space

Frog photobombs NASA LADEE spacecraft launch

Frog photobombs NASA LADEE spacecraft launch

3 photos

Did you catch NASA’s frog photobomb?

NASA released this photo Thursday that captured a frog flying through the air during the launch of the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft. It was taken by a still camera on a sound trigger, says NASA, who reported that “the condition of the frog, however, is uncertain.”

The craft, which took off from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, is currently on its way to orbit the moon where it will collect data about lunar conditions. Click for more on the mission.

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July 25 Photo Brief: A view of the Sun’s surface, military training for puppies, train crash in Spain

July 25 Photo Brief: A view of the Sun’s surface, military training for puppies, train crash in Spain

15 photos

A view of the Sun’s surface via NASA, military training for puppies in Belarus, train crash in Spain said to be one of Europe’s worst rail disasters and more in today’s daily brief. | Warning: Some photos may depict injury and/or death.

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Hidden Maryland: Building the Webb Telescope in NASA’s clean room

Hidden Maryland: Building the Webb Telescope in NASA’s clean room

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The second installment of Hidden Maryland heads to NASA Goddard, which is assembling parts of the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble. Only contractors and NASA employees can enter the clean room, where the work is taking place, but not before entering an air shower and covering themselves from head to toe in special, sterile attire.
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High above earth, to the tune of “Space Oddity”

1 Video

Jam session in space? Here’s an outer space version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” from Chris Hadfield, Canadian astronaut and Expedition 35 Commander, who is currently living on board the International Space Station. Hadfield leaves the ISS for Earth Monday. On his Twitter @Cmdr_Hadfield, which has ballooned to 824,605 fans following his journey, he writes: “With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here’s Space Oddity, recorded on Station. A last glimpse of the World.”

Hadfield’s video has had more than a million views since it was posted Sunday.
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Soyuz rocket successfully launches 1 American, 2 Russians towards the ISS

Soyuz rocket successfully launches 1 American, 2 Russians towards the ISS

39 photos

Two days from now, the International Space Station (ISS) will gain three new tenants, Kevin Ford of the U.S. and Russia’s Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin. The trio took off early this morning aboard the Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for their five month stay in low-earth orbit. After docking, the new crew will immediately be put to work conducting a spacewalk for repairs and preparing SpaceX’s Dragon capsule for its descent back to Earth.

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