It has been a real treat watching a federal agency do something other than torment its latest victim. This is the sort of thing I want my tax dollars used for!
nasa
Orion Snaps a Selfie During External Inspection
Orion snapped this high-resolution selfie in space with a camera mounted on one of its solar array wings during a routine external inspection of the spacecraft on the second day into the Artemis II mission. Credit: NASA
#Artemis #Artemis2 #Orion #Integrity #OrionIntegrity #spacecraft #NASA #Moon #space #news #selfie
🚀 🚀 🚀
NASA has launched its Artemis II mission, and commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are at the very start of their 10-day journey around the moon. Follow along with @notnixon's feed, created with Surf.
https://surf.social/feed/surf%2Fcustom%2F01kn5m6ehtwsm36aw3qp8ths10
So as of yesterday I am retired, had a 37+ year career working in #NASA human spaceflight, Space Shuttle and then the #Orion spacecraft. I set my retirement date in the hope that the #Artemis 2 mission, Orion’s first crewed flight, would have completed by then but Feb launch was delayed and by “cosmic coincidence” Artemis 2 finally launched yesterday - my final day. Very proud of all my colleagues and all the hard work we’ve done to get to this point. Onward to the #moon - and beyond. Ad astra.
Just a few days left before we finally go back!
Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen are launching on April 1st from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Liftoff is set for 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 GMT)
I for one can't wait! 
More details and a full countdown:
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-releases-artemis-ii-moon-mission-launch-countdown/
Wow, they sewed the Apollo spacesuits with TREADLE SEWING MACHINES
MIT Press: The Bra-and-Girdle Maker That Fashioned the Impossible for NASA
"...Key to these demands were NASA’s painstaking engineering standards, which pushed the very limits of the equipment and seamstresses’ own techniques. The tolerances allowed — less than a 64th of an inch in only one direction from the seam — meant that yard after yard of fabric was sewn to an accuracy smaller than the sewing needle’s eye. To achieve such precision, many women used a modified treadle that, instead of starting and stopping a Singer sewing machine’s operation, fired one stitch per footfall through the multiple layers of a suit’s surface. ..."
h/t @wtrmt
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-bra-and-girdle-maker-that-fashioned-the-impossible-for-nasa/
Larks they were in lift-off, swallows in soaring.
Soaring metal is flight and nest together…
—Edwin Morgan, “A Home in Space”
published in CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS, @carcanet.bsky.social 2020
https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784109967/centenary-selected-poems/
Artemis II astronauts will eat 189 different food and drink items on their 10-day mission, which is a lot more variety than previous space missions.
#ArtemisII, #SpaceFood, #NASA, #MoonMission, #Astronauts
https://newsletter.tf/artemis-ii-astronauts-189-food-items-moon-trip/
You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements.
"Orion’s main engine provides up to 6,000 pounds of thrust, enough to accelerate a car from 0 to 60 mph in about 2.7 seconds. At the time of the burn, Orion’s mass was 58,000 pounds and burned approximately 1,000 pounds of fuel during the firing."
It's no secret that I've been struggling, and my therapist said I need to find things to keep me busy, so I created the @cdnspace Artemis II dashboard.
I reverse-engineered the Unity Engine powering the NASA AROW visualization and found an absolute treasure trove of data to display.
Little did I expect that it's now being seen by anywhere from 200 to 600 people at any given time with 130,000 people having looked at it in the last 24 hours. People are even building projects around my API.
Yesterday, I received a message on LinkedIn from someone working in Mission Control in Houston... and they're using my dashboard! He even sent me a photo, but I can't share it until after the crew has splashed down.
Mind blown, and an absolute pick-me-up. The best part? It's being served from my basement.
By Sunday afternoon, the Artemis II crew had traveled 218,012 miles from Earth. That means the spacecraft was a mere 60,000 miles from the Moon, with a lunar flyby set for Monday, April 6. The crew will get as close at 4,000 miles from the lunar surface as they swing around the far side, becoming the first humans to see it from that perspective (at least as far as we know 🤔). More cool stuff from Yahoo News:
Astronaut Chris Williams managed to capture this cool image of the Artemis II exhaust plume from the ISS.
Original: https://flic.kr/p/2s5xGkc
Credit: NASA/Chris Williams
The Astronauts are hugging, they are so happy to be the furthest away from Donald Trump humans have ever been!
This shot of Integrity, the moon, and the Earth in the distance… a first! 🤯 #Artemis2 #NASA #ArtemisTwo
Edited 217d ago
«Everyone is in this picture»
Indeed, the whole of humanity, including the 4.
Edited 217d ago
Cruciferous vegetables are very healthy
But not in #space
4 people in a spacecraft the size of 2 minivans means excess flatulence- which has methane and hydrogen, is not just malodorous, but downright dangerous: flammability
" #NASA even carefully curates astronauts’ meals to reduce flatulence as much as possible. Among the foods on its naughty list are Brussels sprouts, baked beans, cabbage and broccoli"
Edited 214d ago
The difference that 60 years makes.
The first image is the world's first view of Earth taken by a #spacecraft from the vicinity of the #Moon.
The photo was transmitted to #Earth by the United States Lunar Orbiter I and received at the #NASA tracking station at Robledo De Chavela near Madrid, Spain.
This crescent of the Earth was photographed August 23, 1966 at 16:35 GMT when the spacecraft was on its 16th orbit and just about to pass behind the Moon.
The second image is the earthset captured by the #Artemis II mission in 2026.
Splashdown in around 6h45m from literally as I post
eta: they just said 5:07pm Cascadian/Pacific time for splashdown so now you have a clock time too
Edited 213d ago
Watching coverage of Artemis II's return. Communications blackout due to heat has begun. I didn't expect to feel anxious about this, but here we are.
#ArtemisII
#Artemis2
#ArtemisMission
#ArtemisReturn
#OrionReturn
#NASA
Edited 213d ago
This is a great summary of why it has been so satisfying to watch humble, distinguished competence in action on this journey. We’re desperate for a reminder of what has and can be in the face of abject, corrupt weaponized stupidity.
https://lizplank.substack.com/p/artemis-ii-is-competency-porn-and
🚀 We just sent a team of humans to the moon and safely home.
Not one bit of generative AI was used or needed.
You don't need it in your office or organization, either.
We can do great things without pillaging public resources and funds for a scam.
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #NASA #Artemis #moon #genAI #generativeAI #slop
Edited 213d ago
RE: https://mastodon.online/@mastodonmigration/116381997881074562
While NASA celebrates, things are not going so well for SpaceX...