That's no space station, it's a student-led drone show: Space photo of the day
The International Space Station and a space shuttle, as seen here, joined other historic spacecraft and scenes from space history as part of a student-led drone show for the opening of the Space Foundation's 40th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on April 7, 2025.
A group of 10 high school students, working with their teacher and the St. Vrain Innovation Center in Longmont, Colorado, built, coded and coordinated this show using 300 drones, according to KRDO news radio.
In addition to recreating the ISS and shuttle, the students also programmed the drones to form an astronaut walking on the moon, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and the symposium's logo.
"To see high school students be able to take hundreds of drones and actually make it look professional, this was kind of like an Olympic opening ceremony," said Damian DiPippa, CEO of Auria Space, in an interview with KRDO.
This drone show was staged over Broadmoor Lake as a crowd of more than 10,000 Space Symposium attendees from 60 countries looked on from the shore.
Now in its 40th year, the Space Foundation's Space Symposium brings together global space professionals from all sectors, providing a platform to explore critical space issues, foster dialogue and drive innovation across the space industry. This year's event runs through April 10, 2025 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
You can read and watch KRDO's coverage of the drone show. You can also read more about some of the announcements at the 40th Space Symposium, including the reveal of a new moon rover and the comments made by NASA's acting administrator about the "weird period" for the space agency right now.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
Houston, we have a problem: Scrapping the space station harms the US
American astronauts have been in low-Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station for nearly a quarter century. Their continuous presence in space has led to innovations such as cochlear implants that help deaf people hear, technology that makes our phone cameras sharper, better water filtration and so much more that benefits us back here on Earth. Unfortunately, President Trump's budget effectively decommissions the space station, despite years of potential usefulness still ahead. In its own words, the administration plans to 'focus on maintaining minimal safe operations and very limited research essential to Moon and Mars exploration until [the station's] retirement in 2030.' That includes exploring reduced cargo and crew flights as today's transportation capacity won't be needed in a minimal operations environment. Such a move may seem penny-wise, but it is absolutely pound-foolish. The nation has invested billions of dollars into this national asset and transportation options to take astronauts to and from the platform. Additionally, the station generates substantial economic benefit domestically and soft power internationally. In fact, according to the International Space Station National Lab, the nonprofit organization that runs science aboard the station, startups who have flown their experiments to the station have secured nearly $2.2 billion in funding after their flights. This figure highlights the incredible value science and technology development performed on the station is generating today. Beyond these near-term returns, the space economy, of which low-Earth orbit remains a core component, is expected to be worth up to $2 trillion in total by 2040. But the U.S. will not be able to fully realize its potential in this new economic frontier without its own astronauts and labs in orbit. Plans call for commercial successors to the International Space Station, which requires a broad range of customers beyond NASA. Shutting down regular access to the station for technology demonstrations now will make it challenging for non-government customers to close their business cases as commercial stations aren't expected to be operational for a few years. This would amount to a death spiral in a strategically significant domain. Discerning readers may question why the federal government needs to invest, given the commercial interest in low-Earth orbit. This investment is necessary because the United States isn't the only game in town and the pipeline for industries in space is still quite nascent. The nation is engaged in a great power competition with China, which is heavily investing in their low-Earth orbit capabilities. China already has its own space station, Tiangong, in orbit and offers other nations access to it to conduct their science experiments and technology demonstrations. Scientists and countries are already choosing to send their experiments to the Chinese station instead of the International Space Station, given the advanced facilities and reduced level of competition for flights. Moreover, Beijing released a road map that will likely establish China as the global leader in space by 2050, or sooner, if the U.S. persists in the direction charted by Trump's budget request. Beyond these economic benefits, Tiangong also bolsters China's reputation internationally and earns Beijing diplomatic goodwill. The U.S. currently benefits similarly from the international exchanges that occur on the International Space Station. But if the U.S. stops conducting robust research aboard its station, as intended by the Trump administration, it will leave international goodwill on the table for China to pick up on the cheap. In other words, the Trump administration appears intent to inflict significant geopolitical and economic harm on the U.S. to save a few pennies in the overall federal budget.
UPI
6 hours ago
- UPI
Axiom-4 astronauts splash down on return from ISS
July 15 (UPI) -- Axiom-4 astronauts returned to Earth on Tuesday following their 18-day mission aboard the International Space Station. The crew splashed down in their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule "Grace" in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 5:32 a.m. EST. Grace initially left the ISS Monday at 7:15 a.m. During their time on the ISS, the four astronauts Peggy Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Tibor Kapu conducted more experiments and technology demonstrations than any other Axiom mission. Welcome back to Earth, #Ax4! Today the Dragon spacecraft successfully splashed down marking the end of their successful mission to the International Space Station. Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) July 15, 2025 The crew initially launched on June 26, with plans of a two-week-long mission but it was extended by four days. The next group planning to go to ISS is SpaceX's Crew-11 with plans to launch no earlier than July 31 featuring a crew rotation that's expected to last between six and eight months.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Don't miss the moon pass close to Saturn and Neptune on July 15
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Heads up stargazers! The moon will rise close to Saturn and the ice giant Neptune in the eastern sky on the night of July 15, close enough to be seen together in a pair of binoculars! Saturn will rise above the eastern horizon beneath the stars of the constellation Pisces shortly before midnight for viewers in the U.S. on July 15, with the waning gibbous moon shining roughly three degrees to its upper right. For context, the width of your little finger held at arms length against the night sky accounts for roughly 1 degree. The planet Neptune can also be found lurking approximately 1 degree to the upper left of Saturn around this time, though its dim brightness, or magnitude of +7.8, will make it impossible to see with the naked eye. Remember: magnitude is the scale used by astronomers to measure the apparent brightness of night sky objects. The lower the number, the brighter a planet or star will appear in the night sky. The human eye is capable of picking out objects with a brightness of +6.5 or greater from a dark sky location. All three celestial targets will fit nicely within the field of view of a pair of 10x50 binoculars, though Neptune will appear as nothing more than a dim point of blueish light —if it's visible at all against the glare of the waning moon — so don't expect much too much from the ice giant. Gazing through a telescope with a 6-inch aperture will help reveal the rings around Saturn, while an 8-inch scope may allow you to spot variations in color on the gas giant's cloud surface. A range of exciting observing targets will also be visible on the 75%-lit moon on July 15, including the long, thin form of Mare Frigolis — a vast basalt plain visible as a dark scar running across the northern extreme of the lunar surface. The celestial trio will remain close to each other throughout the night, with Saturn and Neptune eventually fading from sight in the southern sky when the sun rises on July 16. Stargazers looking to get a closer look at the myriad worlds of our solar system should check out our guides to the best telescopes and binoculars for exploring the night sky. We also have a handy roundup of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography for those looking to immortalize their skywatching sessions.
