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Wed Jun 2 09:06:27 CDT 2021

Good morning all,
  A new month, it is amazing…time goes so fast, it is beyond comprehension…I would think many of you, in the USA, are off for the summer…while many will also teach in the summer, not sure how the pandemic affects summer schools…things continue to get better in the USA…most mask requirements have been made optional, social distancing has also becoming optional…we are very fortunate as it appears we have made significant progress…I am still cautious as we here conflicting guidance…summer has started, businesses in Florida depend on tourism, there is so much optimism and everyone is looking forward getting back to “normal”…we will have to see the results, especially with the Memorial Day holiday…I have been doing Zoom presentations internationally and some in the US, this month I will do a “live audience” for the first time since March of 2020…I know it will be awesome…I have no idea about internationally…it is looking doubtful this year…always one day at a time, looking for positives and being thankful…for me, summer is my favorite time of the year…I love being outside in their the sunshine with the temperature in the 30sC (above 90F)…I am continuing to swim 3 days a week and go the the gym 3 days a week…we continue to have both Space X an ULA (United Launch Alliance) launches…tomorrow there is a Space X supply mission to the ISS…it is so mazing to live in this environment…Kennedy Space Center is still closed to non essential personnel…we have not been given any indication when it may open...    We have to stay positive and always be thankful… remembering to do our best, enjoy everything we do, believe in ourselves, and let those we care about most know (I always say this, we all need to take it to heart) …hugs & smiles… :-) :-)   STAY SAFE, TAKE CARE, Love ya, Gabe

NASA’s SpaceX CRS-22 commercial cargo launch to the International Space Station
..Launch is targeted for Thursday, June 3, at 1:29 p.m. EDT. Launch activities will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app <https://www.nasa.gov/nasaapp>, and the agency’s website <https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive>. https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#media; https://www.nasa.gov/feature/how-to-stream-nasa-tv-and-launch-america/  

NASA Sets Coverage, Invites Public to Virtually Join Next Cargo Launch
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/ksc-20201206-ph-awg02_0025_large.jpeg>
ksc-20201206-ph-awg02_0025_large.jpeg
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:17 a.m. EST on Dec. 6, 2020, carrying the uncrewed cargo Dragon spacecraft on its journey to the International Space Station for NASA and SpaceX’s 21st Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-21) mission.
Credits: NASA/Tony Gray and Kevin O'Conne
NASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX is targeting 1:29 p.m. EDT, Thursday, June 3, to launch its 22nd commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station <http://www.nasa.gov/station>. Liftoff will be from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will deliver new solar arrays to power future work aboard the orbiting laboratory, along with new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the international crew. Live coverage will air on NASA Television <http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv>,  the NASA app <https://www.nasa.gov/connect/apps.html> and the agency’s website <https://www.nasa.gov/live>, with prelaunch events starting Wednesday, June 2. Dragon’s pressurized capsule will carry a variety of research, including an experiment <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7819>that could help develop better pharmaceuticals and therapies for treating kidney disease on Earth, a study of cotton root systems <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8043> that could identify varieties of plants that require less water and pesticides. The research also will include two model organism investigations: One will study bobtail squid <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8298> to examine the effects of spaceflight on interactions between beneficial microbes and their animal hosts. The other will examine tardigrades’ adaptation <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7672> to conditions in low-Earth orbit, which could advance understanding of the stress factors affecting humans in space. The mission will include technology demonstrations, including a portable ultrasound <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8211>device. Additionally, astronauts will test the effectiveness of remotely operating robotic arms and space vehicles using virtual reality and haptics <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8347> interfaces. Dragon’s unpressurized trunk section will deliver the first two of six new roll-out solar arrays <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-solar-arrays-to-power-nasa-s-international-space-station-research/> based on a design tested <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/changing-how-solar-power-rolls> on the space station in 2017. A robotic arm will extract them and astronauts will install them during a series of spacewalks this summer. About 12 minutes after launch, Dragon will separate from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage and begin a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings to reach the space station. Arrival to the space station is planned for Saturday, June 5. Dragon will autonomously dock to the space-facing port on the station’s Harmony module <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/harmony>, with Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur of NASA monitoring operations. The spacecraft is expected to spend more than a month attached to the space station before it splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean, returning with research and return cargo.

A piece of space debris punched a tiny hole in the International Space Station, damaging a robotic arm
Aylin Woodward <https://www.businessinsider.com/author/aylin-woodward> 17 hours ago
 <https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fspace-debris-hit-international-space-station-damaged-robotic-arm-2021-6&utmSource=facebook&utmContent=referral&utmTerm=topbar&referrer=facebook> <mailto:?subject=A%20piece%20of%20space%20debris%20punched%20a%20tiny%20hole%20in%20the%20International%20Space%20Station,%20damaging%20a%20robotic%20arm&body=A%20piece%20of%20space%20debris%20punched%20a%20tiny%20hole%20in%20the%20International%20Space%20Station%2C%20damaging%20a%20robotic%20arm%0D%0A%0D%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fspace-debris-hit-international-space-station-damaged-robotic-arm-2021-6&>

Photos show damage to a robotic arm on the International Space Station, May 28, 2021. NASA/Canadian Space Agency
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency announced on Friday <https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/iss/news.asp> that they found a 0.2-inch (5-millimeter) puncture during a routine inspection of Canadarm2, Canada's autonomous arm, on May 12. The arm is used to transport spacewalking astronauts <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/facts-and-figures>outside the station and deploy science experiments in orbit. It appears to be working properly despite the hole, according to the Canadian Space Agency <https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/iss/news.asp>. It's unknown what the piece of space junk responsible for the hole looked like, or where it came from.

Surviving an In-Flight Anomaly: What Happened on Ingenuity’s Sixth Flight
Written by Håvard Grip, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Chief Pilot at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
 <https://mars.nasa.gov/images/mepjpl/PIA24600-16x9.jpg>
This image of Mars was taken from the height of 33 feet (10 meters) by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter during its sixth flight on May 22, 2021. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image › <https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25943>
On the 91st Martian day, or sol, of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter performed its sixth flight. The flight was designed to expand the flight envelope and demonstrate aerial-imaging capabilities by taking stereo images of a region of interest to the west. Ingenuity was commanded to climb to an altitude of 33 feet (10 meters) before translating 492 feet (150 meters) to the southwest at a ground speed of 9 mph (4 meters per second). At that point, it was to translate 49 feet (15 meters) to the south while taking images toward the west, then fly another 164 feet (50 meters) northeast and land.
Telemetry from Flight Six shows that the first 150-meter leg of the flight went off without a hitch. But toward the end of that leg, something happened: Ingenuity began adjusting its velocity and tilting back and forth in an oscillating pattern. This behavior persisted throughout the rest of the flight. Prior to landing safely, onboard sensors indicated the rotorcraft encountered roll and pitch excursions of more than 20 degrees, large control inputs, and spikes in power consumption.

Ingenuity Flight Six Navcam Image: This sequence of images – taken on May 22, 2021, by the navigation camera aboard NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter – depicts the last 29 seconds of the rotorcraft’s sixth flight. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download video › <https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25941>
https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/status/305/surviving-an-in-flight-anomaly-what-happened-on-ingenuitys-sixth-flight/  

AtlasV Launch…I hope you can share this with the kids...
https://www.facebook.com/scott.schilke.1/videos/3643356349125173 <https://www.facebook.com/scott.schilke.1/videos/3643356349125173> 

Particles in Saturn's rings that are visible only in ultraviolet light are revealed after Hubble filtered out other kinds of light.

NASA's Curiosity rover spots strange, colorful clouds on Mars

An image made from 21 photographs taken by Curiosity shows twilight clouds just after sunset on March 19, 2021, adjusted to appear as the scene would to human eyes. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
It might look like a postcard from Arizona, but this snapshot shows something much more exotic: the planet Mars <https://www.space.com/47-mars-the-red-planet-fourth-planet-from-the-sun.html>, as seen by NASA's Curiosity rover.

The image is a combination of 21 individual photographs the rover took recently to study a strange type of wispy cloud over its Gale Crater home. Scientists realized two Earth years ago that the cloud type was forming earlier in the Martian year than they expected. So this Martian year, Curiosity <https://www.space.com/17963-mars-curiosity.html> was watching for the early clouds, and it was not disappointed. The clouds did indeed show up beginning in late January, when the robotic skywatcher began documenting the wispy, ice-rich clouds scattering sunlight in sometimes-colorful displays.

"I always marvel at the colors that show up: reds and greens and blues and purples," Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute in Colorado, said in a NASA statement <https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-curiosity-rover-captures-shining-clouds-on-mars>. "It's really cool to see something shining with lots of color on Mars."

 NASA's Curiosity rover snaps scenic Mars selfie at 'Mont Mercou' (photo) <https://www.space.com/mars-curiosity-rover-selfie-mont-mercou-photo>

Hubble telescope spies lopsided spiral galaxy deformed by gravity
By Tereza Pultarova - Senior Writer <https://www.space.com/author/tereza-pultarova> 3 days ago
This galaxy is so strange it made it to the list of the Universe’s greatest weirdos.

The NGC 2276 galaxy, recently imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, had previously made it to the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, P. Sell)
The Hubble Space Telescope <https://www.space.com/15892-hubble-space-telescope.html> has captured a stunning new image of a distant spiral galaxy deformed by gravitational tug of its neighbor. 

The spiral galaxy <https://www.space.com/22382-spiral-galaxy.html>, called NGC 2276, is located in the constellation Cepheus some 120 million light-years away from Earth's sun. In a wide-field image from Hubble, it can be seen together with its smaller neighbor NGC 2300. The gravitational pull of the neighbor galaxy has twisted the spiral structure of NGC 2276 into a lopsided shape, earning it a spot in the The Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies <http://adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1966ApJS...14....1A>, a catalog of the weirdest stellar conglomerates originally published in 1966.

As the neghboring NGC 2300 exerts a gravitational force on one side of NGC 2276, the outermost parts of the larger galaxy's spiral arms stretch out further from its center, giving NGC 2276 its asymmetric look.

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