TYB
50th Anniversary of the Skylab 1 Launch
May 12, 2023
Clouds of smoke billow out over the surrounding area as the uncrewed Skylab 1/Saturn V space vehicle launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 14, 1973. The Skylab 1 payload included the major components of the space station: the orbital workshop, Apollo Telescope Mount, multiple docking adapter, and airlock module. The Skylab 2 crew was scheduled to launch to the space station the following day aboard the Apollo Command and Service Module.
Skylab helped pave the way for permanent operations in low-Earth orbit. Over the course of its human occupation from May 25, 1973, to Feb. 8, 1974, three crews visited Skylab, carrying out 270 scientific and technical investigations in the fields of physics, astronomy, and biological sciences. These activities were forerunners of what we do now aboard the International Space Station.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/50th-anniversary-of-the-skylab-1-launch
NASA Sets Coverage for Axiom Mission 2 Briefings, Events, Broadcast
May 12, 2023
NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2), the second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.
NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website will feature some prelaunch and launch activities, as well as docking operations.
Liftoff is scheduled for 5:37 p.m. EDT Sunday, May 21, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will travel to the orbiting outpost aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, named Freedom, after launching on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.
The Ax-2 crew members are Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot John Shoffner, and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
NASA’s mission responsibility is for integrated operations, which begins during the spacecraft’s approach to the International Space Station, continues during the crew’s stay aboard the orbiting laboratory conducting science, education, and commercial activities, and concludes once Dragon exits the area of the space station.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-axiom-mission-2-briefings-events-broadcast
Hubble Captures a Light-Bending Galaxy Cluster
May 12, 2023
A vast galaxy cluster lurks in the center of this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Like a submerged sea monster causing waves on the surface, this cosmic leviathan can be identified by the distortions in spacetime around it. The cluster’s enormous mass curves spacetime, creating a gravitational lens that bends the light from distant galaxies beyond the cluster. The contorted streaks and arcs of light we see in this image are the result. A host of other galaxies surrounds the cluster, and a handful of foreground stars with tell-tale diffraction spikes are scattered throughout the image.
This particular galaxy cluster, called eMACS J1823.1+7822, lies almost nine billion light-years away in the constellation Draco. It is one of five exceptionally massive galaxy clusters Hubble explored with the aim of measuring the strengths of these gravitational lenses, which would provide insights into the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters. Strong gravitational lenses like eMACS J1823.1+7822 can help astronomers study distant galaxies by acting as vast natural telescopes which magnify objects that would otherwise be too faint or distant to resolve.
This multiwavelength image layers data from eight different filters and two different instruments: Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3. Both instruments can view astronomical objects in just a small slice of the electromagnetic spectrum using filters, which allow astronomers to image objects at precisely selected wavelengths. The combination of observations at different wavelengths lets astronomers develop a more complete picture of the structure, composition, and behavior of an object than visible light alone would reveal.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2023/hubble-captures-a-light-bending-galaxy-cluster
NASA Provides Coverage of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Meeting
May 12, 2023
NASA is holding a public meeting at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday, May 31, of its independent study team on categorizing and evaluating data of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The agency also will host a media teleconference at the conclusion of the meeting.
NASA defines UAP as observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective. The focus of this public meeting is to hold final deliberations before the agency’s independent study team publishes a report this summer.
Outlining how to evaluate and study UAP by using data, technology, and the tools of science is a NASA priority. It is not a review or assessment of previous unidentifiable observations. The report will inform NASA on what possible data could be collected in the future to shed light on the nature and origin of UAP.
The UAP independent study team is a counsel of 16 community experts across diverse areas on matters relevant to potential methods of study for unidentified anomalous phenomena. NASA commissioned the nine-month study to examine UAP from a scientific perspective and create a roadmap for how to use data and the tools of science to move our understanding of UAP forward. Right now, the limited high-quality observations of UAP make it impossible to draw scientific conclusions from the data about the nature of such events.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-provides-coverage-of-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-meeting
https://www.nasa.gov/live
https://www.youtube.com/nasa
Neat
You're being obscene to the advanced tech
What timing, eh