Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the INSPIRE Online Learning Community!

You can track Santa's flight tonight on the NORAD Santa Tracker.

The first Christmas aboard the International Space Station occurred in 2000 with the Expedition One crew. Astronaut Bill Shepherd and Cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev spent a quiet Christmas Day opening gifts and talking to their families.

Astronaut John Blaha celebrated the holiday season in orbit aboard the Russian Mir space station in 1996.

In 1973, Skylab 4 crewmembers created a 'Christmas tree' from discarded food cans.

The first people in space at Christmas were Borman, Lovell and Anders, who orbited the moon in Apollo-8 in 1968.

NASA EDGE takes a unique look in and around the greatest space program on the planet.

NASA EDGE is a public outreach vodcast sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and based out of the Exploration and Space Operations Directorate at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

NASA EDGE vodcasts can be downloaded from the NASA website and from iTunes.

In its first year of production, NASA EDGE was downloaded over 450,000 times.

As of June 2010, NASA EDGE has produced 53 vodcasts.

NASA EDGE premiered on March 18, 2007.

The Dawn spacecraft also will be used to measure gravity fields,
thereby revealing details of these asteroids’ interiors.

By investigating two very different asteroids, Ceres and Vesta, the Dawn mission seeks to unlock some of the mysteries of planetary formation.

The Dawn mission marks the first time a spacecraft will
orbit a body in the main asteroid belt and the first time
a spacecraft will orbit two targets, enabling a detailed
and intensive study of both.

Aboard the Dawn spacecraft, the science payload
consists of two cameras, a visible and infrared mapping
spectrometer to reveal the surface minerals, and a gamma
ray and neutron spectrometer to determine the elements
that make up the outer parts of the asteroids.

Dawn’s journey to the asteroid belt, spanning about eight years from launch to completion of data return, is made possible by ion propulsion.

The top level question that Dawn addresses is the role of size and water in determining the evolution of the planets.

Kennedy Space Center shares land with the 140,000 acre Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The central Florida area receives more lightning strikes than any other place in the U.S., causing NASA to spend millions of dollars to avoid strikes during launches.

Robert Cabana, the current director of Kennedy Space center, is an astronaut who has flown four missions on the Space Shuttle.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is visited by 1.5 million guests each year.

There is only one Launch Complex at Kennedy Space Center. LC 39 has two launch pads, Pad A and Pad B.

Kennedy Space Center was built on the site originally called the Merritt Island Launch Area (MILA). There is a school nearby named Mila Elementary School.

When originally planned in the early 1970s, the Large Space Telescope program called for return to Earth, refurbishment, and re-launch every 5 years, with on-orbit servicing every 2.5 years.

HST's current complement of science instruments includes three cameras, two spectrographs, and fine guidance sensors (primarily used for accurate pointing, but also for astrometric observations).

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a 2.4-meter reflecting telescope, which was deployed in low-Earth orbit (600 kilometers) by the crew of the space shuttle Discovery (STS-31) on 25 April 1990.

Today's Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) has 13 layers of material, including an inner cooling garment (two layers), pressure garment (two layers), thermal micrometeoroid garment (eight layers) and outer cover (one layer).

Because Apollo astronauts had to walk on the moon as well as fly in space, a single space suit was developed that had add-ons for moonwalking. The basic Apollo space suit, which was worn during liftoff, was the backup suit needed in case cabin pressure failed.

Astronauts found it difficult to move in the Mercury space suit when it was pressurized; the suit itself was not designed for spacewalking. However, when NASA's Gemini program began, space suits had to be designed not only for emergency use, but also for spacewalking, so some changes had to be made.

NASA's Extravehicular Mobility Unit uses a fiberglass Hard Upper Torso (HUT) and fabric limbs.

In NASA spacesuits, communications are provided via a cap worn over the head, which includes earphones and a microphone. Due to the coloration of the version used for Apollo and Skylab, which resembled the coloration of the comic strip character Snoopy, these caps became known as "Snoopy caps".

The first full pressure-suits for use at extreme altitudes were designed by individual inventors as early as the 1930s. One was worn by famed pilot Wiley Post.

Project Mercury, the first US program to put a man in space, was started at Langley Research Center under the Space Task Group. While the Manned Spacecraft center was moved to Houston in the early 60s, Langley has continued to support NASA’s manned spaceflight.

The Langley Research Center was named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, one of the pioneers of aviation and a contemporary of the Wright brothers.

The Langley Aeronautical Laboratory became the Langley Research Center in 1958 with the establishment of NASA, one of three NACA research facilities absorbed by the new administration.

Langley Research Center is collocated with Langley Air Force Base, home of the 27^th Fighter Squadron, the first operational US Air Force F-22 squadron.

Langley scientists recently tested a new inflatable heat shield that could be used by spacecraft returning to Earth at hypersonic speeds.

The Langley Aeronautical Laboratory was established in 1917 on the banks Chesapeake Bay in Hampton, Virginia.

Each arm is approximately 2 feet, 8 inches long, giving the R2 a total wingspan of 8 feet. They boast seven degrees of freedom and the strength to hold 20 pounds in any pose in Earth’s gravity.

R2’s hands have 12 degrees of freedom --four in the thumb, three each in the index and middle fingers and one each in the ring and pinky fingers. Each finger has a grasping force of 5 pounds.

R2 thinks with its stomach – literally. With its head full of cameras, the only place with enough room for a brain is the robot’s torso.

Here on Earth and at the space station, R2’s backpack holds its power conversion system, allowing it to be plugged in. On another planetary surface – or the moon or an asteroid – the backpack would hold the robot’s batteries.

Behind R2’s visor are four visible cameras – two to provide stereo vision for the robot and its operators, and two auxiliary cameras.

A robot designed to work with humans and use human tools begins to look humanlike by default. However, R2’s headlight houses its vision equipment.

The Space Station circles the Earth every 90 minutes, and looks down on 85 percent of the populated areas.

The construction of the Space Station is a collaboration of 100,000 people, hundreds of companies, and sixteen nations spread over four continents, among them the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The Space Station is the most expensive single object ever built. The United States' participation has been estimated at $96 billion - a figure that nearly equals the combined cost of all of the Apollo missions to the moon.

The human body tends to lose muscle and bone mass rapidly in space. To fight this loss, at least two hours of strenuous exercise is built into every astronaut's daily schedule on the Space Station.

The Space Station consists of 70 separate major components and hundreds of minor ones, all of which will be assembled for the first time in space.

The Space Station is the largest manned object ever sent into space, encompassing 43,000 cubic feet of living and working space - the equivalent of two Boeing 747's

The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) is a NASA-sponsored satellite mission that is providing state-of-the-art measurements of incoming x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and total solar radiation.

The total mass of the SDO Spacecraft at launch is 3200 kg (payload 270 kg; fuel 1400 kg).

The goal of the Living With a Star program is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to effectively address those aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.

SDO is a 3-axis stabilized spacecraft with two solar arrays and two high-gain antennas, and will orbit at 36,000 km in a circular geosynchronous orbit at 102° W longitude inclined at 28.5°.

The SDO will generate approximately 1.5 Terabytes of data per day.

The primary mission of the Solar Dynamics Observatory is scheduled to last 5 years 3 months, with expendables expected to last for 10 years.

Goddard's first 157 employees transferred from the United States Navy's Project Vanguard missile program, but continued their work at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. while the center was under construction.

Until May 1, 1959, NASA's presence in Greenbelt, Maryland was known as the Beltsville Space Center. It was then renamed the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), after Dr. Robert H. Goddard.

Typically, unmanned earth observation missions and observatories in Earth orbit are managed by Goddard Space Flight Center, while unmanned planetary missions are managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.

Scientists would like to understand when the stars that we see today and the chemical elements that make up our Milky Way galaxy were formed. With its ultraviolet observations, GALEX is filling in one of the key pieces of this puzzle.

GALEX is also identifying celestial objects for further study by ongoing and future missions and GALEX data now populates a large, unprecedented archive available to the entire astronomical community and to the general public.

GALEX’s observations are telling scientists how galaxies, the basic structures of our Universe, evolve and change. Additionally, GALEX observations are investigating the causes of star formation during a period when most of the stars and elements we see today had their origins.

Led by the California Institute of Technology, GALEX is conducting several first-of-a-kind sky surveys, including an extra-galactic (beyond our galaxy) ultraviolet all-sky survey.

Although originally planned as a 29-month mission, the NASA Senior Review Panel in 2006 recommended that the GALEX mission lifetime be extended.

The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) is an orbiting space telescope observing galaxies in ultraviolet light across 10 billion years of cosmic history.

2000 The first crew of three takes up residence in the international space station.

1981 Maiden voyage of the first space shuttle, Columbia.

1976 Viking 1 sends back the first close-up images of Mars.

1969 Apollo 11 astronauts land successfully on the moon.

1965 Mariner 4 flies past Mars, sending back the first images of the Red Planet's surface.

1961 Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space. Kennedy vows to land Americans on the moon.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are giant bubbles of ionized gas. If Earth is caught in their crosshairs, they can induce electric currents that surge into pipelines, cables and electrical transformers.

Solar proton events are floods of high-energy protons that occasionally accompany flares and CMEs. They can zap data in electronic circuits and give astronauts and airline passengers an extra dose of radiation.

Solar flares have cost the airline industry millions of dollars.

You have already been affected by solar storms and do not know it.

The last major space storm caused an electrical blackout in Quebec.

$4 billion in satellite losses can be traced to space weather damage .

NASA has been issued over 6,300 patents, nearly one in a thousand of all patents ever issued by the U.S. Patent Office (since 1790).

NASA entered into over 250 Space Act Agreements with private and other external entities for development of dual-use technology targeted to Mission Directorate technology needs.

Contrary to common belief, NASA did not invent Tang, Velcro, or Teflon. NASA has, however, used all three in its programs.

Well-known products that NASA claims as spin-offs include memory foam (originally named temper foam), freeze-dried food, firefighting equipment, emergency "space blankets", Dustbusters, cochlear implants, and now Speedo's LZR Racer swimsuits.

Portable, self-contained power tools were originally developed to help Apollo astronauts drill for moon samples. This technology has lead to development of such tools as the cordless vacuum cleaner, power drill, shrub trimmers, and grass shears.

Joystick controllers are used for lots of things, including computer games and vehicles for people with disabilities. These devices evolved from research to develop a controller for the Apollo Lunar Rover, and from other NASA research into how humans actually operate (called "human factors").

There are a total of nine cameras on each rover, along with a exploratory arm equipped with a pair of spectrometers, magnets, microscopic imaging device and a rock abrasion tool.

In 2009, Spirit became stuck in soft soil and was immobilized. It now operates as a stationary science laboratory.

Each rover is designed as a six-wheeled vehicle powered by solar energy. They stand nearly five feet tall, 7.5 feet long, a little over five feet wide and have a weight of 400 pounds.

The rovers were designed to last 90 days on Mars. Spirit landed on Jan. 4, 2004, and Opportunity landed on Jan. 25, 2004.

The temperatures on Mars may be as low as -105° C (-157° F) during the night. Solar panels on the MERs will use the daytime sun to recharge the batteries and operate the vehicle.

The rovers can travel up to 100 meters (110 yards) a day, however, most daily trips will be less so that the rover can study the soil, rocks, atmosphere, and so on. To keep the batteries and electronics warm there are 8 heaters.

The Administrator of NASA is appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the US Senate. Major General Charles Bolden, USMC (ret.) is the current and 12th NASA Administrator; he serves as the senior space science advisor to the President.

Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad was shorter than Neil Armstrong. His first words on the moon: "That might have been a small step for Neil, but it was a long one for me!"

The Apollo computers had less processing power than a cellphone.

Apollo 12 carried the first color video camera to the moon. It was accidentally pointed at the sun which burned out the image to become unusable. It remains the grandfather of all small portable video cameras today.

When Apollo 11’s lunar lander, the Eagle, separated from the orbiter, the cabin wasn’t fully depressurized, resulting in a burst of gas equivalent to popping a champagne cork. It threw the module’s landing four miles off-target.

The Apollo’s Saturn rockets were packed with enough fuel to throw 100-pound shrapnel three miles, and NASA couldn’t rule out the possibility that they might explode on takeoff. NASA seated its VIP spectators three and a half miles from the launchpad.

The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft landed in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans when they returned to Earth.

On August 25, 1932 Amelia Earhart set three records for women flyers: the first non-stop U.S. crossing, the longest distance record, and a coast-to-coast record time.

This year's Perseid meteor shower peak viewing occurs on August 12-13, 2010 beginning at 9:30 PM ET, growing more spectacular in the early morning hours until dawn.

A mile, also called a "statute mile," is the unit of distance most U.S. citizens are familiar with. To convert statute miles into kilometers multiply the statute miles by 1.609347.

The Altus II unmanned robot plane can circle for up to 24 hours over wildfires, beaming images and data back to computers via satellite. Originally introduced as part of the Environmental Research and Sensor Technology (ERAST) Program, Altus II can map dozens of fires in a day with no risk to a pilot.

At any given moment, there are 1,800 thunderstorms happening somewhere on Earth. This amounts to 16 million storms each year! We know the cloud conditions that produce lightning, but we cannot forecast the location or time of a lightning strike.

Q. We've all heard the joke--NASA spent $11 million developing a zero-g capable space pen, when the Soviets just used pencils. The truth is:

A. An inventor named Fisher created the space pen and marketed it to NASA

Q. The Shuttle-Mir Program was a collaborative effort between Russia and the US, where US space shuttles and astronauts visited Russian space station Mir, and Russian cosmonauts flew on US shuttles. 'Mir' is the Russian word for what?

A. Both 'Peace' and 'World'

Q. John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA's space vehicle launch facility and Launch Control Center is located where?
A. Merritt Island, Florida

Q. NASA's first human spaceflight program specialized in orbital and sub-orbital flight, with capsules only large enough to hold one pilot. What was the program called?

A. Project Mercury

Q. Who is the only astronaut to have hit a golf ball on the moon?
A. Alan B. Shepard

Q. In 1958, which US President signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, officially establishing NASA?

A. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Q: Christa McAuliffe was the first teacher in space. Who is the scheduled to be the second?
A: Barbara Morgan

Q: What was the wingspan of the solar-powered Helios spacecraft?
A: 247ft

Q: How many Tracking and Data Relay Satellite Systems (TDRSS) satellites are on-orbit today?
A: The TDRSS space segment consists of seven on-orbit satellites.

Q: Which astronaut was the only one of the Mercury 7 astronauts to fly in all three of NASA's 'Moon Shot' programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo)?
A: Wally A. Schirra was the only man to fly in all three projects. Alan Shepard flew in Mercury and Apollo, but not in Gemini. Gus Grissom was involved in all three project, flying in Mercury and Gemini, but he was killed during a pre-flight simulation in his Apollo 1 capsule, so he never actually flew in the Apollo program.

Q: How many of the original Mercury 7 astronauts walked on the moon?
A: Although three of the Mercury 7 flew in the Apollo program, only one, Alan Shepard, walked on the moon.

Q: The word "Ozone" comes from what Greek word?
A: ozein, which means "smell", a reference to the chemical's odor.

Q: Who was the first American woman astronaut to perform a spacewalk?
A: Astronaut Kathy Sullivan, was first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk during STS-41G.

Q: What are Saturn's rings made of?
A: The rings are made of chunks of water ice ranging in size from dust to large houses.

Q: Who was the first African-American to perform spacewalk?
A: On Feb. 9, 1995, Dr. Bernard Harris became the first African-American to walk in space.

Q: What launch pad did the fatal Apollo 1 fire occur on at what was then called Cape Kennedy?
A: Launch Complex 34

Q: Who was the first American Astronaut to ride aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket?
A: Dr. Norm Thagard

Q: Only one Gemini capsule was given a name; which one.
A: The first capsule was called Molly Brown by Astronaut Gus Grissom.

Q: What NASA Center built the Explorer 1 spacecraft?
A: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Q: What is NACA?
A: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

According to legend, Wàn Hǔ (d. ca. 1500) was a minor Chinese official of the Ming dynasty who attempted to become the world's first recorded "astronaut". After strapping 47 rockets to a wicker chair, he had 47 servants ignite them at the same time. With a roar of flame and smoke, he was never seen again. The crater Wan-Hoo on the far side of the Moon is named after him.

"The rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" tell about an attack of 32-pound English Congreve rockets on our Fort McHenry in 1814. They were a new weapon of war, with a range of about three miles.

The name Rocket comes from the Italian Rocchetta (i.e. little fuse), a name of a small firecracker created by the Italian artificer Muratori in 1379.

Although the first recorded mention of rockets in battle was by the Chinese in 998 A.D., fireworks were mentioned as early as 282 A.D.

Did you know that improved hurricane forecasts, made possible by NASA satellites such as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), can save as much as $1,000,000 per mile (1.6 km) of coast evacuated?

On October 14, 1947, in the rocket powered Bell X-1, Capt. Charles E. Yeager flew faster than sound for the first time.

A geostationary satellite travels at an altitude of approximately 36,000 kilometers (22,000 miles) above the Earth and at a speed of about 11,000 kph (7,000 mph).

Did you know that data from satellite instruments are used by fishermen to find areas where fish are most likely to be found? Fish find food in zones where cold and warm water mix.

On March 16, 1926, Dr. Robert H. Goddard successfully launched the first liquid fueled rocket. The launch took place at Auburn, Massachusetts, and is regarded by flight historians to be as significant as the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk.

NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology program (known as "ERAST") develops pilotless airplane technology. It also works on making science instruments very small so that they can be carried on remote-controlled aircraft.

The term "aeronautics" originated in France, and was derived from the Greek words for "air" and "to sail."

On January 31, 1958, Explorer 1 became the first artificial satellite launched into space by the United States. Onboard was a cosmic ray detector designed to measure the radiation environment in Earth orbit.

The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) is NASA's center for aeronautical flight research and atmospheric flight operations. DFRC is chartered to research, develop, verify, and transfer advanced aeronautics, space and related technologies. It also serves as a backup landing site for the Space Shuttle and a facility to test and validate design concepts and systems used in development and operation of the Orbiters.

In 1803, a man named Luke Howard used Latin words to categorize clouds. Cirrus, which means "curl of hair," is used to describe high, wispy clouds that look like locks of hair.

The Altus II unmanned robot plane can circle for up to 24 hours over wildfires, beaming images and data back to computers via satellite. Originally introduced as part of the Environmental Research and Sensor Technology (ERAST) Program, Altus II can map dozens of fires in a day with no risk to a pilot.

Launched on March 2, 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt, and the first spacecraft to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter. Pioneer 10 is now coasting silently through deep space toward the red star Aldebarran, a journey of over 2 million years.

The U.S. X-Plane Program began with the rocket-powered X-1, the first airplane to break the sound barrier (on October 14, 1947) and has involved to include over 50 different major research designs.

The Gemini program served as a stepping-stone to the Moon, testing astronauts' endurance, and the rendezvous and docking maneuvers that would be needed for a lunar mission. Commander Gus Grissom and pilot John Young were on the first Gemini mission, launched on March 23, 1965.

The Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) began continuous coverage of the Earth's weather in 1962, and provided the first accurate weather forecasts based on data from space.

On January 31, 1961 NASA launched a Mercury Redstone rocket with Ham the chimpanzee on board. The capsule traveled 157 miles before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.

NASA has been helping the world communicate since its earliest days, when the experimental Echo project used large metallic balloons to bounce signals from one point on the Earth to another. Telstar 1 followed in 1962, and the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) has been tracking spacecraft since 1983.

The X-15 hypersonic research aircraft flew for nearly 10 years – from June 1959 to October 1968 – and contributed to the development of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, as well as the shuttle program.

Explorer 1 was the first successful American satellite launch, sent into orbit on January 31, 1958 by the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency, under the direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun. It discovered radiation belts around Earth, which were named the Van Allen Belts after the scientist who led the research.

Astronaut Ed White became the first American to walk in space on June 3, 1965. Since White’s historic EVA (Extravehicular Activity), astronauts have used spacewalks to retrieve satellites, repair the Hubble space telescope, and assemble portions of the International Space Station.

June 2, 1966. Surveyor I becomes the first US Spacecraft to soft land on the Moon.

Kennedy Space Center will be a filming location for next year's "Transformers 3".

In 'Apollo 13', several scenes were filmed in NASA's famed 'Vomit Comet' so the actors could perform in true 'weightlessness'.

NASA Centers have been locations for many movies, most recently Kennedy Space center in 'Contact' (1997) and Langley Research Center in "The Box" (2009).

According to the Internet Movie Database, NASA has been involved in the production of over 200 movies.

The Aquarius / SAC-D mission being developed by NASA and the Space Agency of Argentina (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, CONAE).

Aquarius is an instrument developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that will be launched on the SAC-D satellite.

As computer models evolve, Aquarius will provide the essential Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) data needed to link the two major components of the climate system: the water cycle and ocean circulation

Aquarius will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in a polar orbit that covers the entire planet every seven days.

Aquarius will collect more data about Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) in two months than had been amassed by ships and in-water sensors during the 100 years before launch

Aquarius is a mission of original exploration: Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) has never been observed from space

Beginning in 1995 with STS-71, Atlantis made seven straight flights to the former Russian space station Mir as part of the Shuttle-Mir Program. When linked, Atlantis and Mir together formed the largest spacecraft in orbit at the time.

Atlantis has made the fastest 'turnaround' time of the five flown orbiters, launching as STS61-B in November, 1985, only 50 days after it previous mission, STS-51-J

Atlantis will be the first of three orbiters to officially 'retire'.

Atlantis will make 32 flights to space before being retired. STS-132 will be its final mission.

Atlantis, which in 1985 became the fourth orbiter to be launched from Kennedy Space Center, was named after the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts from 1930 to 1966.

The official designation for space shuttle orbiter Atlantis is OV-104.

NASA conducts cutting-edge, fundamental research in traditional and emerging disciplines to help transform the nation's air transportation system, and to support future air and space vehicles.

The 500-pound X-48B aircraft celebrated its 80th and last flight of the project's first phase on March 19, 2010, or almost three years after its first flight on July 20, 2007.

The X-48B is an unmanned research the uses a blended wing/fuselage to reduce both exhaust and noise pollution.

The Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project will focus on improvements in noise, emission, and performance of future subsonic aircraft and the technologies that will help make them more environmentally friendly.

The Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project is a partnership with industry, the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and other government agencies.

AIRS has a spectral resolution more than 100 times greater than previous IR sounders and provides more accurate information on the vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and moisture.

AIRS data were used to create the first ever global map of carbon dioxide taken from direct observation

AIRS can also measure trace greenhouse gases such as ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane.

AIRS uses cutting-edge infrared technology to create 3-dimensional maps of air and surface temperature, water vapor, and cloud properties.

AIRS is one of six instruments on board the Aqua satellite, part of the NASA Earth Observing System.

AIRS is a facility instrument whose goal is to support climate research and improve weather forecasting

By 2005, the Center was home to over 30 government agencies and private companies. By far the largest of these were elements of the United States Navy with some 3,500 personnel, which was far larger than the NASA civil servant contingent.

Before construction of the Stennis Space Center began, five small communities (Gainesville, Logtown, Napoleon, Santa Rosa and Westonia) with 700 families were relocated. Remnants of the communities, including city streets and a one-room school house, still exist within the facility.

Stennis Space Center is also home to Navy Special Boat Team 22 and NAVSCIATTS (Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School).

The Stennis Space Center test area (officially known as the Fee Area) is surrounded by a 125,000 acres (506 km2) acoustical buffer zone.

The visitor center for the Stennis Space Center is known as StenniSphere. Exhibits focus on the the activities of NASA, space, space exploration, science, geography, weather and more. Visitors 18 and over must present a photo ID.

Stennis Space Center has been renamed several times, becoming the Mississippi Test Facility in 1965, the National Space Technology Laboratories in 1974, and taking its present name in 1988 in order to honor the late Mississippi Senator John C. Stennis for his unwavering support of the national space program.

Grumman Aerospace Corporation, the builder of the Lunar Module, issued an invoice for $312,421.24 to North American Rockwell, the builder of the Command Module (CM), for "towing" the crippled ship most of the way to the moon and back. This was never paid.

Because Apollo 13 followed the free return trajectory, its altitude over the lunar far side was approximately 100 km (60 mi) greater than the orbital altitude on the remaining Apollo lunar missions. It made the all-time altitude record for human spaceflight.

The Apollo 13 mission was to explore the Fra Mauro formation, or Fra Mauro highlands, named after the 80-kilometer-diameter Fra Mauro crater located within it.

Ken Mattingly was originally slated to be the command module pilot. After being exposed to rubella (German measles) contracted by backup Lunar Module pilot Charles Duke—a disease to which Mattingly was not immune—he was replaced by Swigert three days before launch.

The Apollo 13 mission has been called "a successful failure", because the astronauts were brought home safely notwithstanding the failure of the mission.

Apollo 13 was launched on April 11, 1970 at 13:13 CST.

The Taurus ELV (Expendable Launch Vehicle) is a four stage, solid fuel launch vehicle built by Orbital Sciences Corporation. It is based on the air-launched Pegasus rocket.

The Glory satellite will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Taurus XL vehicle. The launch is planned for November 2010.

The science focus areas served by Glory will include: atmospheric composition; carbon cycle, ecosystems, and biogeochemistry; climate variability and change; and water and energy cycles.

Glory will leave Earth from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California atop a Taurus XL expendable launch vehicle.

Astronauts train at Johnson Space Center and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, a 6.2 million gallon pool where astronauts can practice extravehicular activities.

The Johnson Space Center is located on property donated by Rice University. Rice is where President Kennedy said, "We go to the moon ... not because it tis easy, but because it is hard!"

"Houston" is the call sign for Mission Control during space missions.

The Johnson Space Center is the home of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, where samples collected during the Apollo mission are stored.

The first space flight that utilized the new 'Mission Control Center' was Gemini IV.

The Johnson Space Center was established in 1963 as the Manned Spacecraft Center.

Hubble's two mirrors were ground so that they do not deviate from a perfect curve by more than 1/800,000th of an inch. If Hubble's primary mirror were scaled up to the diameter of the Earth, the biggest bump would be only six inches tall.

NASA named the world's first space-based optical telescope after American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble (1889—1953). Dr. Hubble confirmed an "expanding" universe, which provided the foundation for the Big Bang theory.

Among its many discoveries, Hubble has revealed the age of the universe to be about 13 to 14 billion years, much more accurate than the old range of anywhere from 10 to 20 billion years. Hubble played a key role in the discovery of dark energy, a mysterious force that causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate.

Hubble can't observe the Sun or Mercury, which is too close to the Sun.

In order to take images of distant, faint objects, Hubble must be extremely steady and accurate. The telescope is able to lock onto a target without deviating more than 7/1000th of an arcsecond, or about the width of a human hair seen at a distance of 1 mile.

Hubble transmits about 120 gigabytes of science data every week. That's equal to about 3,600 feet (1,097 meters) of books on a shelf. The rapidly growing collection of pictures and data is stored on magneto-optical disks.

STS-131 will be only the third mission in the Space Shuttle program to carry three female astronauts (Missions STS-40 and STS-96 were the first and the second), and will mark the first time that two Japanese astronauts (Naoko Yamazaki and Soichi Noguchi) have been in space together.

STS-131 will be the first flight for former classroom teacher Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger.

This will be the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or more "rookie" astronauts; the missions after this will have all-veteran crews.

Discovery will remain in orbit for 13 days on STS-131.

There are three Multi-Purpose Logistic Modules (MLPMs). They were built by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and named "Leonardo", Donatello", and "Raffaello".

Discovery will launch with the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module "Leonardo". After STS-133, a modified "Leonardo" will remain behind for extra volume on the ISS.

The central Florida area receives more lightning strikes than any other place in the U.S., causing NASA to spend millions of dollars to avoid strikes during launches.

Yes, the names of the Multi-Purpose Logistic Modules are the same as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! The logo features one of the TMNTs (with permission of the copyright holder)!

Robert Cabana, the current director of Kennedy Space center, is an astronaut who has flown four missions on the Space Shuttle.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is visited by 1.5 million guests each year.

There is only one Launch Complex at Kennedy Space Center. LC 39 has two launch pads, Pad A and Pad B.

Kennedy Space Center was built on the site originally called the Merritt Island Launch Area (MILA). There is a school nearby named Mila Elementary School.

The NextGen-Airspace Project develops fundamental concepts and integrated solutions to define and assess allocation of ground and air automation concepts and technologies needed for the NextGen.

Because every airport is a unique environment, the NextGen-Airportal Project develops and evaluates computer-based tools and technologies to identify solutions that can be used at airports of different sizes and capacities.

The NextGen-Airportal Project is developing innovative solutions for improving mobility and increasing throughput in the airport and terminal areas to meet NextGen capacity needs. Gates, taxiways, runways and the airspace near the airport are the domains of NextGen-Airportal.

NASA conducts cutting-edge, fundamental research in traditional and emerging disciplines to help transform the nation's air transportation system, and to support future air and space vehicles.

The NextGen-Airspace Project develops and explores fundamental concepts and integrated solutions that address the optimal allocation of ground and air automation technologies necessary for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen.

The NextGen-Airspace Project has established six Research Focus Areas in which revolutionary concepts, capabilities, and technologies will be developed, tested and simulated in the lab and, where appropriate, demonstrated in a relevant environment.

Marshall also manages the Michoud Assembly Facility, a state-of-the-art facility in New Orleans, La., where critical hardware components for the space shuttle and exploration vehicles are manufactured for Marshall and other NASA field centers.

U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service has designated five Marshall Center facilities as National Historic Landmarks: the Redstone Test Stand, Propulsion and Structural Test Facility, Saturn V dynamic Test Stand, Neutral Buoyancy Simulator, and the Saturn V on display at the United States Space and Rocket Center.

Marshall’s contribution to the Apollo lunar landing program included development of the Lunar Roving Vehicle for transporting astronauts on the lunar surface.

Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun was the first director of Marshall Space Flight Center.

Marshall Space Flight Center developed the Delta series of rocket boosters.

Marshall Space Flight Center is located on the Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville Alabama.

Joystick controllers are used for lots of things, including computer games and vehicles for people with disabilities. These devices evolved from research to develop a controller for the Apollo Lunar Rover, and from other NASA research into how humans actually operate (called "human factors").

Portable, self-contained power tools were originally developed to help Apollo astronauts drill for moon samples. This technology has lead to development of such tools as the cordless vacuum cleaner, power drill, shrub trimmers, and grass shears.

Contrary to common belief, NASA did not invent Tang, Velcro, or Teflon.

Well-known products that NASA claims as spin-offs include memory foam (originally named temper foam), freeze-dried food, firefighting equipment, emergency "space blankets", Dustbusters, cochlear implants, and now Speedo's LZR Racer swimsuits.

NASA entered into over 250 Space Act Agreements with private and other external entities for development of dual-use technology targeted to Mission Directorate technology needs.

NASA has been issued over 6,300 patents, nearly one in a thousand of all patents ever issued by the U.S. Patent Office (since 1790).

Node 3, known as Tranquility and launched on STS-130, will provide additional room for crew members and many of the space station's life support and environmental control systems.

The cupola includes window shutters that provide orbital debris protection when closed. It will be used for telerobotic operations.

The cupola, launching to the ISS on STS-130, is 4.9 feet in length, 9.7 feet in diameter and will weigh about 4,145 pounds in orbit.

STS-130 is the 130th space shuttle flight, the 24th flight for shuttle Endeavour and the 32nd flight to station.

At least three spacewalks are planned for Endeavour's STS-130 crew.

Shuttle Endeavour's flight will be the 32nd shuttle station assembly mission.

Scheduled to launch Sunday, February 7, 2010, shuttle Endeavour and its crew will deliver to the space station a third connecting module, the Italian-built Tranquility node and the seven-windowed cupola, which will be used as a control room for robotics.

The Goddard Space Flight Center has developed more planetary instruments than any other institution on Earth.

The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA Goddard and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Goddard Space Flight Center operates spaceflight tracking and data acquisition networks, and develops and maintains space and Earth science data information systems for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Goddard Space Flight Center has built and operated more research satellites dedicated to the study and protection of our home planet than any other institution in the world.

The Goddard Space Flight Center is the largest combined organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to increasing knowledge of the Earth, the Solar System, and the Universe via observations from space in the U.S.

The Goddard Space Flight Center is NASA's first, and oldest, field center.

The Goddard Space Flight Center was named for Dr. Robert H. Goddard, considered the father of modern rocketry.

The total mass of the SDO Spacecraft at launch is 3200 kg (payload 270 kg; fuel 1400 kg).

The goal of the Living With a Star program is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to effectively address those aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.

SDO is a 3-axis stabilized spacecraft with two solar arrays and two high-gain antennas, and will orbit at 36,000 km in a circular geosynchronous orbit at 102° W longitude inclined at 28.5°.

The SDO will generate approximately 1.5 Terabytes of data per day.

The primary mission of the Solar Dynamics Observatory is scheduled to last 5 years 3 months, with expendables expected to last for 10 years.

Researchers and industry teams in Weather Accident Prevention are working to bring a sort of weather channel to the cockpit; better weather datalink systems to pilots, air traffic controllers and airline dispatchers; and better ways to detect, warn of and minimize turbulence. Weather is a contributing factor in about 30 percent of all aviation accidents. Turbulence is the greatest cause of airline injuries and costs airlines at least $100 million a year.

Accident Mitigation researchers are working to make accidents more survivable. AvSP drop tests of full scale airplanes help engineers determine how to make aircraft seats, restraining systems and structures better able to withstand crashes. Researchers are also developing new technologies to prevent in-flight fires and minimize fire hazards after an accident.

Synthetic Vision would address the single largest contributing factor in fatal worldwide airline andgeneral aviation crashes: limited visibility. NASA engineers and their industry partners are developing an advanced cockpit display that will use technologies such as Global Positioning System signals and terrain databases to give pilots a clear out-the-window picture, no matter what the weather or time of day.

The Aviation Safety Program, part of NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, explores ways to improve the overall safety of aircraft that fly today in U.S. airspace and those that will fly in the U.S. system for tomorrow—the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen.

n support of aeronautical R&D, Dryden is involved in many aspects of the Fundamental Aeronautics and Aviation Safety programs, including the X-48 Blended Wing body and Ikhana (Predator B) in support of subsonics; the F-15B Quiet Spike in support of supersonics and Adaptive Flight Controls in support of the Aviation Safety Program.

Dryden is the primary alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle and orbital support for the International Space Station.

Painted on the dry lake beds near Dryden is the world's largest compass rose, which measures approximately 0.75 miles (1.21 km) in diameter.

For 60 years, Projects at Dryden have led to major advancements in the design and capabilities of many state-of-the-art civilian and military aircraft. The newest, the fastest, the highest - all have made their debut in the vast, clear desert skies over Dryden.

Located at Edwards, California, in the western Mojave Desert, Dryden is uniquely situated to take advantage of the excellent year-round flying weather, remote area, and visibility to test some of the nation's most exciting air vehicles.