#lunar orbiter 2 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

krakenmare · 4 months

Text

Lunar Orbiter 2, Copernicus crater on the Moon (November 24, 1966)

#astronomy #lunar orbiter 2 #krakenmare #solar system #astrophotography #outer space #nasa #space #thank you nasa #moon

61 notes · View notes

apas-95 · 1 month

Text

Did you know that NASA engineers considered the failure rate of some critical shuttle parts to be about 1 in 100 (significantly greater than what NASA upper-management considered the failure rate to be, and what was considered at all acceptable by the certification process)?

Do you know that NASA engineers currently have no idea how many rocket launches the next mission in the Artemis program (in 2 years!) is meant to involve, because the mission plan relies on SpaceX being contracted to deliver a supply of cryogenic fuel to the crewed Orion (™ Lockheed-Martin) capsule in orbit - a procedure that 1: has never been attempted before on any spacecraft, let alone the Orion™ capsule, not even in uncrewed technology demonstration flights; and 2: would require an as-of-yet unknown number of SpaceX 'Starship' launches, because said vehicle does not actually exist at time of writing?

Did you know they're planning on using this 'starship' as the crewed lander? A design for a lunar ascent vehicle, that is, that does not use hypergolic fuel, that relies on a swing-out crane as the only entry and egress point? During the original moon landings, the LEM had so many redundant methods to make sure it got astronauts off the surface of the moon, that in the most absurd, extreme case, where every single mechanism fails, there's a procedure trained into the astronauts to climb around the outside of the capsule, take a pair of bolt-cutters from the equipment box, physically cut the couplings holding the capsule to the lander stage, and take off to get home. Artemis' proposed lander, on the other hand, is planned to be a vehicle whose design didn't even include heatshields until it was realised it would obviously need heatshields, which are ceramic tiles bolted after-the-fact directly through the steel hull, because SpaceX had decided to mass-produce the original-design hull sections all at once for all the 'starships' first, before doing any integrated testing.

We're seeing the exact attitude that led to the shuttle disasters not being prevented now expressing itself in (and even through) the Artemis program, a project pushed harder and faster through the gates than it should be, by a government (and NASA administration thereby) desperate to advance the eponymous Artemis Accords (that goes unsigned by China, Russia, and much of the world) and reneg on all previous space charters that onsidered ownership, commercial exploitation, and military usage of space forbidden. Something bad is going to happen, and it's going to happen for the sake of SpaceX and the military-industrial complex at large.

2K notes · View notes

darksilvania · 1 year

Text

ASTRALOID (Solrock/Lunatone+Minior fusion) It comes in 2 types: Solar ASTRALOID and Lunar ASTRALOID Each has 2 forms: Asteroid form (Rock/Psychic) and Celestial form (Flying/Psychic) They are the same pokemon with just very little differences in the moves they learn by leveling up (Ex: At the same level Solar ASTRALOID learns Morning Sun and Lunar ASTRALOID learns Moonlight) Ability: Celestial Body - When its HP drops to a half or below it will change its form and type, its SPD rises and DEF decreases

When using Astraloidite: Mega ASTRALOID (Flying/Psychic) Both Solar ASTRALOID and Lunar ASTRALOID share the same Mega Evolution, similar to how FLAPPLE and APPLETUN share the same Gigantamax Ability: Gravitational Pull - Using thei strong gravitational pull they attracts all rock-type moves to themselves and keeps them floating around their bodies in a small orbit, using them as a floating shield, DEF rises.

5K notes · View notes

spockvarietyhour · 9 months

Photo

Near Future NASA on film part 2: Design Antecedents, More Next Generation Shuttles, and Shuttle-adjacent

1. Planet of the Apes’ spaceship 2. 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Pan Am space plane 3. The Fifth Element’s passenger spaceship* 4. Event Horizon’s Lewis and Clark rescue ship 5. Red Planet’s orbiter 6. The Time Machine’s lunar orbiter 7. Avatar’s Heavy Shuttle*

* not near future but the design evolution is there

#NASA #movies #scifi #space shuttle #space ship #spaceship #I wasn't sure I'd put Lewis and Clarke in there but it fits...somewhat #spaceshipedit #filmedit #GIF #my gifs #Planet of the Apes #2001 A Space Odyssey #The Fifth Element #Event Horizon #Red Planet #The Time Machine #Avatar #again part of a set I had planned last year and did 2 gifsets and moved on

754 notes · View notes

nasa · 1 year

Text

50 Years Ago: Apollo 17

Not long after midnight on Dec. 7, 1972, the last crewed mission to the Moon, Apollo 17, lifted off with three astronauts: Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans.

Experience the Apollo 17 launch and follow the mission in real time.

Meet the Crew

Let’s meet the astronauts who made the final Apollo trip to the Moon, including the first scientist-astronaut.

Gene Cernan: In 1972, Apollo 17 Mission Commander Eugene A. Cernan had two space flights under his belt, Gemini 9 in June 1966, and Apollo 10 in May 1969. He was a naval aviator, electrical and aeronautical engineer and fighter pilot.

Ron Evans: Apollo 17 Command Module Pilot Ronald E. Evans was selected as a member of the 4th group of NASA astronauts in 1966. Like Cernan, he was an electrical and aeronautical engineer, and naval aviator before his assignment to the Apollo 17 crew.

Harrison (Jack) Schmitt: Lunar Module Pilot Dr. Harrison (Jack) Schmitt joined NASA as a member of the first group of scientist-astronauts in 1965. Before working for NASA, Schmitt was a geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Center. He was on the backup crew for Apollo 15 before being selected for the prime crew of Apollo 17. He became the first of the scientist-astronauts to go to space and the 12th human to walk on the Moon.

The Blue Marble

“The Blue Marble,” one of the most reproduced images in history, was taken 50 years ago on Dec. 7, 1972 by the Apollo 17 crew as they made their way to the Moon.

Bag of Soup, Anyone?

NASA astronauts have an array of menu items to stay well fed and hydrated on missions. For Apollo 17, the menus allocated around 2,500 calories per day for each astronaut. They included:

Bacon Squares

Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Frankfurters

Lobster Bisque

Like anything going to space, weight and containment matter. That's why the Apollo 17 menu included plenty of soups and puddings.

Synchronicity

On Dec. 11, 2022, the Artemis I mission will be splashing down on Earth after its 25.5-day mission. At 2:55 p.m. 50 years prior, the Apollo 17 lunar module (LM) landed on the Moon, with Commander Gene Cernan and LM Pilot Harrison Schmitt on board. Ron Evans remained in the Command and Service Module (CSM) orbiting the Moon.

Experience the landing.

Planting the Flag

One of the first tasks the Apollo 17 crew did on their first moonwalk was to plant the American flag. There’s no wind on the Moon, but that doesn’t mean the flag has to droop. Did you know that a horizontal rod with a latch makes the flag appear to be flying in the wind? Gene Cernan carefully composed this photo to get Schmitt, the flag, and the Earth in a single shot.

So, is the flag still there? Images of the Apollo 17 landing site from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera show that in 2011 the flag was still standing and casting a shadow!

Moon Buggy

During Apollo 17, the Lunar Rover Vehicle (LRV), nicknamed the Moon buggy, logged the farthest distance from the Lunar Module of any Apollo mission, about 4.7 miles (7.5 km).

As a precaution, the LRV had a walk-back limit in the event of an issue; astronauts had to have enough resources to walk back to the lunar module if need be.

Grab the Duct Tape!

The right rear fender extension of the LRV (Moon buggy) was torn off, kicking up dust as the crew drove, reducing visibility. The crew made a resourceful repair using duct tape and maps.

For LRV fans, visiting an LRV driven on the Moon is a bit difficult since all three LRVs used on the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions were left on the Moon. But you can find an LRV used for training at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Read more about the LRV.

The Perils of Lunar Dust

After the first lunar EVA, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt reported that he suffered from “lunar hay fever” in reaction to the lunar dust. Unlike Earth’s dust particles which are rounded, Moon dust particles are sharp and abrasive, irritating astronaut eyes, nasal passages, and lungs.

Curious about how Moon dust feels and smells? Find out!

So What’s it Like?

After his return to Earth, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt (on the right) described his time on the Moon:

“Working on the Moon is a lot of fun. It’s like walking around on a giant trampoline all the time and you’re just as strong as you were here on Earth, but you don’t weigh as much.”

Splashdown!

After 12 days and 14 hours in space, the Apollo 17 astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 2:25 p.m. EST on Dec. 19, 1972. It was the longest of all the Apollo missions, with the most photos taken. A recovery team was waiting on the USS Ticonderoga just 4 miles (6.4 km) away to pick up the astronauts, the lunar samples, and the Crew Module.

When Are We Going Back?

NASA’s Artemis Program has taken its first steps to sending humans back to the Moon with Artemis I, currently on its way back to Earth. The program plans to land humans, including the first women and person of color, on the Moon’s south polar region with its Artemis III mission, currently slated to launch in 2025.

Is aerospace history your cup of tea? Be sure to check out more from NASA’s past missions at www.nasa.gov/history.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

#nasa #space #history #photography #moon #science #artemis #spaceblr #1970s #tech #technology #astronauts

2K notes · View notes

foone · 2 months

Text

Apollo 19 on approach to the unknown Soviet module

You could cut the tension with a knife. Mission Control is furiously chewing gum, like only a man whose recently been told he's not allowed to smoke in here can. The screen is showing mostly static, but there's enough visibility to see that it's definitely a Soviet module that the Apollo 19 mission is approaching.

Albertson, a young guy of about 22, comes in with a couple binders. "I've got those mission briefs, sir." "Great, great. Chaffee is almost close enough to read the insignia, and then we can figure this crap out." Another phone rings. He ignores it. This mission is screwed up enough without some white house bureaucrat breathing down his neck.

Chaffee's radio signal lights up. "I'm close enough to read the markings. It looks like it's C-O-Ю-З... 2. Over." and a burst of static.

Albertson drops a binder on the floor, the sound making everyone jump, like the Space module a hundred miles over their head might jump out and bite them. Control spots the right binder among the ones still perched on the desk, and grabs it himself.

"Here it is. Soyuz 2, launched back in '68, unmanned. It was supposed to be docked with Soyuz 3, but they gave up and the mission was a failure. Says here that it deorbited 28th of October, 1968. Huh..."

He looks up at the big clock on the wall. It's 9:18 AM, 3rd of July... 1972.

He motions to Stevenson. "Give him the go-ahead. He should know how to open the hatch, we covered this in training." He zones out as Stevenson relays the information. What in the Sam Hill is a Soviet rocket doing in lunar orbit, nearly four years after the blasted thing is supposed to have landed? Did the commies cover up what they were really doing with this rocket? Is his information wrong? Is the damn CIA lying to them again?" and he reaches into his shirt for a pack of smokes that isn't there, for about the 14th time today. He's shaken back to reality by the image showing up on the screen: There's a Krechet-94 spacesuit in the module. There's only one reason a spacesuit would be in an "unmanned" module... this mission wasn't as unmanned as everyone says.

On the screen, Chaffee is reaching into the cramped pod. The suit's sun visor is down, thankfully, he's happen for one less scare today. Chaffee is looking at the suit's indicators, but they're all blank. If someone was alive in there... they aren't anymore. He fumbles with the bottom of the helmet's gold-colored visor, and Control vaguely hears Stevenson relaying to Chaffee that there should be two plastic clips by the bottom which can be used to raise the sun visor. Chaffee gets it, and slowly raises the visor. The death's head, the smiling skull... it's always an almost comical image, even when you rationally know that a skeleton is the result of a living and breathing person who has died and decayed. Control saw plenty of dead bodies back in the war, but usually they weren't this far gone.

Chaffee cuts in on the mic, saying the obvious. Yep, Houston, if you can't see this... it's a skeleton. He says he'll check the uniform for a name. Behind Control, Albertson finally stands back up and ends up dropping the binder all over again, and this time even more people jump. "My god!" he nearly shouts. Control needs a cigarette more than ever.

Albertson peers past Control at the screen. "The Soviets... were sending skeletons into space?"

Control tells Stevenson to take over, he needs to make a call. It's a lie, there's no call, he's just not going to make it through today without a smoke break. And as for Albertson... "Albertson, get the hell out of here. You're too damn stupid to be working at NASA. No, they didn't launch skeletons, you complete... GAH."

The mission carries on. Control gets his cigarette. Albertson goes off to be a fool somewhere else.

#my writing #smoking cw

149 notes · View notes

daechwitatamic · 1 year

Text

Amalthea || KSJ || Masterpost

(banner by @itaeewon)

Title: Amalthea

Status: Complete - all parts posted!

WC: 40k

Rating: NSFW - minors dni

Genre: best friend's older brother!au, angst smut fluff trifecta

Summary: You can count on two things in life. One: that your lifelong best friend Minji will always be there for you, in your corner, your brightest star. Two: that you'll never be free from her older brother Seokjin's orbit - the gravitational pull is just too strong.

Warnings: language, drinking, angst, time jumps, pov changes, this whole thing could’ve been 10k if i were mentally well, way too many deeply pretentious space references, kissing, explicit sex (chapters will have individual warnings), Jin calls reader “Beautiful” as a pet name but only like twice, Jinkook as actual brothers bc fuck biology!

Author's Note: thank you to @yoongiphoria @here2bbtstrash and @kookstempo for beta-ing. MJ you especially answered six THOUSAND questions about this as I worked and I THANK YOU 😭🥰

Series teaser:

There have been many times through your life where you felt like you were clutching Minji’s hand through the fire.

You still remember clearly the way she’d bounded up to your locker, back when you were thirteen, squealing and excited because the most popular girl in your year had invited her over.

You still remember her sobbing on your bed weeks later when it came to light that the girl - who wouldn’t be the last to try - was just trying to get an “in” with Minji’s hot, older brother.

“You know I would never, right?” you’d promised her. Stupid, at fourteen, not clarifying that you meant never use you to get to him. Stupid, because then you were sixteen and then eighteen and then twenty-one and then twenty-six and you weren’t sure what you had actually promised - had Minji heard it as I would never get involved with him?

“I know,” she’d sobbed, reaching one hand blindly to clutch at yours. “I know you wouldn’t.”

And now you’re twenty-eight and the secrets you’ve kept keep piling up - each day you love him, another pebble atop the pile.

1. Asterism || WC: 9.5k

A prominent star pattern that is not a full constellation

2. Retrograde || WC: 9.5k

When a celestial object moves "backwards" or reverse of "normal" motion

3. Libration || WC: 14k

A slight tilting of the Moon over time that brings parts of the Moon that are normally obscured into view

4. Perilune || WC: 8k

The point of an elliptical lunar orbit where the satellite and the Moon are the closest

680 notes · View notes

leaderofthepack22 · 4 months

Text

I have some things to say about claire nakti

I know she is your favourite nakshatra girlie, I like the information she puts out as well (I do not like her as a person), as it is original STATISTICAL research (rare in astrology) and extremely affirming to the reality i went through as a 14 year old girl encountering Ketu MahaDasha, having Jyeshtha Moon (I have jyeshtha ketu conjunct jyeshtha moon). She talked about Ketu, and Mula Lunar mansion in a way that i could confirm the stuff she says has a solid backing of truth in it.

Now,

I am extremely concerned for women who take her misogynistic and patriarchal teachings to heart, worship her, create a cult around her, and think letting yourself “go” and submitting yourself to a man will liberate you (no it will not). She clearly has said that women are the inferior gender. You cannot debate me on that.

Then, claire nakti is baby-like extremely feminine (annoying high pitched voice) & extremely mysterious w/ the way she jots information together. She definitely is moon dominant as she looks like adison rae (hasta sun & shravana moon) after her nose job 😂🫵🏻 who is moon dominant. Since she is into traditional gender roles, & is extremely "traditionally" feminine, that clearly adds up to her "female path course" & how she suggests hasta as a key nakshatra in the female path according to "HER"

And, the VERY nature of Moon, the feminine planet she relegates herself, & all other women to, being like a conduit for a force bigger than you (she makes it very clear in her shravana video), channeling information FROM them rather than being the originator of light, you essentially reflecting and channeling a worthy ascended master's light;

This doesn't help with the fact that she came outta NOWHERE with that EAGLE symbolism in the jyeshtha shorts, because I have seen no Vedic scripture ever mention eagle for the Scorpio rashi (or a "3rd symbol" of jyeshtha, like she mentioned)

And she has admitted that she has a "guru", AND she made a video about “sleeping with your guru”.

Combined with her misogynistic portrayals of women, her being equally ’feminine’, her admitting she has a guru, her making a video on having sex with gurus which is VERY odd to me. Her looking like Addison rae, a moon dominant woman, her saying that "copying" someone else's light is le bad UNLESS.... you're a ""woman"" because you're ""lunar"" so it's OK. Her looking like another hasta moon singer Grace Kinstler and a YouTuber called Elizabeth filips with hasta moon, this just affirms to me claire being moon dominant, and simply reflecting and communicating another MAN's teachings. Why don't we let claire nakti's misogyny backfire on her????????? Why are we not questioning her extremely unhinged slut behaviour online and her saying that women are yin so therefore can't originate something with so much fucking confidence. Why don't we boldly say she fucked some guru and is now acting like she did all the research by herself and how is SHE the sole instigator OF HER EXTREMELY pioneering work as a Vedic astrologer with so much original content, as this ditzy blonde who came out of absolutely nowhere.

She lied about the fact that she isn't the only person behind her research, she clearly admitted she met her guru few decades ago and she started compiling physiognomy data with him(???)

I will never worship claire nakti. I hate the "nakshatra bad bitches" that orbit her. I am extremely suspicious and strict with claire nakti and her content and i most CERTAINLY separate ""HER"" from the information she channels. She is nothing to me.

Get your fucking shit together and question claire nakti a bit harder. Certainly don't worship her. Anyone with more than 2 braincells can sense she is not the originator of the information she puts out, and is a patriarchal princess dickwhipped out of her mind by her """guru""". Don't let yourself go and embrace ditziness and thinking it will make you this “Yoni Shakti divine feminine tantra goddess consort bhairavi sacred prostitute🤪🤪🤪✨✨”

She also claims to have been this once in a generation talent but couldn't rectify the ayanamsha mistake in Lahiri. The fact that she thinks lahiri ayanamsha is OK (the default ayanamsha indians chose in a hurry so they can go on celebrating their festivals in 1900 and is actually in need of SEVERE updating) and has used wrong people who don't even have the nakshatra she has talked about in her video concerning a particular nakshatra, was the nail in the coffin for me, confirming claire nakti is moon dominant, has a guru she is parroting etc. Being a STEM person, keeping Astrophysics in mind, i have delved into Indian Ephemeris vs Swiss Ephemeris, the whole ayanamsha discourse and I can easily tell lahiri and the vimshottari dashas from lahiri are 3 years off and ALL the antar-dashas are EXTREMELY off, (this will make 90% of the people in Vedic community look like absolute fools and this should induce a BOILING rage in you, how easily people have the audacity to open their mouth and spread wrong information that will NOT stand the test of time.) Lahiri ayanamsha is astronomically incorrect. The fact that Ernst Wilhelm also felt this exact way was affirming to my own discoveries, just like claire nakti affirming the inhaling and uprooting nature of ketu to me as a young teenager.

No YouTube guru is going to save you (certainly not a "woman", i mean, claire nakti said it) There are many things to rectify, perfect and question.

Good luck.

#vedic astrology #claire nakti #astrology #jyotish #important #nakshatras

161 notes · View notes

neddea · 9 days

Text

Some days ago I made this post with some concept art, so here’s a little bit more info about my No Man’s Land! (Disclaimer about the details below the cut: I’m just an artist and in no way, shape or form a scientist, even less so an astrophysicist, so the chances of some of this info being wrong or dubious are very high lol)

Just as a little bit of context, Kepler-47 is an actual “solar system” with two host stars. We’ve been able to find three planets so far, and the outermost (47c) lies in the habitable zone. All three of them are gas giants (or rather “puffy giants” since they’re surprisingly not very dense and temperate).

I’m not gonna give too many details about the real 47c, I’ll leave that for the long post I’m working on (if I ever get to actually publish it, let’s be honest), but the only thing to keep in mind is that Nomans would be a moon orbiting this planet. Also, I decided that people would shorten “No Man’s Land” to “Nomans” overtime, which is the name I’m gonna be using. The question is: how do we call the people living there? Nomanians?

So here are the main points of my design!

-I’ve given 47c several other moons because I wanted it to match the canon as much as I could, and I think it might even help the stability of the orbits if they’re in a specific resonance? Idk, maybe an actual astrophysicist could give me some advice on this (please do)

-The interesting bit about trying to make it match the canon is that I had to make Nomans tidally locked to 47c just to have an excuse for why we never see the big planet on the sky. The idea would be that most of the Seeds ships crashed into the outer face of the moon, and since the other side, the one that’s always looking at 47c, has more extreme conditions precisely because of the influence of the host planet on it, not many people have ventured too much into these lands. At least until now…

-Speaking of the other moons, which one would be the best candidate for the Fifth Moon incident? (Spoiler alert for Maximum and ‘98: Knives forces Vash to use his Angel Arm and he ends up firing at the fifth moon, which leaves its surface marked with a big crater) We have two options: It could be one of the outer moons (the ones whose orbit is beyond that of Nomans) since those are the ones more likely to be present in the visible sky; or it could be Moon II, whose regolith would be launched into space from the blast and form the rings…

-The surface gravity is almost identical to ours here on Earth, although slightly lighter (9.66 m/s^2 compared to 9.8 m/s^2).

-Nomans is somewhat bigger than Mars but smaller than Earth.

-One day lasts for almost 27 hours, and one year would take almost 270 Nomanian days (I swear this was a coincidence). Also, a fun fact on which I’m basing the calendar system (still working on that): it takes 6.6 days for the two stars to orbit around each other. People probably noticed this and were like “Sure, that’s the seven days of the week if you ask me”, probably so that they didn’t have to figure out everything from scratch (I’d do the same). It would be fun to see different cities and places to develop their own weird and wonderful systems (not me spending several hours yesterday to understand all the Maya calendars and wondering what they would come up with in this alien planet moon…).

-And speaking about time, here’s a visual explanation on how the times of day work on the side facing 47c! I realized the other day that at noon the light would probably be tinted slightly red (or some other color, depending on the elements found on 47c’s atmosphere), just like it happens on our Moon when there’s a lunar eclipse. Please make as if you didn’t know this and let’s move on. Also, as a Spaniard I have the right to declare noon time in this part of the world the Sacred Siesta Period.

(Also, shout out to @norageonlypancakes because my main inspiration for these BGs is Chesley Bonestell, he was The Space Artist™️ of the 20th century and inspired so many people to become space nerds or even scientists!) (Also x2, thank you everyone for the lovely comments and tags on the previous post <3)

57 notes · View notes

apod · 2 months

Photo

2024 March 2

Odysseus on the Moon Image Credit: Intuitive Machines

Explanation: Methalox rocket engine firing, Odysseus' landing legs absorb first contact with the lunar surface in this wide-angle snapshot from a camera on board the robotic Intuitive Machines Nova-C moon lander. Following the landing on February 22, broken landing legs, visible in the image, ultimately left the lander at rest but tilted. Odysseus' gentle lean into a sloping lunar surface preserved the phone booth-sized lander's ability to operate, collect solar power, and return images and data to Earth. Its exact landing site in the Moon's far south polar region was imaged by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Donated by NASA, the American flag seen on the lander's central panel is 1970 Apollo program flight hardware.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240302.html

72 notes · View notes

lonestarflight · 11 months

Text

Apollo Program: Lunar Module (LM) production and names

The Grumman Aerospace Corporation was awarded the contract on November 7, 1962. Originally designated Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), NASA ordered 25 lunar modules (10 test articles and 15 production models) for testing and landing on the moon. This was to go with the 15 Saturn Vs and Apollo CSMs. They were assembled in Grumman's factory in Bethpage, New York.

"There were initially four major subcontractors: Bell Aerosystems (ascent engine), Hamilton Standard (environmental control systems), Marquardt (reaction control system) and Rocketdyne (descent engine).

The Primary Guidance, Navigation and Control System (PGNCS) was developed by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory; the Apollo Guidance Computer was manufactured by Raytheon (a similar guidance system was used in the command module). A backup navigation tool, the Abort Guidance System (AGS), was developed by TRW."

-Information from Wikipedia: link

After the Gemini 3 spacecraft was dubbed Molly Brown by Gus Grissom, NASA forbade naming spacecraft. For Apollo 9, this changed due to mission controllers in Houston needing a way to differentiate between the two spacecraft.

Between 1969 and 1972, Grumman produced a series of insignias for their Lunar Modules which were distributed in limited quantities to their employees in the form of decals and prints.

Apollo 5 (LM-1): none

Apollo 3 (and later 2) (LM-2): Never used, intended for a mission similar to Apollo 5. The success of LM-1 led to the cancellation.

Apollo 9 (LM-3): Spider

Apollo 10 (LM-4): Snoopy. The LM ascent stage in heliocentric orbit and is the only known one to have survived intact

Apollo 11 (LM-5): Eagle (originally named haystack)

Apollo 12 (LM-6): Intrepid

Apollo 13 (LM-7): Aquarius

Humorously, Grumman sent North American (the manufacturer of the Apollo Command and Service Module) a tow bill sometime after the crew returned. North American retorted back saying they've never sent them a tow bill for the previous missions.

Apollo 14 (LM-8): Antares.

Apollo 15 (originally) (LM-9): never used, on display the Kennedy Space Center.

Intended for Apollo 15 and was the last H-type mission. When Apollo 18 was cancelled, it was decided to make Apollo 15 the first J-type mission.

Apollo 15 (LM-10): Falcon, originally intended for Apollo 16. First of the extended stay series.

Apollo 16 (LM-11): Orion, originally intended for Apollo 17

Apollo 17 (LM-12): Challenger, originally intended for Apollo 18.

Note: this name was reused for the second operational Space Shuttle Orbiter. After the Challenger Disaster, NASA officially retired the name.

Apollo 18 (LM-13): never used, originally intended for 19. It was partially completed when Apollo 18 and 19 were cancelled. Later restored by Grumman workers and is on display at the Cradle of Aviation History and Education Center.

Apollo 19 (LM-14): never used, originally intended for Apollo 20. It was partially completed when Apollo 18 and 19 were cancelled. What was completed, was later scrapped.

Apollo 20 (LM-15): never used, partially completed, scrapped. When Apollo 20 was cancelled, it was intended for modification into the Apollo Telescope Mount. Later the Telescope Mount was integrated into Skylab and this dedicated mission was cancelled.

source, source, source, source, source

NASA ID: MSFC-69-MS-G-1300-27, S67-50927, AS09-21-3183, AS10-34-5087, AS11-40-5946, AS12-46-6726, AS13-59-8566, AS14-66-9306, AS15-88-11866, AS16-113-18339, AS17-140-21370

233 notes · View notes

kinopioa · 4 months

Text

It gets me people got pissy at Iizuka's explanation for the moon after Sonic Adventure 2 when...it makes sense

Here let's draw this

The laser destroys most of the moon. This results in almost half its mass lost

Due to both losing mass and the force of the laser, the moon shifts its intact more dense side to face Earth. This is literally just a shift in center of gravity

We only see the intact side because of how lunar orbit and rotation works. A NASA simulation showing this:

Note the crater side consistently facing the Earth

So Iizuka saying "the intact side of the moon turned to face the Earth" is legit. Fans just suck ass at astronomy

#sonic the hedgehog #astronomy

72 notes · View notes

ornithorynquerouge · 5 months

Text

The Moon, as seen from lunar orbit during the Apollo 15 mission, August 2, 1971

#the moon #lunar orbit #apollo #vintage photography #historic photographs

76 notes · View notes

comicaurora · 11 months

Note

I would also like to play the urban fantasy claw machine.

NASA has never been able to successfully land on the dark side of the moon. The Apollo missions have been able to orbit the moon and even take pictures of the dark side, although many of these missions have had near-misses from high-velocity objects, but any attempts to land on it or send down probes have failed, and NASA hasn't risked a manned landing since their last probe exploded with extreme prejudice. It's assumed to be bad luck, meteorite impacts, etc. Some of the Apollo astronauts privately claim that the near-misses they saw were coming FROM the moon, not from deep space, and a couple have sworn up and down that they looked less like meteors and a lot more like massive, fletched arrows.

The Chang'e lunar exploration program, however, HAS successfully landed one probe on the dark side of the moon, Yutu-2, named after the jade rabbit that accompanied Chang-e. It hasn't been arrowed, but its sensors glitched at least once in a way that indicated its array had been unexpectedly jostled, as if it had been softly patted.

#not aurora #asks #urban fantasy thing

233 notes · View notes

nasa · 2 years

Text

What is Artemis I?

On November 14, NASA is set to launch the uncrewed Artemis I flight test to the Moon and back. Artemis I is the first integrated flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the Orion spacecraft, and Exploration Ground Systems at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. These are the same systems that will bring future Artemis astronauts to the Moon.

Standing 322 feet (98 meters) tall, the SLS rocket comprises of a core stage, an upper stage, two solid boosters, and four RS-25 engines. The SLS rocket is the most powerful rocket in the world, able to carry 59,500 pounds (27 metric tons) of payloads to deep space — more than any other vehicle. With its unprecedented power, SLS is the only rocket that can send the Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and cargo directly to the Moon on a single mission.

Before launch, Artemis I has some big help: the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at KSC is the largest single-story building in the world. The VAB was constructed for the assembly of the Apollo/Saturn V Moon rocket, and this is where the SLS rocket is assembled, maintained, and integrated with the Orion spacecraft. 

The mobile launcher is used to assemble, process, and launch the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. The massive structure consists of a two-story base and a tower equipped with a number of connection lines to provide the rocket and spacecraft with power, communications, coolant, and fuel prior to launch.

Capable of carrying 18 million pounds (8.2 million kg) and the size of a baseball infield, crawler-transporter 2 will transport SLS and Orion the 4.2 miles (6.8 km) to Launch Pad 39B. This historic launch pad was where the Apollo 10 mission lifted off from on May 18, 1969, to rehearse the first Moon landing.

During the launch, SLS will generate around 8.8 million pounds (~4.0 million kg) of thrust, propelling the Orion spacecraft into Earth’s orbit. Then, Orion will perform a Trans Lunar Injection to begin the path to the Moon. The spacecraft will orbit the Moon, traveling 40,000 miles beyond the far side of the Moon — farther than any human-rated spacecraft has ever flown.

The Orion spacecraft is designed to carry astronauts on deep space missions farther than ever before. Orion contains the habitable volume of about two minivans, enough living space for four people for up to 21 days. Future astronauts will be able to prepare food, exercise, and yes, have a bathroom. Orion also has a launch abort system to keep astronauts safe if an emergency happens during launch, and a European-built service module that fuels and propels the spacecraft.

While the Artemis I flight test is uncrewed, the Orion spacecraft will not be empty: there will be three manikins aboard the vehicle. Commander Moonikin Campos will be sitting in the commander’s seat, collecting data on the vibrations and accelerations future astronauts will experience on the journey to the Moon. He is joined with two phantom torsos, Helga and Zohar, in a partnership with the German Aerospace Center and Israeli Space Agency to test a radiation protection vest.

A host of shoebox-sized satellites called CubeSats help enable science and technology experiments that could enhance our understanding of deep space travel and the Moon while providing critical information for future Artemis missions.

At the end of the four-week mission, the Orion spacecraft will return to Earth. Orion will travel at 25,000 mph (40,000 km per hour) before slowing down to 300 mph (480 km per hour) once it enters the Earth’s atmosphere. After the parachutes deploy, the spacecraft will glide in at approximately 20 mph (32 km per hour) before splashdown about 60 miles (100 km) off the coast of California. NASA’s recovery team and the U.S. Navy will retrieve the Orion spacecraft from the Pacific Ocean.

With the ultimate goal of establishing a long-term presence on the Moon, Artemis I is a critical step as NASA prepares to send humans to Mars and beyond.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

#tech #technology #NASA #Artemis #Space Launch System #Moon #Orion #spaceblr #space #space exploration

2K notes · View notes

messier51 · 1 month

Note

Regarding your post about solar eclipses on other planets - I know other planets get solar eclipses, too, but do any other planets besides earth get total solar eclipses?

Yep! I mean, that's why I worded that post specifically that way, and included links to the wikipedia articles about solar eclipses on the gas giant planets in our solar system.

So, a total solar eclipse happens on earth because the angular size of the moon as seen from the surface of the earth is (usually) larger than the angular size of the sun, right? (We see an annular eclipse when the moon's angular size is a little smaller than the sun's, depending on the relative distances of each since orbits are elliptical and those aren't constant.)

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are all quite a bit farther from the sun, so the angular size of the sun is much smaller, and have fairly large moons. All of Jupiter's galilean moons are large enough and close enough to the planet that they're large enough to fully occult (cover) the sun and therefore produce total eclipses.

Similarly on Saturn:

Seven of Saturn's satellites – Janus, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Rhea, Dione and Titan – are large enough and near enough to eclipse or occult the Sun, or in other words to cast an umbra on Saturn. At this distance, the sun covers only about 3 arcminutes in the sky of Saturn. In comparison, the seven major moons of Saturn have angular diameters of 5–10' (Mimas), 5–9' (Enceladus), 10–15' (Tethys), 10–12' (Dione), 8–11' (Rhea), 14–15' (Titan), and 1–2' (Iapetus). Iapetus is Saturn's third largest moon, but is too far away to completely eclipse the Sun. Janus, a very close moon to Saturn, has an angular diameter of about 7', meaning that it can fully cover the Sun.

and Uranus:

Twelve satellites of Uranus—Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon—are large enough and near enough to eclipse the Sun.

and Neptune:

All of Neptune's inner moons and Triton can eclipse the Sun as seen from Neptune. All other satellites of Neptune are too small and/or too distant to produce an umbra. From this distance, the Sun's angular diameter is reduced to one and a quarter arcminutes across. Here are the angular diameters of the moons that are large enough to fully eclipse the Sun: Naiad, 7–13'; Thalassa, 8–14'; Despina, 14–22'; Galatea, 13–18'; Larissa, 10–14'; Proteus, 13–16'; Triton, 26–28'.

and also Pluto, really:

Charon has an angular diameter of 4 degrees of arc as seen from the surface of Pluto; the Sun appears much smaller, only 39 to 65 arcseconds. By comparison, the Moon as viewed from Earth has an angular diameter of only 31 minutes of arc, or just over half a degree of arc. Therefore, Charon would appear to have eight times the diameter, or 25 times the area of the Moon; this is due to Charon's proximity to Pluto rather than size, as despite having just over one-third of a Lunar radius, Earth's Moon is 20 times more distant from Earth's surface as Charon is from Pluto's. This proximity further ensures that a large proportion of Pluto's surface can experience an eclipse. Because Pluto always presents the same face towards Charon due to tidal locking, only the Charon-facing hemisphere experiences solar eclipses by Charon.

So all of these planets (modulo the lack of surfaces/living beings, but like, that's also pretty special to Earth completely separately from eclipses) experience the nighttime-like darkness caused by the umbra (shadow) of the eclipse (occultation).

Now, as a few people have pointed out in the notes, the ring of fire deal IS pretty special, which happens because the angular size of the moon and sun are often SO similar. (Maybe Iapetus is similar enough with the solar angular size sometimes depending where Saturn is in its orbit, but at a few arcminutes instead of half a degree you can imagine the effect being somewhat less amazing. Then again, I bet solar occultations by Saturn's rings are pretty amazing, so I'm not going to hold that against the planet.)

In no way do I think this makes total solar eclipses less awesome, or think that the excitement is misplaced. It's a pretty amazing special event! It's also one that won't even exist for the earth forever, since the moon moves a few centimeters away from us each year. But as an astronomer I think it's cool that there are eclipses (and occultations and transits of the sun by moons with smaller angular sizes!) on other planets too! Though, the post I made was mostly a kneejerk eyeroll complaint about a silly factual error that might just be because the OP of the post I was annoyed by was thinking about some other facet of our solar eclipses as being unique than how it was worded. Since we can't go to any other planet to watch eclipses (that would add a whole extra layer to astrotourism), our eclipses on earth are pretty special. If you ever have the opportunity to see one, I wholly recommend going! It's really amazing.

In conclusion: here's an Io solar eclipse on Jupiter taken by the Hubble Space telescope:

[Image in black and white shows Jupiter's volcanic moon Io passing above the turbulent clouds of the giant planet, on July 24, 1996. There's a large black spot on Jupiter which is Io's shadow. The smallest details visible on Io and Jupiter are about 100 miles across (about 160 kilometres). Bright patches visible on Io are regions of sulfur dioxide frost. Io is roughly the size of Earth's moon, but 2000 times farther away.]

And here's the April 8th eclipse of the sun by the moon on Earth as seen by the GOES satellite:

[A gif of the earth showing the GOES EAST view of North and South America on April 8th over the course of the total solar eclipse. A shadow of the moon passes from the left to the upper right side of the view of the earth.]

#replying to asks #anonymous #astronomy #solar eclipse #aj is a skyentist #i am not a planetary scientist but angular size is a good thing to understand!#i have participated in some of the lunar laser ranging though #for figuring out exactly how far away the moon is and how much it's moving around #i made the goes gif but mostly just saving it from the site and resizing it lmao

41 notes · View notes