why is the Perseverance rover so obsessed with this little labyrinth? It turns out the maze is a calibration target — one of 10 for Perseverance's Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals instrument, otherwise known for its fun acronym, SHERLOC. This Sherlock Holmes–inspired tool is designed to detect organic compounds and other minerals on Mars that could indicate signs of ancient microbial life. To do that accurately, the system must be carefully calibrated, and that's where the maze comes in. Located on the rover's seven-foot (2.1-meter) robotic arm, SHERLOC uses spectroscopic techniques — specifically Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy — to analyze Martian rocks. In order to ensure accurate measurements, it must routinely calibrate its tools using a set of reference materials with specific properties. These are mounted on a plate attached to the front of the rover's body: the SHERLOC Calibration Target. "The calibration targets serve multiple purposes, which primarily include refining the SHERLOC wavelength calibration, calibrating the SHERLOC laser scanner mirror, and monitoring the focus and state of health of the laser," Kyle Uckert, deputy principal investigator for SHERLOC at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tells The target is arranged in two rows, each populated with small patches of carefully selected materials. The top row includes three critical calibration materials: aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) on sapphire discs; the UV-scattering material Diffusil; and Martian meteorite SaU008, whose mineral makeup is already known and helps align wavelength calibration with real Martian geology. This is also where you'll find the maze. Why a maze? "SHERLOC is all about solving puzzles, and what better puzzle than a maze!" says Uckert. The purpose of the maze target is to calibrate the positioning of the laser scanner mirror and characterize the laser's focus, which requires a target with sharply contrasting spectral responses. The maze serves this purpose well." The maze is made of chrome-plated lines just 200 microns thick (about twice the width of a human hair) printed onto silica glass. "There are no repeating patterns and the spectrum of the chrome plating is distinct from the underlying silica glass," says Uckert. That makes it possible to measure the laser's focus and accuracy with extreme precision. If you look closely at the maze, you'll also notice a Sherlock Holmes portrait right at the center. While it's a cheeky nod to the instrument's name, it serves a practical function. "SHERLOC spectral maps can resolve the 200 micron thick chrome plated lines and the 50 micron thick silhouette of Sherlock Holmes at the center of the maze," Uckert notes. Like the portrait, the bottom half of the SHERLOC Calibration Target also serves a dual purpose: spectral instrument calibration and spacesuit material testing. It contains five samples of materials used in modern spacesuits, including some materials you might be familiar with, like Teflon, Gore-Tex, and Kevlar. And don't miss the "fun" target in this row — there's a geocache marker backing a polycarbonate target, and it does indeed have a tie-in to Sherlock Holmes. RELATED STORIES: — Perseverance rover's Mars samples show traces of ancient water, but NASA needs them on Earth to seek signs of life — Perseverance Mars rover finds 'one-of-a-kind treasure' on Red Planet's Silver Mountain — Perseverance Mars rover becomes 1st spacecraft to spot auroras from the surface of another world These materials are actively being tested under Mars conditions to determine how they hold up over time in situ, which is crucial for planning human exploration of the Red Planet. "Note that we use all of these materials to fine-tune SHERLOC," adds Uckert. "As a bonus, the spacesuit materials support unique science that will help keep future astronauts safe." Now, if all these Sherlock Holmes–related Easter eggs on the SHERLOC Calibration Target aren't enough for you, there's one final link. SHERLOC has a color camera as part of its instrumentation suite that sometimes images the target, and it's called the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering. Yes, SHERLOC's sidekick is called WATSON.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
What is the Dragon spacecraft? SpaceX project in the middle of the Musk-Trump drama
Elon Musk has thrown the future of a SpaceX project, the Dragon spacecraft, into doubt after floating, but then retracting, the idea of decommissioning the project. The billionaire is currently in the midst of a public fallout with US President Donald Trump, who had threatened to cancel government contracts with Musk's businsesses, sparking Musk to bite back on the social media platform X. 'In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,' Musk posted on X, with a screenshot of Trump's threat on Truth Social attached. In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' the president had written. 'I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Following advice from a follower for both Musk and Trump to 'cool down', the SpaceX owner replied: 'Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.' Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2025 That's likely good news for both SpaceX's wallets and NASA's operations, with more than $20bn worth of government contracts, largely from NASA and the Department of Defense, going towards Musk's company since 2008. Here's a closer look at the Dragon spacecraft and its purpose at NASA. NASA uses the Dragon to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), with it perhaps most famously being used to return stranded NASA astronauts Barry 'Butch' Wilmore and Sunita Williams safely to Earth. This was after their Boeing Starliner capsule left without them in the midst of technical issues. Another SpaceX Dragon launch is due for June 10, with plans to ferry four people to and from the ISS on Axiom Mission 4. NASA will continue to execute upon the President's vision for the future of space. We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President's objectives in space are met. — Bethany Stevens (@NASASpox) June 5, 2025 NASA doesn't appear to be concerned about the discussions between Musk and Trump, with press secretary Bethany Stevens making a statement on X that reads: 'NASA will continue to execute upon the President's vision for the future of space. We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President's objectives in space are met.'
