Live From Space: HDTV

Nov. 14, 2006 — Astronauts aboard the International Space Station participated in the first high-definition television broadcast from space Wednesday.

"You can see the pores on their skin," said project manager Kevin Hanes with NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "It's so good, you almost don't want to look at people."

The broadcast was shown exclusively on The Discovery Channel's HD Theater at 11:30 a.m. EST and on the Japanese broadcast network NHK.

The firms donated money to develop the HDTV system and certify it for spaceflight as part of a 2002 agreement with NASA. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, known as JAXA, donated the HD broadcast-quality camera.

Discovery Channel also plans to air the broadcast in the Discovery Channel stores.

Station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin was the on-air talent, while European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter served as the orbital cameraman.

"It will really show you what it's like to live on the space station, how much stuff there is aboard and how crowded it is," said Rodney Grubbs, the NASA principal investigator.

The crew offered viewers a short tour of the orbital complex and filmed themselves eating a meal.

Although no other high-definition broadcasts currently are scheduled, Grubbs said it's only a matter of time before NASA itself, other agencies and commercial firms will make use of the system.

The gear, which includes an HDTV camcorder and a special computer to process the video for use by the station's communications system, were delivered to the outpost in September during the last space shuttle flight.

Astronauts have used HD, IMAX and other high-resolution cameras before in space, but had never relayed the videos live.

Broadcasting from space saves NASA from having to launch tapes to the station and returning them to Earth, added Hanes. Flying payloads to space costs thousands of dollars per pound.

In addition, once the shuttle fleet is retired in four years, the amount of cargo that can be transported to and from Earth will be severely limited.

"This broadcast is the first step," Haynes said. "Until you send down HD footage, people don't even know what they can use it for. It really opens your eyes."