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Credit: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center. “The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.”

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken October 16, 2011 from 09:07:37 to 09:24:10 GMT, on a pass beginning just south of the Gulf of Alaska in the eastern Pacific Ocean to Central America near the border of Honduras and Nicaragua. The Aurora Borealis is shown near the beginning of the video over Canada as the ISS continues the pass southeast into North America. The first lights seen on the coast of the western United States are those of southern British Columbia, Vancouver Island, and Washington state. The pass continues through the Rocky Mountains, where Denver, Colorado can be easily spotted as a bright cluster of lights amongst many strings of smaller cities. Finally, the pass follows down the central part of the United States, showing the bright cities of Dallas, Texas and Houston, Texas. The lights of oil platforms just south of Louisiana can be spotted as smaller lights in the Gulf of Mexico. The pass ends over the Caribbean Sea.

Compiled from frames ISS029-E-28110 to ISS029-E-28441

 
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The pilot episode of ABC’s Pan Am has aired and it’s clearly well researched, but obviously not done for the aviation buff. It’s a bit of a shame. I was really hoping to hear the Captain say that the flight would only take “6 1/2 Magic Hours” to fly from New York to London. The iconic Pan Am Worldport terminal in New York looked great, but I missed the wonderful static of the HF radio as the Captain checked in with Gander Oceanic.

This Time article from 1971 talks about the “Plane Mate” people movers that still exist today at JFK where Delta Air Lines took over the terminal in 1991 and is slated to demolish it soon.

Here’s a replay of 6 1/2 Magic Hours from 1958 celebrating Pan Am’s Boeing 707 Jet Clipper service across the Atlantic.

 

A further search through the Time archive finds an article on Noise over Jet Noise discussing the increased noise from the jet age aircraft soon to cloud the skies around the world. Some may remember that similars concerns over jet noise continued in New York with the Concorde.

Idlewild stands alone in the U.S. in objecting to jets. Airports in Chicago, Los Angeles. Miami. Boston. Denver, Wichita, Oklahoma City and also Mexico City, Caracas and Vancouver, B.C. welcome and actively solicit jetliner test flights, figuring that an airport that cannot or will not take jets might as well go back to cow pasture.

 

 

Time printed a nine page story on Jets Across the U.S. shortly after the Jet Clipper flight to London covering a great deal of aviation subjects and how changes would bring “Bigger Airports, Better Controls, Bigger Planes, New Sensations, New Terminals, Faster Ticketing, Daytime Flights, Faster Baggage Loading, Better Food and Lower Fares.”

The article from November 15th, 1958 does clarify that “Not all these changes will take place right away.”

 
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Courtesy: NASA Dryden Flight Research CenterNASA’s SCAs–Birds of a Feather Flock Together

NASA’s two modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft briefly flew in formation for the first time ever over the Edwards Air Force Base test range on Aug. 2, 2011. NASA 911 was on a pilot proficiency flight while NASA 905 was on a functional check flight following maintenance operations. NASA photographer Carla Thomas captured video imagery of the formation flight from a NASA Dryden F/A-18.

 

 

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