Dawn now in orbit!

Gosh! Is it really four years since the launch of the Dawn Spacecraft!
This morning Dawn has arrived at the asteroid Vesta and is now in orbit. When the mission was about to launch I sent my name and our family names to NASA to travel aboard the Dawn spacecraft.

It is amazing to think that I am in orbit around Vesta at this moment!

"The Dawn probe has successfully entered orbit around the asteroid Vesta.

Nasa's robotic satellite sent data early on Sunday confirming it was circling the 530km-wide body.

The probe has taken four years to get to Vesta and will spend the next year studying the huge rock before moving on to the "dwarf planet" Ceres.

Asteroid Vesta looks like a punctured football, the result of a colossal collision sometime in its past that knocked off its south polar region."

"Today, we celebrate an incredible exploration milestone as a spacecraft enters orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt for the first time," Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement.

"Dawn's study of the asteroid Vesta marks a major scientific accomplishment and also points the way to the future destinations where people will travel in the coming years. President Obama has directed Nasa to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025, and Dawn is gathering crucial data that will inform that mission."

Vesta was discovered in 1807, the fourth asteroid to be identified in the great belt of rocky debris orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.

Apollo 11 launch day

Today in 1969 Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on its journey to the Moon!
Gosh...I remember so well listening to this on a little transistor radio sat in the sunshine on a banking next to the gymnasium. Lots of us gathered around and cheering as the Saturn V lifted off!
It is amazing to think that only a week ago I felt the same emotions as the Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from the same place for the last time. I wonder if we will see another launch in ten years time of men going to Mars?

This is amazing footage of the launch

Last Space Shuttle Flight

What a sad day...the end of an era!

I watched the launch of the very last Space Shuttle launch at school at about 4.40pm today. Amazing to watch history in the making and my 'face in space' goes with the shuttle!

Face in space is a link to NASA to upload your name and photo of yourself to go with the flight. The launch was today, but Atlantis returns on 20th July....the day that man landed on the moon...what could be better? Well done NASA!

It would be fantastic to be able to see the Atlantis when it arrives at the International Space Station, I will be waiting to see a pass of the ISS and Atlantis over the UK, but this won't be for a few days yet. Would be even better to image it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EFuLap5Pgg