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Awesomeness from orbit - deja vu feelings

Here is a picture of the Cygnus Mass Simulator just after separating from the Antares upper stage.

Somehow this reminds me of the early space age images of years gone by. In fact it is not dissimilar, since for Orbital Sciences it is a first.

Computer Virus Infection at JAXA

1. Possible leaked information
As the computer was used by an employee who is involved in the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV, a cargo transporter to the International Space Station,) the following information was potentially compromised.

Stored mail addresses

Specification and operation information of the HTV

System log-in information accessed from the computer

via jaxa.jp

So, in Aug 2011 it already had a "virus" on it, which was removed. And now a new "virus" on the same computer?
Coincidence? I think not.

I'm standing under the

I'm standing under the #ISS #spacetweetup #eac

via SimplyTweet

The Highest Person Feelin' Low - @astro_ron singing the blues

not only funny, but also a nice tour through the ISS.

Another #ISS pass

@luclodder and me decided to go out and watch the International Space Station pass overhead.

It was a clear night (again!) and the view was excellent.

Here are a few images. See if you recognize stars and constellations in the pictures :-)

Also, check out the extremely exciting closeups that Ralf Vandenbergh made!

ISS pass photos and animated GIF

The ISS passed overhead tonight at around 20:35 CET. Clear skies, so I tried to take some pictures.
Here are the rough images, I hope to improve them over time. Shot with D700 on tripod with 24-120mm F3.5-5.6 AF-S VR lens and 3 second exposure on ISO3200 for each image. Lots of light pollution. Orion is clearly visible in the bottom of the image. Note to self: next time, use lower ISO.

And here is a composite of the above images:

And a smaller animated GIF, please click to see the animation (loading can take a bit of time, it's 1.4MB):