Touchdown of Soyuz TMA-07M with ISS Expedition 35. The plume seen immediately after is dust thrown up by the Soyuz descent module’s soft landing rockets firing just before impact.
This zoom video sequence starts with the spectacular view of the central parts of the Milky Way. As we close in on the constellation of Scorpius, one of the richest parts of the sky, many clusters and nebula appear. The final sequence closes in on an apparently unremarkable star, IRAS 17163-3907, which has been found by recent VLT observations to be a rare yellow hypergiant star, surrounded by two shells.
Nicknamed the “Fried Egg Nebula,” IRAS 17163-3907 is undergoing an especially active stage in its stellar evolution, explosively shedding its outer layers into expanding “shells” in space. Were the star itself at the center of our Solar System, it would extend to the orbit of Jupiter.
The Astronaut’s Guide To Life In Space: By the Crews of STS-9, 41C, 41D, 51A, 51D, 51F; via itsfullofstars, @spacefuture:
NPR requested from NASA this 1980s-era video with commentary by astronauts of various missions. The footage, which we edited, arrived on VHS. We don’t know much about it, except that it’s playful in tone, so we decided to have some fun with it, too. Here’s an “instructional video” on survival in space, in case we ever decide to resurrect the program.
Credit: Emily Bogle & Mito Habe-Evans/NPR
The National Space Society has extensively archived these mission presentations in their Space Shuttle Missions playlist.
What a “Shooting Star” looks like from Space. Taken on August 13, 2011 by Astronaut Ron Garan on the International Space Station during Perseids Meteor Shower.
Source: NASA SDO Facebook page.
Perseids from the ISS.
