The Week in Space

August 10-16, 2009

An Armful of Astronaut  Anchored to a Canadarm2 mobile foot restraint, astronaut Rick Linnehan, STS-123 mission specialist, participates in the mission’s first scheduled session of extravehicular activity devoted to continued construction of the International Space Station in March 2008. A larger, more advanced version of the space shuttle’s Canadian-built Canadarm, Canadarm2 (officially known as the Space Station Remote Manipulator System) is the primary component of the ISS’s Mobile Servicing Structure.  It plays a key role in station assembly and maintenance by moving equipment and supplies around the station, supporting astronauts working in space, and servicing instruments and other payloads attached to the station. It has seven motorized joints and is fifty-eight feet long when fully extended.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

August 10-16, 2009

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 10

Tuesday 11

Perseid meteor shower

1877: Asaph Hall discovers Deimos, moon of Mars
1962: Vostok 3 launched

Wednesday 12

Perseid meteor shower

1960: Echo 1 launched
1962: Vostok 4  launched
1977: HEAO-1 launched
1977: Space shuttle Enterprise’s first glide test
2005: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched

Thursday 13

Last Quarter Moon 2:55 pm

Friday 14

Saturday 15

Sunday 16

1963: M2-F1 lifting body makes first glide flight after being towed aloft by a C-47 

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