Category Archives: Gallery
Important manned NASA missions
Sometimes, organizations and entities become so universally known by a nickname or abbreviation that people can easily forget what exactly a particular acronym stands for. For over fifty years, one particular American institution has been known to its constituents and citizens of other nations by a certain four-letter abbreviation, based on that group’s track record with stimulating curiosity about outer space, exploring the limits of human ability, physiology and will, and literally taking people to places they have never been before. This much-heralded organization is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was established and officially made known to the public in 1958. Since its inception, NASA mission after NASA mission has been responsible for furthering the world’s knowledge of space. Of the highest interest and amount of publicity have been the various manned missions that NASA has authorized to keep the United States on the cutting edge of scientific innovation. The following are among the programs affiliated with NASA that have brought significant firsts to the public consciousness: 1. Project Mercury/Project Gemini – Before contemplating orbiting any other celestial objects, NASA researchers had to verify that man could survive in … Continue reading
The Milky Way Galaxy: our place in it and its place in the universe
One of the beauties of human existence is the way in which we relate to our world and come to process in terms that further our understanding. Though the star around which our planet and others travel and Earth’s own satellite did not come with labels attached, at least in terms of the English language, we saw fit to give them the common names “the sun” and “the moon.” That is the essence of the phenomenon of language; it allows us to organize our world for efficient cognitive processing. While those who follow astronomy will often employ number-and-letter codes or names based on classical languages (for instances, our sun might alternatively be referred to as Sol) for the official classification of stars and planets, when used popularly, phrases like “the moon” are just as good for one to be comprehended. Anyone with a basic grasp of astronomy and the size of the universe knows that our solar system is just a small piece of the proverbial pie, and one star in itself is just a minute part of an individual galaxy. In the popular vernacular, we too have a name for the galaxy in which we reside. Earth is part … Continue reading
The definition of a space shuttle
For those who are just coming into adulthood and anyone else coming into awareness of the first moon landing, they will obviously be doing so after the fact and getting most of their information from secondhand sources. They also might tend to judge historical events by modern terms, or at the very least, think in anachronistic terms when it comes to prior aeronautic endeavors. In particular, the supposition might be made by those individuals that the space shuttle program was always in effect since the first rocket NASA sent into space. Nevertheless, this line of thinking would be erroneous. Manned space shuttle missions did not start until the 1980′s, and so distinctions must be made between the spacecraft of the past and the forms of space travel of newer generations, especially with NASA’s announcement that 2010 would mark the last year that any space shuttle missions would take place. Thus, in looking both forward and back, we must consult our dictionaries and other reference books as to what differentiates the soon-to-be outmoded shuttle technology of today from more general rocket technology as interpreted by scientists and romanticizing writers alike. One element of a rocket that may cause it to be … Continue reading
The Hubble Telescope and its origins
There has been a desire to explore the stars and the distant reaches of the galaxy ever since we were able to see the other planets of our solar system. Ever since Galileo invented and proved the power of the telescope, the quest for knowledge has put a greater and greater demand on the improvement of telescope technology and new conceptions of how to achieve photographic representations of space; it is not conceivable for astronomers and other scientists to continue to try to view heavenly bodies with starter telescopes. Many large optical telescopes have been established for use by research teams in locations amenable for astronomical viewings. Places like Hawaii, Chile and the Canary Islands are territories on which multiple high-powered telescopes reside and are used on a regular basis. However, while research stations on our planet are continuing to be improved and records for the size of the largest telescope ever created, even the tethering of a telescope to the Earth may be limiting. That is part of the allure and functionality of the Hubble Telescope, also known as the Hubble Space Telescope, and named after Edwin P. Hubble, a groundbreaking theorist in the field of astronomy whose work … Continue reading
The legacy of the space shuttle program
While many instances of NASA launch may be immediately memorable to the American citizen who has lived through the Space Race and into the modern age, one of the most prominent would have to be the Apollo missions designed for lunar landing and analysis. However, in terms of being a space shuttle launch, to insist that, say, the Apollo 13 mission was just that would be to commit an error. While we might think the terms interchangeable after almost 30 years of manned space shuttle launch events – after all, time may cause one to forget – not every rocket launched by NASA has been a space shuttle. In fact, the first manned space shuttle did not take off until the 1980′s, well after Neil Armstrong’s world-famous romp on the surface of the moon. The space shuttle program is merely a subcategory of the general NASA launch heading. Including non-operational flights, the space shuttle program has been in gear for even longer than 30 years. Using the Enterprise model of orbiter, tests were conducted in the late 70′s to get a feel for how the space shuttle performed when attached to a space shuttle carrier and later in missions of … Continue reading
The process of becoming an astronaut
Children are often asked, as part of an assembly or by their teachers, what they want to be when they grow up. For a lot of kids, this may be an attractive job based on perceived importance and heroism such as firefighter or police officer, or something cued in their minds from their everyday lives, such as teacher, school nurse, or whatever job their parent does. Few occupations, however, capture the majesty and elite status of being an astronaut, which makes the career path all the more appealing to youths. Astronauts like John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, even though exact their exact roles in American aeronautic history may not be known to all, are still famous and synonymous with space travel. Even if one is not first to orbit the Earth or set foot on the moon’s surface, to be an astronaut is to be part of a very select few. Only a handful of people, in relative terms, can say they were astronauts, that they shot away from the Earth in a rocket and went beyond the stratosphere. While the cost of sending men and women into space in expensive spacecraft is a limiting factor in itself, the fact … Continue reading
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and what we learned from it
There are certain critical moments in American history that leave a permanent mark on the minds and memories of the people who witnessed it. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, people could close their eyes and still vividly picture sights of men and women jumping out of the World Trade Center towers to their death. Those who saw live coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy or heard soon after the fact still probably remember exactly where they were and what they were doing. This kind of flashbulb memory also applies to the failed launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger in January of 1986. Of course, the Challenger disaster is notable for the very public and very sudden loss of multiple human lives. In the popular use of the word, the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger mission was an American tragedy, and seven good people were lost in its disintegration. Unfortunately, the real tragedy surrounding the events of the Challenger is that the cause of the problem was probably preventable, and at the very least, the decision to launch was definitely preventable. In physical terms, the failure of the spacecraft as a whole was prompted by an initial … Continue reading
Making astronomy exciting for kids
In the wake of federal No Child Left Behind legislation, it is incumbent upon today’s educators to be well trained and meet certain educational standards. The increased reliance of testing as part of these changes to the educational landscape has placed a greater demand on schools to provide results by hitting minimum scores and percentages. However, these figures don’t really mean much to the individual student and, worse yet, may be an even stronger influence on some kids to drop out of school. Already, school is a hard sell to children, as memorization drills and teaching to the test cause many children to regard school, learning and fun as separate concepts. In terms of a specific subject, astronomy, taught right, is a tremendously interesting and informative field with tons to explore. Of course, even the most dry information on astronomy and things like stellar evolution can be intriguing to someone who loves astronomy. For kids, there need to be some bells and whistles, so to speak, for a scientific concept to catch and hold their attention. In other words, the presentation should be exciting without sacrificing information. The following are suggestions for enlivening astronomy for kids: 1. Use fun projects … Continue reading
Sources of astronomy news
Usually, it takes an event of cataclysmic proportions for a bit of astronomy news to make national news. From time to time, the word that an asteroid or meteorite is passing close to the Earth makes a blip on our radar, as people undoubtedly think back to the disaster movies perpetuated by Hollywood where impending doom lies in the form of an intergalactic rock hurtling towards our planet. A few years back, though, it was a simple decision of the International Astronomical Union that turned astronomy news into fodder for water-cooler discussion. At the 2006 assembly in Prague, the IAU decided to make Pluto, previously considered as the final planetary representative of our solar system, a dwarf planet, effectively downgrading its status. For people who had grown up thinking there are nine planets in our solar system and fans of mnemonic devices that perpetuated this belief, the news came as an unwelcome surprise, and to this day, is still argued and bantered about. Again, though, the Pluto story and asteroid warnings are deviations from the norm. Astronomy articles in the newspaper are likely to be relegated to the back pages of a particular section. If you are keen on finding … Continue reading
Facts on constellations
Several stars in our universe are notable on their own merit. Sol, our sun, is indeed a star, even though we tend think of stars as little orbs of light that dot our skies and exist millions of miles away. Polaris, the North Star, an important reference point in the sky for navigators in the pre-GPS era, is also given its own place on the mantle of our collective recognition of stars. Other stars visible in our night skies, meanwhile, are better understood in relation to one another and are identifiable to even young children based on their shape. A certain grouping of stars that has been identified for the spatial relationship among stars or has otherwise been named for its shape is known as an asterism, or more commonly, a constellation. Constellations are one of the phenomena of astronomy that make it so endearing to its students. The study of astrology and reading the constellations, while dubious as a legitimate science and despite being a source of revenue for some, is often a fun pastime for people. Going back in time, some groups even attached a special meaning or power to these constellation groups, and even today, some people … Continue reading