Month in space: August 2011

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-9-10 12:36:46

Bruce Weaver / AFP - Getty Images

Farewell to the last shuttle

Technicians remove one of the shuttle Atlantis' three main engines on Aug. 18, 2011, using a modified forklift set up in Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis was the last of NASA's space shuttles to be retired. Its engines will be stowed for study or possible use in the future.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-9-10 12:37:36

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NASA / Reuters

The shuttle shuffle

The space shuttle Discovery, at right, waits its turn to approach the shuttle Endeavour outside Orbiter Processing Facility 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 11. Discovery was temporarily stored at the center's Vehicle Assembly Building, but it traded places with Endeavour, which was being decommissioned in Orbiter Processing Facility 1. Discovery is being prepared for display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, while Endeavour is destined for the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-9-10 12:37:59

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NASA

See any minotaurs?

In classical Greek mythology, the island of Crete was home to King Minos and the terrible Minotaur, a beast that was half man and half bull. Today, Crete is Greece's largest and most heavily populated island, stretching about 161 miles from west to east. This view of the Minotaur's home, highlighted by sunglint, was captured on camera from the International Space Station on July 22 and distributed Aug. 15.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-9-10 12:38:19

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NASA

Picture makes a point!

Two bright galaxies on course for a cosmic collision look like a giant exclamation point in this picture from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, distributed Aug. 11. The photo shows the early stages of a galactic smash-up called VV 340. The edge-on galaxy near the top of the image is VV 340 North, and the face-on galaxy at the bottom of the image is VV 340 South.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-9-10 12:38:40

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Patrick H. Corkery / NASA

Jupiter, here we come

An Atlas 5 rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, lifting NASA's Juno orbiter into space. The spacecraft is due to enter orbit around Jupiter in 2016 to begin a yearlong, $1.1 billion scientific mission.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-9-10 12:39:02

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Jon Nazca / Reuters

Looking for meteors

A man with binoculars observes the moon during the Perseid meteor shower in the night sky over El Torcal nature park reserve, in the southern Spanish town of Antequera, as seen in a long-exposure photo taken early Aug. 13. The Perseid meteor shower is sparked every August when Earth passes through a stream of space debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-9-10 12:39:35

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NASA / Reuters

Shooting star below

NASA astronaut Ron Garan captured this rare view of a Perseid meteor seen from above on Aug. 13, from the International Space Station. The meteor streak is visible as a bright flash over an area of China about 250 miles northwest of Beijing. A portion of the orbiting space station's solar arrays can be see at far right.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-9-10 12:40:13

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Sean Smith / NASA

Splashdown!

A test version of NASA's Orion multipurpose crew vehicle splashes down into a pool known as the Hydro Impact Basin at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia on Aug. 2. This was one in a series of tests aimed at making sure that the Orion spacecraft, designed for future deep-space exploration, will be able to splash down safely at the end of its trip.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-9-10 12:40:59

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Nacogdoches Police Department / AFP - Getty Images

Columbia debris resurfaces

A photo from the Nacogdoches Police Department shows a tank from the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia on the shore of Lake Nacogdoches in Texas on Aug. 1. The tank fell to Earth when Columbia broke apart in 2003 but surfaced only recently when the lake's waters receded due to a severe drought.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-9-10 12:41:27

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University of Ariz. HiRISE

Skylight on Mars

A crater on the dusty slopes of Mars' Pavonis Mons volcano contains a 115-foot-wide "skylight" opening to a cavern below, as seen in this Aug. 17 picture from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Caves often form in volcanic regions when lava solidifies on the surface but keeps flowing underneath. The underground rivers of lava drain away, leaving an empty tube. The skylight forms when a section of crust falls into the tube below. Based on the shadow cast on the floor of the pit, scientists estimate that the cavern is about 65 feet deep. Such caverns could shelter astronauts during future missions to Mars.

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[2011年] Month in space: August 2011

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