STS-134 Flight Day 15 Planned Activities

23:26 GMT (7:26 pm EDT) ? Endeavour / ISS Crew Wake Up (Begins Flight Day 15)
3:55 GMT (11:55 pm EDT) ? Endeavour Undocks From ISS
4:22 GMT (12:22 am EDT) ? Endeavour Flyaround Of ISS Begins
5:36 GMT (1:36 am EDT) ? Endeavour STORRM Test Begins
7:28 GMT (3:28 am EDT) ? Endeavour STORRM Test Closest Re-Approach To ISS
8:38 GMT (4:38 am EDT) ? Endeavor Final Separation From ISS
14:56 GMT (10:56 am EDT) ? Endeavour Crew Sleep Begins [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25900/sts-134-flight-day-15-planned-activities.html

Successful On-Orbit Orion MPCV Navigation System Test During STS-134 Shuttle Mission

DENVER -- In an unprecedented on-orbit maneuver, Commander Mark Kelly completed the first ever Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV)-like approach to the International Space Station at 3:24 a.m. CDT today as part of the Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation (STORRM). The orbital rendezvous verified the successful operation of the MPCV?s next generation docking sensor, which NASA has identified as a critical technology needed for future space exploration missions.

The N [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25903/successful-on-orbit-orion-mpcv-navigation-system-test-during-sts-134-shuttle-mission.html

STS-134 Flight Day 16 / 17 Planned Activities

22:56 GMT (6:56 pm EDT) ? Endeavour Crew Wake Up (Begins Flight Day 16)
1:06 GMT (9:06 pm EDT) ? ABC News / CBS News / CNN / NBC News / Fox News Radio Live Interviews
2:01 GMT (10:01 pm EDT) ? FCS Checkout
3:11 GMT (11:11 pm EDT) ? RCS Hot-Fire Test
4:26 GMT (12:26 am EDT) ? Endeavour Tribute Event
6:31 GMT (2:31 am EDT) ? Cabin Stowage Begins
10:46 GMT (6:46 am EDT) ? Ku-Band Antenna Stowage
13:56 GMT (9:56 am EDT) ? Endeavour Crew Sleep Begins
21:56 GMT (5:56 pm EDT) ? [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25906/sts-134-flight-day-16-17-planned-activities.html

Stunning pic of Endeavour?s last spacedock

NASA just released this breath-taking picture of the Orbiter Endeavour, taken on May 28th, just a day before it undocked from the International Space Station and began to make its way to Earth:

[Click to enshuttlenate.]

Incredible. The exposure time was long enough to show city lights streaking under the station, and I suspect tracked on the stars long enough to make them clear and obvious. I can’t identify the stars, but I think the southern dark nebula the Coal Sack can be seen on the left just above the limb of the Earth. I have no idea what cities we’re seeing here — don’t get me started! — but all together the elements here are simply and literally other worldly.

Endeavour is due to land on June 1st at 02:32 EDT (06:32 UTC).

Related posts:

- Endeavour’s eye view of her last launch

- A puzzling planet picture from the ISS

- Followup: City lights from space

- ISS checks Endeavour out

Full story at http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/05/31/stunning-pic-of-endeavours-last-spacedock/

Endeavour Undocks from Station

At 11:55 p.m. EDT Sunday, space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station. Endeavour spent 11 days, 17 hours and 41 minutes docked to the orbiting laboratory. At undocking, the spacecraft were 215 miles above LaPaz, Bolivia.

During the docked operations, the STS-134 crew delivered and installed the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 to study cosmic particles and the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier 3 with spare parts, and performed four spacewalks to perform maintenance and install [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25895/endeavour-undocks-from-station.html

This Week On The Space Show

The Space Show, hosted by David Livingston under www.TheSpaceShow.com, will have the following guests this week:


1. Monday, May 30, 2011, 2-3:30 PM PDT (21-22:30 GMT)
Marimikel Charrier comes to the program to discuss the upcoming New Space Conference in Mountain View, CA from July 38-31, 2011. For more information on the conference, the registration, speakers, and agenda, please visit http://newspace2011.spacefrontier.org.
Marimikel Charrier is the press manager of the Space Frontier Fou [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25898/this-week-on-the-space-show.html

STS-134 Flight Day 15 Planned Activities

23:26 GMT (7:26 pm EDT) ? Endeavour / ISS Crew Wake Up (Begins Flight Day 15)
3:55 GMT (11:55 pm EDT) ? Endeavour Undocks From ISS
4:22 GMT (12:22 am EDT) ? Endeavour Flyaround Of ISS Begins
5:36 GMT (1:36 am EDT) ? Endeavour STORRM Test Begins
7:28 GMT (3:28 am EDT) ? Endeavour STORRM Test Closest Re-Approach To ISS
8:38 GMT (4:38 am EDT) ? Endeavor Final Separation From ISS
14:56 GMT (10:56 am EDT) ? Endeavour Crew Sleep Begins [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25900/sts-134-flight-day-15-planned-activities.html

3rd Annual 3QuarksDaily science writing contest open

In 2009, the blog 3 Quarks Daily set up an award for the best science blog writing of the year. It’s become very popular quite quickly, and they have announced the third annual contest. They accept public nominations, and that means you! If you have a science blog post you’ve read in the past year that you’ve simply loved, you can nominate it by leaving a comment in the 3QD post linked above. They have rules listed there, so please read them carefully before submitting.

I’m a little late getting it here on the blog, so I apologize, but the deadline is tomorrow, Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at one minute before midnight Eastern (US) time! I’ll note that the judge this year is theoretical physicist Lisa Randall — she studies what you might call fairly esoteric subjects like warped extraspatial dimensions, cosmology, particle physics, and the like. I’ll be very interested to see what articles she picks.

I’ll also note that this very blog won third place in that first contest, and last year two Discover Magazine bloggers took home the top two prizes. We’re very pleased here ...

Full story at http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/05/30/3rd-annual-3quarksdaily-science-writing-contest-open/