Send Your Holiday Greetings ... to Space!

Feeling festive? Show the residents of the International Space Station some holiday cheer -- and boredom-breaking humanity -- by sending them a holiday e-card!

If you're not the e-card type, head over to Twitter to send a Season's Tweetings message. (Yes, NASA went there.)

Just think: Your words will be read in space -- or by some intern in Houston.

Pitcher, Batter and Catcher: Astronaut Plays One-man Baseball in Space

Spending months aboard the lonely International Space Station can get boring. That's where an astronaut's creativity comes in to play.

Check out Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa playing one-man zero-gravity baseball. As a huge baseball fan, Furukawa loves to play--even if he has to pitch, bat and catch.

NASA: Now Hiring Astronauts

If you, like every other kid in America, once dreamed of becoming a NASA astronaut, your time has finally arrived.

NASA announced yesterday that it is accepting applications for the agency's next class of the Astronaut Candidate Program.

NASA will accept applications through January 27, 2012. After applicant interviews and evaluations, the agency expects to announce the final selections in 2013. Training will begin that summer.

Qualified individuals can submit their applications through the federal government's USAJobs.gov website. Those selected will be among the first to pioneer a new generation of commercial launch vehicles and travel aboard a new heavy-lift rocket to distant destinations in deep space.

"For 50 years, American astronauts have led the exploration of our solar system," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a press release. "Today we are getting a glimpse of why that will remain true for the next half-century. Make no mistake about it, human space flight is alive and well at NASA."

To qualify, you need a bachelor's degree in engineering, science or math and three years of relevant professional experience. But be forewarned: successful applicants frequently have significant qualifications in engineering or science or extensive experience flying high-performance jet aircraft. Educators teaching kindergarten through 12th grade with these minimimum degree requirements also are encouraged to apply.

To apply, visit the NASA website here.

Experience a Beautiful New View of Earth, as Seen From Space

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Does your brain need a little afternoon stimulation this Tuesday? Check out this beautiful video.

It was created by stitching together several series of photographs taken by astronauts onboard the International Space Station from August to October. The photos were created about 200 miles up, which is the average orbit height of the ISS.

According to Space.com, the video required very little color correcting or digital editing, so the beautiful view you're seeing is real. Those amazing auroras that permeate the video are triggered by charged particles from the solar wind interacting with Earth's atmosphere. The result is one of the most stunning videos of Earth to hit the web.

Robots on the Moon, Coming Soon From NASA

In less than three years, NASA aims to land a human-like robot on the Moon. Why? Because sending a robot is nearly $150 billion cheaper than sending a human astronaut. 

Robonaut 2 (R2) was designed to help humans work and explore in space. "Working side by side with humans, or going where the risks are too great for people, Robonauts will expand our ability for construction and discovery,” reads NASA’s description of its robot program.

R2, which was funded in part by General Motors, doesn't have legs, but it will by the time it heads for the Moon. This week, the legless, fixed-pedestal R2 will take a trip on the Discovery space shuttle to the International Space Station. 

R2's lower half is still in the design phase. NASA says it may take the form of a four-wheel rover, with legs for climbing through the ISS' corridors. 

“[R2] will become the first dexterous humanoid robot in space, and the first U.S.-built robot on the space station,” NASA said. “But that will be just one small step for a robot and one giant leap for robot-kind.”