Into The Universe with Stephen Hawking is an epic new kind of cosmology series, a Planet Earth of the heavens. It takes the world’s most famous scientific mind and sets it free, powered by the limitless possibilities of computer animation.

Hawking gives us the ultimate guide to the universe, a ripping yarn based on real science, spanning the whole of space and time; from the nature of the universe itself, to the chances of alien life, and the real possibility of time travel.

There are some truly mind-blowing video clips of the show at
dsc.discovery.com/tv/

The Official Website for Professor Stephen W. Hawking at hawking.org.uk

So here are a collection of links to NASA resources, which can also be found on the main website NASA.gov.

Information on NASA programs is available at the NASA Public Affairs Home Page

NASA TV information has schedules and links to streaming video.

NASA Television Schedule features key mission events and media briefings during the mission.

Status reports and timely updates on launch countdown, mission progress, and landing operations will be posted at: nasa.gov/shuttle

Information on the International Space Station is available at: nasa.gov/station

The NASA Human Space Flight Web contains an up-to-date archive of mission imagery, video and audio.

Information on safety enhancements for the 2005 Return to Flight effort.

Resources for Educators

Launch of space shuttle Discovery has been delayed due to a leak in the ground umbilical carrier plate (GUCP) at Launch Pad 39A, which prompted a scrub of Friday’s launch attempt.

STS-133 mission managers also will look at a crack in the external tank foam that developed as supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen were being drained from the tank, although the crack didn’t develop until after the launch attempt was called off.

Discovery’s six astronauts have left the Kennedy Space Center in their T-38 jets to return home to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Discovery’s next possible launch opportunity comes up on November 30th at 4:05 a.m. EST. This will be the final voyage for the orbiter.

More space shuttle news and information at nasa.gov/

The shuttle weather team is carefully watching a cold front moving through Florida, that could impact the final launch of space shuttle Discovery. There’s about a 50 percent chance the shuttle will lift off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, November 5th.

Friday’s tentative launch time is 3:04 p.m. EDT. The shuttle team meets at 5:00 am Friday morning to make a final assessment of the weather conditions at the cape, before giving a “go” or “no-go” decision to fill Discovery’s external fuel tank.

Photo Credit: NASA TV

If Discovery launches Friday, the shuttle’s schedule will be as follows:

Docking @ International Space Station 10:55 a.m. EST Sunday Nov. 7th
Spacewalk 1 Tuesday Nov. 9th
Spacewalk 2 Thursday Nov. 11th
Undocking @ 4:21 a.m. Sunday Nov. 14th
Earth Landing @ Kennedy Space Center @ 9:16 a.m. Tuesday Nov. 16th

More space shuttle news and information at nasa.gov

A twin Robonaut is packed inside space shuttle Discovery to be taken to the International Space Station. The humanoid robot is the first to go into space, and will act as an assistant to the crew on the orbiting laboratory.

Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux

More space shuttle news and information at nasa.gov/

Discovery’s final spaceflight is scheduled to last 11 days, which includes two scheduled spacewalks. It’s the 39th flight for the space shuttle, which has flown more times than any other orbiter in NASA’s shuttle fleet.

This last mission is known as STS-133; it’s crew members will carry several important components to the International Space Station, such as the Italian-built Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM,) and the Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4,) that will provide spare parts and storage capacity to the ISS.

Discovery also will deliver Robonaut 2, which will become the first humanoid robot in space. For now, the primary job for R2 is teaching engineers how dexterous robots behave in space.

Robonaut 2 will be installed in the U.S. Destiny laboratory, providing scientists and engineers on the ground and crews on the station an opportunity to test how humans and human-like robots can work shoulder-to shoulder in microgravity.

Through upgrades and advancements, R2 could one day venture outside the space station to help spacewalkers make repairs or additions to the station or perform scientific work. This will help NASA understand robotic capabilities for future deep space missions.

Nearly 150 experiments are continuing aboard the space station as the transition from assembly work to expanded research on the international laboratory progresses. They span the basic categories of biological and biotechnology, human research, physical and materials sciences, technology development, Earth and space science and educational activities.

More info at nasa.gov/

Space shuttle Discovery has landed at the Kennedy Space Center after transporting it’s seven astronauts more than six million miles. The crew claimed a successful mission during a post flight press conference, even after facing the challenge of a stuck pressure valve on a replacement tank.

Discovery returned from mission STS-131 to the International Space Station, where the crew delivered more than seven tons of equipment and supplies. During the ten day mission, astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson executed three spacewalks, installed a 1,700-pound ammonia tank assembly on the station’s exterior, replaced a rate gyro assembly, and retrieved a Japanese experiment and two debris shields.

Source: NASA Space Shuttle Missions

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Only three more shuttle missions remain in the space program. U.S. astronauts will then be riding with the Russian cosmonauts to get back and forth from the International Space Station. Let’s just hope private aerospace engineers and companies will be able to carry NASA’s space program forward, since the administration won’t.

Source: NASA TV

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The newspapers hardly mentioned the Apollo 13 flight, as NASA missions had become routine as far as the media was concerned. The headlines in April 1970 were more about the Vietnam war and the breakup of The Beatles.

The three man Apollo 13 crew had to abandon their moon mission on April 13th when an explosion ruptured the Service Module, when one of their three liquid oxygen tanks exploded. The moon mission immediately turned into a rescue mission.

Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot John L. “Jack” Swigert and Lunar Module Pilot Fred W. Haise had to shut down the Command Module, and use the Lunar Module (LEM) as a lifeboat to return to earth.

The safest flight plan to return to earth took four days, with the crew crammed into the lunar module which was only designed for two men for two days. Low on power, oxygen and water, the astronauts also had to survive frigid temperatures; there wasn’t enough power for heat.

Halfway home another problem emerged. The carbon dioxide wasn’t getting removed from their oxygen supply; NASA command had to come up with an emergency fix for the air scrubbers, to provide enough breathable air for the three astronauts to return home to earth. The Apollo 13 crew literally had to “fit a square peg into a round hole,” and a working solution was rigged up for the remainder of the flight.

Another emergency maneuver was required upon approach to the earth, as the space craft was off course by about 80 miles. Again, the crew rose to the occasion and guided their ship back on course.

The crew had to power the command module back up, which had never been done before during a space flight. Power came up and the astronauts transferred back to the command module as they prepared to burn through the atmosphere back to earth.

Once the service module was jettisoned, they could see the damage; an entire panel had been blown out. One more concern remained; would the heat shield hold up during reentry? Had it been damaged during the explosion? That concern grew during the blackout phase of reentry, when the crew didn’t answer NASA command.

Affirmative response was a full thirty seconds late from the crew, and once the capsule’s parachutes depoyed, the return of Apollo 13 was confirmed. Despite these incredible hardships, the crew returned safely to Earth on Friday, April 17th, 1970. It was NASA’s finest hour, as Houston’s Command Center worked through the many failures and challenges with the Apollo 13 astronauts. “Gentlemen, failure is not an option.”

Imagine, the computer power in your handheld computer today is more powerful than the onboard computers aboard the Apollo spacecraft. Makes the accomplishment seem that much more fantastic, doesn’t it?

Dateline NBC just broadcast a special program about Apollo 13. James Lovell wrote a book about his experience; Apollo 13 the movie was based on it.

More info at nasa.gov