Discovery Heads to Space

“We have liftoff!!”

At 11.38am EDT, the space shuttle Discovery left the ground from launch complex 39A, beginning at journey to the International Space Station and a 14-day mission in space.

Discovery will install the Harmony module to ISS, and move the P6 truss to its permanent position. The P6 solar arrays were the first arrays at the station, but set in a temporary position until such time as the truss system was completed. Now it can be installed permanently.

Soon the orbital elements will be available, and by going to sites like Heaven’s Above.com you will be able to see when the shuttle (and the space station) will be flying over your location (please see this previous post about seeing ISS).

You can follow the mission at the shuttle mission page and if there are any special events, we’ll talk about them here. Locally, we have the Community Media Center to thank, as they broadcast NASA-TV on local cable channel 24 (Livewire). The GRAAA sponsors NASA-TV locally.

So Godspeed Discovery, and good luck on your mission.

(Update: Discovery successfully docked with ISS before 9am EDT on 10/25) 

Veen Observatory Visitors’ Night for October 13th

If the skies clear as promised, tonight (Saturday night) the James C. Veen Observatory - located south of Lowell, MI - will be open for public tours and telescopic observations. Here are the particulars:

Time: 7.30pm - 10.30pm (Note the earlier start and end times!)
Admission: $3 - Adults, $2 - kids 17 and under, under 5 free

Full information on Visitors’ Nights can be found on the Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association website - graaa.org. Just click on the Visitors’ Night link in the menu.

There you will find a map showing directions to the observatory, and a FAQ about visitors’ nights. On the main page of the site, click on the OPEN sign, and you will be taken to a page with particulars about the specific night detailing what objects will be featured through the telescopes.

Tonight’s featured objects will be the planets Uranus and Neptune, the farthest planets from the sun. In addition, we will be looking at some of the finest objects of deep space as well, including galaxies, nebulas and star clusters. And who knows what else. After all, we’ve got the whole night sky to choose from.

If you go out to the observatory, we’d love to hear your thoughts about the experience. You can leave comments here, or drop an email to graaa @ graaa.org.

The Apollo Missions - a Documentary

Earlier this year, a film was completed which explored the monumental task that was undertaken by a select handful of humans: going to the moon.

“In The Shadow of the Moon” is a documentary by David Sington about the Apollo program. It features nearly all the living Apollo astronauts, and detailed archive footage of the missions.

This award-winning film was in limited release, but is getting released around the country. The only place in Grand Rapids showing the film is Celebration Cinema’s Rivertown Crossing theater. It began today, and will run at least a week. at Celebration Cinema’s Woodland Mall theater.

Since there is no way to know how long it will play, but if you want to see it, make plans to go in the next week.

Here’s the film’s website - www.intheshadowofthemoon.com