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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 difficulties of space travel
Space exploration is a popular subject for science fiction writers. Often, the setting of the story will involve a distant date in the future that is hard for most to contradict as plausible, and capture the wildest fantasies of those who follow the story. Of most interest here, the workings in the plot will often be shaped by the space travel of man to likewise distant worlds which are also inventions of the writer’s yet equally impossible to disprove. While some predictions of future worlds have already failed to come to fruition with the passing of the deadline years predicted in their works, others have yet to be verified or refuted. At present, though, space exploration is a risky business, and most of the information we have collected from our own solar system is not the result of manned space travel but rather the data collection of unmanned probes. There are a number of challenges facing humankind’s transit through outer space today. Below are some of these difficulties: 1. Difficulties of repairs – Previous manned space exploration missions have had their share of problems with needed repairs and failed launches. At worst, spacecraft have failed to get off the ground … Continue reading