NASA had an ambitious plan back in the 1970’s to colonize space with 10,000 people.  This strategy was spelled out in a video dug up from the NASA archives.  And of course, that video has made its way to YouTube and this blog for you to watch.

Check out the detailed plans of a space colony that was going to inhabit 10,000 people:

via Gizmodo

For some reason, I found myself laughing when I read that Iran’s latest advancement in their space program was to send a monkey into space.  And not just any monkey can make the cut – they (being Iran) are testing out five monkeys to see which one will board a Kavoshgar-5 rocket and blast into outer space.

The first time a monkey ever went into space didn’t turn out so well.  On June 11, 1948, NASA sent “Albert”, a Rhesus Monkey, into space and Albert died in the rocket due to suffocation.

Ok wait… can someone tell me again why we’re sending monkeys into space?

The six astronauts — all men — waved and shook their fists as they headed to the launch pad at mid-morning.

The 12 day mission is the last one for Atlantis.  Only two flights remain after this one, by Endeavor and Discovery.  The Obama administration has called for an end to the 30 year program which is scheduled to end this year.  The president wants NASA to focus on reaching an asteroid by 2025 and then on to a trip to Mars by 2035.

Atlantis is the fourth in NASA’s lineup of space shuttles.  It’s first trip into space was in 1985.  Atlantis has made 32 of the 132 shuttle missions. Two shuttles were destroyed in flight.

The Atlantis mission is to deliver fresh batteries, laptop computers, a Russian built compartment, and food for the orbiting space station which will continue to operate at least until 2020.

It has not been determined as to where Atlantis will be placed to rest.  For now, the shuttle, after it returns from this last mission, will be prepared for possible rescue missions.

And in this video link:

When volcanoes erupt, they funnel ash, debris and gases into the atmosphere. One of these gases, sulfur dioxide, can react in the atmosphere to form sulfate aerosols, which are tiny particles suspended in the air. These aerosols can scatter the incoming rays of sunlight, not only producing colorful sunsets, but also changing the amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface, and therefore potentially altering global temperatures.

The eruption of the Philippines’ Mount Pinatubo in 1991, for example, caused global temperatures to be cooler than normal in the following year. I fondly remember my dogs playing in the 14 inches of snow we received in South Carolina as a result.  The even larger eruption of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia in April 1815 caused what was called “the year without a summer,” with snow falling across the United States in July in 1816.  Already, from this currently continuing eruption,  we have seen comparatively cool temperatures for this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere.

This photo shows ash from the  Eyjafjallajokul as the wind carries is away from Iceland towards Europe and Africa. This thick, obscuring cloud has affected air travel in over a dozen countries.

Funny how something practically synonymous with the word “heat” can be the cause of cooling on a global scale.

Today is the 20th Anniversary of The Hubble Telescope launch from NASA. Google found this day to be worthy of a Google Hubble Telescope Logo.

The images that come from the Hubble Telescope are nothing short of fascinating and brilliant. The Hubble Telescope is able to take images of galaxies that are literally billions of light years away – unbelievable!

Here are some Hubble Telescope images, pictures, and video:

Hubble Telescope Google Logo, Celebrates 20th Anniversary

The Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 20th anniversary Saturday and NASA has released a new photograph from the orbiting observatory of a cosmic pillar of gas and dust piled high in the Carina Nebula galaxy.

Google is celebrating The Hubble Space Telescope in their own way with a Hubble Telescope Google Logo:

Google Doodle logos are very unpredictable in that we never know exactly what event, person, or anniversary Google is going to celebrate. That’s why I enjoy writing about each new Google logo – at least that I see here in the US – as they come available!

NASA told Wired Magazine, “We wanted to make this a cool game instead of an app where you just retrieve information.  We thought about going hi-tech and going really jazzy, but for this first version, let’s just keep it basic.”

Here’s more from the official NASA iPhone App page on iTunes:

“Welcome to the NASA Lunar Electric Rover (LER) Simulator. You don’t need a driver’s license, but you still need to buckle up as the LER Simulator gives you a glimpse of what it might be like to support the activities of a functioning Lunar Outpost. Get busy. You never know if your skills here will become a major part of the NASA Astronaut application process in the future.”

Again, you can get the free NASA Lunar Rover iPhone App in the app store in iTunes (opens iTunes).

Here’s the 24 year video that was shot from a betamax video camera:

You can follow Astronaut Mike Massimino here > @Astro_Mike

Mike Massimino definitely stands out in the Twittersphere!  He has, as of this article, 1,306,565 followers.  And no, he doesn’t use the “I’ll follow you if you follow me” strategy to build his follower list.

How do I know this?  Because he’s only following 10 people!

So over 1.3 million people are following Mike Massimino, yet he is only following 10… yeah, I’d say that Twitter really digs this astronaut!

Submit your questions via Twitter to @Astro_Mike

From NASA:

ISS022-E-030482 (18 Jan. 2010) — An Expedition 22 crew member onboard the International Space Station took this image of the 260-year-old city Port-au-Prince on Jan. 18, 2010 when they could view the area. This was a few days after the major Haitian earthquake occurred and brought devastation to Port-au-Prince, Carrefour, and the surrounding region. The Toussaint Louverture International Airport, clearly visible on the north side of Port-au-Prince, is the central focal point of incoming international aid. The population of Port-au-Prince is estimated to be between 2.5 to 3 million people. The photo was taken with an 800 mm lens setting.

Here’s the breakfast menu tweet:

You can follow the legendary astronaut here > @Astro_TJ

It’s really quite interesting to read through all of his tweets as he answers a lot of different questions from readers.  What’s even more amazing is that because of Twitter, we are now able to communicate directly with astronauts that are in outer space.

A couple of his tweets that caught my attention where the ones that referenced resources for viewing pictures.

For example, you can view images of the current mission here.

You can see opportunities for space station sightings here.

And also a lot of photos are available here.

NASA astronauts have posted Twitter messages in the past, but they first had to be relayed to Mission Control via email, and then engineers would send out the tweets from their computers.

Now, residents of the ISS can post directly to the micro-blogging site thanks to a new, direct Internet connection.

Dubbed the Crew Support LAN, the system relies on existing communication links to give astronauts full Web connectivity. The crew also has access to e-mail, VoIP, and videoconferencing tools.

NASA said the astronauts posts are subject to the same guidelines that cover government employees’ use of social media on terra firma.

Because today, one of the United States astronauts sent the first ever Twitter update live from outer space! Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer broadcast the following message directly from the International Space Station.

Follow the astronaut @Astro_TJ

“Hello Twitterverse!,” wrote Creamer, under the Twitter user name Astro_TJ. “We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station—the 1st live tweet from Space! ,” Creamer said.  Here’s the actual tweet:

NASA has set up an impressive wireless connection that provides astronauts on International Space Station with a Crew Support LAN (whatever that means), which apparently enhances the private communication access that astronauts have while floating above the Earth.

Creamer, along with his crew mates Jeff Williams and Soichi Noguchi, is using the access to post Twitter updates about their mission..

Although there have been previous Twitter updates from outer space, up until today, the astronauts had to email their updates to ground control who then would send the message out on Twitter.

Today marks the first day, and day that will go down in history, as the first day a live Twitter update was posted from outer space!

This is interesting because NASA is interested in teaching people about the basics of graphing relationships in all subject matters.  From economics, to car insurance, to how much food is needed for one person to travel to the moon – NASA BEST helps everyone get started in understanding graphs.

Here’s the intro video for NASA’s BEST program:

Subscribe to NASA’s YouTube Channel:

If you’re interested in connecting with NASA on a much deeper level you can subscribe to their YouTube channel here.

Also, if you’re want to dive even deeper into the world of NASA you can subscribe to their podcast via iTunes here. (opens in iTunes)

And NASA has apparently been uing WordPress for years!  Who would’ve though….?

Well, with all of NASA’s passion for WordPress, guess what they’ve recently released?

Recently, however, NASA has taken their passion for WordPress one step further by releasing the NASA Glenn Research Center launched a resource guide for WordPress development.

What I find most interesting here is the Tutorials page that covers a wide range of WordPress development topics.

Wow – maybe it’s just me, but I’m quite impressed that NASA is so involved with WordPress!