Beautiful Light Show from the Air, of a Massive Thunderstorm over Paris and St Elmo’s fire which appears on the Windscreen of aircraft due to the huge amount of static electricity present in the atmosphere. Approximately 1,000 – 30,000 volts per centimeter is required to induce St. Elmo’s fire

This 107 second video clip shows NASA’s flying observatory as it resumes test flights including the first in-flight opening of the telescope cavity door.

The Next Generation Airborne Observatory

Astronomical objects emit many forms of energy, which neither the human eye nor ordinary telescopes can detect. Infrared is one form of this invisible energy. SOFIA is an airborne observatory that will study the universe in the infrared spectrum. Besides this contribution to science progress, SOFIA will be a major factor in the development of observational techniques, of new instrumentations and in the education of young scientists and teachers in the discipline of infrared astronomy.

NASA and the DLR, German Aerospace Center, are working together to create SOFIA — a Boeing 747SP aircraft modified by L-3 Communications Integrated Systems to accommodate a 2.5 meter reflecting telescope. SOFIA will be the largest airborne observatory in the world, and will make observations that are impossible for even the largest and highest of ground-based telescopes. SOFIA is an 80%/20% partnership with the German Space Agency (DLR). The Observatory is being developed for NASA and DLR by a team of international government and industry experts led by Dryden Flight Research Center; the Program is divided into two main “Projects”: the Platform Project (the aircraft and its subsystems), managed by DFRC, and the Science Project, managed by ARC. SOFIA will be based at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, adjacent to Edwards Air Force Base in southern California. SOFIA’s science and mission operations center will be at NASA’s Ames Research Center in northern California.

SOFIA is just one of the space-based observatory missions under NASA’s Origins Program, which along with the ground-based observatories paves the way for future achievements. As each Origins mission makes radical advances in technology, innovations will be fed forward, from one generation of missions to the next.

http://www.virgingalactic.com

Sir Richard Branson Takes first Flight in VMS Eve at Airventure 2009

Today, at the worlds largest private air show (EAA Airventure 2009, Oshkosh, Wisconsin), Sir Richard Branson took his first flight in the mothership which will launch Virgin Galactics space tourism and science customers into space.

The space launch vehicle known as VMS Eve is a unique twin hull all carbon composite aviation vehicle designed to launch SpaceShipTwo above heights of 50,000ft and today Sir Richard was on board to witness first hand the incredible flying qualities of the aircraft piloted by Pete Siebold and Clint Nichols.

VMS Eve has already undertaken 16 test flights and todays demonstration flight at Oshkosh represents flight 17. The vehicle has already logged 50 hours of flying time and achieved an altitude of 52,400ft. It has the capacity to carry six trainee astronauts in its starboard hull and give each of them a full range of G force experiences including a zero G flying capability. Its port hull is pressurised and has the capability of carrying science instruments and other experimental payload.

It is expected that VMS Eve will make its first captive carry flight with SpaceShipTwo attached by the end of 2009.

After the flight Sir Richard Branson commented: This has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Its a beautiful aircraft to fly and its incredibly light carbon construction and efficient design points the way to a much brighter future for commercial aviation as well as the industrial revolution in space which I believe our entire space launch system heralds.