Microgravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS) makes life there dramatically different to how it is back on terra firma. Astronauts secure themselves with straps when they sleep, use a special suction cup when using the bathroom, and float from module to module rather than walk.
Indeed, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick has just shared a video that he made of himself drifting through several modules, captured by a camera that floated hands-free just in front of him.
This took a few takes to capture . . . Initially held onto the camera mounting bracket and pushed off (you can hear the bracket clinking). Then carefully let it go so the camera floats with you through space station. Flew from the aft end of the lab to the forward end of Node 2. pic.twitter.com/d3kZ50wDe1
Dominick, who recorded the footage during his stay aboard the orbital outpost last year, said the footage “took a few takes to capture.”
The NASA astronaut explained that he started by pushing the camera out just in front of him. He can be seen making one adjustment to the camera in the first few seconds to steady it as it starts to spin. “Initially held onto the camera mounting bracket and pushed off (you can hear the bracket clinking),” Dominick wrote in a post on X that included the video. “Then carefully let it go so the camera floats with you through space station.”
Dominick said he flew from the aft end of “the lab” to the forward end of Node 2, also known as the Harmony module. By “the lab,” we think he means the Destiny module.
That means he flew a total distance of about 50 feet (about 15 meters) in around 20 seconds — covering the entire distance without banging his head of getting snagged on wires.
Dominick’s video offers a rare perspective of what daily life and movement look like inside the space station, highlighting the unique conditions that astronauts live and work in.
During his time aboard the ISS, Dominick earned a reputation for his photography skills, sharing a range of impressive photos and videos showing both the inside and outside of the orbital facility.
After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180
SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver
For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.
A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.