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    Watch NASA broadcast the first 4K live stream from space today at 1:30PM ET

    Watch NASA broadcast the first 4K live stream from space today at 1:30PM ET

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    A conversation with record-breaking astronaut Peggy Whitson

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    Photo: NASA

    NASA has been uploading 4K footage from the International Space Station to YouTube for almost two years now, but today the agency is trying something new: the first 4K live stream from space. ISS commander Peggy Whitson will use a RED Epic Dragon (and a special UHD encoder from Amazon Web Services) to perform the highest resolution off-Earth live stream ever, and you can watch it here at 1:30PM ET.

    Amazon is hosting the stream as part of its participation in the National Association of Broadcasters trade show, or NAB, which is happening right now in Las Vegas. Because of this, the stream will feature a conversation between Whitson and an AWS executive. That might not sound terribly thrilling, but Whitson recently broke the record for total days spent in space by a US astronaut, after which she got a call from Donald Trump, so she at least has plenty to talk about.

    NASA often embraces new video technologies as a way of promoting its efforts. Just last week the agency (and the United Launch Alliance) attempted the first 360-degree live stream of a rocket launch. Unfortunately, that stream ran into technical difficulties just before liftoff.