Double Space Ship Video - Space shuttle Endeavour

This video of the Space Shuttle Endeavour landing in LA is very cool. I have to admit that the voice in the back ground echos my feelings.



You can read all about it in this LA Times article.

ScienceCasts: Mars Landing Sky Show Video

This video was posted by NASAtelevision. One of the interesting things that it shows is the size of the Curiosity Rover relative to other rovers in the past.



Notes from YouTube: On the same night Curiosity lands on Mars, a "Martian Triangle" will appear in sunset skies of Earth. The first-magnitude apparition on August 5th gives space fans something to do while they wait for news from the Red Planet.

BBC Reports That Indian Probe Touches Down on Moon

The BBC is reporting that an Indian probe touches down on Moon.

According to the article;

India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft, Chandrayaan 1, has placed a probe on the surface of the Moon.

The probe, painted with the Indian flag, touched down at 2034 (1504 GMT), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

It will perform various experiments, including measuring the composition of the Moon's atmosphere.

The mission is regarded as a major step for India as it seeks to keep pace with other space-faring nations in Asia.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says the success of the mission has been hailed in India where many see it as another sign of the country's emergence as a global power.

NASA and the Space Pen Myth: Who Knew?

Wow, this is a great story. And one that debunks a myth that I have believed for a long time. We have all heard the story about how NASA needed a way for the astronauts to write things down while in space. And how they spent years and millions of dollars to make an ink pen that could write on paper without gravity. And how the Soviets, so the story goes, simply handed their cosmonauts pencils.

According to and article from 2006 in Scientific America titled;

Fact or Fiction?: NASA Spent Millions to Develop a Pen that Would Write in Space, whereas the Soviet Cosmonauts Used a Pencil

This tale with its message of simplicity and thrift--not to mention a failure of common sense in a bureaucracy--floats around the Internet, hopping from in-box to in-box, and even surfaced during a 2002 episode of the West Wing. But, alas, it is just a myth.