Where is the International Space Station?

Space Station Position with Twist

Image above: Backdropped by the blackness of space and Earth's horizon, the International Space Station is seen from Space Shuttle Discovery as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation. Image credit: NASA

Tired of those boring old tracking maps that show the space station going around and around the Earth, and wondering what the view from up there must be like? Well, what better way to celebrate Earth Day than by taking a look at the Earth below from where the International Space Station is right now? Thanks to the wonders of the World Wide Web (the Internet, that is), real-time tracking data beamed down from the space station and the fabulous catalog of NASA handheld orbital photography -- the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth -- you can do just that!


Here’s how it works: just go to http://external.jsc.nasa.gov/events/issphotos/


NASA’s web site will check the telemetry from the space station and gather its exact latitude and longitude as it orbits about 200 miles over the Earth, traveling 17,500 miles an hour, making one full orbit every hour and a half. Using that information, the web site will check the extensive collection of images that have been taken from as far back as the Gemini Program, and return to you images of rivers, lakes, mountains, cities, railroads, ports, volcanoes, deserts and islands below. Since the Earth’s surface is three-quarters water, the web site will draw a virtual “box” around the latitude and longitude found, and expand that box if necessary to find some photos of land masses or islands that are nearby. Though taken at different times and under different sunlight than the current time, the images display the many facets of the Earth. While this isn’t exactly giving you an opportunity to remotely snap a picture from the space station, it’s the next best thing – and you’ll rarely get a picture of a cloudy day below!


For more information about the International Space Station, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary on orbit this year, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station


For more information about the imagery and the Crew Earth Observations group at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, visit: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/


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Launch date review

How dare they! These things never go on time! I cleverly, when the price was right, booked my flight early to attend the launch (proposed for the 12th of May 2009). Now they decide to bring things forward to the 11th of May. I will be landing at Sandford Intl....just as Atlantis STS-125 leaves the ground....Of course I wish them only Good luck...and the 11th hasn't been finalised yet see NASA release below. I'll be there for the landing at least.

Review Will Set Official Atlantis Launch DateFri, 24 Apr 2009 04:09:10 PM UTC+0100NASA managers will hold a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, April 30, to discuss the status of the STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, and to announce an official launch date. The briefing will begin no earlier than 6 p.m. EDT, after the conclusion of the Flight Readiness Review. Launch currently is targeted for May 12, but may be moved a day earlier. While the astronauts continue their mission training at Johnson Space Center in Houston, technicians at Kennedy's Launch Pad 39A continue to prepare Atlantis and its payload for launch.

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STS-125 Mission Resource Materials

STS-125 Mission Resource Materials:
STS-125 Mission Summary
STS-125 Press Kit (4.5 Mb PDF)

STS-125 Mission Briefing Materials:
Tony Ceccacci, STS-125 Lead Space Shuttle Flight Director
Tomas Gonzales-Torres, STS-125 Lead Spacewalk Officer

STS-125 Crew Portrait
STS-125 Mission Patch

Space Shuttle Facts
› Flights by Orbiter
› Night Launches
› Extended Missions
› Extended Duration Missions
› Shortened Missions
› End of Mission Landings

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Space Station Module Named - Tranquility

NASA New Space Station Module Name Honors Apollo 11 Anniversary

WASHINGTON -- The International Space Station module formerly known as Node 3 has a new name. After more than a million online responses, the node will be called "Tranquility." The name Tranquility was chosen from thousands of suggestions submitted by participants on NASA's Web site, http://www.nasa.gov/. The "Help Name Node 3" poll asked people to vote for the module's name either by choosing one of four options listed by NASA or offering their own suggestion. Tranquility was one of the top 10 suggestions submitted by respondents to the poll, which ended March 20. "The public did a fantastic job and surprised us with the quality and volume of the suggestions," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations. "Apollo 11 landed on the moon at the Sea of Tranquility 40 years ago this July. We selected 'Tranquility' because it ties it to exploration and the moon and symbolizes the spirit of international cooperation embodied by the space station." NASA announced the name Tuesday with the help of Expedition 14 and 15 astronaut Suni Williams on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." The show's producers offered to host the name selection announcement after comedian Stephen Colbert took an interest in the poll and urged his viewers to suggest the name "Colbert," which received the most entries. "We don't typically name U.S. space station hardware after living people and this is no exception," Gerstenmaier joked. "However, NASA is naming its new space station treadmill the 'Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill,' or COLBERT. We have invited Stephen to Florida for the launch of COLBERT and to Houston to try out a version of the treadmill that astronauts train on." The treadmill is targeted to launch to the station in August. It will be installed in Tranquility after the node arrives at the station next year. A newly-created patch will depict the acronym and an illustration of the treadmill. Tranquility is scheduled to arrive at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in May. There, it will be prepared for space shuttle Endeavour's flight, designated STS-130, which is targeted for launch in February 2010. Tranquility will join four other named U.S. modules on the station: the Destiny laboratory, the Quest airlock, the Unity node and the Harmony node. Tranquility is a pressurized module that will provide room for many of the space station's life support systems. Attached to the node is a cupola, which is a unique work station with six windows on the sides and one on top. Suni Williams made the announcement on "The Colbert Report" two years after running the Boston Marathon in space on a station treadmill similar to COLBERT. Video of Williams' run and the name announcement on "The Colbert Report" will air on NASA Television's Video File.

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Recent space station images

Apollo 14

NASA's Apollo 14 Legacy Continues with Earth Day Tree Planting

WASHINGTON -- Media representatives are invited to join NASA, the National Arboretum and American Forests to celebrate Earth Day and the 40th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing with a tree planting ceremony April 22 at the National Arboretum, 3501 New York Avenue N.E., Washington. The planting ceremony begins at 1 p.m. EDT. NASA astronaut Stuart Roosa had been a U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper. During the Apollo 14 mission to the moon in 1971, he took along tree seeds from a Loblolly pine, sycamore, sweet gum, redwood, and Douglas fir. After returning to Earth, the U.S. Forest Service germinated these seeds, which grew into first-generation "moon trees." The moon trees have been planted throughout the United States, but the sycamore is the first to be planted at the National Arboretum. American Forests, the nation's oldest conservation organization, continues the legacy of this Apollo-era program by maintaining second-generation moon trees and making them available through its Historic Trees Program.

Apollo 14 Embroidered Patch
Apollo 14 Official NASA Crew Portrait

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To find out more about the Apollo 14 moon trees please visit this informative site; Moon Trees

HD Earth Views from the ISS

NASA Airs HD Earth Views from Space Station for Earth Day

WASHINGTON -- A special high definition feed from NASA Television on Earth Day, April 22, will feature views of Earth captured by cameras aboard the International Space Station. The space station and its crew orbit Earth once every 90 minutes from an altitude of approximately 220 miles. It can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. The orbiting outpost travels at a speed of approximately 17,500 miles per hour, and the crew experiences 16 sunrises and sunsets each day. The station has been continuously occupied since the first crew arrived in November 2000. The special Earth views HD feed can be seen April 22 from 6 to 9 a.m., noon to 2 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. EDT. A schedule of additional Earth Day programming on NASA TV and satellite coordinate information is available at:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For a comprehensive listing of NASA Earth Day activities, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/earthday
For more information about the space station and its crew and sighting opportunities, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station

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Jim Lovell in the U.K

Astronaut Jim Lovell Returns to the U.K

Event organiser Ken Willoughby has managed to arrange for Apollo 13 Astronaut James Lovell to return to the U.K in October 2009. Well done Ken - Details below.

Apollo 13: A Successful Failure

Capt. Jim Lovell

Apollo XIII Mission Commander

Always check with the organiser before making any arrangements.

Spaceboosters will be having a trade stand at the event. We will be carrying photos and prints, mission patches and lapel pins and other Apollo related collectables. Visit the SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store for all of your space collectables!

Astronaut James Lovell is a true spaceflight veteran. James "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., (born March 25, 1928) is a former NASA astronaut and a former captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered an explosion en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission control. Lovell was also the command module pilot of Apollo 8, the first Apollo mission to enter lunar orbit. Lovell is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon, and the only person to have flown to the Moon twice without making a landing. Lovell was also the first American to fly in space four times.

His missions included; Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13.