A few nice space images I found:

Space Station Over Earth (NASA, International Space Station, 05/23/11)

Image by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
This image of the International Space Station and the docked space shuttle Endeavour, flying at an altitude of approximately 220 miles, was taken by Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking on May 23, 2011 (USA time). The pictures are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the International Space Station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Onboard the Soyuz were Russian cosmonaut and Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev; Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut; and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman. Coleman and Nespoli were both flight engineers. The three landed in Kazakhstan later that day, completing 159 days in space.

Image credit: NASA

Original image:
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-27/html/…

More about space station research:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html

There’s a Flickr group about Space Station Research. Please feel welcome to join! www.flickr.com/groups/stationscience/

Soviet Space Artifacts

Image by jurvetson
I am wearing Yuri Gagarin’s personal wristwatch today, and so it seemed like a good photo opp for another other cool artifact from the Russian space program.

The black ceramic tile that the watch rests on was part of the thermal protection system of the Soviet Union’s space shuttle Buran, which made one flight on Nov. 15, 1988.

The Buran flew only one two-orbit mission, and because it was just as dangerous as the Shuttle it imitated, it flew and landed autonomously, with no humans on board. Five tiles were lost during the flight. More photos below.

This tile was removed after the orbiter was destroyed in a hangar collapse at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2002.

The watch looks to be an old Russian watch, but I suspected it might be a forgery before I bought it. The auction house failed to notice that a letter was missing from the last name!

I got them to correct the listing, and the bidding did not go high, so I figured it was worth it to have an old Russian watch, perhaps circa 1967, that just might really have belonged to the first man in space (despite the typo in the engraving; perhaps that’s why he got rid of it =). Maybe someone in flickrland can help shed light on this.

Here is what the auction house provided (as well as originals of the documents referenced): “Attractive 23 jewel, man’s 10K gold wrist watch owned by Yuri Gagarin. Made by Russian watch maker and in working order. Back of watch engraved and has been translated as "YURI GAGARIN MAY 1, 1967". Watch accompanied by a note translated as "The watch was bought by Gagarin in 1967. It was in [his] personal use. Gagarina." Original translation report by Igor Moiseyev of ATLANTIC CROSSROAD, INC included. Watch face in fair condition with sweep wear on center of face patina due to age.”

Crescent Moon (NASA, International Space Station Science, 11/03/07)

Image by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
A crescent moon is visible in this view of Earth’s horizon and atmosphere, photographed by an Expedition 16 crewmember on the International Space Station while Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-120) was docked with the station.

Image credit: NASA

Read full caption:
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-16/html/…

More about the Crew Earth Observation experiment aboard the International Space Station:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/CE…

More about space station science:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/index.html

There’s a new Flickr group about Space Station Science. Please feel welcome to join! www.flickr.com/groups/stationscience/

You can also get Twitter updates whenever there’s a new image:
www.twitter.com/nasa1fan