For the moment, I am going to leave the coverage of cutting edge science related news to my fellow NI writers. I simply wanted to relay a bit of interesting TV that has come across my mail box—don't fear, I'll be back with a story on zeolites this weekend. Last Thanksgiving, we were treated, by the Japanese, to a HDTV broadcast from lunar orbit. Now, in honor of Earth Day next Tuesday, NASA is going to be airing a special high-definition broadcast starring the Earth itself.
Space Shuttle Atlantis as seen from the ISS
Click for Hi-resolution image
The footage, shot by various astronauts on Shuttle and ISS missions over the past few years, has been compiled into a single piece. One of the things I have heard/read multiple astronauts say in post-flight interviews is that they were simply awestruck by the simple view of the Earth from some 220 miles up. This broadcast, which will first air tomorrow (Friday April, 18th), will simply be an hour of silent footage of the Earth from space.
All broadcasts will be shown on NASA TV, which may unfortunately preclude many from seeing this. More information, including streaming TV, can be found at the NASA TV website*. This special is one hour in length and will air Friday morning between 6 am and 8am EDT. It will be replayed on Monday (April 21st) at the same time and all day Tuesday (April 22nd). These subsequent broadcasts will be accompanied by narration discussing the science behind the imagery, courtesy of Dr. Justin Wilkinson, a scientist with the Crew Earth Observations Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Hopefully people who are interested in seeing our planet in HD glory can tune in, and find it interesting.
* The NASA TV web site does not seem to be very friendly for *NIX users, such as myself. It did work fine under Windows, and had special Mac instructions.
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