我们伟大的美利坚合众国前总统肯尼迪(John F. Kennedy)在1961年5月作出承诺：美国将在六十年代结束前把人送上月球并使他安全地返回地球。1969年7月美国执行”阿波罗11号”(Apollo 11)使命的宇航员阿姆斯特朗(Neil Armstrong)和小奥尔德林(Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr.)实现第一次在月球登陆。1969年7月20日，宇航员小奥尔德林在月球上插上美国国旗。他们自豪地向全世界宣告：“踏上月球的第一步，也是踏上太阳系各行星和最终走向太空其它星球的一步。「对一个人来说是一小步」，这句话阐述的是事实；而「对人类来说是一大步」，则是对未来的希望。”
Space shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station on May 16, 2010 at 10:28 a.m. EDT.
The STS-132 crew members have used the station’s robotic arm to move the Integrated Cargo Carrier from the payload bay to the station’s mobile transporter. This will enable the carrier and its attached hardware to be prepositioned for use throughout the mission.
Crew members also transferes the spacesuits and spacewalk equipment over to the station’s Quest airlock and begin setting up for the first spacewalk.
载有六名宇航员执行STS-132任务的美国航天飞机亚特兰蒂斯号(space shuttle Atlantis)于2010年5月14日从佛罗里达州卡纳维尔角美国国家航空航天局(NASA)肯尼迪太空中心(Kennedy Space Center)发射升空后，5月16日靠近国际太空站( International Space Station- ISS)，并于同日美国东部标准时间上午10:28 a.m. EDT.与国际太空站对接成功。
Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman and Stephen Bowen completed the first spacewalk of the STS-132 mission at 3:19 p.m. EDT. They installed a second station space-to-ground Ku-band antenna and a spare parts platform on Dextre, the two-armed robotic Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. The spacewalk lasted 7 hours, 25 minutes.
May 21, 2010 ─ The replacement of batteries on the P6 truss segment of the International Space Station was completed on the third and final spacewalk of STS-132 by Mission Specialists Mike Good and Garrett Reisman to finish the task begun on the missions previous EVA. The 132 crews eighth day of spaceflight was also highlighted by Good and Reismans relocation of a grapple fixture from Atlantis payload bay to the station for use as a spare.
Space shuttle Atlantis astronauts transferred equipment and supplies between the shuttle and the International Space Station on Saturday May 22, 2010 in preparation for their departure.
After the crew of STS-132 said its goodbyes to the International Space Station and the six Expedition 23 crew members on Sunday May 23, 2010, space shuttle Atlantis undocked from and flew around the ISS, then headed for home. Commander Ken Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Steve Bowen, Mike Good and Piers Sellers are scheduled to conclude their 12-day mission with a landing Wednesday May 26, 2010 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center.
美国宇航局(NASA)于太平洋西部时间2009年2月6日清晨2点22分，将德尔塔-II型运载火箭携带的NOAA-N Prime 环境气象卫星，从加利福尼亚州范登堡空军基地发射升空。 此卫星与火箭分离后，已成功地进入预定轨道。现已由美国国家海洋与大气管理局 (NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)管理其运行。
德尔塔-II型运载火箭携带NOAA-N Prime环境气象卫星发射升空, 2009-2-6
由洛克希德-马丁公司(Lockheed Martin)为美国宇航局(NASA)和美国国家海洋与大气管理局(NOAA)研发建造的这颗最新极轨运行环境气象卫星，是美国目前K, L, M, N 和N Prime 五颗极轨运行环境气象卫星(POES – Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite)项目的最后一颗卫星。装备先进影像和音响功能以及搜索和救援的卫星辅助跟踪系统，NOAA-N Prime将提高全球气象预报和环境险情监测的能力。
美国航天飞机发现号(Discovery)于2009年8月28日从佛罗里达州卡纳维尔角美国国家航空航天局(NASA)肯尼迪太空中心(Kennedy Space Center)发射升空后，于8月30日美国东部标准时间晚上8时54分 与国际太空站( International Space Station- ISS)对接成功。
经历约14天太空飞行旅程后，执行STS-128飞行任务的发现号已于2009年9月11日(星期五)美国东部标准时间晚上8:53 p.m. 安全降落在美国西部的加利福尼亚州爱德华兹空军基地(Edwards Air Force Base)，顺利返回地球。STS-128国际太空站航天任务到此圆满成功。
航天飞机发现号安全降落在美国加利福尼亚州爱德华兹空军基地, 2009.09.11
祝贺全体美国及瑞典宇航员和工程师对我们伟大的航天科技与探索太空任务，再次作出贡献！
Congratulations! Thanks Discovery STS-128 and ISS all outstanding astronauts and engineers of the United States and the European Space Agency for your another great contributions to the aeronautic technology and space exploration.
载有七名美国和欧洲航天局宇航员执行STS-128任务的美国航天飞机发现号(Discovery)于2009年8月28日从佛罗里达州卡纳维尔角美国国家航空航天局(NASA)肯尼迪太空中心(Kennedy Space Center)发射升空后，8月30日(星期日)靠近国际太空站( International Space Station- ISS)并于美国东部标准时间晚上8时54分 与国际太空站对接成功，10时59分打开对接舱门，国际太空站宇航员们祝贺欢迎发现号的到来。
Space Shuttle Discovery STS-131 Landed in Florida 美国发现号航天飞机STS-131安全返回地球
Image and video credit: NASA
Space Shuttle Discovery STS-131 Landed Safely in Florida
Space shuttle Discovery STS-131 ended a two-week journey of more than 6.2 million miles and landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 20, 2010 (Tuesday). Returning to Earth aboard the orbiter were STS-131 seven astronauts – Commander Alan Poindexter, Pilot Jim Dutton, and Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson, Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The STS-131 mission to the International Space Station included three spacewalks, the installation of equipment outside the ISS, and the transfer of thousands of pounds of cargo and supplies from the orbiter’s payload bay to various locations on the station.
Congratulations! Thank Discovery STS-131 and ISS all outstanding astronauts and engineers of the United States, Russia, Japan as well as other nations for your great contributions to the aeronautic technology and space exploration.
美国航天飞机发现号完成STS-131太空站任务
美国航天飞机发现号(space shuttle Discovery)于2010年4月5日从佛罗里达州卡纳维尔角美国国家航空航天局(NASA)肯尼迪太空中心(Kennedy Space Center)发射升空后，于4月7日与国际太空站( International Space Station- ISS)对接成功。
载有七名宇航员执行STS-131任务的美国航天飞机发现号(space shuttle Discovery)于2010年4月5日从佛罗里达州卡纳维尔角美国国家航空航天局(NASA)肯尼迪太空中心(Kennedy Space Center)发射升空后，4月7日靠近国际太空站( International Space Station- ISS)，并于同日美国中部标准时间凌晨2:44 a.m. CDT与国际太空站对接成功。
April 11, 2010 ─ Using robotic grappling equipment, astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery transfer cargo from the orbiters payload bay to the International Space Station. Spacewalkers Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson contribute with the second of three EVAs theyre scheduled to perform on STS-131.
美国航天飞机发现号(Discovery)于2009年3月15日美国东部时间晚上7时43分从佛罗里达州卡纳维尔角美国国家航空航天局(NASA)肯尼迪太空中心(Kennedy Space Center)成功地发射升空。目前发现号已安全进入太空轨道，并以每小时17,500 英里的速度向着国际太空站( International Space Station)飞去。
美国NASA发现号航天飞机STS-119成功地发射升空, March 15, 2009
这次发现号航天飞机STS-119飞往国际太空站的任务由7名宇航员来完成。他们是美国NASA宇航员 Lee Archambault, Tony Antonelli, Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold，日本宇宙航空研究开发机构 (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency-JAXA) 宇航员 若田光一(Koichi Wakata)。
Vital clues about the devastating ends to the lives of massive stars can be found by studying the aftermath of their explosions. In its more than twelve years of science operations, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has studied many of these supernova remnants sprinkled across the galaxy. The latest example of this important investigation is Chandra's new image of the supernova remnant known as G350.1-0.3. This stellar debris field is located some 14,700 light years from the Earth toward the center of the Milky Way. Evidence from Chandra and from ESA's XMM-Newton telescope suggest that a compact object within G350.1+0.3 may be the dense core of the star that exploded. The position of this likely neutron star, seen by the arrow pointing to "neutron star" in the inset image, is well away from the center of the X-ray emission. If the supernova explosion occurred near the center of the X-ray emission then the neutron star must have received a powerful kick in the supernova explosion. Data suggest this supernova remnant, as it appears in the image, is 600 and 1,200 years old. If the estimated location of the explosion is correct, this means the neutron star has been moving at a speed of at least 3 million miles per hour since the explosion. Another intriguing aspect of G350.1-0.3 is its unusual shape. Many supernova remnants are nearly circular, but G350.1-0.3 is strikingly asymmetrical as seen in the Chandra data in this image (gold). Infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (light blue) also trace the morphology found by Chandra. Astronomers think that this bizarre shape is due to stellar debris field expanding into a nearby cloud of cold molecular gas. The age of 600-1,200 years puts the explosion that created G350.1-0.3 in the same time frame as other famous supernovas that formed the Crab and SN 1006 supernova remnants. However, it is unlikely that anyone on Earth would have seen the explosion because of the obscuring gas and dust that lies along our line of sight to the remnant. These results appeared in the April 10, 2011 issue of The Astrophysical Journal. Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/I. Lovchinsky et al; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech Read More
