Shuttle's Retirement Nears

Shuttle's Retirement Nears: "The STS has lofted 3 million pounds of cargo into orbit on 120+ missions since 1981. But after two catastrophic accidents, the three remaining orbiters will retire in 2010."

(Via Aviationweek: Space.)

VIDEO: Japan's Selene Captures Solar Eclipse

VIDEO: Japan's Selene Captures Solar Eclipse: "

Japan's Kaguya (Selene) lunar orbiter has produced'this very cool video of the Earth eclipsing the Sun. The event was captured by the spacecraft's HDTV camera earlier in February when the Sun, Earth and Moon lined up almost perfectly, creating this 'diamond ring' eclipse.


Click here to view the video'

As NASA explains it, 'the sequence begins with complete darkness because the Moon is in the way. Then a'thin ring of light'appears - the Earth's atmosphere backlit by the Sun. The arc expands and, just as'its ends are about to join, a sliver of the Sun's disk emerges, creating the 'diamond' on the ring.

Launched in 2007, the Kaguya mission consists of a mothership and two smaller orbiters that work together to relay data to Earth from the Moon's farside. The HDTV cameras are there not for scientific purposes, it seems,'but to share Kaguya's view with Japan's citizens - and us.

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(Via On Space.)