Today's Video: SCUBA Tanks and Rapid Prototype Development at ARC

Editor's note: NASA Ames Research Center has been developing the Modular Common Spacecraft Bus (MCSB). The MCSB is a spacecraft designed to go to a variety of destinations such as lunar surface/orbit, Mars orbit, asteroid missions, and Earth orbit. The MCSB uses a cold gas propulsion system (and some SCUBA tanks) rather than a hot gas rocket. This only allows a few seconds of flight time - but it also reduces the time needed to prepare for repeat flights from intervals of many days - even months - down to around 40 minutes. This allows rapid prototype development to be conducted. The video below shows a series of tests conducted in 2007 and 2008. More to follow.

Today's Video: One More Reason To Retire The Space Shuttle

You can't eat in it while waiting to launch.

Shenzhou EVA training

Editor's note: This short video includes shots taken at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center where EVA suits are tested in a large swimming pool much in the same way that Russia and America train their crews. The EVA suits seem to bear some resemblence to Russian ORLAN suits.

Today's Video: Robots That Crash Land and Then Fix Themselves

New Scientist Video: "A robot developed by roboticists at the University of Pennsylvania is made of modules that can recognise each other."

Today's Video: Rick Searfoss Loses An Argument With an Old VW

Editor's note: Video below

Let's Party Like It's 1961

Yuri's Night Parties This Saturday, Wired
Yuri's Night to mark first manned spaceflight, Houston Chronicle
NASA hosts rave-like bash for first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, Contra Costa Times
Media Invited to Join in 'Yuri's Night Goddard' Celebration at NASA Goddard
NASA Ames Co-Hosts Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008 Celebration
Yuri's Night - the World Party for Space - to Shatter Previous Records

"When Yuri's Night, an organization dedicated to forwarding the cause of space exploration by holding events around the world each April 12, held over 120 parties on a single day in 2007, it was viewed as an incredible accomplishment unlikely to be topped. Earlier this week, though, Yuri's Night 2008 not only met that mark but completely left it in the dust, registering 173 events in 49 countries, with 3 days still left before the big event."

Yuri's Night Video Greeting from ISS below

External Tanks: Familiar Sights Soon To Disappear

Reader note: "For those of us NASA folks who will never see this, this is really cool. I'm looking at these pictures from two views - technology and job loss."

Today's Video: The Twang "When the main engines start, something interesting (and dynamic) happens to the shuttle stack...it bends." (video below)

Todays' Video: Steve Squyres Demonstrates Comedic Prowess on Colbert Report

"Stephen Colbert asks Mars Rover expert Steve Squyres to explain gravity."

Today's Video: Everest Expedition 2008 Trailer

"Astronaut Scott Parazynski soon sets off for a new expedition. This time, he won't be leaving Earth."

Today's Video: STS-123 Launch with Chest Thumping Sound

Editor's note: Check out Matt Reyes' STS-123 launch video at the OnOrbit STS-123 Video channel (below). Make certain to pump up the volume once the shuttle clears the pad.

Check out the OnOrbit STS-123 Video channel

Today's Video: NASA's Press Release Titles Need Better Editors

NASA's Johnson Allows Phone Participation in Mission News Briefings

Editor's note: Doesn't ANYONE proof read these press release titles at PAO before they go out? ("NASA's Johnson"). The first thing that came to mind was this segment from Austin Powers... (yes it is a slow news day).

Today's Video: Alt. VSE Update

Editor's note: With all this fussin' and fightin' about the future of the VSE, HBO's "Mr. Show with Bob & David" came up with a new reason to go back to the moon. Makes sense to me.

Official NASA Constellation Propaganda Makes it to YouTube

Editor's note: This is one instance where using professional announcers would have been preferable to sticking NASA engineers in front of a camera simply because of their management position. Or at least find some people at NASA who can speak without mumbling. Someone should also rewrite the script so as to scrub out the acronyms and the awkward NASAspeak such as "we expend the ascent stage". No one in the real world "expends" anything. However, they do "discard" or "throw things away".

Reader note: Also included in the lists of NASASpeak: "Foam 'liberates' from the ET."  Come on now NASA, it "breaks off" !!

Today's Video: Reach

Editor's note: I am hanging out with a hundred Generation Y types at NASA ARC at the NGEC-2 - Next Generation Exploration Conference. As the attendees struggled with why they were here and what they should do I realized that is has been a while since I posted this amazing gem. For me, it says it all. One of the artists behind this video, Karen Lau, was in attendance. Have a look.

Today's Video: "Astrospies" premieres Tuesday on NOVA

Note from NOVA: "On Tuesday, February 12, NOVA will present the premiere of "Astrospies," an inside look at the covert space programs that hid in the shadows of the 1960s space race. We think readers of NASAWatch will be interested in the show, and we hope you'll consider posting about it!"

Amid the countdowns, launches, splashdowns, and parades that heralded the race to the moon, both the United States and the Soviet Union ran quiet campaigns to launch military astronauts on spying missions. Highly classified for decades, these top-secret missions might easily have triggered a shooting war in orbit. In "Astrospies," NOVA travels to Russia for exclusive access to cosmonauts and their restricted space facility and obtains candid first-time interviews with American astronauts in the Air Force-run military space program.

You can get a sneak peak inside a fully intact, never-launched version of the Russian spy station in this clip:

"Astrospies" will premiere Tuesday, February 12 at 8pm ET/PT on most PBS stations. I've attached our e-card and press release with more details on the show. You can also learn more at the Astrospies Web site: http://www.pbs.org/nova/astrospies

Today's Video: Santa Prox Ops With ISS

Editor's note: Looks like NORAD got a graphics upgrade such that actual Santa Claus imagery (below) and situational awareness of proximity operations with the ISS can be obtained.

Video: What if Von Braun REALLY had his way - in the 1950s?

Editor's note: Imagine if Werner Von Braun's intial concepts for the exploration of the Moon and Mars actually happened - just as Chesley Bonestell depicted them in Collier's Magazine half a century ago ...

Higher quality video is online here at http://manconquersspace.com/. This is their latest.

Today's Video: Hey, Is Cape Town a TAL Site?

Editor's note: Some clever South Africans have depicted a shuttle landing - in the middle of Cape Town. Video below.

Monster Mutant Spider at KSC

Editor's note: A monstrous arachnid managed to get past NASA KSC's crack security and crawl all over the shuttle before someone finally shooed it away. It took several minutes before the situation was brought under control. The terrifying footage is below. CAUTION: not for people suffering from arachnophobia.

Simple Video - Big Message

NASA's Exploration Mission: And the Children Shall Reach Out - and Lead, SpaceRef

"Every now and again even the most cynical of us stumble across something so simple - and yet profound - as to take one's breath away - and remind us of why we are so captivated with space exploration's broader ramifications."

Editor's note: I need to post a link to this video (below) at least once every few months. Indulge me.

value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_3BxBeLzbg8&rel=1">

Today's Video: Space Makes It Into The Presidential Debate

Editor's note: A video (below) from a Mars Society member (complete with logos) managed to get in on the CNN/YouTube debate among Republican presidential candidates. In responding, Gov. Huckabee was rather supportive of space exploration and its benefits to our society and economy. He even wanted to send Hillary Clinton to Mars. Rep. Tom Tancredo said that there is not enough money to spend on a Mars mission (transcript below).

Editor's note: According to a NASA Watch reader, the person who submitted this question, Steve Nielson, has a pro-Huckabee website.

"Steve Nielson: My name is Steve Nielson. And this question comes to you from Denver, Colorado. JFK's vision put a man on the moon from a nonexistent space program in about seven years. The new vision for space exploration has provided about 15 years for that same feat. Meanwhile, Congress is pulling funding for human-to-Mars research altogether. Is there a candidate amongst you willing to take a pledge on behalf of the Mars Society of sending an American to the surface of Mars by 2020? If not, what is your vision for human space exploration?

Cooper: Governor Huckabee?

NASA pumps some -- let's see, how many -- $5 billion into Florida's economy.

Huckabee: Whether we ought to go to Mars is not a decision that I would want to make, but I would certainly want to make sure that we expand the space program, because every one of us who are sitting here tonight have our lives dramatically improved because there was a space program -- whether it's these screens that we see or the incredible electronics that we use, including the GPS systems that got many of you to this arena tonight.

(Laughter)

Some of you were late because you didn't have one, by the way. Or whether it's the medical technologies that saved many of our lives or the lives or our families, it's the direct result of the space program, and we need to put more money into science and technology and exploration. Now, whether we need to send somebody to Mars, I don't know. But I'll tell you what: If we do, I've got a few suggestions, and maybe Hillary could be on the first rocket to Mars.

(Laughter)

Cooper: Congressman Tancredo, 30 seconds, please.

Tancredo: The question is a serious one and it deserves a serious answer, and that is this: Look, we've been -- how many times up here, how many questions have dealt with the issue of deficit spending, the debt out of control? And yet, we have somebody saying, "But would you spend more money on going to Mars?" And the suggestion that we need to spend more money on space exploration. This is it, folks. That's why we have such incredible problems with our debt, because everybody's trying to be everything to all people. We can't afford some things, and by the way, going to Mars is one of them."

Today's Video: I Faked The Moon landing"

"I Faked The Moon Landing", by Men From Earth

"I faked the moon landing
Thought the purpose I was serving was much higher
but the consequence was dire
I faked the moon landing
Can't take the world branding me a liar
I need the cleansing fire
Please forgive me"

Today's Video: ANSMET 2007

Editor's note: Join NASA's Antarctic Search for Meteorites team as they scour the south polar continent for pristine meteorites.

Today's Video: Ares V launch of large monolithic telescope

Editor's note: An earlier version of this video depicting an Ares V launch of large monolithic telescope was included on NASA Watch a few weeks ago. The video has since been updated.

Today's Video: Space Diving

"First Man in Space - Skydiving From The Edge Of The World (Extended Version) // On August 16, 1960, Joseph Kittinger jumped his last ... all " Excelsior jump, doing so from an air-thin height of 102,800 feet (31,334 meters). From that nearly 20 miles altitude, his tumble toward terra firma took some 4 minutes and 36 seconds."

Today's Video: Space Playground

Editor's note: This video "Space Playground" was featured on the uber-influential website Gizmodo today.

Today's Video: Virtual NASA

NASA Plays Games, O'Reilly Radar

"NASA is interested in immersive synthetic environments (ISEs) because they have the capacity of providing greatly enriched educational opportunities and outreach. The organization maintains an Immersive Synthetic Environment Research (NISER) team that has members from NASA sites across the country; it meets monthly. NASA uses SecondLife for much of its internal collaboration; as Dan notes, there were virtual environments others before SL, and others will follow, but right now Second Life is the best commercial, widely available ISE for education, training and collaboration."

Today's Video: Official Japanese Space Curry For Sale

'Space Curry' for astronauts to be sold in Japan, Daily Mainichi

"The "Space Curry" that House Foods Corp. will start selling on Monday. A curry recognized by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as a Japanese space food product is set to go on sale in Japan, it has been learned. House Foods Corp. will start selling "Space Curry," which is packaged in a retort pouch, on Monday."

Official Japanese space menu, Pink Tentacle

Buy it here (Japanese)

Press release (Japanese) [English]

Video below

Today's YouTube Videos: Astronauts Do Commercials

Videos below.

Today's Video: NASA Ares V 8 Meter Telescope Mission

Animation depicting an Ares V launch and the deployment of a very large telescope.

Video below.

Today's Video: Technology Tycoons Qualifying at the Spaceward Games 2007

"The Technology Tycoons qualifying attempt on the 100 foot ribbon. Success is at hand despite the lack of sunshine."

Video below

Today's YouTube Video: BLAST The Movie

Reader note: I have been reading through your blog, and I love your commitment to science. Perhaps you and your readers might be interested in a new interactive science documentary project - BLAST (http://blast.artistshare.com) - a film that follows a group of intrepid astrophysicists as they travel to exotic locations all in the name of science.

Our web-based community project on ArtistShare.com lets students, professors and science enthusiasts learn more about telescopes, cosmology, and astronomy from an intimate and interactive perspective - all while actively participating in the creation of a great science documentary.

With extraordinary access to a new generation of young astrophysicists, BLAST puts a human face on groundbreaking scientific research. The story follows a close-knit team of international scientists as they attempt to launch a multi-million dollar telescope on a NASA high-altitude balloon, taking them on a dramatic journey from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Please feel free to watch the trailer for the film on our official site at: http://www.blastthemovie.com/trailer.html

Today's YouTube Video: The Hubble Deep Field

Editor's note: Have a look at "The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken". This video was made by Tony Darnell who runs Deepastronomy.com. I like it - a lot. In addition to using NASA images to make some important cosmological points, he also makes a few other points - such as our YouTube posting and viewing habits. Thanks to someone@nasa.gov who alerted me to this video and who noted "... continuing along your lines about NASA's PAO, or lack thereof, why didn't we do this???"

Today's YouTube Video: Jim Oberg Rips Idiot Brit Broadcaster a New One

Editor's note: Jim Oberg appears about half-way through this clip from Channel 4 (below) which seeks to portray American astronauts as drunks. When Jim appears he sets an idiotic talking head straight - one located halfway around the world who seems to be using UK tabloids as "sources" as opposed to the actual NASA report. Alas, this dolt is so dense that he does not understand what Jim is saying. A gold star for Jim.

Today's YouTube Video: NASA Icons and Globalization

Editor's note: NASA's strategic communications folks have been worrying about NASA branding, identity, visibility, etc. lately. In so doing, they love to wave around studies that show that NASA has a high level of visibility among the public as they promote their various plans. However, what sometimes seems to escape these NASA pollsters is exactly what sort of image the public holds of NASA - even if a large number of people are aware of NASA.

Of course, NASA is only worried about what Americans think in this regard - not foreigners. Have a look at this video (below) made for their song "Amerika" by the German industrial metal band "Rammstein". My German is rusty, but the general theme of this music video - and song - seems to be to decry the Americanization of the world. Of course, they use moon walkers as the main American icon. Kinda funny to see that coming from Germany - a country whose products are often as popular as American products. Just think of all those VW Beetles roaming around Latin America.

There is one worthwhile aspect to this video: It is nice to see the movie studio where NASA faked all the moon landings. And the cameo appearance by the old NASA "worm" logo on the lead guitar is a nice touch as well.

Today's video: Pete Worden Speaks about CoLab in Second Life

"NASA CoLab is a Collaborative Space Exploration Laboratory being developed at NASA. CoLab will provide a framework for exciting partnership ... all projects between the nation's space program and the thriving technology-entrepreneurial community. In addition to the benefits to collaborating with intellectual assets of the technology business sector, the general public will benefit through various projects supporting the NASA's goals."

" CoLab will feature a physical space in downtown San Francisco, a collaborative online space where scientists and engineers from NASA will collaborate with the entrepreneurial technology community, and a space in "Second Life", a virtual learning community with interactive content."

Today's YouTube video: Yuri's Night Party at NASA Ames 2007

"Live webcast clips from the Yuri's Night Party at the NASA Ames Facility on April 13, 2007"

Today's YouTube videos: iPhone monolith

Editor's note: People have been spoofing the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" almost since the moment it was released. This 2001-themed "fan" ad for Apple's highly anticipated iPhone is now making the rounds.

Hawking In Flight Video

Editor's note: ZeroGravity Corp. Has released some video highlights of Professor Hawking's flight yesterday .... video below. If you look closely you will see that Hawking's name badge is upside down while is he is floating. That is a ZeroG tradition. Only once you have experienced weightlessness do you get to have your badge turned right side up - which is usually done with some fanfare and applause.

Today's YouTube videos: Stephen Hawking TV Star

Editor's note: Professor Hawking's flight yesterday has already spawned a cartoon spoof. Hawking is no stranger to making appearances with high comedic content either .... videos below.

This animated depiction of Hawking's Zero G flight appeared on 26 April 2007

In case you missed it, Prof. Hawking made a cameo appeareance on "Star Trek the Next Generation"

He also appeared on "The Simpsons"

Movie trailer - Return to the Moon

Editor's note: Take the time to look at this new promotional animation from ESMD. Play it on a big screen nice and loud so that you can get the full effect of the Indiana Jones-inspired music. The editing style includes some of those slightly jerky camera adjustments seen on Battlestar Galactica.

Whoever does these videos is getting to be rather good at it.

Someone also posted the video on YouTube (link below).

Students Build Longest Structure Ever To Be Launched

Second Young Engineers' Satellite (YES2) Test Programme begins

"The YES2 project involves more than 400 students from across Europe and around the world. The satellite is scheduled to be launched by a Soyuz rocket in September 2007, piggybacking on ESA's Foton-M3 microgravity mission. One of the most important aspects of this innovative mission is the deployment of a 30 km long tether to deploy the Fotino mini-satellite and re-entry capsule. . Not only will this be the longest artificial structure ever deployed in space, but it will also be the first time that a tether has been used to return a payload from space. The flight is intended to demonstrate how such a tether can be used to change a satellite's orbit without attitude control systems or rocket engines."

YES2 Homepage Editor's note: (Be certain to click on the 1 2 3 4 5 at the bottom of the page - there's a lot more to this website)

Editor's note: Today's YouTube Videos: YES2 MDU integration - Day 1 - First day of the integration of the Mass Dummy Unit of the ESA second Young Engineers' Satellite.

YES2 presentation by Ape (in Italian - nice view of spacecraft) - YES2 presented by Fernando Apesteguía before the thermo-vacuum test in ESTEC.

Mystery Snacks on ISS

Editor's update: I came across this image from the ISS crew tonight. The caption says "Astronaut Sunita L. Williams, Expedition 14 flight engineer, takes a snack break near the galley in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station."

So ... are those three trained banana slugs sitting side by side on that chocolate covered graham cracker (or frosted brownie) - or is it just very precisely applied peanut butter? Or (yuck): cheese from an aerosol can? Or is it some Russian glop from a tube? Help me PAO ... I have to know.

Gee, I wonder what Martha Stewart thinks of this - the presentation is a little off. Throw that pastry chef out of the airlock!

Editor's update: NASA PAO checked with the ISS crew: the substance on top is peanut butter - and the item underneath is a brownie.

World's Fifth Space Tourist to Take Gourmet Meal to Space

"The menu for the meal, which was prepared by Alain Ducasse's consulting and training center, ADF, was selected by Dr. Simonyi's friend Martha Stewart."

And now for today's YouTube Video: NASA Edge - Space Food Cook Off (Link below)

"Needs more jelly beans"

One More Reason Why I Use a Mac

Editor's note: If you listen closely to the first part of this Microsoft Vista ad which aired in the U.S. and elsewhere in February 2007, you'll hear a faux 60's era astronaut reporting from "Freedom 7" as a Mercury Atlas rocket is shown on the TV. One small problem: Freedom 7 (carrying Alan Shepard) was launched on a Redstone rocket. Close enough for Microsoft, I suppose.

NASA LARC Blocks Access To Google Site

Reader note: "So much for cooperation between NASA and Google. Langley's net nanny, Websense (AKA WebNonsense), is now blocking all access to Google videos at www.video.google.com yet they still allow full access to Youtube. I guess that's so we can all keep tabs on our PAO folks while they are on travel."

NASA PAO parties on travel, NASA LaRC PAO

Today's NASA YouTube *BONUS* Feature: RTLS - UK Style

Editor's note: Small wonder there haven't been any human rated UK spacecraft ... yet. The best advice for situations such as the one depicted in this YouTube video was once offered by Monty Python: "Run Away!"

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: The GeneSat-1 Journey

Editor's note: Late last year, NASA ARC's GeneSat-1 was launched from Wallops Flight Facility. This small satellite was unqiue in many ways for a NASA project - it's small size - and it's payload - cutting edge genomics instrumentation. In addition, the operation of the spacecraft had a hefty student component. (See GeneSat News)

These three YouTube videos document many of the activities by these students at Santa Clara University and their participation in the GeneSat-1 mission.

Today's Bonus NASA YouTube Feature: Parabolic Puppy

Editor's note: Of course, there re 'cat people' and there are 'dog people'. As such, dogs have been flown on parabolic plane rides as well. In this instance, the weightless pooch seems to be having a little more fun than the cat did - even if he has a somewhat puzzled look on his face. Thanks to A.S. for finding this.

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: Where is Down?

Editor's note: They say that cats always land on their feet (at least mine do - so far) when you drop them. But what happens when there is no "down" to guide them as they fall? I am not sure what the context of this video is - i.e. under what conditions they decided to fly a cat on a series of parabolic flights. And I am certain that the cat was probably rather freaked out (these are clearly not cat people). Indeed, the folks on this flight are wearing blue suits i.e. NASA. I wonder if this was just a stunt - a rather bad cruel one at that (from the cat's perspective). That said, the cat's reactions to freefall are interesting.

Going Where No NASA Mission Video Has Gone Before

Editor's note: The New Horizons Project has a rather new cool video online - one that is a radical departure from the pretty, but somewhat sterile animations that NASA picks - videos that often have dorky narration and ill-fitting music. This video is very reminiscent of the promos that the Star Trek series "Enterprise" used and the ones now being used to promote the remastered episodes from the original Star Trek series. Mike Buckley, Kerri Beisser and others at APL put this video together. The person behind the New Horizons mission is PI Alan Stern - soon to be the new Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator at NASA Headquarters. Are videos like this a preview of things to come? A link to the video is below.

Look at this Star Trek Enterprise promo and you will see what I mean

The Jealous Astronaut

Editor's note: Have a look at "The Jealous Astronaut". This short animated cartoon has a certain retro Jetsons/I Dream of Jeannie thing going on. It has been one week since this story broke. People were posting YouTube videos within hours. Now, more sophisticated animations are appearing online.

The challenge to NASA: imagine if you could harness and/or inspire the same amount of creativity and personal effort toward things that promote the exploration of space - and perhaps highlight some of the many things NASA does spectacularly well? How do you work to shift the discussion away from the bad behavior of a few astronauts and focus on the things they do that should make us all proud - and inspire young people to follow their example? The video is also on YouTube (below)

Direct link

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: When It's Got To Be There Tomorrow

Editor's note: NASA seems to have forgotten to mention yet another entry in the COTS effort to resupply NASA's space missions ...

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: How Much Will that Cost?

Editor's note: For those of you who still can't get enough Sean O'Keefe bean counter jokes ...

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: You Want Extra Cheese?

Editor's note: We all know that the food sucks in orbit. We also know that folks in the MCC can get rather bored at times. Have you ever wondered what sort of behaviors result when these two factors interact?

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: Interesting Personnel Transport at Dryden

Editor's update: I posted a link to this video on 26 January. The last time I checked, the view count went from 13 to 2,058 last night. Now the video (someone innocently riding a unicycle at DFRC) has been pulled - no reason given. The activity depicted was perfectly harmless. Indeed, I have seen people riding "official" bicycles at various NASA centers for years. If anyone knows why this was pulled, I'd like to know.

Editor's note: After landing at Edwards Air Force Base, NASA uses a variety of special rigs and hardware to get a Space Shuttle atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for its ride back home to Florida. This video reveals a previously unseen mobility device used by at least one co-worker in and around the NASA DFRC Shuttle Processing Area (SPA):

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: Don't Push that Button

Editor's note: The Launch Control Center (LCC) at KSC has been upgraded with all the latest gizmos. However, there still seem to be a few flaws in the system whereby pushing a single button can cause big problems. Filmed in the actual LCC.

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: What's This Guy's Secret?

Editor's note: While I am not an American Idol fan, I have seen it - and have seen some of the less than talented wannabes end up becoming famous - because they are so bad. This video shows someone (Brent Simon) singing "the Space Camp Song" which relates the wonders and joys of going to Space Camp. While Brent's performance is certainly not Grammy material, he seems to have spawned a fan club of sorts - with others producing their own tribute videos in response to his performance. Why feature this? When is the last time you saw a homemade video about the joys of space exploration getting 1,125,101 views (and counting) on YouTube? What does this guy know about popularizing space that NASA is missing?

Video responses

Speaking of fans, here he is perfoming the song on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in November 2006 - while wearing his Space Camp flightsuit.

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: America needs the space station - NOW

Editor's note: Picture this: a TV commercial featuring a space station orbiting overhead where people speak Russian and laugh at capitalists back on Earth. How scary - or at least that's what the McDonnell Douglas public affairs folks wanted everyone else to think back in 1988. Flash forward nearly 20 years. McDac is gone. And the space station with Russians on board? Well, we're up there with them. And the capitalists who actually use a space station? They speak Russian - and they are still laughing at us back on Earth because we can't commercialize much (if anything) on the ISS.

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: 3,2,1, LIFTOFF

Editor's note: If you've ever seen one of those ancient movies from the 1950's where people fly on rocketships (which always seem to look like German V-2 rockets), you've no doubt seen the horrible grimaces the actors have on their faces as they are subjected to launch acceleration. Truth is, your face does get a bit distorted and pulled back as the G's climb. Indeed, actual footage from current centrifuge training seems to be funnier than B-movie depictions from half a century ago.

About 3:25 into this clip from the 50's SciFi flick "Rocketship X-M" (being abused as part of Mystery Science Theatre 3000) you can see how closely the grimaces match those seen in modern centrifuges.

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: Ants in Space

Editor's note: Detractors of America's space program often cite the fact that slimy things and bugs often find their way into space aboard satellites and space shuttles. This is, of course, true. However, many people do not fully understand the contribution these little critters have actually made. The following YouTube video "Ants on Rockets" highlights this oft-ignored aspect of space exploration:

This short film was conceived by Wes Oleszewski the creator of the "Klyde Morris" comic strip which often pokes fun at NASA.

Of course, the first thing that comes to mind after viewing this mockumentary is another depiction of ants in space. In this case, a scene from the classic Simpson's episode "Deep Space Homer" (guest astronaut voice by Buzz Aldrin):

LARC PAO Fiddles With YouTube

Editor's note: Have a look at this YouTube video taken at "Fish Lips" in Florida in June 2006. Lots of PAO types drinking. NASA HQ PAO's previous political hire (Joe Pally) is featured as is a gratuitous plug for aeronautics from Jonas Dino (ARC). You can hear someone in the background worrying that this is going "to get on the Web". The video was posted by Michael Finneran from LaRC PAO.

Editor's update: When I first found this video the other night it had been viewed 51 times. Less than 24 36 48 60 hours later that number has climbed to 545 1,816 2,610 2,912 3,610.

There was another video posted by Finneran - about a recent open house made onsite at LaRC. The video pretty much mocked the whole event and lack of attendance, as I recall. Despite being shot by a NASA PAO employee, this has since been relabeled as "private". Maybe Michael Finneran will let you see it if you ask him.

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: Astronaut Pitch Men

Editor's note: You may recall back in the 1980's Wally Schirra demonstrated his legendary independence and became a spokesman for Actifed decongestant - something he and other astronauts had taken during their missions. YouTube now has several of those videos online.

Shirra and Donn Eisele did this ad for Actifed in 1986:

In 1987 Wally Schirra, Alan Bean, and Richard Gordon did this TV spot:

Today's NASA YouTube Feature: Exploring Ames

NASA-Ames After Hours by "flightsuit", YouTube

"Trip out on the unusual industrial landscape that is NASA-Ames' Moffet Field facility, as I drive too fast, trying to find the night-time exit and/or stuff that looks kewl and futuristic."

Editor's note: There's another video - shot at ARC - wherein "Flightsuit", who we learn was a volunteer for some NASA research last year, expresses both his admiration for NASA, aeronautics, and technology and his lack of approval for current Iraq policy. Not an unusual contrast of opinions for a young person in America these days.

"As my week of being a NASA test subject draws to a close, I am surprised by the depth of my own emotions."

Clearly, "Flightsuit" was really having fun during his week long stint at NASA ARC and was drinking in the ambience that goes with being inside a NASA research center.

I wonder what sort of videos other young people might make after similar experiences at ARC - and other NASA field centers. If you know of any, send us a link at nasawatch@reston.com