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.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis at Launch Pad for Hubble Mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- After safely reaching its launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis now awaits liftoff for its target May 12 STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis arrived at Launch Pad 39A at approximately 9:10 a.m. EDT Tuesday on top of a giant crawler-transporter. The crawler-transporter left Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building at 3:54 a.m., traveling less than 1 mph during the 3.4-mile journey. The shuttle was secured on the launch pad at 11:17 a.m. Atlantis' 11-day mission is the final shuttle flight to Hubble.

During five spacewalks, the shuttle's seven astronauts will install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones and replace other Hubble components. The Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit that will be installed in the telescope arrived at Kennedy on Monday. The new unit will replace the one in Hubble that stopped working in September 2008 and delayed the servicing mission. The result of the upgrades will be six working, complementary science instruments with capabilities beyond those now available and an extended operational lifespan of the telescope through at least 2014.

Scott Altman will command Atlantis. Gregory C. Johnson will be the pilot. The Mission Specialists will be John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino, Megan McArthur, Andrew Feustel and Michael Good. STS-125 is the 126th shuttle flight, the 30th flight for Atlantis and the fifth Hubble servicing mission.

Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to roll out to Kennedy's other launch pad, 39B, on Thursday, April 17. Endeavour will be prepared for liftoff in the unlikely event that a rescue mission is necessary following Atlantis' launch. After Atlantis is cleared to land, Endeavour will move to Launch Pad 39A for its upcoming STS-127 mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch in mid-June. Endeavour will roll over from Kennedy's Orbiter Processing Facility 2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building on April 10. In the assembly building, crews will attach the spacecraft to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters in preparations for its move to pad 39B.

NASA managers decided to proceed with the dual-pad approach after carefully reviewing the manifest options to complete the International Space Station and to ensure it is in the most robust condition possible following shuttle retirement. The dual-pad approach requires one month less processing time than the single-pad approach and will help complete both STS-125 and STS-127.

Endeavour will deliver the Japanese Exposed Facility and make the space station more robust to support cargo delivery for a six-person crew. The Space Shuttle Program will continue to work with the Constellation Program to minimize the impact on the Ares I-X test flight which will use Launch Pad 39B later this year.

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Astronaut James Lovell

NASA Honours Gemini and Apollo Astronaut James Lovell

WASHINGTON -- NASA will honour astronaut James "Jim" Lovell, Jr., with the presentation of an Ambassador of Exploration Award for his contributions to the U.S. space program. During a ceremony Friday, April 3, Lovell will accept the award at the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum in Lexington Park, Md., and present it to the museum for display. NASA is giving the Ambassador of Exploration Award to the first generation of explorers in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs for realizing America's goal of going to the moon. The award is a moon rock encased in Lucite, mounted for public display. The rock is part of the 842 pounds of lunar samples collected during six Apollo expeditions from 1969 to 1972. Lovell was born in Cleveland and received his bachelor's degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1952. He spent four years as a test pilot at the Naval Air Test Center, now the Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

Lovell was the pilot for the Gemini 7 mission and the command pilot for Gemini 12.

He and fellow crewmen, Frank Borman and William A. Anders, became the first humans to leave the Earth's gravitational influence and travel to the moon during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. On Lovell's fourth mission, he was the commander of Apollo 13.

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Astronauts & Cosmonauts

Astronaut Flight Order provided by SPACEBOOSTER.co.uk

This post includes Space Explorers 301 to Current,

There are currently 490 Space Explorers...and counting


301. Richard Searfoss STS 58

302. William McArthur STS 58

303. David Wolf STS 58

304. Martin Fettman STS 58

305. Yuri Usachev Soyuz TM-18

306. Ronald Sega STS 60

307. Thomas Jones STS 59

308. Yuri Malenchenko Soyuz TM-19

309. Talgat Musabayev Soyuz TM-19

310. James Halsell STS 65

311. Leroy Chiao STS 65

312. Donald Thomas STS 65

313. Chiaki Mukai STS 65

314. Jerry Linenger STS 64

315. Terrence Wilcutt STS 68

316. Steven Smith STS 68

317. Yelena Kondakova Soyuz TM-20

318. Joseph Tanner STS 66

319. Jean-Francois Clervoy STS 66

320. Scott Parazynski STS 66

321. Eileen Collins STS 63

322. William Gregory STS 67

323. John Grunsfeld STS 67

324. Wendy Lawrence STS 67

325. Vladimir Dezhurov Soyuz TM-21

326. Nikolai Budarin STS 71

327. Kevin Kregel STS 70

328. Mary Ellen Weber STS 70

329. Yuri Gidzenko Soyuz TM-22

330. Thomas Reiter Soyuz TM-22

331. Michael Gernhardt STS 69

332. Kent Rominger STS 73

333. Catherine Coleman STS 73

334. Michael Lopez-Alegria STS 73

335. Fred Leslie STS 73

336. Albert Sacco, Jr STS 73

337. Chris Hadfield STS 74

338. Brent Jett, Jr. STS 72

339. Winston Scott STS 72

340. Koichi Wakata STS 72

341. Daniel Barry STS 72

342. Yuri Onufrienko Soyuz TM-23

343. Scott Horowitz STS 75

344. Maurizio Cheli STS 75

345. Umberto Guidoni STS 75

346. Andrew Thomas STS 77

347. Richard Linnehan STS 78

348. Charles Brady STS 78

349. Jean-Jacques Favier STS 78

350. Robert Thirsk STS 78

351. Valeri Korzun Soyuz TM-24

352. Claudie André-Deshays Soyuz TM-24

353. Alexander Lazutkin Soyuz TM-25

354. Reinhold Ewald Soyuz TM-25

355. Susan Kilrain STS 83

356. Roger Crouch STS 83

357. Gregory Linteris STS 83

358. Carlos Noriega STS 84

359. Edward Lu STS 84

360. Pavel Vinogradov Soyuz TM-26

361. Robert Curbeam STS 85

362. Stephen Robinson STS 85

363. Bjarni Tryggvason STS 85

364. Michael Bloomfield STS 86

365. Steven Lindsey STS 87

366. Kalpana Chawla STS 87

367. Takao Doi STS 87

368. Leonid Kadenyuk STS 87

369. Joe Edwards STS 89

370. James Reilly STS 89

371. Michael Anderson STS 89

372. Salizan Sharipov STS 89

373. Leopold Eyharts Soyuz TM-27

374. Scott Altman STS 90

375. Kathryn Hire STS 90

376. Dafydd Rhys Williams STS 90

377. Jay Buckey STS 90

378. James Pawelczyk STS 90

379. Dominic Gorie STS 91

380. Janet Kavandi STS 91

381. Gennadi Padalka Soyuz TM-28

382. Yuri Baturin Soyuz TM-28

383. Pedro Duque STS 95

384. Frederick Sturckow STS 88

385. Ivan Bella Soyuz TM-29

386. Rick Husband STS 96

387. Julie Payette STS 96

388. Valeri Tokarev STS 96

389. Jeffrey Ashby STS 93

390. Scott Kelly STS 103

391. Gerhard Thiele STS 99

392. Sergei Zalyotin Soyuz TM-30

393. Jeff Williams STS 101

394. Dan Burbank STS 106

395. Richard Mastracchio STS 106

396. Boris Morukov STS 106

397. Pamela Melroy STS 92

398. Mark Polansky STS 98

399. James Kelly STS 102

400. Paul Richards STS 102

401. John Phillips STS 100

402. Yuri Lonchakov STS 100

403. Dennis Tito Soyuz TM-32

404. Charles Hobaugh STS 104

405. Patrick Forrester STS 105

406. Mikhail Turin STS 105

407. Konstantin Kozeev Soyuz TM-33

408. Mark Kelly STS 108

409. Daniel Tani STS 108

410. Duane Carey STS 109

411. Michael Massimino STS 109

412. Steven Frick STS 110

413. Rex Walheim STS 110

414. Lee Morin STS 110

415. Roberto Vittori Soyuz TM-34

416. Mark Shuttleworth Soyuz TM-34

417. Paul Lockhart STS 111

418. Phillipe Perrin STS 111

419. Peggy Whitson STS 111

420. Sergei Treschev STS 111

421. Sandra Magnus STS 112

422. Piers Sellers STS 112

423. Fyodor Yurchikin STS 112

424. Frank DeWinne Soyuz TMA-1

425. John Herrington STS 113

426. Don Pettit STS 113

427. Willie McCool STS 107

428. David Brown STS 107

429. Laurel Clark STS 107

430. Ilan Ramon STS 107

431. Yang Liwei Shenzhou 5

432. Michael Fincke Soyuz TMA-4

433. Andre Kuipers Soyuz TMA-4

434. Yuri Shargin Soyuz TMA-5

435. Charles Camarda STS 114

436. Soichi Noguchi STS 114

437. Greg Olsen Soyuz TMA 7

438. Fei Junlong Shenzhou 6

439. Nie Haisheng Shenzhou 6

440. Marcos Pontes Soyuz TMA-8

441. Mike Fossum STS 121

442. Lisa Nowak STS 121

443. Stephanie Wilson STS 121

444. Chris Ferguson STS 115

445. Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper STS 115

446. Anousheh Ansari Soyuz TMA-9

447. William Oefelein STS 116

448. Nicholas Patrick STS 116

449. Christer Fugelsang STS 116

450. Joan Higginbotham STS 116

451. Sunita Williams STS 116

452. Oleg Kotov Soyuz TMA-10

453. Charles Simonyi Soyuz TMA-10

454. Lee Archambault STS 117

455. Steven Swanson STS 117


456. John Olivas STS 117


457. Clayton Anderson STS 117


458. Tracy Caldwell STS 118


459. Barbara Morgan STS 118


460. Alvin Drew STS 118


461. Muszaphar Shukor Soyuz TMA-11


462. George Zamka STS-120


463. Douglas Wheelock STS-120


464. Paolo Nespoli STS-120


465. Alan Poindexter STS-122


466. Leland Melvin STS-122


467. Stanley Love STS-122


468. Gregory H. Johnson STS 123


469. Robert Behnken STS 123


470. Michael Foreman STS 123


471. Garrett Reisman STS 123


472. Sergei Volkov Soyuz TMA-12


473. Oleg Kononenko Soyuz TMA-12


474. Yi So-yeon Soyuz TMA-12


475. Kenneth Ham STS-124


476. Karen Nyberg STS-124


477. Ronald Garan STS-124


478. Akihiko Hoshide STS-124


479. Gregory Chamitoff STS-124


480. Liu Boming Shenzhou 7


481. Zhai Zhigang Shenzhou 7


482. Jing Haipeng Shenzhou 7


483. Richard Garriott Soyuz TMA-13


484. Eric Boe STS-126


485. Stephen Bowen STS-126


486. Robert Kimbrough STS-126


487. Dominic "Tony" Antonelli STS-119


488. Joseph Acaba STS-119


489. Richard "Ricky" Arnold STS-119

490. Michael Barratt Soyuz TMA-14

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