Reuben H. Fleet Science Center

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Orion's launch was scrubbed on Thursday, but Friday morning, Dec. 5, saw a successful launch, ushering in a new era of space exploration. Click the link above to see the launch footage.

By Dr. Lisa Will

Get ready! During the afternoon of Thursday, October 23, a partial solar eclipse will be visible from San Diego. Less than 50% of the Sun will be covered from our viewpoint in San Diego, but the quality of light outside should be noticeably different.

By Dr. Lisa Will

If you stay up past midnight on Tuesday, October 7, and into the wee hours of Wednesday, you might be lucky enough to see a total lunar eclipse.

The eclipse will start shortly after 1 a.m. and continue until sunrise. The Moon will be in partial eclipse for most of that time, with the total lunar eclipse occurring sometime between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m.

With the launch of our new exhibit, Destination Station, we've been lucky to have astronauts available to chat with us here at the Fleet! Mike Hopkins was selected in July 2009 as one of 14 members of the 20th NASA astronaut class. On September 25, 2013, Hopkins launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. During his stay aboard the space station, Hopkins conducted a pair of U.S. spacewalks to change out a degraded pump module for a total of 12 hours and 58 minutes. Hopkins returned to Earth on March 10, 2014, after 166 days in space.

News From Dr. Lisa Will, the Fleet's Resident Astronomer

Tonight's topic for The Sky Tonight live planetarium show is The Earth From Above. Join us for a view of the Earth from space. Shows are at 7 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. The Sky Tonight features a new topic on the first Wednesday of each month.

Can't make it tonight or want to see more? You might already know about the wonderful Astronomy Picture of the Day website (if not, it's listed below), but if you want to see the Earth from space, here are a few other resources you might enjoy:

Eclipse Viewing Information by Dr. Lisa Will, the Fleet's resident Astronomer

Night owl alert! We San Diegans should have a spectacular view of tonight's lunar eclipse if the clouds/marine layer stay away. The full moon will start passing into the darkest part of the Earth's shadow around 11 p.m. tonight. The total eclipse will begin around midnight and last until 1:30 a.m. The moon will fall completely out of the Earth's shadow around 3 a.m.

San Diego Mini Maker Faire is a one-day, family-friendly event that celebrates arts, crafts, engineering, food, music, science and technology projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful people who like to tinker and love to make things. We call them Makers. Come see the Fleet at the Faire, where we'll be presenting the Tinkering Studio.

The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center (the Fleet) is proud to have been the chosen venue for The 6th Annual San Diego Business Journal Information Technology Executive of the Year Awards. A dedicated group of 400 IT professionals and business leaders gathered at the Fleet to celebrate eight San Diego IT executives earlier this year. The awards ceremony recognized the leadership and innovation of these IT executives. 

NASA News From the Fleet's Astronomer, Lisa Will

Some of you may have heard that NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars was halted by the government shutdown. MAVEN has a launch window of 20 days in late November/early December when the Earth and Mars are in an advantageous alignment. If MAVEN cannot launch during this window, the mission will be delayed until 2016, when the next appropriate alignment occurs.