ISS - Change of Command Ceremony

Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly ceremonially hands command of the International Space Station over to Flight Engineer Dmitry Kondratyev, who will serve as Expedition 27 commander.

Slow-motion Giants

For more than 40 years, the twin crawler-transporters that first carried all the Apollo Saturn V rockets to the launch pad have borne every space shuttle on the last Earth-bound leg of their journeys to space. It's amazing how this machine-giant still works and how these powerful engines still do their jobs.

Metal Moon Water

If you are planning to visit the moon, you should bring a filter if you plan on drinking moon water. Water ice recently discovered in dust at the bottom of a crater near the moon's south pole is accompanied by metallic elements like mercury, magnesium, calcium, silver... Now you can add sodium to the mix, according to Dr. Rosemary Killen of  NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Discoveries of deposits of water on the moon were surprising because our moon has had a tough life. Intense asteroid bombardments in its youth, coupled with its weak gravity and the Sun's powerful radiation, have left the moon with almost no atmosphere. This rendered the lunar surface barren and dry, compared to Earth.

The point - don't drink the moon water, you can become a robot!

This image is not realistic!

Discovery Touches Down!

Discovery has completed his final mission, STS-133, for NASA's Space Shuttle Program landing on-time at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:57 a.m. EST, March 9, 2011 after 202 orbits around Earth and a journey of 5,304,140 miles (8.536.185 kilometers).  Welcome back astronauts! Discovery, we will miss you!

Spacewalk

Mission Control in Houston woke the space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station crews at 6:23 a.m. EST to the song "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" by Davy Knowels & Back Door Slam, played for Mission Specialist Nicole Stott.

Spacewalk preparations begin at 7:03 a.m. Walkers - Steve Bowen and Alvin Drew are scheduled to begin their excursion at 11:18.a.m. During the 6 hour, 30 minute spacewalk, the pair will install the J612 power extension cable, move a failed ammonia pump module to the External Stowage Platform 2, install a camera, install extensions to the mobile transporter rail and expose the Japanese "Message in a Bottle" experiment to space. Good luck!

Steve Bowen and Alvin Drew - the spacewalkers!