This will be very cool: on Wednesday at 08:30 Pacific Time, NASA and Discovery HD Theater will broadcast live high-definition TV from the space station.
I used to get NASA TV when I lived in Maryland, and sometimes, on a winter’s evening, I would sit with music playing quietly and NASA TV on and just watch, letting my thoughts drift. My favorite time was when the Shuttle crew would be sleeping, and they would just show a camera pointed at Earth. The shots over the day-lit Earth were spectacular, but far better was when it was nighttime. You could see city lights, thunderstorms blazing, and when they pointed the camera at the horizon you could see the curved limb of the Earth, the atmospheric aerosol haze layer glowing eerily, and the stars rising behind the limb. It was hypnotizing, serene, and beautiful.
I don’t have NASA TV on cable anymore, so this high-def broadcast should slake my thirst for space video… for a while. If it works out, I’d love to see an HD camera pointed down and a dedicated channel for it. I’d let it run all the time on my TV.
November 13th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Ironic, I was just thinking about that this weekend. I have the nasa channel but I’m not sure when those earth view shots are? I’ll have to try and google them up….I really like the dedicated channel idea tho!
November 13th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
HDTV from space. Now we can watch the planet from the viewpoint of those LITTLE GREY ALIENS,,,wait, is that a head in the sand,,,oh, no, it’s just George Bush, trying to placate the Democrats.
Funny how he turned to “Why can’t we all be friends?” Now that those he’s been bashing and accusing of being soft on terrorism for the last half dozen years are in a position to IMPEACH his B*&T. That’s right George, stick it in the air,,,
GAry 7
November 13th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
High Definition pictures from space = Anti Bush screed. Is there something that can be discussed here that won’t go right back to Dems vs Reps.?
November 13th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
I cannot wait for this!! I think it’s a crime that the NASA channel is not standard for every cable company. (I don’t get it either.) That will hopefully change by the time of the first (new) Moon landings.
If not, I’ll just have to switch to satellite TV.
November 13th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
” …in a position to IMPEACH his B*&T.”
Impeach for what?
November 13th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
I’m watching it on the Science Channel! >=( NASA channel = TEH SUCEH!
November 13th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Though I don’t have HD TV, this ought to be cool.
This will be in the morning, right? That’s my guess from the site. I assume then it’s 10:30 AM, Eastern time?
November 13th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
Yes! I just recently purchased a very nice LCD HDTV, and have pretty much been watching Discovery HD Theater since. I’m such a snob now – I won’t watch anything that’s not in HD. I will definitely mark my calendar. Too bad it’s on so late in the good ol’ Eastern time zone. Any other planned broadcasts?
November 13th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
Yes – I miss the NASA channel also. It was always something you could count on if you needed some extra help falling asleep late at night.
November 13th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Gee, Murff, I don’t know. Maybe because he lied to the US public about WMDs, or invoked torture as a presedential perogative, ignoring international treaties, such as the Geneva convention on treatment of prisoners of war, or, oh heck, I’m sure someone can think of some reason better than the one put forward by the Republicans concerning Clinton,,,
GAry 7
PS, Yes, this Blog generates a lot of input. But I really love the science coverage, too.
November 13th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
I can’t really control the comments much, but really Gary Ansorge, that was really off-topic. Try to keep such things to the political posts, OK?
November 14th, 2006 at 4:31 am
Ha ha Gary got scolded. Turn of your monitor for 5 minutes. If it happens again, you will be going to bed without dinner!
November 14th, 2006 at 8:13 am
Darn, there are dedicated political posts too? OK, I’ll try to be good,,,
Speaking of monitors, mine is almost as old as me and getting a bit shaky around the edges. Anyone have any suggestions for a good, HD replacement? I would really like to be able to observe these HD transmissions with good fidelity, but I have limited resources, so could use some informed, cost effective input.
Thanks,
Gary 7
November 15th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Did anyone see it? I was at work.
I will try to catch a rerun.
November 15th, 2006 at 7:48 pm
I saw the program, Phil.
For me, it was on the Science Channel, at 9:00pm EST (I get Direct TV, so I don’t know if it’s schedule is different than what you get).
It seemed rather short; 1/2 hour. But it was cool to watch. Would’ve been better if I had HDTV.
November 16th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
I thought the broadcast from the Space Station was good, but could have been better. The view of the east coast of Africa was very brief and the terrain wasn’t exactly stunning. It was a bit too talky; they could have used more visuals since it was an HD broadcast! (They could have shown more views of Earth while the astronaut was talking.) The view of “drinking” the floating round glob of juice was great; seeing liquids float around in space is cool … I never get tired of seeing it!
If you missed it, I believe that the Science Channel is repeating the show several times … check your local TV schedule.
November 16th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Actually … it was the WEST coast of Africa that we saw from the Space Station. I’m in good company in making that mistake; the astronaut said the same thing!