NASA Earth Observatory captures Blue Eye of Cyclone Bansi

Tropical Cyclone Bansi was seen from the International Space Station.

Image Credit: NASA's Earth Observatory/NASA JSC/ISS

The Electric Eye of Cyclone Bansi
Though this image may look like they come from a science fiction movie, it is in fact a photograph of tropical cyclone Bansi as seen at night by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS).

The image was taken when the ISS was east of Madagascar.

Bansi formed in the southwestern Indian Ocean on January 11, 2015. By the time the photo was taken on the following day, Bansi had achieved tropical cyclone strength, with sustained maximum winds over 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour.

The cyclone would reach category 4 strength before becoming a weak extra-tropical system on January 19.

The dim swirl of the cloud bands covers the ocean surface in this night image. The eye of the cyclone is brilliantly lit by lightning in or near the eye wall.

Image of Cyclone Bansi taken by ESA Astronaut Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) on the ISS.

Image shows lightning illuminating the eye-wall of Cyclone Bansi in the Indian Ocean.

Credit: ESA

The low-light settings of the camera used to take the image accentuate the contrast.

The camera also accentuates the yellow-green airglow above the Earth’s limb, an atmospheric phenomenon frequently seen by astronauts.

Stars appear above the airglow layer, and the solar panels of a docked Russian spacecraft jut into the image (upper left).

Astronaut photographs ISS042-E-135015 and ISS042-E-135030 were acquired on January 12, 2015, with a Nikon D4 digital camera using a 28 millimeter lens, and are provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center.

The image was taken by the Expedition 42 crew.They have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed.

The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet.

Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by William L. Stefanov, NASA-JSC.

SpaceX Dragon Arrives at ISS - Docked

SpaceX Dragon spacecraft arrives at ISS to unload cargo and refresh astronauts' supplies. 

Credit: NASA

SpaceX's Dragon capsule is set to arrive at the International Space Station this morning.

The cargo craft, launched early Saturday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is carrying more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and payloads, including the Cloud–Aerosol Transport System (CATS), which will monitor cloud and aerosol coverage that directly impacts the global climate.

ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti tweeted; 'Dragon is berthed! Did leak check & equalized pressure, now our hatch is open. On Dragon hatch "smell of space".' 

Cloud–Aerosol Transport System (CATS) 

Credit: NASA

Midwinter Festival celebrations on the Space Station

NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore (left) floats with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti (center) and NASA's Terry Virts (right) are decked out for Christmas 2014.

Credit: Sam Cristoforetti Twitter/ESA

Astronauts in space have decked the halls of the International Space Station in honour of the holiday season.

The international crew members on the station have hung stockings, pulled out the orbiting outpost's Christmas tree, and they generally seem to be getting into the Christmas spirit.

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti even sent out a picture of her with NASA astronauts Terry Virts and Barry "Butch" Wilmore with their decorations on the station.

"It's beginning to look like Christmas on the International Space Station," NASA officials wrote on a blog about the holiday.

"The stockings are out, the tree is up and the station residents continue advanced space research to benefit life on Earth and in space."

Space Station Christmas decorationsPin It ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti decorates the International Space Station for Christmas 2014.

Credit: NASA

Although NASA astronauts usually get the day off for Christmas, they have still been taking part in a variety of experiments leading up to the holiday.

On Dec. 23, for example, the crewmembers participated in a neurology experiment to monitor how motor control, perception and other aspects of brain function change over time in space, according to NASA.

In addition to Wilmore, Virts and Cristoforetti, the station's cre includes Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova, Alexander Samokutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov.

People on Earth can also send holiday messages of cheer to astronauts in space this season. NASA has set up a special portal for Earthlings that want to send their greetings to Virts and Wilmore on the station.

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti enjoying ISS Zero Gravity

After a textbook Russian launch and precise docking on Sunday night, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, NASA astronaut Terry Virts and Roscosmos commander Anton Shkaplerov boarded the International Space Station.

This image taken by Terry of Samantha was Samantha’s first Tweet from space, with the comment: “Amazing being in space, better than anything I ever imagined. Saw my first sunrise from the Cupola today!”

The three astronauts have about a week to get used to floating around their new surroundings before taking on a full schedule of science and maintenance for the rest of their six-month mission.

Credit: ESA

ISS Expedition 42 crew members Anton Shkaplerov, Samantha Cristoforetti and Terry Virts

In the front row, from left are the newest Expedition 42 crew members Anton Shkaplerov, Samantha Cristoforetti and Terry Virts.

In the back are Elena Serova, Commander Barry Wilmore and Alexander Samokutyaev.

They are in the Zvezda service module for a traditional crew greeting ceremony with family and mission officials on the ground. Credit: NASA TV

NASA astronaut Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency joined their Expedition 42 crewmates when the hatches between the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft and the International Space Station officially opened at midnight EST. Expedition 42 Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore of NASA and Alexander Samoukutyaev and Elena Serova of Roscosmos welcomed the new crew members aboard their orbital home.

Expedition 42 will continue to take advantage of the orbital lab’s unique microgravity environment and expand the scope of research.

The crew will perform experiments that cover human research, biological and physical sciences, technology development and Earth observations as well as engage in educational activities.

They are scheduled to greet a host of cargo vehicles during their mission, including a number of U.S. commercial resupply flights, two Russian Progress resupply missions and the departure of the final European ATV cargo spacecraft. The crew will conduct up to three U.S. spacewalks.

Wilmore, Samoukutyaev and Serova will return home in March 2015. At that time Virts will become commander for Expedition 43. Virts, Shkaplerov and Cristoforetti will return to Earth in May 2015.

Russian Soyuz Delivers Crew of 3 to International Space Station

A Russian Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft carrying three new members of the Expedition 42 crew approaches the International Space Station ahead of docking on Nov. 23, 2014.

Credit: NASA

Three new crewmembers arrived at the International Space Station late Sunday (Nov. 23), doubling the orbiting lab's population back up to its full six-person strength.

NASA astronaut Terry Virts, European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov blasted off atop a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:01 p.m. EST (2101 GMT, 3:01 a.m. local time in Baikonur).

The trio reached the space station about six hours later after a quick trip through space.

Virts, Cristoforetti and Shkaplerov's Soyuz spacecraft linked up with the space station at 9:48 p.m. EST (0248 GMT).

Virts is planning on sharing his experiences in space via social media websites like Twitter. The NASA astronaut is planning to take photos of his views of the planet to help people experience a little bit of what spaceflight is like.

"It's such a unique experience and such a small number of people ever get to leave Earth, so I'm going to be using Twitter and Instagram to share pictures," Virts told reporters before launch.

"@AstroTerry is the call-sign [Twitter handle]. And hopefully I can just share the adventure that I'm going on with as many people as possible around the world."

Russia's Soyuz spacecraft are currently the only spaceflight vehicle that can transport NASA astronauts to the space station.

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti: Soyuz TMA-15M Launch

Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft launch.

Credit: ROCOSMOS

The Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 23 November 2014 with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and her crewmates to the weightless research centre where they will live and work for five months.

Credit: ROCOSMOS

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is all set for her five-month mission on the International Space Station. 

She will leave Earth on Sunday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with NASA astronaut Terry Virts and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.

Watch the international crew of astronauts board their Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft strapped to 274 tonnes of rocket propellants, accelerate to 28 800 km/h and dock with the Space Station orbiting Earth in just six hours.

The programme will include images of Expedition 42/43 suiting up, walking to their spacecraft and a last wave as they board.

The hatch opening will include commentary by ESA’s Space Station Programme Manager Bernado Patti and ESA’s Head of the Astronaut Corps and former astronaut Frank De Winne.

Docking with the Space Station will happen early Monday morning at around 02:53 with coverage returning at 02:30.

Cosmonaut's Snowman Mascot will act as Zero-G Doll Detector

A small plush doll of Disney's "Frozen" snowman Olaf will signal the Soyuz TMA-15M crew when they have reached space after launching on Nov. 23, 2014. 

Credit: NASA/RSC Energia

When Shkaplerov and his crewmates, NASA astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, lift off for the International Space Station on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 23), they will have with them a small plush doll of the Disney animated character "Olaf."

"It is going to be the snowman from 'Frozen,'" Shkaplerov told reporters at a pre-flight press conference in Star City, Russia.

"My youngest daughter is eight years old and she selected that as a talisman."

More than just a charm or mascot, the doll, suspended from a cord in the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft, will serve as the flight's zero-g indicator.

When the crew enters Earth orbit, Olaf will (to borrow another "Frozen" song line) "let it go" and float, signaling Shkaplerov, Virts, and Cristoforetti that they are in space.

"This guy will be flying with me, [Anton and Samantha]," Virts wrote on Twitter, sharing a photo of the small stuffed snowman.

The three crewmembers and their carrot nosed companion are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday at 4:01 p.m. EST (2101 GMT or 3:01 a.m. local Kazakh time, Nov. 24).

Six hours and four orbits of the Earth later, they are expected to arrive at the station, where Shkaplerov, Virts, and Cristoforetti will join the outpost's Expedition 42 crew before taking the lead for Expedition 43.

Olaf, and his TMA-15M crewmates, will return to Earth in mid-May 2015.

ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti ready for Futura mission

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is all set for her five-month mission on the International Space Station. 

Credit: ESA

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will leave Earth on Sunday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with NASA astronaut Terry Virts and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.

Samantha was assigned to the Futura mission more than two years ago and has travelled the world training on all the elements of the most complex machine ever built: the International Space Station.

She learnt how to control the Station’s robotic arms, how to handle any emergency and how to perform all the scientific experiments she will run for the scientists on Earth.

NASA astronaut Terry Virts, Roscosmos commander Anton Shkaplerov and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti with the Soyuz spacecraft that will take them to the International Space Station on 23 November at 20:59 GMT (21:59 CET).

Credit: ESA

The last hurdles included the final exams to qualify for flying the Soyuz that will take them to space, and a two-week quarantine to avoid bringing any unwanted passengers to the Station.

The next ESA astronaut to head for space, Andreas Mogensen, is sharing the quarantine with Samantha as experience ahead of his own 10-day ‘iriss’ mission.

Samantha, Anton and Terry visited their spacecraft for the last time before launch last week and made a final check of the pressure suits they will wear during their journey to space.

The Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft moved by train, 21 November 2014, from the assembly building to Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad 31, in Kazakhstan.

Credit: ESA

Different versions of the Soyuz spacecraft have been flying for almost five decades and many traditions have developed over that time.

This week the international crew planted a tree on a boulevard in Kazakhstan, adding to the trees planted by every astronaut before launch.

On Sunday, Samantha will sign the door of the ‘cosmonaut hotel’ before leaving.

Despite its age, Soyuz has been updated and improved continually and it will deliver the crew to their new home orbiting Earth 400 km high in under six hours.

To get there so quickly, Expedition 42/43 will be propelled by the Soyuz rocket to 28 800 km/h accelerating 50 km/h on average every second for the first nine minutes after liftoff.

ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Futura mission

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti talks about her six-month International Space Station and the Futura mission provided by Italy’s ASI space agency. 

Samantha explains the story behind her mission name Futura, recounts the journey to becoming an astronaut and how her life has changed.

Follow Samantha and her Futura mission

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti wears a NASA spacesuit

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy wears a NASA spacesuit ahead of spacewalk training inside the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, a giant training pool near the Johnson Space Center in Houston. 

Cristoforetti will launch to the International Space Station on Nov. 24 to join the orbiting lab's Expedition 42 crew. 

NASA astronaut Terry Virts and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov will join her. 

Credit: NASA, ESA

ESA SPHERES Mission: Activating Spheres robots

Spheres robots on the International Space Station. 

The volleyball-sized satellites have their own power, propulsion and navigation systems and are used in an international competition for secondary-school students. 

Each year a tournament is held where students earn points by writing control algorithms to operate the spheres and by choosing the best tactics to win the game.

Credit: ESA

Code, play and command your space droid, students across Europe can bring a squadron of mini-satellites to life on the International Space Station as the ultimate space robot game.

For the fourth year, the Zero Robotics tournament will turn the Station into a gaming arena for European secondary-school pupils.

The competition challenges youngsters to write instructions that control volleyball-sized satellites through a virtual field mined with obstacles.

The Spheres, (Synchronised Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites), obey remote commands and can hover around the weightless Station using their own power, propulsion and navigation.

The tournament is not only about writing code. Participants must solve problems, apply their maths and physics knowledge and work in teams to achieve success.

European contenders should start working now on self-developed software and plan their strategy for the competition, ready for when the final details of the mission are unveiled in September.

May the code be with you
The contest starts with online simulations of increasing difficulty. Competitors can create and visualise their code to get ready for the game from a web browser and free of charge.

Models of the Spheres robots sent to the International Space Station at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

The robots are programmed by students on Earth to perform operations based on real-life situations. 

Compressed air is used to move the spheres in all directions. 

ESA participation in the pilot programme of Zero Robotics involved collaborating with various universities and academic institutes. 

ESA provided the opportunity to send teachers from universities to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to receive training in Spheres operation and coding. 

The skills learnt were then passed on to the local high school teachers whose teams participated in the event. 

Credit: MIT

After playing against other teams in simulation rounds to build the highest scores, finalists will see their commands ruling the Spheres on the Space Station.

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will support the European teams, running the live competition from the front line on the orbital outpost.

NASA astronauts Kevin Ford (background) and Tom Marshburn, setting up two Spheres robots in the Kibo laboratory on the International Space Station. 

The volleyball-sized satellites have their own power, propulsion and navigation systems and are used in an international competition for high-school students. 

Each year a tournament is held where students earn points by writing control algorithms to operate the spheres and by choosing the best tactics to win the game. 

The European finalists of 2013 consisted of six alliances from Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal. 

Credit: NASA

The finals will take place in January, with the US teams at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the European teams at ESA's Technical Centre, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

ISS to receive its own Lavazza Espresso machine

A pair of Italian companies in cooperation with the Italian Space Agency (ISA) has announced plans to send an espresso machine to the International Space Station, (they're calling it the ISSpresso machine) allowing astronauts to sip hot drinks while conducting research.

Lavazza, a well known maker of espresso machines has joined forces with Italian aerospace engineering company Argotec to design an espresso machine capable of withstanding the rigors of space travel, one that can also dispense the liquid in a way that allows astronauts in low gravity to drink products without makbing a mess aoard the space station.

Representatives for Lavazza told the press that the company has been working on the idea of a space ready espresso machine for several years.

The news that the two companies are near to actually completing such an assignment comes not long after comments made by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano bemoaning the lack of espresso while aboard the ISS, last year.

The new machine will use a capsule system (instead of a full ground system) and will be capable of making not just espresso, but several other hot beverages including caffè lungo and coffee.

The company notes that the plastic tube that usually conveys hot water inside a normal espresso machine has been replaced by steel tube, making the unit capable of withstanding very high pressure.

They also added multiple redundant systems (and likely resistance to vibration) to ensure continued service for many years to come.

The changes have meant increased weight however, it's expected the final machine will be approximately 20 kilograms.

The liquid product made by the machine is dispensed into a plastic bag, the astronaut will be able to enjoy his or her beverage by sipping it through a straw.


The ISSpresso is still undergoing testing but engineers on the project fully expect it to be ready for launch this November as part of a long-term mission by the ISA.

The same mission will also include Samantha Cristoforetti, the first Italian women to be sent into space, and perhaps the first on the ISS to enjoy the pleasure that only a good espresso can bring.

ESA Samantha Cristoforetti: Testing Sokol spacesuit in a vacuum chamber

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti tests her custom-made Sokol spacesuit in a vacuum chamber. 

Samantha will wear this suit during the liftoff and landing for her six-month International Space Station mission set to start in November this year.

Credits: Yuri P. Kargapolov

ISS Expedition 41 Astronaut team pose for pictures

Spaceflight is all about teamwork. ESA astronauts Alexander Gerst and Samantha Cristoforetti pose with their suited Russian colleagues Anton Shkaplerov and Maksim Surayev.

Credit: ESA

From the five space agencies that build and maintain the International Space Station to the mission control centres on Earth and the European (ESA), Japanese (JAXA), American (NASA) and Russian (ROCOSMOS) astronauts who fly to the space laboratory, international cooperation and knowhow is critical for a successful mission.

All four will leave Earth for the International Space Station this year. Alexander and Maxim are first up, on 28 May, while Samantha and Anton have their departure planned for 24 November. They will stay on the orbital outpost for around six months.

The ESA astronauts will support their Russian colleagues as 'third operators' if the cosmonauts venture outside the Space Station in their Orlan spacesuits.


Here they are preparing to train with the airlocks that separate astronauts in the Space Station from the harsh vacuum of outer space. Third operators help the spacewalkers put on and remove their spacesuits.

Alexander and Samantha are obvious choices to help the cosmonauts because they have both trained with the Orlan suit themselves.

All Station astronauts must speak Russian and English.

Alexander's Expedition 41 mission patch is visible below the European Astronaut Corps patch on his flight suit.