One of many recent videos from the space shuttle Atlantis, this video is a 4 minute long visual wonderland as the booster rockets of the shuttle fall back to earth mid-launch. A good soundtrack is recommended, like Brian Eno or something similar.

While the Soviet Union was still trudging along heavily, there was a successful Soviet space program to build a Soviet fleet of space shuttles, allowing the U.S.S.R to compete with the Americans in space. Naturally, as with all public works when the Soviet government fell, many of the higher-ups in these programs made off with billions of state-money, effectively bankrupting the Russian space program for the foreseeable future. But there were several successful space trips made by the Buran shuttle, which oddly enough, I never heard about In the US back when I was a kid (hmmmmmm). Thankfully, our Eastern blogrades at English Russia have put up a wealth of photos and videos, along with some technical information about Mother Russia’s failed shuttle program.

Read more: Photos of the Russian space shuttle Buran @ English Russia

The first human-spaceflight mission since the disastrous explosion of the shuttle Columbia has begun it’s 3-day countdown to launch. The astronauts prepping for mission STS-121 aboard the space shuttle Discovery are assured the ship is safe to fly it’s 32nd space flight, after year-long testing of the craft. STS-121 will spend 12-days in space, delivering new supplies and a new ESA (European Space Agency) tenant to the International Space Station, performing various in-orbit repairs, and performaning general maintenance and tests. Those interested can watch the launch online via NASA TV, Saturday, July 1st.

[NASA shuttle missions page | NASA TV]

[Update 2. Today's launch was again scrubbed due to weather. The next open-window will occur around 2:38 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, July 4. If the launch takes place on this day, it will be the first space shuttle launch performed on the U.S. Independence Day holiday.]

[Update 1. The Discovery launch has been delayed due to weather concerns around Cape Canaveral. The launch has been rescheduled for July 2nd, at 3:26pm EDT]

Sven Grahn in Sweden has an amazingly interesting hobby. He’s a spy satellite tracker, born out of his desire to find out what really was going on in outer space during the Cold War. Other than tracking the satellites, Sven also records the radio signals that these spy machines, many not even having record of their existence, send back to earth. What appears to be white noise and random bleeps to some, is a symphony of cold war technology, outer space mystery and dreams to others (this coming from someone who’s other projects are all named after NASA space programs).

[Satellite tracking notes | Sounds of outer space] (Via The Coudal Partners)