1. ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
Space News Update
- April 12,
In the News
Story 1:
Mission Manager Update: Kepler Recovered from Emergency Mode and is Stable
Story 2:
SpaceX Launches to ISS with BEAM Habitat Prototype and Lands First Stage At Sea
Story 3: NASA’s New Horizons Fills Gap in Space Environment Observations
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Mission Manager Update: Kepler Recovered from Emergency Mode and is Stable
In this computer graphic, NASA's Voyager 1 probe, moving toward upper left, nears the edge of the sun's influence, flying through a region of space dominated by a "magnetic highway" that helps mediate the flow of particles into and out of the solar system. The region includes particles from the sun's southern hemisphere that have been forced northward by the pressure of the interstellar wind. Voyager 1 is expected to cross the boundary into interstellar space sometime within the next few years if not sooner. (Credit: NASA)

3. SpaceX Launches to ISS with BEAM Habitat Prototype and Lands First Stage At Sea

4. NASA’s New Horizons Fills Gap in Space Environment Observations

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, April 12
The almost-first-quarter Moon this evening shines in the feet of Gemini — with Pollux and Castor above it, Procyon to its left, and Betelgeuse, the top corner of departing Orion, below it.
Wednesday, April 13
First-quarter Moon (exact at 11:59 p.m. EDT). The Moon after dusk is positioned between Pollux and Castor to its upper right and Procyon to its lower left (for North America).
Thursday, April 14
Bright Arcturus is climbing high in the east these evenings. Equally bright Capella is descending high in the northwest. They stand at exactly the same height above your horizon some time between about 9:00 and 10:30 p.m. daylight- saving time, depending mostly on how far east or west you live in your time zone. How accurately can you time this event for your location? Like everything star-related, it happens 4 minutes earlier every night.
Friday, April 15
The Moon this evening forms gently curving row with, to its left, Regulus and then bright Jupiter.
Waxing and moving eastward, the Moon hangs down like an ornament from the Sickle of Leo by Saturday the 16th.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Tue Apr 12, 8:24 PM
4 min
14°
11° above NNW
10° above NE
Tue Apr 12, 10:01 PM
< 1 min
23°
19° above NW
23° above NW
Wed Apr 13, 9:09 PM
2 min
35°
17° above NNW
34° above NE
Thu Apr 14, 8:16 PM
5 min
22°
10° above E
Thu Apr 14, 9:53 PM
26°
18° above WNW
26° above WNW
Fri Apr 15, 9:01 PM
80°
29° above NW
46° above ESE
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

7. NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone)
MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013
NASA
MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013
NASA
MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013
NASA
NASA-TV Highlights
(all times Eastern Time Zone)
Thursday, April 14
8:30 a.m. - ISS Expedition 47 In-Flight Event with the Associated Press and the European Space Education Resource Office for ESA wit Tim Kopra and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams of NASA and Flight Engineer Tim Peake of the European Space Agency (Starts at 8:40 a.m.) (all channels)
Saturday, April 16
5:30 a.m. - Coverage of the Installation of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) to the ISS (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media))
8:30 a.m. - Simulcast of NASA’s Student Launch Initiative (NTV-2 (Education))
12:30 p.m. - ISS Expedition 47 In-Flight Event for CASIS for the U.S. Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C. (Starts at 12:35 p.m.) (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media))
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Apr 12 - Comet 148P/Anderson-LINEAR At Opposition (2.056 AU)
Apr 12 - Asteroid 1814 Bach Closest Approach To Earth (1.338 AU)
Apr 12 - Asteroid CERN Closest Approach To Earth (1.430 AU)
Apr 12 - Asteroid 3252 Johnny Closest Approach To Earth (1.609 AU)
Apr 12 - Asteroid Jenniferharris Closest Approach To Earth (1.898 AU)
Apr 12 - Asteroid Melbourne Closest Approach To Earth (2.041 AU)
Apr 12 - Asteroid 5540 Smirnova Closest Approach To Earth (2.216 AU)
Apr 12 - Dwarf Planet Haumea At Opposition ( AU)
Apr th Anniversary (1901), Viscara's Discovery of the Great Comet of 1901
Apr 13 - Comet 9P/Tempel Closest Approach To Earth (0.979 AU)
Apr 13 - Comet 77P/Longmore Closest Approach To Earth (1.347 AU)
Apr 13 - Aten Asteroid 2005 GR33 Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)
Apr 13 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 GC134 Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU)
Apr 13 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 FL12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.024 AU)
Apr 13 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 EK27 Near-Earth Flyby (0.057 AU)
Apr 13 - Asteroid 1862 Apollo Closest Approach To Earth (0.587 AU)
Apr 13 - Asteroid 3763 Quianxuesen Closest Approach To Earth (1.017 AU)
Apr 13 - Apollo Asteroid Sigurd Closest Approach To Earth (1.846 AU)
Apr 13 - Asteroid Pic-du-Midi Closest Approach To Earth (2.029 AU)
Apr 14 - Comet C/2016 B1 (NEOWISE) At Opposition (3.076 AU)
Apr 14 - Comet C/2014 W11 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (3.126 AU)
Apr 14 - Comet 178P/Hug-Bell At Opposition (4.224 AU)
Apr 14 - Comet 36P/Whipple At Opposition (4.243 AU)
Apr 14 -]Amor Asteroid 2016 FS14 Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU)
Apr 14 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 FS12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.063 AU)
Apr 14 - Asteroid Arlington Closest Approach To Earth (1.102 AU)
Apr 14 - Asteroid 3156 Ellington Closest Approach To Earth (1.696 AU)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Food for Thought
Early Mars Bombardment Likely Enhanced its Habitability
University of Colorado at Boulder Press Release

10. Space Image of the Week
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on March 27, 2016
Copyright ESA/Rosetta/NavCam