Space to Ground: Totality: April. 05, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

What is said in the film

Welcome to space to ground. I am kayla lafrance. And welcome to the houston museum of natural science’s george observatory. As astronomers and space enthusiasts across the u. s.

Are preparing for the next total eclipse, so are the crew onboard the international space station, preparing for their unique view of the celestial event. On monday, april 8, the orbiting laboratory will be on the day side of earth three times during the total solar eclipse. The expedition 71 crew will be able to look out the windows and experience the eclipse and witness the famous shadow from above. However, while millions are traveling into the path of totality, the astronauts will only see the eclipsing moon as a partial solar eclipse. Much like how most of north america will see it.

During their orbital passes the astronauts will be able to see the large shadow, around 115 mile wide, created by the solar eclipse, as it travels through mexico, into america passing over texas, and onto the northeast before crossing over the canadian maritime provinces and exiting out over the atlantic ocean. The shadow will move across north america at more than 1500 mph. So while sky watchers in the center of totality can expect over 4 minuets of shadow, the iss crew, traveling at 17,500 mph will experience the eclipse for a much shorter time during each pass. Please join us on monday for nasa’s live coverage as the total solar eclipse moves across north america. We will have appearances from nasa astronauts tracy dyson and jeanette epps from the station's destiny laboratory, plus an inside look at nasa’s eclipse science experiments and watch parties along the path of totality from texas to maine.

As nasa astronaut loral o’hara nears the end of her 204 days in space, she has joined her soyuz crewmates in departure preparation, preparing their belongings and checking out their sokol entry suits which they will wear inside the soyuz capsule during reentry. The trio is set to undock from the space station for their return trip inside the soyuz ms-24 spacecraft on saturday april 6th. After undocking, the crew will deorbit and re-enter earths atmosphere before parachuting to the ground in kazakhstan. During her time on orbit, o’hara conducted and participated in countless experiments and science investigations. Including the production of flawless space fibers.

Optical fibers are used on earth and in space for applications in medicine, defense, cybersecurity, and telecommunications. Early parabolic research showed that optical fibers produced in microgravity can be higher quality than those made in normal gravity. The flawless space fibers investigation is using the space station to demonstrate new manufacturing technology developed by flawless photonics to improve the quality and length of optical fiber produced in space. From mid-february to mid-march, the investigation manufactured more than seven miles of optical fiber. These space-drawn fibers are set to return to earth soon for analysis.

Here is to clear skies for all skywatchers next week. That’s space to ground. Thanks for watching.

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