International Space Station | World Tech Today

NASA helps Earthlings view the International Space Station in its orbit

Jun 10, 2016 by Beth Balen Leave a Comment

The NASA website is now offering detailed instructions for viewing the International Space Station with the naked eye as it flies overhead. It’s simple. Earthling viewers put in their location and the site comes up with dates and times the ISS can be seen. The space station is visible in its orbit from several thousand locations around the world.

NASA says that the ISS is the third brightest object in the sky, and is easy to spot if one just knows where to look. The website gives detailed instructions about that, showing how many degrees above the horizon the ISS will appear and disappear, and a diagram to help you figure it out.

Sightings all occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset. This is the time when the sun’s light reflecting off the station is contrasting against a darker sky. Although the ISS is also passing by during the day, it is not bright enough to be seen during that time. Sightings correspond with the sky being dark and the space station happening to be overhead.

It is important to keep in mind that the International Space Station never goes farther north or south of the Equator than 51.6 degrees latitude. This means that anyplace north or south of 51.6 degrees cannot see the ISS as it passes by. For example, Alaska is too far north for the ISS to be visible.

The space station looks like a very bright star or an airplane moving across the sky, but it does not change directions or have flashing lights. It also moves quite a bit faster than an airplane, as it is moving at 17,500 miles per hour, while airplanes go only about 600.

Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Japanese company sends Alcohol, Mice, and other supplies to the ISS aboard Spacecraft HTV-5

Aug 25, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

Using a robotic cargo ship, Japanese company Suntory Global Innovation Center sent six forms of distilled liquor to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday. Among the items sent to the astronauts hovering above our planet were mice and other supplies. The liquor sent to the orbiting lab is however only for research purposes and no one aboard the satellite will be allowed to consume it.

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui was assigned the task of operating the station’s robotic arm as the aforementioned company was keen to find out how microgravity affects the mellowness of the tastes of their beverages after a year or two in space.

“With the exception of some items like beer, alcoholic beverages are widely known to develop a mellow flavor when aged for a long time. Although researchers have taken a variety of scientific approaches to elucidating the underlying mechanism, we still do not have a full picture of how this occurs,” reads a press release by the group.

A tiny crew of 12 mice was also ferried into the orbiting station as a part of an experiment to study the effects of weightlessness on them during long space missions. In all, the supply ship took along nearly 9,500 pounds of supplies and science gear during its four day sojourn.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) had launched the H-II transfer vehicle, called the HTV-5, on Sunday. It reached the ISS at 6:55 a.m. ET and was captured via a robotic arm by the astronauts housed inside the ISS.

“HTV-5 capture was successful!” wrote space station astronaut Kimiya Yui of Japan, who piloted the robotic arm along with NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, on Twitter after grappling the spacecraft. “Thank you all for your support and hard work.”

This makes HTV-5 the fifth Japanese spacecraft to ferry supplies to the famous space station.

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Three astronauts return to Earth after 167 days aboard the ISS

Mar 12, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

A Soyuz capsule carrying one American and two Russians from aboard the International Space Station (ISS) landed safely in Kazakhstan on Thursday, thus ending the trio’s six month long space sojourn. The three who had blasted off for the ISS on Sep 26 are Russians Alexander Samokutayev and Elena Serova and NASA’s Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore.

Expedition 42 members who landed back on Earth after spending 167 days on the orbiting laboratory complex had undocked from the at 6:44 p.m. ET Wednesday, leaving behind American, Italian and Russian crewmates.

They were scheduled to touchdown at 10.07 p.m. ET, after a parachute aided 249 mile free fall. The first to be removed from the capsule was Samokutyaev followed by Wilmore, the outgoing International Space Station commander. The last to be removed was the female aboard, Elena Serova.

The journey back to the home planet took nearly 45 minutes. The atmosphere helped slow the Soyuz down until parachutes opened and the spacecraft glided to a landing. After that, the astronauts were taken to recliner-style chairs set up near the capsule, to begin their readjustment to gravity and undergo brief medical tests. Till the reports last came in, all three appeared to be healthy.

With these three having come back, there are three people left behind on the ISS. They will soon be joined by three more within two weeks (March 27, to be pecise). Two of those – Scott Kelly (NASA) and Mikhail Kornienko – are scheduled to spend a full year on the ISS.