Archive - Sep 2008
September 4th
New Tracking System (finally)
All right guys, this is it.
I rewrote the tracking system. The other one was quite old and it needed a rewrite from scratch.
Its all build upon predict by John Magliacane. A lot of others copied the idea (including Amsat) but believe me this site was the first one that exposed John's program on the web.
Now, before you take a look at the ugly code, please consider that this is my first and only Javascript/AJAX/Google Maps attempt and that I am doing this after work, generally between 11PM and 2AM.
I still have to finish the job but I could not wait any longer to see it online.
Feel free to correct, propose new things and report bugs in this thread.
Astronauts Update Space Station Antivirus Software
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) took some time to update their orbiting laboratory's antivirus software to ensure their laptops are safeguarded against intrusions like one caught in July.
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko spent some time today updating the antivirus protection software on laptop computers in the station's Russian segment, said NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The activity is one that would be familiar to computer owners on Earth with machines that use constantly updated commercial antivirus software, he told me.
September 3rd
Crew Continues Preparing ATV for Undocking
The Expedition 17 crew of the International Space Station continued to prepare the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for its undocking Friday.
The crew readied and tested the ATV's proximity communications equipment Wednesday in preparation for its undocking from the aft port of the Zvezda service module. The Jules Verne delivered more than 7,500 pounds of equipment, supplies, water, fuel and gases when it arrived at the orbiting complex on April 3.
Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff worked with plumbing for the new Water Recovery System (WRS) that will recycle wastewater into drinkable water. Equipment for the new WRS is scheduled to fly to the station aboard space shuttle Endeavour on STS-126 in November.
For gaming guru Richard Garriott, space trip will be a working vacation
For Austin game guru Richard Garriott, almost every vacation is a working one.
He won't be taking a BlackBerry and fax machine with him when he goes on his most adventurous trip yet this fall: a 10-day jaunt to the International Space Station.
But Garriott, who helped start the Austin video gaming industry, is using his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel aboard a Russian Soyuz spaceship to do much more than just sight-seeing. He'll be conducting experiments for research institutions, working with a nonprofit to mimic the pictures of Earth his astronaut father took in 1973 aboard Skylab, communicating with students around the world and marketing his latest computer game, Tabula Rasa.
Are you ready to receive SSTV images from the ISS during the Garriott mission?
September 2nd
NASA Studies Shuttle Program Extension, Fall Launch Delay
NASA is taking a look at what might be required to postpone the retirement of its three space shuttles until their Orion capsule replacement begins operational flight in 2015, but only as a preparatory measure for Congress and the incoming president, agency officials said Friday.
The study, called for by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, is aimed at preparing for inquiries on how the agency intends to fill the gap between the shuttle fleet's retirement in 2010 and the first flights of Orion, said John Yembrick, a spokesperson for spaceflight operations at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Russian Cargo Ship Leaves Space Station
An unmanned Russian-built cargo ship is headed for oblivion after casting off from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday.
The automated space tug Progress 29 undocked from an Earth-facing berth on the station's Russian Zarya control module Monday afternoon at 3:46 p.m. EDT (1946 GMT) to begin a week of engine tests before destroying itself in the Earth's atmosphere next week, officials with Russia's Federal Space Agency said.
"It went very well, exactly as planned," NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries told SPACE.com from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Federal Space Agency officials said Progress 29 will stay in space until Sept. 9 in order to perform a series of experiments designed to study the plasma environment surrounding its rocket engines. Then, the disposable spacecraft will be commanded to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean, they added.
NASA Holds Space Shuttle Move for Tropical Storm
NASA is holding off on moving the space shuttle Atlantis to its Florida launch pad this week to ensure it is not threatened by Tropical Storm Hanna, the agency said Tuesday.
While the shuttle could make the 3-mile (4.8-km) trek to the seaside launch pad as early as Thursday, it's more likely to move on Saturday after Hanna has passed, said NASA spokesperson Allard Beutel of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
"We're watching and protecting our options," Beutel told SPACE.com. "I think we're all pretty much figuring it will be Saturday."
Shuttle workers at KSC had initially planned to move Atlantis to Launch Pad 39A early Monday but held off a day to monitor Hanna, which as of Tuesday had weakened back to a tropical storm after reaching hurricane status over the weekend. NASA hoped to attempt the shuttle move early Wednesday, but later shifted to no earlier than Thursday at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) with Saturday a more likely target.