Fuel cell-powered airplane Ion Tiger has set a new record with 23 hours and 17 minutes non-stop flight.

Naval Research Laboratory conducted in October, a flight with the plane but was then not get it to stick in the air a full day, there was 43 minutes.
But in November it tried again, and this time it was flying time 23 hours and 17 minutes. The fuel cell in Ion Tiger has a power of 550 W. The electric motor driving planet, resulting in a very quiet ride. According to NRL is the fuel cell four times as efficient as an internal combustion engine and seven times as effective as the equivalent weight of batteries.
The next step in development is to increase the impact of the fuel cell to 1.5 kW and extend flight time to three days. While the fuel cell will supply electricity to the supplied loads, such as reconnaissance cameras.
Read more >>>

STS-129 Launch Countdown Begins Today

At today's launch countdown status briefing held at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, managers reported space shuttle Atlantis, its payload and crew are ready for launch at 2:28 p.m. EST on Monday.
NASA Test Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson reported everything is progressing on schedule for Atlantis' 31st flight to deliver the crew, two Express Logistic Carriers and other necessary parts to the International Space Station.
"Our teams here at Kennedy Space Center, as well as all the NASA centers around the country, have worked very hard preparing this hardware for flight," said Blackwell-Thompson. "We're all looking forward to the mission that lies ahead."
Scott Higginbotham, the STS-129 payload manager, said the processing of the payload for this mission has been a difficult and challenging race for his team. "But we're smiling today," Higginbotham said. "Because we crossed the finish line and we survived." Final inspections were completed and the payload bay doors were closed for flight this morning.
Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters reported weather is looking very good for launch day and for the loading of propellants into Atlantis' external fuel tank. At this time there's only a 10 percent chance of weather hindering a successful launch on Monday.
At 1 p.m. today, NASA's official launch countdown clock begins counting backward toward Monday's liftoff.

Source: NASA

Luftskeppet STS-111

STS-111 will be developed into a cheap, flexible aircraft that can be deployed for example, monitoring data on a medium height and medium periods.
Airship is foldable and can be transported in a container to the ascension seat. This is not a rigid construction, but a series of containers connected to each other.
The first is helium gas used to lift the ship. In other containers kept the gas that drives the internal combustion engine, placed at the bottom of the first section.
The advantage of this flexible design is that the whole airship does not need to become a windbreak and is influenced by air currents direction. For the crosswind turns the rear sections and ports in the lee of the front.
Airship was developed by German TAO-Technologies but built by Sans Wire Corp. in Florida. At the end of the year to get the demonstration flights in Europe for the first time.
STS-111 is 35 meters long (111 feet) and 3.5 meters in diameter.
It is considered as a prototype, next year it is envisaged that a double-long airship will be built.
STS-111 will be developed into a cheap, flexible aircraft that can be deployed for example, monitoring data on a medium height and medium periods.
Airship is foldable and can be transported in a container to the ascension seat. This is not a rigid construction, but a series of containers connected to each other.
The first is helium gas used to lift the ship. In other containers kept the gas that drives the internal combustion engine, placed at the bottom of the first section.
The advantage of this flexible design is that the whole airship does not need to become a windbreak and is influenced by air currents direction. For the crosswind turns the rear sections and ports in the lee of the front.
Airship was developed by German TAO-Technologies but built by Sans Wire Corp. in Florida. At the end of the year to get the demonstration flights in Europe for the first time.
STS-111 is 35 meters long (111 feet) and 3.5 meters in diameter.
It is considered as a prototype, next year it is envisaged that a double-long airship will be built.
The point is that the flexible air-ships will be offered as an alternative to the larger airship developed surveillance data at altitudes around 5000 meters. These airships are sensitive to drift and the position needs to be corrected with the energy-guzzling engines. Upon storage in the soil need these ships hangar-sized buildings.

One Week to Launch!

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the work week begins with the installation of new equipment at Launch Pad 39A.
Technicians will install instruments in both the mobile launcher platform's tail service mast and in space shuttle Atlantis' aft section. The equipment will record the sound pressure and vibration at liftoff -- which recently were determined to be stronger than originally thought.
The testing of the "main engine acoustic environment" using microphones and sensors will continue with launch.
Yesterday, workers completed final ordnance installation and connections in the shuttle.
At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the six STS-129 mission astronauts will enter quarantine tonight after a day of administrative duties. They'll be housed in a germ-free environment until they fly to Kennedy on Thursday for Atlantis' launch to the International Space Station.
Liftoff is set for 2:28 p.m. EST Nov. 16 and the countdown to launch begins 1 p.m. EST Friday.

Source: NASA

Space Hotel scheduled to open in 2012

To see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel round the world was 80: the minute is just a few of the experiences of Galactic Suite Space Resort tries to entice people with. Spa in the space environment is another, with weightlessness bath and gosda energy drinks.
Four people at a time will fit in the space hotel, which, if it goes ahead, that travels in orbit around the Earth - at a speed of 30 000 km per hour 450 kilometer into the air. The price includes three nights on board in addition also an eight week training for the space-consuming trip to a tropical island.
The project is far from uncontroversial - critics have turned against both the timetable, which they believe are overly optimistic, as financing. Something that does not worry Xavier Claramunt, CEO of Barcelona-based company Galactic Suite Ltd, which is behind the planned space hotel.
Told Reuters he says that an anonymous billionaire and space enthusiast, has pledged the equivalent 22 billion to the project.

Limbo Trick in the Great Belt Bridge

Passage was over 18 minutes after midnight and the officer in charge of the Authority for traffic on the Great Belt exhaled.
The ship above the water surface is 72 meters while the sails headroom under the bridge is 65 meters. To achieve this, the ship's stack, which operates a telescope so that the height can be reduced to 64.75 meters above sea level.
The shipyard in Turku in Finland have built the 361-meter and 225 000 tonnes of large vessel. From there it sailed on Friday the rate on its home base in Lauderdale, Florida.
The ship's captain William S Wright was a precaution chosen a date for the passage when water levels were lowest during the bridge. He took one more trick and put the drag on all the machines 140 000 horsepower as the ship passed under the bridge in excess of 20 knots. This meant that the hull drove down a couple of inches further into the water.
The spectacular bropassagen became expensive for the owner, the American cruise shipping company Royal Caribbean International. Only telescopic feature of the chimney has cost about fifteen million extra, which may be compared with the eleven billion that the ship has been on the loose.
For the money, the shipping company had a floating paradise with 16 passenger decks for up to 6 300 cruise passengers and 2 165 crew.

The new supercomputer

The new supercomputer named Milky Way and built by China's military universities, National University of Defense Technology. According to Chinese news sources ranked Milky Way as the fourth fastest computer in the world.
Milky Way consists of more than 11 000 microprocessors from Intel and AMD. Supercomputer has cost more than 88 million U.S. dollars to produce.
China has previously said that the country strives to become a world leader in technology.

Ares I-X at the Launch Pad

NASA's Ares I-X rocket is seen on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Monday, Oct. 26, 2009. The flight test of Ares I-X, scheduled for today, Oct. 27, 2009, will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.

Country glider called the car that has two features in common with fast train

Nissan today unveiled concept car Country Glider. It is electrically powered and leans in curves, like the fast train.
The Country Glider passenger sits behind the driver. Governance is aircraft-inspired and made with steer-by-wire. The journey should feel like air travel on land, or perhaps as a motorcycle journey in a four-wheeled car.
In curves the car lean up to 17 degrees. Tilt No is governed by sensors that detect the speed and steering angle.
The 3.1 meters long and only 1.1 meters wide, the car driven by electric motors. Lithium-jonbatteriet has capacity for a trip of 100 km between charges. The car shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in late October

Summer Olympics 2016

The countdown has begun - and tonight it is clear.
Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid are fighting to get the Summer Olympics 2016 and has called in a long list of stars to get the games. But the biggest star of all has already finished:
- I ask you: select Chicago, said the U.S. president Barack Obama to the IOC in Copenhagen this morning.

Expedition 21 Lifts Off

The Soyuz TMA-16 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009, carrying Expedition 21 Flight Engineer Jeffrey N. Williams, Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev and Spaceflight Participant Guy Laliberté to the International Space Station.
Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The world's largest autonomous parachute

Last week released a giant parachute with a cargo of 15 000 kilograms from an airplane, five thousand feet above the ground in Arizona.
According to the American manufacturer Airborne Systems is their new Giga Fly the world's largest autonomous wing parachute. Thus, the rectangular type with air-filled cells that have replaced the old cap screens.
The new screen measuring 65 meters between the wing tips which are slightly smaller than the span of a Boeing 747.
The world's largest autonomous parachute can be loaded with 19 tons and is wide as a jumbo jet. It has now made its premiere and precisionslandade on your own.
Maximum load is 19 tonnes and maximum height it can be released from the 8 000 m above the ground. Then the distance flown to be about 22 miles.
Giga Fly is primarily intended to land military equipment. Then the high altitude are important because manburna missiles only reach aircraft at altitudes below 3 000 feet, writes The Register.
To conduct the parachute to the right place is used GPS receiver that controls two electric motors. The governing since the combined steering and brake lines, which automatically adjusts the display's itinerary.
At the premiere tour took Giga Fly soil with an appropriate speed of three meters per second, 275 meters from the planned landing site, according to a press release.

Radio control airplane up to a height of 2177 meters.

Blue Panther basement measuring approximately 1 m between the wing tips. With 100 watt motor and accumulator of capacity in 2100 milliampere hours, the plane weighs 450g. Then there is also control electronics, gps and pressure gauges on board.
The plane was built by students at Stanford University and the test flight took place on the testing ground Nasa Dryden Flight Research Center in the Mojave Desert. It is not radio controlled, but must clear navigation on their own.
When the plane flies at such high altitudes is a risk of collision with the real airplanes. Would it come off course and lose contact with ground control, it will automatically make an emergency landing.
That was what happened when the students after the 2177 meter record of 11 September in the visibility of reaching 2500 meters. Gusts of wind took the plane off course so that it risked ending up in airspace reserved for the U.S. Air Force.
Emergency landing technique worked, but on landing the plane was damaged and the measured flying height of 2490 meters were not accepted as a record.

Rollout

Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Russian security officers walk along the railroad tracks as the Soyuz rocket is rolled out to the launch pad Monday, Sept. 28, 2009 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz is scheduled to launch the crew of Expedition 21 and a spaceflight participant on Sept. 30, 2009.

Water Detected at High Latitudes on the Moon

Image: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Brown Univ./USGS

NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, an instrument on the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 mission, took this image of Earth's moon. It is a three-color composite of reflected near-infrared radiation from the sun, and illustrates the extent to which different materials are mapped across the side of the moon that faces Earth.
Small amounts of water were detected on the surface of the moon at various locations. This image illustrates their distribution at high latitudes toward the poles.
Blue shows the signature of water, green shows the brightness of the surface as measured by reflected infrared radiation from the sun and red shows an iron-bearing mineral called pyroxene.

STS-129 Mission Information

Launch Target:
Nov. 12, 2009
Orbiter:
Atlantis
Mission Number:
STS-129
(129th space shuttle flight)
Launch Window:
10 minutes
Launch Pad:
39A
Mission Duration:
11 days
Landing Site:
KSC
Inclination/Altitude:
51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Primary Payload:
31st station flight (ULF3), EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 1 (ELC1), EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 2 (ELC2)
Source: NASA


Image above: On the front row are Commander Charlie Hobaugh (left) and Pilot Barry Wilmore. On the back row (from left) are astronauts Leland Melvin, Mike Foreman, Robert Satcher and Randy Bresnik, all mission specialists.
Image: NASA

Lawrence Welk Show

I love big band music and have watched Lawrence Welks TV show many times. Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was a musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, hosting The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982. His style ca...me to be known to his large number of radio, television, and live-performance fans as "champagne music." Repeat transmission on TV every Saturday in USA.
Read more about Lawrence Welk

Old Lady Crossing the Street

Discovery's Ferry Flight Set to Start This Morning

Image above: Space shuttle Discovery was carefully placed atop its modified Boeing 747 carrier during mating operations in preparation for its ferry flight from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo: NASA/Tony Landis

Managers are giving a "go" for this morning's 9:20 a.m. EDT departure of the modified 747 carrying shuttle Discovery from Edwards Air Force Base in California. Discovery's "pathfinder" support aircraft will take off about 9 a.m.
Teams met at 7 a.m., to confirm Discovery's readiness for the ferry flight and evaluate weather. Conditions in the southern United States have improved and are favorable for the 2,500 mile trip to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The first leg of the journey will take Discovery piggybacked on the 747, known as a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, to the Rick Husband International Airport in Amarillo, Texas.
Teams will evaluate the weather again once they're in Amarillo to determine the next refueling stop. Their objective is to get to Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, Louisiana this afternoon where they will stay overnight.
Managers plan to have Discovery back at Kennedy on Monday.
Source: NASA

Crew, Discovery 'Great' After Landing

Photo: Jim Ross
Space shuttle Discovery touched down at Edwards Air Force Base In California on Friday to end a 14-day mission to the International Space Station dedicated to outfitting the orbital laboratory with new experiments, science equipment, supplies and other gear the six people living on the station will need. Unacceptable weather conditions at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida Thursday and Friday forced the detour by Discovery to the West Coast.
"We're very happy to be back on land here in California," STS-128 Commander Rick "C.J." Sturckow said after the astronauts got off the shuttle and surveyed their craft. "It was a great mission and we just want to thank everybody for their support."The crew of seven astronauts, including former station resident Tim Kopra, will fly to their training base at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday. Meanwhile, technicians at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, adjacent to Edwards, will take about a week to get the spacecraft ready for its cross-country flight back to Kennedy atop a modified 747.
Source: NASA

STS-128 Landing

Photo: NASA
Space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to land at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 10. Landing opportunities are available at 7:05 p.m. and 8:42 p.m. EDT. Join us right here for landing coverage beginning at 3:30 p.m. and originating from Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility for all the milestones leading to touchdown.

NOTE: All times are posted in Eastern. Timestamps appear in your local time.

Spacewalk

Photo: NASA
European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang is visible in the reflection of NASA astronaut Danny Olivas's helmet visor during this, the STS-128 mission's third and final spacewalk.
Olivas and Fuglesang deployed the Payload Attachment System, replaced the Rate Gyro Assembly #2, installed two GPS antennae and worked to prepare for the installation of Node 3 next year.

The world's first Concorde flight simulator to open to the public has been launched.

If you want to know how it was to sit in cookpit fly the aircraft,
you can do it in a simulator at Brooklands Museum . Here is simulator which was used for education of pilots, now open open to the public.
Read more >>>
Technical specification >>>

Hatches Between Station and Shuttle Closed

With over a week of docked operations behind them, the astronauts and cosmonauts said their goodbyes and closed the hatches between the International Space Station and space shuttle Discovery at 11:41 p.m. EDT Monday.
Discovery is scheduled to undock from the station at 3:26 p.m. Tuesday to begin the trip back to Earth.

European Astronauts to Speak With Swedish Representatives

Image Christer Fuglesang Photo: NASA
European Space Agency astronauts Christer Fuglesang and Frank De Winne will gather in the Columbus module at 1:19 a.m. EDT Monday for a special event with representatives from Sweden. The event will air on NASA TV as they speak with former ESA astronaut Jean Francois Clervoy, Lotta Bouvain of Swedish television, Swedish Minister for Education Jan Bj�rklund, American Finnish journalist and talk show host Mark Levengood, and Swedish opera singer Malena Ernman.
The International Space Station crew is scheduled to go to bed about 3 a.m., while space shuttle Discovery’s crew heads to bed a half-hour later.

Libyan Rocket: Colonel Muammar Gaddafi designs a "safe" car

Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution (aka Muammar Gaddafi) designed a car. Called the Saroukh el-Jamahiriya (Libyan Rocket), Gaddafi's car seats five, has a 230-hp V6 and the nose and tail of a rocket. While different, it's not entirely terrible. Kinda like how the 2024 Honda Civic might look.
BBC News

Are Sunspots Disappearing?

A sunspot is an area on the Sun's surface (photosphere) that is marked by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection, forming areas of reduced surface temperature. They can be visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope. Although they are at temperatures of roughly 4,000–4,500 K, the contrast with the surrounding material at about 5,800 K leaves them clearly visible as dark spots, as the intensity of a heated black body (closely approximated by the photosphere) is a function of T (temperature) to the fourth power. If a sunspot were isolated from the surrounding photosphere it would be brighter than an electric arc. Short wave communacation is effected of sunspots. A low munber of sunspots are good.
Read a report from NASA >>>

In Tandem

Image: NASA
As part the STS-128 mission's first spacewalk, astronauts Danny Olivas and Nicole Stott (right) removed an empty ammonia tank from the station's truss and temporarily stowed it on the station's robotic arm. Olivas and Stott also retrieved the European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF) and Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) from the Columbus laboratory module and installed them on Discovery’s payload bay for return.

Supersonic business jet Quiet Supersonic

Supersonic Aerospace International (SAI), based in Nevada, USA, is developing a supersonic aircraft called Quiet Supersonic Transport (QSST). it’ll be ready for flight by 2014, and deliverable to customers by 2016. QSST (Quiet Supersonic Transport) could well be the future of high-speed passenger jets and the concept pictured above boasts some impressive figures. It promises to be 100 times quieter than the Concorde with a range of over 4000 nautical miles and a top speed of Mach 1.8, or 1,188 miles per hour. Check out the official site for more Information.

Two-Screen Laptop on the Way

A company called Gsreen has announced plans to introduce the first ever dual-screen laptop computer, with the first product expected to appear later this year.
The computers will run Windows Vista, with the two slide-out screens each featuring an LED backlit display.
The company, based in Alaska, is aiming the product towards professionals, including designers and professionals. Two-screened computers, including so-called "Bloomberg machines," are nothing new, but there has never before been a notebook computer that featured two full-sized screens.

Discovery Docks, Joint Operations Begin

Image above: The Expedition 20 crew welcomes the STS-128 crew aboard the station shortly after hatch opening.
Photo: NASA TV

Space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station at 8:54 p.m. EDT Saturday delivering more than seven tons of cargo and a new crew member to the International Space Station and its Expedition 20 crew.
The shuttle and station crews opened hatches at 9:33 p.m. and greeted one another beginning a week’s worth of joint operations that includes three spacewalks and transfer of 15,000 pounds of supplies and logistics to sustain the six-person crew on the station.
Astronauts Nicole Stott and Tom Kopra swapped Soyuz seat liners after hatch opening. Stott will handle flight engineer duties aboard the station until her return home aboard Atlantis following the STS-129 mission in November. Kopra is scheduled to return aboard Discovery Sept. 10 after 57 days in space.
Before docking to the station, Commander Rick Sturckow and Pilot Kevin Ford performed a few final corrective jet firings to refine the orbiter’s path for a rendezvous pitch maneuver (RPM). While Sturckow performed the RPM, Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Mike Barratt took photos from the station. Their photos will be reviewed by experts on the ground for evidence of damage to the shuttle tiles.
Source: NASA

STS-128 Crew Prepares for Docking

Image: International Space Station Photo: NASA
During their first full day in space, astronauts aboard Discovery conducted a daylong inspection of the space shuttle’s thermal protection system, checked out spacesuits and prepared to dock with the International Space Station.
With Commander Rick Sturckow at the controls, Discovery is scheduled to link up with the space station at 8:03 p.m. CDT Sunday.
Want to know when a spacecraft will be flying over your city?
Source: NASA

What a wonderful Saturday

This is a nice morning with blue sky and temperature of 20C/70F and calm. First I watched Discovery lift off from Kenedy Space Center. It was exciting. Later I took my daily walk for 50 minute's and went down to the shopping center. It was not many people there this early morning. Later I got a very good lunch: grilled salmon, potatos, vegetable, sauce and a beer. It was an exquisite meal.
Later in the afternoon I will update website's and writing in the blog's. Watch TV and read a book.

Lighting Up the Night

Photo: NASA/Ben Cooper
Viewed from the Banana River Viewing Site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery arcs through a cloud-brushed sky, lighted by the trail of fire after launch on the STS-128 mission. Liftoff from Launch Pad 39A was on time at 11:59 p.m. EDT. The first launch attempt on Aug. 24 was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions. The second attempt on Aug. 25 also was postponed due to an issue with a valve in space shuttle Discovery's main propulsion system.
The STS-128 mission is the 30th International Space Station assembly flight and the 128th space shuttle flight. The 13-day mission will deliver more than 7 tons of supplies, science racks and equipment, as well as additional environmental hardware to sustain six crew members on the International Space Station. The equipment includes a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and the COLBERT treadmill.

Friday Night Launch Highlights (All times listed in EDT)

5:00 a.m. Crew sleep begins
8:34 a.m. Countdown resumes at the T-11 hour mark
12:00 p.m. Mission Management Team meets to discuss the results of the fill and drain valve testing; will be followed by the tanking meeting to give a “go/no go” for the fueling of Discovery
1:00 p.m. Crew wakeup for launch
1:30 p.m. Astronauts have breakfast
1:34 p.m. Countdown enters a 1-hour built-in hold at the T-6 hour mark
2:00 p.m. Astronauts receive their final medical exams
2:30 p.m. Fueling coverage begins on NASA TV and Web
2:34 p.m. Countdown resumes at the T-6 hour mark with the fueling of Discovery
3:19 p.m. LH sensor go to "wet" state
5:34 p.m. Countdown enters a 2-hour, 30-minute built-in hold at the T-3 hour mark; fueling enters stable replenish
6:30 p.m. Launch coverage begins on NASA TV and Launch Blog
7:39 p.m. Astronauts receive a weather briefing from the Ascent Team of flight controllers at Mission Control, Houston
8:04 p.m. Countdown resumes at T-3 hours
8:09 p.m. Discovery astronauts depart crew quarters for Launch Pad 39A
8:39 p.m. Astronauts arrive at the launch pad and begin to board Discovery
9:54 p.m. Begin closing Discovery's crew hatch
10:44 p.m. Countdown enters a 10-minute planned hold at the T-20 minute mark
10:54 p.m. Countdown resumes at the T-20 minute mark
11:05 p.m. Countdown enters a 45-minute planned hold at the T-9 minute mark, during which the Mission Management Team and Launch Control team will conduct polls to give a final "go" decision for launch
11:50 p.m. Countdown resumes at the T-9 minute mark
11:54 p.m. Auxiliary Power Units start at the T-5 minute mark
11:59 p.m. Discovery launches on the STS-128 mission
12:08 a.m. Main Engine Cut Off (MECO)
Source: NASA

Discovery's Launch Delayed 24 More Hours

It was announced at today's Mission Management Team meeting that the teams need another 24 hours to review data from yesterday's fill and drain test before pressing forward with launch of space shuttle Discovery on its STS-128 mission. Liftoff now is targeted for 11:59 p.m. EDT.
An MMT meeting is tentatively planned for tomorrow at noon with a tanking weather briefing at 2 p.m. NASA TV coverage of fueling Friday will begin at 2:15 p.m. NASA TV coverage of launch will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Source: NASA

Discovery's Next Launch Attempt Friday

Discovery is set for a launch attempt Friday morning at 12:22 a.m., as engineers will evaluate a liquid hydrogen valve that developed problems during tanking operations Tuesday evening.
Source: NASA

Poor Weather Scrubs Tuesday Launch Try

Image: STS - 128Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls
The launch attempt for space shuttle Discovery was called off Tuesday morning because of poor weather in the area. The launch team will make another attempt Wednesday morning at 1:10 a.m. EDT. Exciting!

Testing for the Future

Photo: NASA/Franklin Fitzgerald
The Lunar Electric Rover (LER) is being tested at NASA Johnson Space Center's planetary analog test site. The LER will be part of the Desert RATS (Research and Technology Studies) Analog Field Test in Arizona in September.
Source: NASA

Play chess with your computer

Chess is a board game played between two players. The current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from a similar, much older game of Indian origin. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.
The game is played on a chessboard, which is a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player (one controlling the white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to remove it from attack on the next move.
The tradition of organized competitive chess started in the 16th century. Chess today is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886; the current World Champion is Viswanathan Anand. Theoreticians have developed extensive chess strategies and tactics since the game's inception. Aspects of art are found in chess composition.
One of the goals of early computer scientists was to create a chess-playing machine. Today's chess is deeply influenced by the abilities of chess programs and the opportunity for online play. In 1997 Deep Blue became the first computer to beat the reigning World Champion in a match when it defeated Garry Kasparov.
Play chess with your computer

Young Tiger On A High After Record Wing-Walk

A British eight-year-old has broken a world record for an activity I didn’t even know was possible, let alone being a hotly contested Guinness Book of World Records entry.
It’s called wing-walking, it involves being strapped to the wing of a moving plane, and Tiger Brewer apparently does it like a pro. As well he should, seeing as how he’s the grandson of the leader of the world’s only formation wing-walking team. Judging from Tiger’s name, you’d think his family had long harbored hopes of raising a young wing-walker extraordinaire.
And Tiger did not disappoint, taking an outdoor ride on a plane flown by his grandpa 1,000 feet above the ground.
“I want to do it again now,” Tiger said after his maiden wing-walking voyage. “It really was amazing. The only thing that hurt was the windburn, but apart from that I loved it.” Ooh–I would imagine the winds up there could leave a bit of chafe.
World’s Youngest Wing-Walker may sound like an obscure title, but Tiger’s competition was no small potatoes. The previous record was held by 11-year-old Guy Mason, the son of the drummer for Pink Floyd.
How would you like your kids to have a grandfather like Tiger?
Video on Sky News

Play space chess with the Swedish Astronaut Christer Fuglesang

Photo: NASA

Attired in a training version of his shuttle launch and entry suit, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Christer Fuglesang, STS-128 mission specialist, awaits the start of a training session in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
Christer Fuglesang, the Swedish Astronaut, challenge in chess
towards Dagens Nyheter (Swedish newspaper) has started. It is now possible to vote for the best chess move against Christer Fuglesang. The moves are analyzed by the Swedish chess master Richard Wessman and by publishing three possible counter moves to the news readers, you can vote one of them. The winning move (with most votes) is then finally announced to Fuglesang.

STS-128 Mission Information

Photo: NASA
Image above: Seated are Commander Rick Sturckow (right) and Pilot Kevin Ford. From the left (standing) are mission specialists José Hernández, John "Danny" Olivas, Nicole Stott, European Space Agency's Christer Fuglesang and Patrick Forrester. Stott is scheduled to join Expedition 20 as flight engineer after launching to the International Space Station on STS-128.

Commander Rick Sturckow will lead the STS-128 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery with Kevin Ford serving as pilot. Also serving aboard Discovery are mission specialists Patrick Forrester, José Hernández, John "Danny" Olivas, Christer Fuglesang and Nicole Stott.
Stott will remain on the station as an Expedition 20 flight engineer replacing Timothy Kopra. Kopra will return home aboard Discovery as a mission specialist.
Discovery is carrying the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module containing life support racks and science racks. The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier will also be launched in Discovery's payload bay.
This is Discovery's 37th mission to space and the 30th mission of a space shuttle dedicated to the assembly and maintenance of the International Space Station.

Launch Target:
1:36 a.m. EDT - Aug. 25, 2009
Orbiter:
Discovery
Mission Number:
STS-128
(128th space shuttle flight)
Launch Window:
10 minutes
Launch Pad:
39A
Landing Site:
KSC
Inclination/Altitude:
51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Primary Payload:
30th station flight (17A), Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier
Source: NASA

NASA Targets Aug. 24 for STS-128 Launch

The Space Shuttle Program is targeting Discovery’s STS-128 launch for Aug. 24 at 1:58 a.m., though the official launch date will not be set until the agency-level Flight Readiness Review is conducted Aug. 18. In the meantime, teams will continue to analyze foam loss from the external tanks on the STS-125 and STS-127 missions.
Seven astronauts who will fly to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery began subtle changes in their daily routine to adjust their body clocks for the mission’s schedule. The process is called sleep-shifting and it basically gets the crew members accustomed to being awake when they wouldn’t normally be.
Source: NASA

Vacation Florida

Today I have been lazy and just thinking about enjoyment. Planning for winter season. The snow and cold weather comes in Sweden in October/November and continue until April. Usually the temperature a little below 0C/32F and a lot of snow. I want to disappear from that and go to a place where it is sunny and warm. I love to go to Florida USA during winter season in Scandinavia. I like the climate there. And I visit with friends, play golf, flying and have a good time and 'recharge the batteries'. There are so much one can do in Florida. I am out every day.
In beginning of May it's wonderful when it come into flower in Scandinavia. So then it's nice to go back home. Let see what happen coming winter.

Sweden's Princess Madeleine is engaged

The 27-year-old royal - youngest child of King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia - is set to tie the knot with partner Jonas Bergstrom after he proposed recently.
The couple, who have been dating since 2002, are yet to set a date but will not tie the knot before her elder sister, Crown Princess Victoria, who announced her engagement to boyfriend Daniel Westling earlier this year.
A palace spokeswoman said: "There will be no wedding until after the crown princess."
Victoria and Daniel are due to wed next June.
Madeleine and Jonas are set to meet the press later today (11.08.09) at the Solliden Palace on the island of Oland off Sweden's east coast, where the royals usually spend part of their summer holidays.
King Carl has supported the engagement and has sought approval from the government in accordance with the procedures set out in the Swedish constitution.
Jonas, 30, works at a legal firm in Stockholm, while Madeleine, who is third in line to the Swedish throne, has recently been involved in work with the World Childhood Foundation founded by Queen Silvia. The Swedish Royal court

Research for the Future

Image: NASA/Tom Tschida
The U.S. Air Force's F-16D Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology (ACAT) aircraft takes off from Edwards Air Force Base on a flight originating from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. Dryden and the Air Force Research Laboratory are collaborating to develop collision avoidance technologies that would reduce the risk of ground and mid-air collisions.

Source: NASA

A Wonderful Saturday

What a wonderful day! Blue sky and temperatur around 25C/78F and calm. I started early this morning with my daily walk for 45 minutes and got my breakfast. Later I started to update my computer's. One of the laptop's I configured my for amateur radio, which means that I can get contact with other amatuer radio friends all over the world.
I checked up an old desktop and transfered information to a newer PC. Now I am going to scrap it. It has been working well for many years so I think he want to be retired. :-) I relax and maybe take another walk and stroll in the woods before dusk.

Rollout of STS-128

Photo Courtesy of Justin Dernier
Rollout of space shuttle Discovery was slow-going due to the onset of lightning in the area of Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
First motion of the shuttle out of the Vehicle Assembly Building was at 2:07 a.m. Aug. 4. Discovery's 13-day flight will deliver a new crew member and 33,000 pounds of equipment to the International Space Station. The equipment includes science and storage racks, a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and the COLBERT treadmill. Launch of Discovery on its STS-128 mission is targeted for late August.

Visiting an Old city

Photo: Richards Oasis Above is pictures from the city

Today a drove a little bit North of Stockholm in order see how the city Norrtälje has changed during the last 20 years. I use to live there for a while. And there are still many old buildings and the city is wonderful. It has a little guest harbor and the sea is bay of the Baltic Sea.
Norrtälje traces its history to 1219, when the location was first mentioned as Tälje. After some time, the name officially became Norrtälje, to separate it from the other Tälje in the province, Södertälje. The city arms were created as an upside down anchor as early as 1622 when the charter was granted.
In 1719 large parts of the central town that was built in wood was burnt down by Russian plunders. The new stone church wasn't finished until 1726, and it was another 4 years before the city hall was completed.
Norrtälje had a railway station on the narrow gauge Roslagsbanan 1884-1969. It is now served by SL buses as a part of the public transport in Stockholm system.
Norrtälje has a first class industrial heritage in the Pythagoras Mechanical Workshop Museum, based in the premises of a former hot bulb engine factory.
Before I left town, I get lunch with fryed herring, mashed potatoes, salad, bread and coffee and a cake. Very good.

Ivy Bean, 104 years old, Twitter’s Oldest User

Ivy Bean is 104 years old pensioner who lives at Hillside Manor Residential Home in Bradford, West Yorks. She already has a profile on Facebook, and with little help from Geek Squad agent, Martin Dix, she signed up for Twitter. She is perhaps the oldest person on planet earth to publish her updates on the microblogging site. Isn't that something.

First solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean

Photo: Richards Oasis
I am sure that many people know about Charles Lindbergh and there are lot information on internet. But it is such an amazing blasphemy, that I want to take it up in my blog.
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974), known as "Lucky Lindy" and "The Lone Eagle", was a pioneering United States airplane pilot famous for making the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927.
Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan. His parents were Swedish immigrants. He grew up in Little Falls, Minnesota. His father, Charles August Lindbergh, was a lawyer and later a U.S. congressman who was against the United States entering into World War I; his mother was a teacher. While he was young, he was interested in machines. In 1922 he joined a pilot training program with Nebraska Aircraft, bought his own airplane, and became a stunt pilot. In 1924, he started training as a pilot with the United States Army Air Corps.
After finishing first in his class, Lindbergh took his first job as pilot of an airmail route in St. Louis. He flew the mail in an airplane.
In April 1923, while visiting friends in Lake Village, Arkansas, Lindbergh made his first ever flight over Lake Village and Lake Chicot.

Charles Lindbergh - An American Aviator
Charles Lindbergh

Today Saturday - it will rain all day

I am walking on the Great Wall in China

Image above: Sunset in Hawaii

Image above: The oldest Casino in Las Vegas USA

Image above: Concert Hall in Sidney Australia
It is a rainy day and that means indoor activities for me. So I started this morning to make an inventory of my old images taken in different countries, scanned some of those, in order to put the images in to the computer. The images remind me about places around the world I have been visiting. It's always nice looking at images and think about all exciting things happen during the trips. The conditions in countries are quite different and I have learned a lot by traveling through many continents. And I still want to go and meet people from other countries because it gives me a lot.

Now it's time for lunch. I get grilled Salmon, potatos,sauce, vegetable and a something to drink. Dessert is strawberries and whipped cream. Finally a small a cup of coffee.
How about that?

Welcome Home, Endeavour

Image: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Endeavour kicked up dust as it touches down on Runway 15 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to complete the 16-day, 6.5-million mile journey on the STS-127 mission to the International Space Station. Endeavour landed on orbit 248. Main gear touchdown was at 10:48:08 a.m. EDT. Nose gear touchdown was at 10:48:21 a.m. and wheels stop was at 10:49:13 a.m.
Endeavour delivered the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section to the International Space Station. The mission was the 29th flight to the station, the 23rd flight of Endeavour and the 127th in the Space Shuttle Program, as well as the 71st landing at Kennedy.
Sourch: NASA

Endeavour Scheduled to Land Friday

Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to land at Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Friday with a touchdown at 10:48 a.m. EDT. The shuttle would begin its descent from orbit with a deorbit engine firing at 9:42 a.m. Weather conditions at Kennedy are forecast to be favorable for landing, although a slight chance of rain is possible.
A second opportunity exists for a landing in Florida on Friday, beginning with a deorbit engine firing at 11:17 a.m., leading to a 12:22 p.m. touchdown.
Source: NASA

Golf is exciting

Golf is an interesting and exciting sport. It is very popular and there are many tournaments all over the world. Today it's a family game. I have played golf for many years and I still love it. So nice walking on a golf course playing with relatives or friends.
A golf-like game is recorded as taking place on 26 February 1297, in the Netherlands, in a city called Loenen aan de Vecht, where the Dutch played a game with a stick and leather ball. The winner was whoever hit the ball the most number of times into a target several hundreds of meters away.
A game similar to modern-day golf was played in China since Southern Tang Dynasty, 500 years before golf was first mentioned in Scotland.
A spokesman for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, one of the oldest Scotland golf organization, said "Stick and ball games have been around for many centuries, but golf as we know it today, played over 18 holes, clearly originated in Scotland."
Keep swinging! Have fun!
Golf history
Scottish Golf Story
Saint Andrew's Golf Club Scottland

When did we start drinking coffee?

It was a shepherd, called Kaldi, who discovered the use of the coffee bean about four centuries ago, in a region of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).This shepherd drew his attention to some goats, which after eating reddish berries from an evergreen bush became very active and vivacious. This happened several times and the shepherd decided to taste these strange berries for himself. Raw berries were hard to chew, so he took some to the village. The shepherd decided to roast them to make them edible. He tasted some roast beans and his sleepy eyes got wide open. All village people liked it as it kept awake during long prayers. While experimenting with the beans, people crushed the roasted seeds into powder and poured boiling water to make a tasty drink. So, in this way the coffee grains were used to brew the delicious beverage consumed all over the world nowadays.
Though green beans were used in a boiled infusion beverage well before 1000AD, roasting to produce something akin to modern day coffees doesn't seem to have any reliable history until around 1200AD. However spice roasting was well established in the Middle East long before this time and coffee could easily have been included in the wide range of condiments produced by roasting.
The arabs were the first, not only to cultivate coffee but also to begin its trade. By XV century, coffee was being grown in the Yemeni district of Arabia and by the XVI it was known in Persia, Egypt, Syria and Turkey.
It's popularity was perhaps due, in part, to the fact that Muslims, forridden alcoholic drink by Koran, found coffe's energizing properties to be an acceptable substitute.
Though coffee as a crop was wide spread through Arabia and North Africa, the resulting crop was distributed through the Red Sea port of "Al Makha" or Mocha. The trade in Arabica coffee was jealously guarded by the Mocha traders for many years enabling them to control the supply and command high prices. This was achieved by only allowing the export of unviable coffee beans, having been roasted or in some other way heat-treated. Only with the growth of trade with the outside world and the realization of the economic potential of coffee caused pressure on the monopoly the Arabian traders held over the coffee trade.
In 1650, the first coffeehouse opened its doors in Oxford, England, its proprietor a Turkish Jew named Jacob. In France, the first coffeehouse opened in 1672. By 1843, there were thousands of coffeehouses throughout Europe and the American colonies.
In America at this time, only small amounts of coffee beans were imported to the colonies for many years. Eventually, however, Dutch and French smugglers did introduce beans in great quantity, and coffeehouses opened in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. Most were more like taverns the genuine coffeehouses, since they served not only coffee but also chocolate, ales, beers, and wines. They also rented rooms to sailors and travelers. One famous coffeehouse in New England was the Green Dragon in Boston. At first it was popular with British officers, but in later years it came to be the gathering place of John Adams, Paul Revere and other revolutionaries plotting against England.

Space Shuttle Crew Set To Return To Earth Friday

Image above: Backdropped by a blue and white Earth, this image taken by the Expedition 20 crew shows Endeavour shortly after the shuttle and station began their post-undocking separation on July 28, 2009.
Photo: NASA

Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-member crew are scheduled to return to Earth on Friday after a 16-day mission. There are two landing opportunities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:48 a.m. and 12:23 p.m. EDT.
Source: NASA

Late Heat Shield Inspections for Shuttle

The seven-member crew was awakened Wednesday morning to the song “Yellow” by the band Coldplay, uplinked for Pilot Doug Hurley in honor of his International Space Station fly-around. Space shuttle Endeavour undocked Tuesday from the International Space Station at 1:26 p.m. EDT. After completing a fly-around of the space station, Endeavour performed a maneuver to separate from the station. Shuttle astronauts will inspect Endeavour’s heat shield one more time today as they begin to set their sights on a Friday landing. Endeavour’s thermal protection system was cleared for landing earlier in the flight. This late inspection will ensure that there has been no impact damage from micrometeoroids or space junk during its docked operations or fly-around of the station.
Source: NASA

The world's greatest Aviation Celebration

The world's largest Aviation Community in Oshkosh Wisconsin USA on July 27 - August 2 is something special. It's an annual air show. So exciting to walk around and see all airplane's and talk with new and pilots. There are homebuilt airplane's, war birds and a lot of activities. I have been there twice and I love it. If you are interested in Aviation, you have to go there.


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Image above: Virgin Galactic's mothership WhiteKnight have landed in Oshkosh
Read More about WK2


Image above: Richard is flying in USA

Pilot Re-Enacts 1st English Channel Flight

A French pilot on Saturday recreated the first-ever flight across the English Channel in a monoplane like the one that Louis Bleriot flew in 1909, complete with a wooden propeller, bicycle wheels and an engine about as powerful as a lawnmower.
Edmond Salis took off from Bleriot Beach, near Calais on France's northern coast, at 9:13 am local time, arriving 40 minutes later in Dover. That's just slightly longer than it took Bleriot, who made his historic crossing July 25, 1909, in 38 minutes.



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Boogie Woogie Piano Tommy Johnson

I often listen to music. It's relaxing. I love almost all kind of music. Classical music, country music, big band music, music from 60th, boogie ...
Here is a clip of boggie. Listen and have a good time.

Roadable Aircraft

How about a roadable aircraft? It exist and you can purchase if you want. It's a great idea. I should like to have one. But it's a little more expensive than a regular car. So I think I have to continue to fly regular aircrafts. :-)
In fact, I saw this kind of solution many years ago, but it not succeed on the market. Maybe it goes better this time.



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Rain and windy today

Today Wednesday it is raining and windy. Temperature around 16C/60 F. It's always rain and we got bad weather this week of the year. So we are use to it. Anyway, I thought I should play golf this morning, but it was too windy and too wet, so I cancelled my golf round. I will try tomorrow.
That means a lot of activities indoor. No problem because I have a lot of things to do. First I am writing this and update the blog. Then I read the Technical Magazine I got yesterday. Maybe I can find an interesting article and software to test on my computer. That is always exciting. Maybe I need to go shopping later on. I also plan to talk to my friends in Asia and USA on internet. I will be busy. Have a good day.

40th Anniversary of Moon Landing

Image above is the Astronauts Michael Collin - Neil Armstrong - Edwin Aldrin, Jr


American flag on the Moon

Photo: NASA

On July 1969 I visited Los Angeles Californa USA. It was interesting to see places like Hollywood, Walt Disney Studio and drive around. I also met relatives I have never seen before. Also got friends that I keep in tounch with.
On July 20, 1969 I had breakfast early in the morning. Around 9 o'clock A.M. I turned on TV because I was waiting for something special. Apollo 11 should land on the Moon. I was watching TV several hours and listen to commucation between the ground control and Apollo 11.
I got sandwish and coffee and continued to watch TV. I couldn't leave TV because it was so exciting. Nothing else was not important. :-) We were 4 people with the same interest, just to see Apollo 11 land on the Moon.
Finally we saw what we have been waiting for. Apollo 11 came closer and closer to the surface. After a while Apollo landed. WOW! Later Astronauts Neil Armstrong first stepped onto lunar surface and said those famous words 'a look back at one of the defining moments of the 20th Century'. The other two Astronauts also walked on the surface and place the American flag on the Moon.
It was very exciting to follow. I will never forget that day. I have a big poster from 1969 with the Astronauts on the wall. So today I celebrate 40th Anniversary of Moon Landing.
Video clips

Webcams over the world

Webcams are very popular on internet. There are many suppliers of webcams. And you can be seated at home and watch cities and other places by webcams. There are webcams for traffic, weather, golf courses in may countries. And it's free to look.
Have a look! Enjoy oneself.
Webcams in Sweden
Times Square New York USA
Tokyo Japan