Spaced Out

Graphic: India Space Research Organisation

MOM'S AT MARS!:  We've been following reports from the India Space Research Organisation about their Mars Orbiter Mission for months now (since its launch 300 days ago).  

Tonight, MOM arrived at the end of its journey, ready to go into orbit around the Red Planet. We watched coverage via Spaceflight Now's mission status center. Fortunately for us, about half of 's coverage of the event was in English.  The host announced "the entire scientific community ... erupted into claps" when MOM started its (orbit insertion) burn right on schedule.

The coverage of the arrival/orbit insertion was good - lots of informative videos about the mission and technical aspects of the craft and its travel, plus live updates regarding where MOM was and what it was doing.

Even when it wasn't in English, it was fascinating to watch and listen. The body language alone of the mission control people told volumes. There were a couple of guys whose breathing was 

Graphic: ISRO/MOM Mission Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isromom?ref=br_tf

We listened to the whole live broadcast, and followed MOM's updates on Facebook, too. How exciting it was when the news broke ...

Indian Prime Minister Shree Narendra Modi was at mission control for the insertion event, and spoke (in multiple languages) afterward. He pointed out that India is the first nation to successfully reach the Red Planet on its first attempt. Good on them.

You can watch a video simulation of MOM's orbit insertion here: http://www.isro.gov.in/mars/moi-video.aspx

According to ISRO, the main mission of MOM is "to develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission."  Sounds like they've already accomplished at least that much!  What a great accomplishment and what a source of pride for India!

CAPTURED: International Space Station crew members successfully berthed the SpaceX CRS-4 Dragon cargo craft (seen left in a screen grab of NASA Television coverage) to the station at 9:21 a.m. EDT on Tuesday. The spacecraft's 2.5 tons of supplies, science experiments and technology demonstrations include critical materials to support 255 research investigations during the station's Expeditions 41 and 42.

Image: Screen shot from NASA-TV

PUNKS:  We played catch up today on our History of Rock Part 2 class, listening to six lectures covering music ranging from mainstream (like Peter Frampton and the Eagles) and progressive rock (Styx and Rush, for example) in the 1970s to the birth of punk (in the U.S., with one of my favorites, The Velvet Underground) and punk in the U.K. (the Sex Pistols, of course). I think I could ace the test on these topics without the lectures, but am enjoying every minute of them nonetheless. Since they're subjected to listen to what I have on the car radio, CJ and Annabelle are familiar with most of what's being mentioned, though I do think we're going to have to listen to a little Johnny Rotten over dinner, ha ha.

Instead of sitting during the lectures, the kids and I took turns standing, balancing and using the elliptical.  We're going to be doing that lots more often - as in, making it our default mode.

ON DECK:  A Soyuz is set to launch to the International Space Station at 1:25 Pacific time on Thursday, Sept. 25. 

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

One thing that makes this mission noteworthy is it's the first time a female cosmonaut will be on station. 

Honestly, it shocked me when I read that fact. Twenty six women have lived and worked on the ISS (including one each from Canada, Japan, and France), but no Russian women are among that number.  Not only that, I learned tonight that the last female cosmonaut was Yelena Kondakova, on board a U.S. space shuttle in 1997, 17 years ago. Wow. 

When she launches for the ISS on Thursday, flight engineer Elena Serova, 38, will be the fourth Russian woman in space.  Here's a photo of her meeting Valentina Tereshkova, the first female astronaut ever.

Photo credit: NASA/Stephanie Stoll