Astronauts aboard the ISS have once again compiled a stunning video compilation of "the space station flying over Mexio, the central and eastern United States, and Canada and the Aurora Borealis at night." Continue reading to watch.
But, as they're being shown, the ISS is appearing to travel 12 times faster than it really is, at an apparent speed of nearly 210,000 MPH. Zooooom![via Dvice]
That's right, Austrian extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner is set to attempt the world's highest skydive from the edge of space at 120,000-feet above ground. Currently, the "jump record is held by former Air Force pilot Joe Kittinger, who jumped from nearly 103,000 feet in 1960, back when we were still trying to figure out just how high the human body could go." Continue reading to see the record-breaking attempt set in 1960.
As such, Baumgartner will make the ride up to 120,000 in a custom-built pressurized capsule tethered to a 600-foot-wide balloon. A special pressurized suit, similar to a space suit, will protect him from the conditions outside once the door comes open and Baumgartner takes the plunge. About 35 seconds after he jumps, he'll break the sound barrier. Then he'll continue to fall for another five minutes, pulling his parachute about a mile from the ground.[via PopSci]
Finally, NASA has just released the first video showing the moon's far side. This clip "was shot on January 19 to test the MoonKAM, a camera on board one of NASA's GRAIL probes we saw launched back in September." Continue reading to watch.
The MoonKAM will actually be controlled by middle school students as part of a NASA education initiative, and the students will use this video to pick specific areas of the dark side that they want to explore further.[via Dvice]
That's right, Toronto-based "Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17, used a weather balloon ordered online and a makeshift Styrofoam spacecraft to send the plastic astronaut 24 kilometers (15 miles) into the stratosphere, reports said." Video after the break.
Canadian media said the pair had fitted a box tethered to the balloon with four cameras and a cellphone enabled with a GPS (global positioning system) device to capture the journey.[via Physorg]
NASA has just released Blue Marble 2012, which "was taken by a hi-tech instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP; this composite image uses a number of passes over the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012."Continue reading for a video.
Nasa's 'Blue Marble' images of our world started in 1972, when Apollo astronauts took an image of our world from 28,000 miles away, looking like a blue marble in space. Since then, the space agency has used the term for spectacular hi-def images of our planet created from satellite imagery and often released once a year.[via DailyMail]
You've seen the amazing photograph of the ISS next to the moon captured by an amateur photograph with a DSLR, now check out what the astronauts aboard the ISS have to show you of the storms over Africa. That's right, "astronauts on the International Space Station captured a video of lightning storms flashing across Africa from 250 miles up." Continue reading for a video.
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the ISS. Expedition 30 is the current team on board the ISS, led by Commander Dan Burbank. The sequence of shots was taken December 29, 2011 from 20:55:05, on a pass from over central Africa, near southeast Niger, to the South Indian Ocean, southeast of Madagascar.[via DailyMail]
Standing 19-feet tall and comprised of 120,000-pieces, this LEGO Saturn V Rocket is touted as the tallest LEGO structure in Australia. That's not all, "LEGO Certified Professional Ryan "The BrickMan" McNaught included every detail, down the to the LEGO NASA Astrovan used to shuttle the astronauts across the tarmac." Click here for more pictures. Continue reading for a video of the original Saturn V rocket launch, as captured by high-speed cameras.
[via Gizmodo - TheBrickMan]
The incredible image above took home the award for best satellite image of 2011. It shows "'The Rakaia River is in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island; it is one of the largest braided rivers in New Zealand,' says DigitalGlobe." Continue reading for amazing satellite imagery.
'The river rises in the Southern Alps, travelling 150 kilometers in a generally easterly or southeasterly direction before entering the Pacific Ocean 50 kilometers south of Christchurch. For much of its journey, the river is a braided river, running through a wide shingle bed.'[via DailyMail]
That's right, an amateur astronomer captured the amazing photograph you see above, with a Nikon D3S, 600mm lens and 2x converter, heavy-duty Bogen tripod with sandbag and a trigger cable to minimize camera shake; the camera settings were as follows: 1/1600 @ f/8, ISO 2500 on High Continuous Burst." Continue reading for a video.
The picture, meanwhile, is very deceptive because the Moon is actually well over 200,000 miles beyond the Station, but they look here as if they might collide. The photographer, Lauren Harnett, told MailOnline that she was lucky to see the Station. She said: 'It's amazing the amount of interest it has sparked, especially when it almost didn't happen due to an overcast sky.'[via DailyMail]
Ever wonder if an Apple iPad 2 could survive a 100,000-foot fall from space? Well, wonder no more as "G-Form wanted to demonstrate how well their Extreme Edge sleeve protects the iPad, so they hooked one up to a weather balloon, and sent it up 100,000 feet to the edge of space." Video after the break.
[via Dvice]
