Liftoff to the Red Planet!

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Thursday, July 30, 2020. via NASA https://ift.tt/2XecjNN

A Different View of the Mars Perseverance Launch

The engines fired as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover onboard launched from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, July 30, 2020. via NASA https://ift.tt/2PcUEBu

Mars Perseverance: Prepared for Launch to the Red Planet

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen illuminated by spotlights on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41. via NASA https://ift.tt/39EcQ0t

Countdown to Mars

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41. via NASA https://ift.tt/33cxNhw

Jezero Crater, Landing Site for the Mars Perseverance Rover

This image of Jezero Crater, the landing site for the Mars Perseverance Rover, was taken by instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. via NASA https://ift.tt/2EmZ8TT

Carrying a Telescope Aloft

Carried by a balloon the size of a football stadium, ASTHROS will use a telescope to observe wavelengths of light that aren't visible from the ground. via NASA https://ift.tt/2DdOxKl

Apollo 11 Aboard the USS Hornet

This image, taken on July 24, 1969, shows the Apollo 11 command codule and the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) are photographed aboard the USS Hornet via NASA https://ift.tt/3gahXrL

Comet NEOWISE Streaks Across the Sky Above Lone Pine Lake

Comet NEOWISE streaked across the sky above the tree line of Lone Pine Lake, located on the Mount Whitney Trail in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. via NASA https://ift.tt/32M7sXy

Disease outbreak news from the WHO: Plague – Democratic Republic of the Congo

The health zone of Rethy in Ituri province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has seen an upsurge of plague cases since June 2020. The first case, a 12-year-old girl, reported to a local health centre on 12 June experiencing a headache, fever, cough, and an enlarged lymph node. She died on the same day and further deaths from the community due to suspected cases of plague were subsequently reported.

From 11 June though 15 July, six out of 22 health areas have been affected within Rethy health zone (11 villages), with a total of 45 cases including nine deaths (case fatality rate: 20%). All nine (9) cases who died presented with signs of headache, high fever, and painful nodes; four (4) out of the nine (9) cases had cough.

Published on July 23, 2020
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Developing Technologies to Send Humans to Mars

NASA is developing technologies to send humans to the Red Planet. via NASA https://ift.tt/32KhEQg

Apollo 11: Returning from the Moon

On July 21, 1969, command and service module pilot Michael Collins photographed this close-up view of the docking target on the Apollo 11 Lunar Module from the Command Module. via NASA https://ift.tt/3fPKHFZ

Apollo 11 Launches into History

At 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission launched via a Saturn V rocket on a mission to the Moon. via NASA https://ift.tt/3jcppnN

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: An Orbital Partnership Is Born

On July 17, 1975, something momentous happened: two Cold War-rivals met in space. When their respective spacecraft rendezvoused and docked, a new era of cooperative ventures in space began. via NASA https://ift.tt/NFZA8t

Earth's Beauty from Above

The crew snapped this starry nighttime shot of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding cities on the Brazilian coast, as the International Space Station orbited above São Paolo. via NASA https://ift.tt/3eDwLO1

Perseverance Rover Mated to Its Atlas V Rocket

In this image, NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover waits to be lifted onto its Atlas V launch vehicle at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 7, 2020. via NASA https://ift.tt/3gVfuRK

Hubble Sees a Star Called HBC 672 and the Bat Shadow

A young star's unseen, planet-forming disk casts a huge shadow across a more distant cloud in a star-forming region. via NASA https://ift.tt/32bvf2L

Creating Psyche: Mission to an Asteroid

An electric Hall thruster, identical to those that will be used to propel NASA's Psyche spacecraft, undergoes testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. via NASA https://ift.tt/3fu0sCp

Disease outbreak news from the WHO: Influenza A(H1N2) variant virus – Brazil

On 22 June 2020, the International Health Regualtions (IHR) Focal Point (FP) of Brazil shared a preliminary report with the Panamerican Health Organization, the WHO Regional Office for the Americas of a human infection with Influenza A(H1N2) variant virus (A(H1N2)v). According to the report, the patient, a 22-year-old female, with no comorbidities, worked in a swine slaughterhouse in Ibiporã Municipality, Paraná State, and developed an influenza-like illness on 12 April 2020. The patient initially sought medical care on 14 April and a respiratory specimen was obtained on 16 April as part of routine surveillance activities. The patient was treated with oseltamivir, was not hospitalized and has recovered.

A real-time RT-PCR test conducted at the public health laboratory identified a non-subtypable influenza A virus. In May 2020, the specimen was forwarded to the Laboratory of Respiratory Virus and Measles, Oswaldo Cruz Institute (FIOCRUZ per its acronym in Portuguese), a national influenza reference laboratory, in Rio de Janeiro. On 22 June, genetic sequencing characterized this virus as an influenza A(H1N2)v virus.

Published on July 09, 2020
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STS-135: Shuttle's Final Launch and the Beginning of a New Era

Space Shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 mission launched from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center on July 8, 2011 and was the last space shuttle mission. via NASA https://ift.tt/2ZS7F8r

Heat Shield Milestone Complete for First Orion Mission with Crew

Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida recently finished meticulously applying more than 180 blocks of ablative material to the heat shield for the Orion spacecraft. via NASA https://ift.tt/2O20mpo

Jupiter's Magnificent Swirling Clouds

A multitude of magnificent, swirling clouds in Jupiter's dynamic North North Temperate Belt is captured in this image from NASA's Juno spacecraft. via NASA https://ift.tt/2O5QXNx

Upgrading the Space Station Is All in a Day's Work

NASA astronaut Robert Behnken works during the Wednesday, July 1, 2020, six-hour and one-minute spacewalk to swap an aging nickel-hydrogen battery for a new lithium-ion battery on the International Space Station's Starboard-6 truss structure. via NASA https://ift.tt/2VQUDHe

Disease outbreak news from the WHO: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia

Between 1 April and 31 May 2020, the National IHR Focal Point of Saudi Arabia reported nine new cases of MERS-CoV infection, including five deaths. The cases were reported from Riyadh (seven cases), Assir (one case) and Northern (one case) Regions. Most cases were and ages of the reported cases ranged from 40 to 96 years.

Of the cases reported in Riyadh six were from a hospital outbreak in the region between 21 and 31 May 2020: an index case who was a newly admitted patient, and five secondary cases identified through contact tracing. One of the secondary cases was a health care worker and the other four were in-patients admitted due to other health conditions. All four in-patients were bedridden and above 75 years of age. All reported cases had comorbidities with the exception of the healthcare worker.

Published on July 02, 2020
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July 4, 1997: Sojourner Arrives on the Red Planet

Hitching a ride on the Mars Pathfinder mission, the Sojourner rover arrived on Mars on July 4, 1997. via NASA https://ift.tt/2VCVtXZ

A Day's Work: Robert Behnken Updates Power Systems on the Station

On June 26, 2020, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy conducted the first of two spacewalks to swap batteries and upgrade power systems on the International Space Station. via NASA https://ift.tt/3iisdj1