This timelapse video was made from images taken by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst orbiting Earth on the International Space Station.

The video is offered in Ultra High Definition, the highest available to consumers. Be sure to change the settings in YouTube if your computer or television can handle it for the full effect.

The montage is made from a long …

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As ESA’s remaining supply ferry to the International Space Station burns up in the atmosphere, its final moments as its hull disintegrates will be recorded from the inside by a unique infrared camera.

An ESA-led team designed and developed the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Break-Up Camera in just nine months in order to make it on board in time.

Working …

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Three weeks into ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst’s Blue Dot mission on the International Space Station and the new arrival is now spending more time on scientific research in the microgravity laboratory.


Europe’s laboratory on the International Space Station. Since 2008 the module has offered a unique workstation for researchers to investigate phenomenon in microgravity. Over 110 ESA-led experiments involving some …

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NASA successfully beamed a high-definition video 260 miles from the International Space Station to Earth Thursday using a new laser communications instrument.

Transmission of “Hello, World!” as a video message was the first 175-megabit communication for the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS), a technology demonstration that allows NASA to test methods for communication with future spacecraft using higher bandwidth …

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NASA’s Orion spacecraft has proven its mettle in a test designed to determine the spacecraft’s readiness for its first flight test — Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) — later this year. EFT-1 will send the spacecraft more than 3,600 miles from Earth and return it safely.

The spacecraft ran for 26 uninterrupted hours during the final phase of a major test …

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International Space Apps Challenge

Satellites, astronauts and experiments are constantly observing our planet and beaming information back to us. Navigation satellites tell us where we are, observation satellites can tell us what’s under our feet, and sensors on the International Space Station monitor the positions of ships at sea.

Combining this wealth of information in new ways requires imaginative thinking – and the International …

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The following statement is from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, released March 4 2014, on the Obama Administration’s budget request for the 2015 fiscal year:

“Today, President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2015 budget request for the nation, and there is a lot of good news in it for NASA. The president’s funding plan for America’s space program reaffirms the path …

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Everyone knows that space is cold. In the vast gulf between stars and galaxies, the temperature of gaseous matter routinely drops to 3 degrees K, or 454 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.

It’s about to get even colder.

NASA researchers are planning to create the coldest spot in the known universe inside the International Space Station.

“We’re going to study matter …

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A comet heading towards Earth threatens humanity’s existence – that was the virtual scenario of this year’s Zero Robotics tournament. Secondary-school students from across Europe controlled miniature satellites on the International Space Station in a competition to save our planet.

The Space Station was turned into a playing field for the finals. The ultimate robot game challenged youngsters to write …

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With a final, modest, thruster burn yesterday afternoon, ESA’s billion-star surveyor finalised its entry into orbit around ‘L2’, a virtual point far out in space. But how do you orbit nothing? And who can show you how to get there, anyway?

Just after 15:30 GMT (16:30 CET) yesterday, Gaia made a short thruster burn, nudging the galactic survey craft onto …

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