Image: Sandy Marshall
Evening sunset from a recent visit to the Deep Space Network (DSN) at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in Southern California. The DSN is NASA’s international array of giant radio antennas used to communicate with spacecraft at the Moon and beyond, and has three ground stations located approximately 120 degrees apart in Australia, Spain, and California.
Every day, astronauts aboard the International Space Station see an orbital sunrise every 90 minutes. (Image: NASA)
The 30,000 Foot View:
(Actually, the 250-mile view…)
The best seats in the house are inside the real-life Millennium Falcon, aka the Cupola: a 360-degree, 7-window observation module aboard the International Space Station. The Cupola (Italian for “dome”) was launched aboard Endeavor in 2010 to conduct experiments, dockings, and observations of Earth. First conceived by Gary Kitmacher as a workstation for operating the station's Canadarm2 (pictured here), the Cupola’s elements were developed in California, New York, Brazil, and finally Italy & the European Space Agency from the 1980’s to 2003. (Photo: NASA)
From this morning’s liftoff of Mars 2020 and the Perseverance Rover aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket, Cape Canaveral, Space Launch Complex 41. Earth’s most advanced rover, along with the Ingenuity helicopter, will land on the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater in Feb 2021 to begin searching for signs of ancient life. (Photo: NASA)
NASA’s Mars 2020 mission and Perseverance rover are en route to Mars, and here’s where flight began: Orville and Wilbur Wright in Kitty Hawk, N.C., c. December 17, 1903. Fun fact: Orville flew first, covering 120 feet while staying aloft for 12 seconds. (Photo: National Air & Space Museum)