I thought this was cool, so just wanted to share this true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image of a cloud-free view of the Middle Eastern countries surrounding the Fertile Crescent. (I got the image from NASA.)

Arching along the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea from the Red Sea through modern-day Syria, and then across to the Persian Gulf in an upside-down “u” shape, the Fertile Crescent is a rich, food growing area in an otherwise dry, barren land. Anciently, the land nurtured some of the earliest recorded human civilizations. Even today, a narrow strip of green along the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River marks out the Fertile Crescent.

The description from this fascinating video is:

As part of the Saturday Morning Science program by Don Pettit during Expedition 6 to the International Space Station, his video “Cities at Night; an Orbital Tour Around the World” is a video made from digital still images. This video was made for educational presentations.

You can see an entire overview of the Cities at Night project here.

Frankly, as cool as the cities look from space, what I find most amazing is how they actually took these photos! Those freaking astronauts are improvisational geniuses! Don Pettit built and installed a “barn-door tracker” - from spare parts no less - to enable him to take nighttime photographs from the International Space Station.
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Almost a year ago I wrote about the new Microsoft Photosynth technology, calling it The coolest photo technology I’ve ever seen. I still think that. Dammit! How much longer do we have to wait for a public release? Seriously this is Microsoft’s main problem - they… take… too… long… to… do… anything. Let’s have it already!

Anyway, here is a neat demo of the technology as applied to the Space Shuttle. You need to follow this link to go and actually check out the image collection.

For Endeavour’s historic launch on August 7th, 2007, Live Labs joined forces with NASA to provide a Photosynth tour of the shuttle from vehicle assembly building to the launch pad. Thousands of photos intertwine to provide three dimensional, 360 degree perspectives of one of human kind’s greatest innovations.

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It’s kind of sad to me that there are people out there that actually don’t believe that we went to the moon… but I guess it takes all kinds.

For those people, here is a video which claims to refute any of the edicts they cling to and indeed offers proof to the contrary. Still, people are going to believe what they want to believe…
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This truly amazing video was captured by the cameras mounted on the sides of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) as they’re blown clear of the space shuttle Atlantis during the launch of STS-115.

What I find to be really facinating is the fact that these boosters fall back to earth and splash down in only about 4 minutes. I can’t get to the grocery store in 4 minutes, but these things glide down from space. Man, we’ve got a thin atmosphere…
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Space.com recently reported on a plan by NASA to impact the moon in an area believed to have a potential store of surface ice.

The impact will create a huge cloud of material that can be remotely analyzed for water content. This data will enable planners to work through the complexities of building a permanent human settlement on the moon.
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Although China will be hosting the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee meeting in April, that didn’t keep them from making the colossal mistake on January 11, 2007 of firing an anti-satellite rocket at an old piece of space junk, shattering it into at least 1,000 new pieces of debris now in orbit around the planet.

Space was already so cluttered that scientists live in fear of a chain reaction which will make launching vehicles nearly impossible. They claim that there is already so much floating around that it’s a matter of when, not if, pieces will begin colliding - creating more pieces - and eventually forming an impenetrable belt around the planet.
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You’ve heard all of those Tempurpedic ads about how their space-age material was developed by NASA right?

Well, I’ve got one question for them… does their mattress hover? No? Well, it’s time to move on to the next one then.

Some of those crazy Europeans, no longer content with staying in contact with Mother Earth, have designed a bed that uses high powered magnets to levitate while you sleep.
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