Eagle Nebula Pillars

25 years ago on April 24, 1990, Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on mission STS-31 with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on board. Fitting with a 2.4-meter or 7.9 feet mirror and instruments observing in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra, the telescope has since recorded some of the most detailed images ever, leading to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.

The Eagle Nebula (NGC 6611) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux between 1745 and 1746. It contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions that became famous when NASA release a HST image "Pillars of Creation" in 1995, capturing three dusty pillars in the Eagle Nebula. HST recently took another photograph at the star-forming pillars with its newest camera, providing much greater details.

In celebration of HST’s 25th anniversary, 32 of the best HST images were competing against each other in a series of head-to-head competitions, with popular votes deciding the winner of each round. Ultimately, with over 17,000 votes the Eagle Nebula Pillars triumphed over all other competitors to become the winner of Hubble Mania 2015.

In this NASA released image that can be made into a 5"x7" postcard under NASA's copyright notice, three pillars of cold hydrogen gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula are shown as the birthplace of new stars, 6,500 light years away. The pillars are bathed in the blistering ultraviolet light from a grouping of young, massive stars located off the top of the image. Streamers of gas can be seen bleeding off the pillars as the intense radiation heats and evaporates it into space. Denser regions of the pillars are shadowing material beneath them from the powerful radiation.

I was fortunate for being able to witness the Space Shuttle Discovery's launch for the 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission STS-103 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 19, 1999. 

Space Shuttle's Last Launch

Last Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis

It was the end of an era today two years ago when Space Shuttle Atlantis launched for the last time on July 8, 2011. The mission STS-135 marked the 135th and the final mission of the American Space Shuttle Program. Overall, it was the 33rd flight of Atlantis; 37th shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS); 110th post-Challenger disaster shuttle mission; 22nd post-Columbia disaster shuttle mission, and the 100th daytime launch.

I had seen several launches when I lived in Florida, I decided that I had to be there during the final launch. So, I flew in to Tampa from Las Vegas on July 7, 2012 and drove to Cape Canaveral the next morning. A young family in the crowd told me that they were from Oklahoma and also came just for the event.

The postcard was sent to Finland as US-1740602. Thanks to TouchNote's Challenge in May 2013, I got a copy for myself free.

Today in History: The first American in space

Space Shuttle Challenger on Mission STS-8

On May 5, 1961, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. became the first American to travel into space on the Freedom 7 space capsule.

On this 52nd anniversary, I found a NASA postcard among my early postcard collections, sent from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December, 19, 1999. We sent the card to ourselves when we went to see the Space Shuttle Discovery launch for the 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission STS-103. It was launched from Pad: 39B on December 19, 1999, 7:50 p.m. EST. It was a night time launch since the sunset that day was 5:32 PM. It was our second attempt to drive 300 miles round trip from West Palm Beach to see the Discovery launch in two days. The previous day launch attempt on December 18 was scrubbed due to the weather. There were two more canceled launch attemps on December 6 and December 16, 1999 for technical reasons. We were debating whether to go again on December 19 as the forecast had 40% chance for bad weather. However, our determination paid off for an once-in-a-life-time experience.

Interestingly, the Challenger mission, STS-8 shown on the card, was the first night launch of the space shuttle. The nose of the shuttle was positioned away from the sun in order to test the flight deck's performance in extreme cold temperature. Night time launches were banned after the Shuttle Columbia accident in order to better monitor the foam falling off.

Pictorial Postmark at the Kennedy Space Center

The pictorial postmark had a space shuttle image with the text "Benefits on Earth". The stamp was a non-denominated 'H' stamps issued at the 'birthplace' of Uncle Sam in Troy, New York on November 9, 1988. The "H-series" stamp features Uncle Sam's Top Hat with stars and stripes on a white background. The stamp was valued at 33 cents for the First-Class, 1 ounce, letter rate effective January 10, 1999. 

 Where the postcard was bought: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex gift shop