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The Hubble and James Webb Telescopes are two of the most advanced space telescopes in the world, designed to explore the depths of the universe and uncover its many mysteries

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Who wouldn’t love to look at the night sky, especially on a clear night, with every star twinkling back at us? Does it not invoke a sense of curiosity, a want to know what these shimmering objects look up close? This curiosity drove humans to create telescopes, first little ones, then bigger ones, giant ones, and then came telescopes put in space. Unlike the Earth’s atmosphere which contains pockets of air and distorts light in space, space telescopes can see more and without the distraction of stars twinkling. The Hubble Telescope, a proud feat, was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and has provided incredibly detailed images of distant objects since. The telescope is approximately the size of a school bus and has a 7.8-foot (3m) mirror that allows it to collect light from distant objects. Although capable of observing objects in visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light, it can only see one kind of light at a time. Hubble was not cheap: it came with a $2.5 billion price tag. What made it difficult to stomach, however, was the underwhelming advantage it offered over a ground-based telescope: a mere increase of 50% in sharpness. Investigations soon shed light on a manufacturing error that caused spherical aberration in the mirror. NASA launched a seven-person crew repair mission in 1993 to install corrective optics and new instruments.The James Webb Space Telescope is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope and is designed to be more powerful, with a 21 feet(6m) 4 inches(10cm) primary mirror, almost three times the size of the mirror on the Hubble Space Telescope. In addition to a larger mirror, the James Webb Space Telescope boasts advanced instruments in its arsenal, including a Near-Infrared camera, and a Near-Infrared Spectrograph. These enable the study of a wide range of celestial phenomena including the birth of stars and the formation of galaxies.The James Webb Space Telescope was launched in December 2021 and has been placed in such a way that it can essentially maintain a fixed relative position to Earth, with only the occasional need to adjust its motion. The James Webb telescope is protected from the sun and interference by five layers of Kapton E with aluminum and doped-silicon coatings.NASA hopes to find new insights into the most fundamental questions in astronomy from the data provided by the James Webb Telescope. This major advancement is sure to help us better understand the universe and our place in it.

This video takes you on a journey through the cosmos and showcases the incredible capabilities of these two incredible instruments.

Exploring the Universe with the Hubble and James Webb Telescopes

Exploring the Universe with the hubble and James Webb telescopes

The ISS is a collaboration between five space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA. It is funded by the participating countries and operates under an international legal framework.

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The space race between the Americans and the Russians took a significant turn on November 20, 1998. President Ronald Reagan directed NASA to build an international space station, to facilitate quantum leaps in scientific research. What then began as a collaboration with Europe and Japan soon became an international venture, with Russia invited in 1993, and all five space agencies getting on board by 1998.Weighing nearly 400 tons(400.000 kg), the International Space Station covers an area almost as long as a football field, with each solar array spanning 112 feet long(3,5 m). Constructing such a structure and launching it into space all at once would have been impossible, with no rocket large enough or powerful enough. As a result, the Space Station launched in pieces and gradually assembled in orbit in over 40 missions.The ISS is designed as a series of linked, cylindrical modules powered by the sun and cooled by heat-radiating loops divided between the two major segments of the station: the Russia-operated Russian Orbital Segment, and the US segment that includes contributions from different countries. Both are linked to a larger structural truss housing solar arrays and thermal radiators, and generate power and house laboratories, docking ports, and living quarters. Kibo, a Japanese science laboratory space used for experiments in space vacuum, is the biggest module on the US side. Node 3, also known as the Tranquility module, houses the cupola providing astronauts with breathtaking views of the Earth. Keeping the station cool can be challenging, with the sun heating one side, and the cold vacuum of space freezing the other. To tackle this situation, solar arrays have been mounted on a &quot;blanket,&quot;  delivered to space folded, and then deployed to full size once in orbit. These are arrays capable of rotation to face the sun for maximum power generation. The four array sets generate up to 120 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power over 40 homes.Unfortunately, all is not well aboard the International Space Station, with the engineering marvel likely facing decommission. Recent air leaks in the living quarters have only worsened this worry. NASA anticipates commercial low-Earth orbit stations launched by private companies, such as Blue Origin, to replace the ISS. Moreover, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has already expressed its intent to construct its own station after it leaves the ISS in 2024. Barring any miracles, the ISS will deorbit in 2031, with debris directed toward the Earth’s farthest point from land, Point Nemo.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a habitable laboratory in space where international astronauts live and work together for long periods of time.

How the International Space Station Works

How the International Space Station works?

The Pioneer Spacecraft Missions are a series of eight spacecraft missions managed by NASA's Ames Research Center's Pioneer Project Office.

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Satellites have been an integral part of man’s quest to learn more about our world, and beyond what we can see. Between 1965 and 1968, Pioneers 6-9, managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center’s Pioneer Project Office, were launched into solar orbit. Pioneer 6, the oldest NASA spacecraft still in operation, made a successful contact for about two hours on December 8, 2000, to commemorate its 35th anniversary.  These satellites, now past their primary mission, are only occasionally tracked. Pioneer 10 launched on March 2, 1972, and became the first spacecraft to make direct observations and capture close-up images of Jupiter. The data obtained was crucial in realizing the fatal nature of Jupiter’s radiation belts to humans. Pioneer 10 is now more than 8 billion miles away.Its successor, Pioneer 11, the first spacecraft to study Saturn, has a more curious tale. The motion of the Earth pushed it out of range of the spacecraft’s antenna, rendering it unable to turn to face Earth. In about 4 million years, the spacecraft will pass close to one of the stars in the constellation Aquila (the Eagle).In the 1970s and ‘80s, Voyager 1 and 2 conducted a “grand tour” of the outer planets, discovering new moons and rings, compiling movies of the atmospheres of planets, and other observations. While Voyager 1 focused on Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 was tasked to fly past Uranus and Neptune- a remarkable feat that has not been replicated since.With these successful missions in its belt, NASA launched the Galileo spacecraft that arrived at Jupiter in December 1995. The spacecraft would then spend seven years studying Jupiter, its moons, and its turbulent atmosphere until it met its end by crashing into Jupiter. Galileo’s success was limited by a malfunctioning radio antenna, reducing the amount of data transmitted to a trickle.Our knowledge about Saturn can be credited to Cassini, launched into orbit around Saturn in the summer of 2004. It has captured the true wonders of Saturn, its rings and moons, and has sent back tens of thousands of images. Cassini has also carried the Huygens probe, which parachuted to a soft landing on Titan in January 2005. Their findings reveal the possibility of liquid pools and a volcano on the planet’s surface. Cassini remained a great source of data till its end when it was sent on a final mission that would exhaust its fuel supply.

First Satellites To Reach Outer Planets

First satellites to reach outer planets

The crew returned home after about three hours and 17 miles, leaving the rover behind on the moon.

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Have you heard of the first time man drove to the moon? In 1971, crewed by Commander David R. Scott, Command Module Pilot Alfred M. Worden, and Lunar Module Pilot James B. Irwin, Apollo 15 took off, and along with them was the first Lunar Roving Vehicle, or LRV for short. This 460-pound (208 kg) marvel would clock 17.5 miles (28 km) around the lunar landscape as part of its mission.Designed to operate in the low gravity vacuum of the moon and allow Apollo astronauts to further their extravehicular activities, the LRV was light, with a frame constructed of aluminum alloy 2219 tubing welded assemblies. The three-part chassis hinged in the center, enabling it to be folded up and stowed away in the Lunar Module quad one bay. A large mesh dish antenna was mounted on the rover’s front center mast, and for seats, two foldable tubular aluminum seats with nylon webbing were provided.What about the steering, you may ask? The LRV did not have a conventional steering wheel. Instead, a T-shaped hand controller between the two seats controlled the four drive motors, the two steering motors, and the brakes. The LRV propelled forward or left or right when the controller was moved in the same direction and braked when it was pulled backward.To not lose direction on such unknown terrain, a navigation system continuously recorded direction and distance with a directional gyro and odometer that then fed into a computer. Speed, heading, pitch, power, and temperature levels are displayed on the control modules located in front of the handle.But the design and planning weren’t all smooth. Moondust (fine dry particles of the moon’s soil) becomes sticky as it absorbs solar energy and gets charged. On attaining the electric charge, it can clog up systems, eat through layers of spacesuit material, and even damage electronics. To combat this hazard, Ron Creel, a thermal control engineer would prove his genius. Radiators were shielded by dust covers, and fenders were employed to prevent the wheels from carrying too much dust. The LRV also made use of brushes to remove extra dust.Creel further contributed to “barbeque mode” in which the spacecraft roasted much like a rotisserie to regulate heat and prevent electronics from freezing or overheating, and was awarded a Silver Snoopy for his efforts. The LRV was instrumental in bringing back precious moon rock samples, including the famous Seat Belt Rock. It is perhaps fitting for it to remain a short distance from the lunar module, serving as a reminder of its great mission and the efforts of the men behind it.

Apollo 15 (July 26–August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the Apollo program and the fourth to land on the Moon.

First Carpool On The Moon

First carpool on the moon

The primary goal of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: to land a crewed spacecraft on the moon and return to Earth.

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Do you know the farthest distance humans have ever made a phone call? Well, it’s 240,000 miles (385,000 km), and you’d be surprised to know that this call was made from the White House to the moon —- Yes, you heard that right “to the moon”. On July 20, 1969, US president Richard Nixon made a historic telephone call to congratulate Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for their successful moon landing.  In Armstrong’s words, it was &quot;one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.&quot;The first moon landing was indeed a giant leap for many reasons. For the first time, humans really touched the moon and even walked on the lunar surface.  President Nixon made the longest call in human history, and NASA one-upped the Soviet space program like forever.About 650 million people on Earth witnessed this extraordinary moment on their television screens. Here is what happened before and after Neil Armstrong took the first step on the moon. It was July 16, 1969. Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin were all aboard the Saturn V rocket for the launch of the Apollo 11 moon mission. Even to this date, Saturn V is the only space rocket that ever took humans outside the low Earth orbit. At the time of launch, it weighed nearly 6.7 million pounds (3,038,500 kg) and was 363 feet (111 m) in height i.e. about eight meters taller than the Statue of Liberty.Finally, on July 21, 1969, the Saturn V rocket landed on the moon. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin came out of the lunar module called Eagle to set up a TV camera so that this historic event could be watched by people on Earth. During their 21 hours and 38-minute long stay on the moon. The astronauts talked to President Nixon, installed a device that was meant for measuring the distance between Earth and the moon, collected 50 pounds (23 kgs) of lunar soil and rock samples, planted the American flag, and captured numerous photographs.In memory of the five astronauts who died during the previous Apollo missions, Armstrong and Aldrin also left five commemorative medallions on the moon, along with a silicon disk, a goodwill message from 73 countries, and names of congress members and NASA leaders.The astronauts returned to Earth on July 24, 1969, and they were kept in quarantine for 21 days inside the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at NASA&#39;s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. During this period, the astronauts were thoroughly examined for any diseases, microbes, or infections they may have carried from the moon.The lunar samples that were collected during the Apollo 11 mission are currently stored in a protected environment at JSC’s Lunar Space Laboratory. Even today, these samples are helping scientists in uncovering various mysteries of the moon and our solar system. Hopefully, humanity will witness more such groundbreaking events in the coming years. The historic moon landing of 1969 will always serve as a strong inspiration for such endeavors, all thanks to the amazing astronauts, scientists, and engineers who made Apollo 11 successful.

Do you know the farthest distance humans have ever made a phone call?

Let’s see how the Apollo 11 mission unfolded.

Did we really land on the moon?

The process began with fruit flies to check for radiation effects, as of course radiation is dangerous to humans and scientists still didn’t know if there was a higher chance of exposure.

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Animals can be trained for some really incredible things. But did you know that a few were even trained to go into space? Fruit flies were actually the first living beings we sent into space. They went up on a V2 rocket in 1942. The fruit flies went 67 miles into space, and once retrieved, it was observed that the flies’ DNA had not been altered in any way. This meant we could probably send humans up as well! But first, America and Russia decided to play it on the safe side. Both countries sent up many animals to make sure it would be safe for humans. Monkeys, mice, dogs, and even jellyfish, just to name a few. Sadly, these flights never returned to Earth as they were on suborbital flights. The first mammal to be sent whirling up into space was the primate Albert II, who was launched in a V2 rocket in 1949. The primate, unfortunately, died on impact due to a failure in his parachute deployment. You may have heard of the dog Laika. She was a stray dog from Moscow who was chosen with the belief that a homeless animal would deal better with the horrendous conditions of space travel. Pretty scary for the pup, if you ask me. The pup traveled up in Sputnik 2, which had many innovations to keep her alive: an oxygen generator, a fan, and enough food for the entirety of her journey, seven days. Sadly, just like her primate predecessor, Laika would also not return to Earth as she disintegrated along with Sputnik 2 upon re-entry into Earth’s orbit on April 14, 1958.It wasn’t until 1960 that animals would survive a treacherous space journey. That year, Strelka and Belka were carried by Sputnik 5 and were the first living beings to return safely to Earth.In 1961, the Americans sent up the primate known as Ham. Ham’s work in space led to the first American, Alan Shepard, to enter space on May 5, 1961One month before, in April, the Soviets beat the Americans in sending the first human into space – Yuri Gagarin. He traveled to outer space on April 12, 1961, where he would spend one hour and forty-eight minutes! He also returned safely to Earth, floating back in a parachute after re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. From fruit flies to humans, all in a little under two decades. Pretty impressive, don’t you think?

Eventually, 14 years from when the first animals were launched into space, a human would reach outer space.

Surprising Facts About Animals That Went to Space

Surprising facts about animals that went to space

What was the first artificial object in space? Who put it there? The answer might surprise you.

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What was the first artificial object in space? Who put it there? The answer might surprise you. During the 1930s and 40s, Germans were obsessed with the idea of space travel.From the German physicist Hermann Oberth’s book “The Rocket into Interplanetary Space” to the 1929 Fritz Lang’s film, Woman in the Moon, Germans were paving the way for space travel enthusiasm. In 1932, ‘the father of space travel,’ Wernher von Braun, accepted the challenge from the German military to take charge of a newly created missile development lab of the German Army. Shortly after the Nazis took control of power in Germany, von Braun accepted another challenge to develop a long-range ballistic missile. They tried for months, and in the end, created A-1, the grandfather of most modern rockets. The Aggregate A-1 rocket was 4 ft 7 inches in length, 12 inches in diameter, and weighed 331 pounds at takeoff. It burned ethanol and liquid oxygen. The first attempt at launch saw the rocket blow up on the launching pad half a second after launch. Round two of experiments began to redesign the rocket, and by 1934 A2 Max and Moritz were ready for their full-scale test. The rockets flew at 1.4 miles and 2.2 miles.With the success of the Aggregate rocket, in 1936 the team began building a much bigger specimen. The rocket was based on a 55,000 lb thrust engine! Holy smokes!The V2, also known as Aggregate Four (A4), was the first long-range, guided ballistic missile. The key technologies for the V2 were large liquid-fuel rocket engines, supersonic aerodynamics, gyroscopic guidance, and rudders in jet control.On October 3, 1942, it made a largly successful first flight of an altitude of 52 miles with a maximum speed of 3579 mph and a range of 205 miles. Just two years later, in 1944, a V2 reached double the previous altitude of 109 miles! This made it the very first artificial object to enter space and rang in the official start of the space age!

Who put it there? The answer might surprise you. 
The first attempt at launch saw the rocket blow up on the launching pad half a second after launch.

Space Journey 101

EPISODES

Exploring the Universe with the hubble and James Webb telescopes

EPISODE 7

How the International Space Station works?

EPISODE 6

First satellites to reach outer planets

EPISODE 5

First carpool on the moon

EPISODE 4

Did we really land on the moon?

EPISODE 3

Surprising facts about animals that went to space

EPISODE 2

The First man-made object in space

EPISODE 1