August 7th, 2012 by Digital Photographer Posted in Blog, News
photo: NASA/JPL
Being a proud space geek, I of course sat up in bed with my iPad late Sunday night, watching the live USTREAM of the Curiosity Rover’s landing on Mars. I’ve been to NASA’s Jet Prepulsion Labratory (JPL) in Pasadena before, and on this night I was as thrilled by the successful touchdown as I’d have been if I was in the JPL control room at that moment. I held my breath and then erupted in cheers along with the geniuses in blue shirts. And then I cheered some more at the “We’ve got a thumbnail!” announcement. As a photo junkie, I never thought I’d be so excited in 2012 to see photos captured by a 1-megapixel camera. But on Sunday night I couldn’t take my eyes off that first image shot by the rover’s Hazard-Avoidance camera (in which you can see Curiosity’s wheel).
Curiosity has since sent higher resolution versions of those initial photos, as well as its first color photo of the Red Planet. You can see those here. Still, I will never forget the thrill of that first thumbnail image.
June 6th, 2012 by Digital Photographer Posted in Blog
Were you among the hoards of eager space-enthusiasts (this writer included) who watched the historic Transit of Venus yesterday evening? My favorite livestream to watch was the view from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, but the above compilation shot, captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), is the still image that I will forever return to for a dose of inspiration. See the rest of NASA’s Venus Transit images here, including one captured by Astronaut Don Pettit from aboard the International Space Station.
(images: NASA/SDO, AIA)
Update:
Don’t miss this stunning time lapse video of SDO shots either:
History is made as Dragon 9, the first commercially launched spacecraft, docks with the International Space Station. Cudos to president Gwynne Shotwell and team at Space X, led by founder Elon Musk.
Heartening to see this U.S. entrepreneur-led company based in El Segundo manufacturing the new era in space travel. So now NASA can refocus its mission. What will be NASA’s future?
