Four Space Shuttle Fliers to Be Inducted by Astronaut Hall of Fame

The U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame will honor four space shuttle astronauts this spring as it marks 25 years since its founding.

Spacewalker John Grunsfeld and Rhea Seddon, who was one of NASA's first female astronauts, will be enshrined alongside space shuttle commanders Steven Lindsey and Kent Rominger during a May 30 ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four astronauts, who are the 14th class of shuttle veterans to be added to the Astronaut Hall of Fame, will bring the total number of members to 91.

"This year marks the historic 25th anniversary of the Hall, which was conceived in 1989 by the Mercury astronauts," Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex officia

Exploded Star Blooms Like a Cosmic Flower

Exploded Star Blooms Like a Cosmic Flower

Published by Klaus Schmidt on Thu Feb 12, 2015 5:34 pm via: NASA

Because the debris fields of exploded stars, known as supernova remnants, are very hot, energetic, and glow brightly in X-ray light, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has proven to be a valuable tool in studying them. The supernova remnant called G299.2-2.9 (or G299 for short) is located within our Milky Way galaxy, but Chandra’s new image of it is reminiscent of a beautiful flower here on Earth.

G299 was left over by a particular class of supernovas called Type Ia.  Astronomers think that a Type Ia supernova is a thermonuclear explosion – involving the fusion of elements and release of vast amounts of energy − of a white dwarf star in a tight orbit with a companion star. If the white dwarf’s partner is a typical, Sun-like star, the white dwarf can become unstable and explode as it draws material from its companion. Alternatively, the white dwarf is in orbit with another white dwarf, the two may merge and can trigger an explosion.

Xray of the sun

X-rays stream off the sun showing observations from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. (AFP/NASA/JPL-Caltech)