On Tuesday, March 10, NASA announced the launch of a streaming video feed from the International Space Station, which will give Internet users the chance to see what Earth looks like from space. This new channel on NASA TV is being webcast as part of NASA’s celebration of the 10th anniversary of the space station in orbit.
The channel will include views of Earth from external cameras on the International Space Station primarily while the astronauts on board are asleep, which is usually from about 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. CST. When a space shuttle is docked to the station, the stream will include video of those activities. And if a live feed isn’t available, the NASA TV channel will display a graphical world map that depicts the station’s location in orbit above Earth using real-time telemetry sent to Mission Control from the station.
The streaming video also will include audio of communications between Mission Control and the astronauts when available.
I’ve been tuning in occasionally for the past few days. Unfortunately, I haven’t caught any live video yet, just the map of the space station’s position above Earth. But I have listened in on occasional audio between the crew and Mission Control. Yesterday afternoon, for example, they were discussing the issues with Discovery’s launch that was supposed to occur Wednesday night.
So, I’ll keep checking back because they say that even live video while the station is in darkness can reveal spectacular views of the city lights below. I may never make it into space, but this streaming video will bring me one step closer to discovering what it would be like — the visual experience, at least. Very cool.