STS-134 Launch Replay South Beach Tracker (TV-4A)

STS-134 Launch Replay OTV Camera 71

@NASAKennedy: The STS-134 crew stands together with their ride into space. Looking good guys! http://twitpic.com/4qos1x Shared via Tweetcaster

@SpaceXer: SpaceX unveils awesome new video of our crewed Dragon spacecraft during @NASA press conf. http://t.co/GLoslOe Shared via Tweetcaster

Nice moon pic

@NASA: [Today's Pic] Earth's Satellite: This waxing gibbous moon with 83 percent of the disk illuminated was photo... http://go.nasa.gov/lEJYqz Shared via Tweetcaster

Coming soon....

@SpaceXer: Garrett Reisman will unveil a cool new video on the crewed Dragon. Shared via Tweetcaster

Happy Yuri's Night, Everyone!

Today is the 50th anniversary of humankind's leap into space. Fifty years ago today, Yuri Gagarin, the small (5'2") son of peasant farmers, strapped into his seat on Vostok I and said, "Off we go!" It was just four years after the Soviets had launched Sputnik, the first unmanned spacecraft. Think of that for one minute. Four years from unmanned craft to manned space flight. Four years! This was after numerous monkeys, dogs and mice had been afforded the dubious honor of attempting to discern whether space flight was inherently dangerous. (It was to most of them.)

So there was no reason for Gagarin's pulse rate to be an amazing 64 beats per minute as he sat in the cockpit of his rocket. Shortly after launch, Gagarin could see his -- and our -- home planet. "The Earth is blue! How wonderful! It is amazing!" he said to ground control personnel who could barely hear him.

Gagarin never flew a spacecraft again; he was considered too precious as a hero of the Soviet Union to take that kind of chance. It is the height of irony that he died in a MiG jet that crashed, according to the investigation, because another plane flew too close too fast, the turbulence created causing Gagarin's plane to spin out of control.

Gagarin understood his celebrity, but he maintained a humble attitude. As he was being feted with a parade in Manchester, England, after his flight, his handlers requested that the roof of the convertible in which he was riding be closed because of the rain. Gagarin said, "If they can stand in the rain to see me, I can certainly tolerate the rain so they can!"

As of today, there have been cosmonauts/astronauts from Afghanistan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Romania, Mongolia, Syria, the Ukraine, the US, Italy, Japan, Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Viet Nam, France, West Germany, India, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Mexico, the UK, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Slovakia, South Africa, Israel, China, Brazil, Iran, Sweden, Malaysia and South Korea.

The space program is the great equalizer. It has taught the world that it is possible for humanity to work together toward a common goal. It has taught the world that the challenges of science do not see race or culture or nationality but the promise of a future where all strive together for the betterment and enlightenment of humankind.

And for that, we have, in no small part, Yuri Gagarin to thank.

VOTE!

A while ago, this blog posted a piece about NASA's mission to find the best wake-up song for STS-134. The contest is over, but you can still vote on your favorite. Pillownaut followed up:

"Nearly 2.5 million votes poured in for STS-133, with the final five being something of a landslide. In a first for the space program, Shuttle Discovery astronauts were awakened on March 8th with a LIVE performance by Big Head Todd and the Monsters, who played their song "Blue Sky" at the Mission Control Center in Houston, TX.

The same crew, via the second place vote, was also treated to a recorded introduction to the Star Trek theme music, narrated by none other than Captain James T. Kirk himself, William Shatner. And of course, being Trek-related, this was the stunt that got all the press -- even though the song wasn't the winner!"

To hear the 10 finalists, go here. I personally like The Countdown Blues, which I voted for, but I was torn because I really liked some of the others. I just wish I could figure out how to add them all to my ipod.

This right here.

I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space over and over again. We would be bragging, of course, but it is surely excusable to put the best possible face on at the beginning of such an acquaintance. We can tell the harder truths later.

-Famed biologist Lewis Thomas, when asked for his suggestion about what Earthlings should broadcast into space in hopes of contacting alien life

STS-135 Crew Announced

NASA has announced the crew for the STS-135 crew, the last shuttle astronauts. They are: Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Douglas Hurley, Mission Specialist 1 Sandra Magnuson and Mission Specialist 2 Rex Walheim. The last shuttle mission to fly with just four crewmembers on board was STS-6, launched on April 4, 1983, 28 years before STS-135, aboard Space Shuttle Challenger.

Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Raffaello would make up the majority of the payload. The MPLM will be filled with 16 resupply racks, which is the maximum that it can handle.

Garrett was aboard Atlantis's last fight, STS-132, which launched last May. So we have a serious thing for Atlantis. And we will be there, just as we were for Garrett's flight.