Earth Photos From The ISS Are Full of Surprises

One reason I love twitter, tweeting and tweeps is that I learn so much simply by doing something I enjoy. Hardly a day goes by that I don't learn something new. Here is today's discovery.

This morning, Sam Cristoforetti @AstroSamantha, who is currently aboard the International Space Station, tweeted a picture of the Hawaiian Island O'ahu with Honolulu clearly visible.

MT @AstroSamantha: O'ahu island & Honolulu, in beautiful #Hawaii / L'isola di O'ahu con la città di Honolulu, Hawaii pic.twitter.com/6KbZC5C0LU
— Claudia Taake (@ct_la) December 28, 2014

I retweeted this to my own timeline without noticing the odd coloration of the ocean at the top and at the left side of the picture, most likely because I initially saw a small version of it on my phone. 

Shortly thereafter, Frank Benson @mfbenson1 brought up this excellent question:

@ct_la @cirquelar @AstroSamantha what's with all the mud/sediment in the water? Never seen it look like that...
— Frank Benson (@mfbenson1) December 28, 2014

I took a second look at the picture and suggested we might be looking at some very thin, low cloud cover, since mud or sediment don't make much sense, given local geography. Clouds were my best guess, but since I didn't know for sure I included Peter Caltner @PC0101 in the conversation, who is a veritable fount of useful and factual information about pictures of Earth taken from the International Space Station. Turns out Frank and I had both guessed wrong:

@ct_la @mfbenson1 @cirquelar @AstroSamantha That's sunglint, sunlight reflected directly into the camera lens. A purely optical effect.
— Peter Caltner (@PC0101) December 28, 2014

@ct_la @mfbenson1 @cirquelar @AstroSamantha Wave patterns in places may 'break' that reflection directly into the camera, so you have that
— Peter Caltner (@PC0101) December 28, 2014

@ct_la @mfbenson1 @cirquelar @AstroSamantha patch of blue sea in the pic. In an extreme case color photos can look like black/white pix.
— Peter Caltner (@PC0101) December 28, 2014

Peter then tweeted a photo taken from the ISS that shows an example of extreme sun glint, so much so that the brightness 'wipes out' the colors of the land.

Glint off San Remo, Italy, #ISS, Nov 2, 800-mm by @astro_reid @AstroSamantha @silvianalon @eugeniafessia @sweetgazer1 pic.twitter.com/C0RhVfyhTv
— Peter Caltner (@PC0101) November 13, 2014

He added that glint pictures can be extremely useful, since they show coastal inlets and river courses better than aerial views. The ISS orbits at ca. 220 mi (350 km) above Earth.

South-eastern USA in golden sun-glint, from #ISS, Dec 17, 180-mm @TinaMeany pic.twitter.com/c3MXrwEz9p
— Peter Caltner (@PC0101) December 25, 2013

Thanks, Peter, for this really cool lesson in orbital photography effects!

Ocean Blue Hair = Everyday Space Outreach

Most of us working in space outreach think of it as organized activities, events, blogs, presentations or a social media endeavor. Yet it doesn't stop there - space outreach can be done anytime, anywhere, by design or by serendipity. I can attest to that:

I have naturally silver hair. Not premature greying, but actual shiny silver - similar to the kind of naturally blonde hair color that just *shines*. If you've spent some time in Northern Europe, where I was born, you'll know both colors aren't uncommon there. In my family it's a maternal genetic trait. My grandmother had it, my mom had it and they both hated it, coloring their hair religiously, lest someone suspect they are "going old and grey" too soon. When the silver started taking over my brown-ish childhood tresses by age 20, I, of course, felt the same way. I went brown all my life - until last year, when I got seriously tired of it and wanted a new look. 

The currently fashionable non-standard colors - blue, red, purple and more - require bleaching out one's natural color if it is dark, often multiple times, before the new color shows up blue, red or purple. Plus application of products to minimize the bleaching damage and add that shine. I quickly realized - Hey! I have the *perfect* natural hair to apply those non-traditional colors, with no bleaching mess or damage at all. All I need to do is let my hair keep growing out for a partial electric blue look. One that can be easily changed back to boring brown should professional responsibilities require it. 

I chose electric/sky blue because it represents the heavens, ascent to space and the color of Earth's oceans as seen from space. So I named my color "Earth-from-Space-Blue". 

This is my current color:

I've been getting a lot of comments, compliments and questions about this look, yet none as awesome as what happened at my local post office the other day. A kid of about 9 or 10 was selling candy by the entrance; I saw him checking me out as I locked up my bike. I made eye contact, and he said:

"Wow, I really love your hair. What's the color?"

"It's called "Splat Blue Envy" and you can buy it at any pharmacy."

"Yes, but how do you do it?"

"Well, I can do it without bleaching because I have naturally silver hair. As it grows out, I just paint it blue. I named the color Earth-from-Space Blue, because it's so cool."

Kid gives me a quizzical look: "What does *that* mean?"

I reply: "Do you know that there is a Space Station circling the Earth every 90 minutes? Astronauts have been living on it for 10 years now, taking 1000s of photos of our planet, whenever they are not busy doing amazing science in zero gravity. The cool thing is that many astronauts are on twitter and tweet their photos from space, showing different parts of Earth in real time. That's how I know what oceans from space look like."

Kid now gives me major side-eye, probably thinking I'm messing with him. I'm guessing he had never heard anything about the ISS, nor seen any of the photos. I could guess what he was thinking: "Oh yeah? I'm gonna go google that shyt, you know!"

I smiled at him and thanked him for the compliment. Biking away, I thought: "I hope you do, kid. I hope you do."

How I Became A Space Geek - Featuring: My Dad

Today is the anniversary of humanity's first steps on something other than Earth-bound destinations. How would you process such an event if you never imagined a universe before? Or a solar system? That's what happened to me on this day in 1969, when I was a kid in West Germany. 

I remember watching the newscasts; I don't recall if it was live or a repeat showing of the footage at a later time. I recall that it was a dark and clear night, the Moon bright overhead, looking close enough to touch. I also recall walking over to the window - which was practically floor-to-ceiling - pushing aside the curtain and trying to open the window. 

That got my dad's attention. The conversation that ensued went something like this:

Dad: What are you doing over there?

Me: Opening the window so I can see the moon better. 

Dad walks over to me, opens the window. 

Me: There are people on the moon right now?

Dad: Yes, there sure are.

Me: Where? I can't see them!

Dad: Oh, the moon is way too far away for us to see them from here. 

Me: How far away?

I don't remember exactly how, but this was when my dad taught me the concept of distance in "astronomical" terms, distances beyond anything my child's brain had ever imagined: That it would take *days* of travel through space to get to the Moon. 

From then on, I was hooked. No going back. I have never stopped looking to the stars since then. I have never stopped dreaming about going to space, and always encourage others to do the same. I am deeply grateful to my dad, who took the time to answer my questions so amazingly well when I was 6 that it feels like it was only yesterday.

In celebration of today's Moon Landing Anniversary, please listen to a beautiful song by @craftlass, who has an amazing voice and writes eloquent lyrics about why we must go back to the Moon ~ http://craftlass.bandcamp.com/track/familiar-frontier

Space X's Historic Dragon Mission to the International Space Station

I had planned to write a few hundred words about Space X's recent successful mission to the ISS and back. Instead, I got sidetracked marveling at the many magnificent pictures that document this  mission.

So this looks like a good time to let pictures tell the story. Enjoy.


The mission in pictures - all photo credits: SpaceX and NASA unless noted otherwise.

 

Dragon atop its Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad on May 18, 2012

IGNITION! and LIFTOFF at 3:44 a.m. EDT on May 22, 2012 from launch pad 40
at Kennedy Space Center

Falcon vs. gravity well

~ Falcon wins ~

A view of Falcon 9 launching behind Space Shuttle Enterprise at Kennedy Space Center

It looks just like the Space Shuttle from here!

Dragon, solar panels deployed, in orbit over Namibia

Dragon over the Rocky Mountains

Dragon approaches the International Space Station - May 25, 2012

Historic moment ~ Dragon fully docked at the ISS for the first time, May 25, 2012

Dragon's main chutes are visible as it splashes down several hundred miles off the Coast of Baja California on May 31, 2012

First shot of Dragon floating in the ocean after splashdown

Dragon arrives at the Port of Los Angeles, June 5, 2012

Dragon is heading to Space X's facility in McGregor, TX for unloading

And, might I add that those scorch marks are totally cool!

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-135 - The Final Launch

A month after attending the NASA tweetup at JPL on June 6, 2011, I was on a plane to Orlando to see the final space shuttle launch in person. It wasn't convenient, it was expensive, it was exhausting. The humidity almost drowned me and the mosquitoes ate me alive. None of that mattered as I arrived at Merritt Island, near Kennedy Space Center, two days before the launch on July 6, 2011.

I shared a house with a number of fellow space geeks, most of whom I had not met in person before. During my three days in Florida, I met dozens of amazing people who I'd previously known only through their twitter presence. They are kindred spirits and many of them have become friends. 

Most of all, traveling to Florida for the last Space Shuttle launch rekindled my lifelong passion for space and space travel and has had a significant impact on my life. This blog is one example. 

Atlantis was scheduled to launch on July 8, 2011 at 11:42 EDT. When I left L.A., NASA predicted a 40% chance of go for launch due to weather. That prediction dwindled to 20% go the evening before the launch. I had no flexibility in my travel plans, I was leaving the next day, launch or no launch. After a sleepless night and no improvement in launch probability, the morning of July 8 arrived. I had resigned myself to a likely launch abort, which I knew was a possibility when I planned the trip. The launch would be visible from the house, so I thought I'd stay and see it from there. So did two of my house mates, Sophia (@phiden) and Gavin (@charmcitygavin). 

At the last minute, we decided to see if we could get closer. Traffic was forecast to be horrendous around KSC. However, we made it to an uncrowded viewing site about 8-10 miles directly across from launch pad 39A at Banana Creek, and found parking, with an hour to spare prior to the scheduled launch time. As the time drew closer, Atlantis remained Go for launch. As the final minutes and seconds clicked by, 11:42 arrived and.... nothing happened. People started to wonder about an abort. We had no definitive information at our viewing site. Then, at 11:45, the tell-tale white plume materialized across the water, followed by Atlantis roaring off into the sky in a fiery, graceful arc. At the time we didn't know that the countdown clock had stopped at T-31 seconds for a 2.5 minute hold to check out a mechanical issue. 

The video below was shot by @charmcitygavin. I'm the one screaming and cheering the loudest. It was a moment I will never forget. After mentally preparing myself for an abort and seeing 11:42 pass without a launch, the realization that Atlantis just went from 20% go for launch to Liftoff!! was overwhelming!

Here is NASA's launch video, which includes the nerve-wracking hold at T-31 ("We've had a failure") and its resolution. 

I will never again underestimate the power of 
"20% Go for Launch".

 

Tonight's Game: Space Mega Millions

Ok, fine, I admit it. I caved in to the social pressure and bought a lottery ticket today. I thought about what I would do with a metric flock ton of money (other than the obvious). For me, there's only one thing to do with that kind of money. Follow my passion and do whatever I can to advance space tourism, commerce and access to space by anyone. 

With that in mind, I picked the following numbers:

05 - For the Saturn V and my hero Wernher von Braun, whose rockets enabled humanity to achieve jaw-dropping escape velocity and get to the moon.

11 - For Apollo 11. An unprecedented achievement that I watched as a small child on an old black and white TV and just like that, a space geek for life was born. 

30 - For 30 years of Space Shuttle flights that awed, inspired and kept me looking to the stars.

35 - For STS-135 Atlantis, the last shuttle flight and one I saw in person. Never underestimate the power of 20% go for launch (a special good luck charm mention here goes to @phiden and @charmcitygavin.)

51 - For STS-51L Challenger and in memory of the astronauts who lost their lives in the January 1986 shuttle disaster. Also a reminder that space travel is a risky business.

13 - As the Mega Number because I just have to pay homage to an Apollo crew that patched up their faulty capsule with a sock and duct tape to plummet safely back to Earth. Talk about luck.

Will my Space Numbers be the lucky ones tonight? 

We will find out in about an hour.

 

When Astronauts tweet: @astro_ron's Pictures #fromspace or Why Geography is Fun

Astronaut Ron Garan @astro_ron is one of my favorite tweeters - That means he ranks way up there in the Top 5 tweeters I like to read when I look at my phone in the morning. 

Last year, Ron spent a few months on the International Space Station. In the process, he took hundreds of photographs #fromspace (a twitter search for this hashtag and #fragileoasis will amaze you). He often published his pics on twitter, asking "Where on Earth is this?", leaving his followers to test their geography skills. If you think you know your geography, I invite you to test your geographic mettle by perusing Ron's photos #fromspace. No more neat lines and labeled countries. No more predictable North is up - West is left orientation. Just snapshots of our Planet, rotating in its Inimitable Splendor.

With most of Ron's photos, I really wasn't sure what part of Earth I was looking at. I considered myself lucky if I could identify a coastline or mountain range. I aced geography in school. As an avid follower of @astro_ron, I correctly identified immediately just one geographic feature - a day time picture of Lake Victoria. I looked for that picture for this article, but no luck. If anyone has the URL to the Lake Victoria pic, please send it along.

Here is another one of Ron's pictures that I recognized immediately:

Here is another night time picture of several metropolitan cities that a lot of people on this Earth will swear up and down they can pick out on a Map. They'll look at this Actual Photograph and won't be able to locate those cities without a good amount of doubt and guesswork.

What fun!