Joel Housman

Front-end Web Developer, iOS Developer, Man About Internet

Posts from the “Science” Category

Space Shuttle Discovery, Washington DC Flyover – The Photos

Posted on April 17th, 2012

The Space Shuttle Discovery took its final flight this morning from Florida to Washington, DC on the back of one of NASA’s 747 carrier planes used to carry the space shuttle’s around the country. I went down to the National Mall this morning and stood in front of the Washington Monument to photograph its many fly-overs it took before making its final landing at Dulles International Airport where it will be put on display in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Below are what I think are some of my best shots I got with my 28-300mm lens (which on my crop sensor camera, turns into a 480mm zoom).


Approaching over the Lincoln Memorial.


Nice side shot with the NASA T-38 in frame.


Another good side shot.


Flying almost directly overhead.


Washington Monument flags in the foreground.


Coming out from behind the Washington Monument.


With the White House in the foreground.


Another pass with the White House in view.


Another good side shot from close underneath during its last pass.

And while I did not take this picture, I could not resist posting this awesome shot that was posted on the NASA HQ Flickr account:


Also, here is a video from my friend Ted Severson shot from the steps of the U.S. Capital building this morning:

Finally, here is a slideshow of the entire 284 photos I took and posted on Flickr:

What The Space Shuttle Booster Saw

Posted on March 17th, 2012

Video from cameras attached to the booster rockets of the Space Shuttle with this minor exception: it is high definition and the audio has been remastered by Skywalker Sound. Watch it all the way to the end with your headphones on – the audio is great. Also, at the end, you can see the other booster splashing down in the ocean nearby.

via Jason Kottke. ∗

Exploding Iceberg

Posted on March 16th, 2012

Jason Kottke, at Kottke.org:

The people who shot this video claim the iceberg exploded but it looks more like the collapsing ice caused the air and water to shoot out of that hole suddenly. Still cool though.

Adam Savage: How Simple Ideas Lead To Scientific Discoveries

Posted on March 15th, 2012

From the TED Talks video page:

Adam Savage walks through two spectacular examples of profound scientific discoveries that came from simple, creative methods anyone could have followed — Eratosthenes’ calculation of the Earth’s circumference around 200 BC and Hippolyte Fizeau’s measurement of the speed of light in 1849.

Time Lapse View from Space, ISS Fly Over

Posted on November 21st, 2011

By Michael König:

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by the crew of expeditions 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October, 2011, who to my knowledge shot these pictures at an altitude of around 350 km. All credit goes to them. I intend to upload a FullHD-version presently.

HD, refurbished, smoothed, retimed, de-noised, de-flickered, cut, etc. All in all I tried to keep the looks of the material as original as possible, avoided adjusting the colors and the like, since in my opinion the original footage itself already has an almost surreal and aesthetically visual nature.

Visit the video’s Vimeo page for a music, image, and location colophon.

Time Lapse From Orbit

Posted on September 13th, 2011

Here’s some more creative space photography from Ron Garan, who’s currently on board the International Space Station.

Garan and several other astronauts have teamed up for the pFragile Oasis project](http://www.fragileoasis.org/), to share the perspective of Earth that they see from orbit. This time-lapse sequence is apparently a sneak peek at a longer version. The Peter Gabriel song, if you’re racking your brain, was used in the Pixar film Wall-E.

The Dangerous Three-Way Dance at NYC Street Intersections

Posted on June 7th, 2011

Jason Kottke:

3-Way Street is a fascinating video by Ron Gabriel that highlights bad interactions between cars, bikes, and pedestrians at a typical NYC street intersection.

There are lots of ways to show these interactions…the overhead view and highlighting are particularly effective design choices. Well done.

Video created by vimeo user ronconcocacola:

By summer 2010, the expansion of bike lanes in NYC exposed a clash of long-standing bad habits — such as pedestrians jaywalking, cyclists running red lights, and motorists plowing through crosswalks.

By focusing on one intersection as a case study, my video aims to show our interconnection and shared role in improving the safety and usability of our streets.

The video is part of a larger campaign I created called ’3-Way Street’. Please see blog.ronconcocacola.com for more details.

Music: Peter Gunn Theme by Art of Noise, available on iTunes

Timelapse Clouds

Posted on June 7th, 2011

A ten-minute video shows clouds forming and dissipating at timelapse speed. Quite relaxing. Best viewed in fullscreen HD.