Space? Space Shuttle? Space Station? Space Science!

January 28 marked the anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. I was at work when we were told to listen to the radio--and we found out about the explosion of the shuttle minutes after it launched and was streaming towards its orbit. It especially affected me -- because I had met and shaken hands with astronaut Ellison Onizuka when he and a colleague astronaut visited the high school where I was working as a science teacher in 1980, as a science teacher I had been particularly interested in the "Teacher in Space" program and Christa McAuliffe being selected as the first "teacher in space", and a year earlier, Judith Resnik had been a guest speaker at an International Technical Communications Conference that I attended as a technical writer/editor. And to top that, I was a staff newspaper writer/photographer on the runway in New Mexico for the March 1982 landing of the Space Shuttle Columbia at White Sands Missile Range.

July 20, 2009 was the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moonlanding. Here's another Site that Discusses the 1969 Moonlanding

Observations from space can help us understand our planet's dilemma with climate change, global warming, environmental pollution, and natural disasters. Astronauts orbiting in a space shuttle or on the International Space Station have been able to make valuable recordings of recent events such as the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Africa; Hurricane Ike and many other hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones; volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. These events are big enough to be seen and recorded from space.

Working at NASA-Ames Research Center as a contract writer-editor for the International Space Station Project Gravitational Biology Facility was the ultimate high for my career as a science major and as a technical writer-editor.  The energy of the place was awesome... and the folks I worked with will forever be in my fond memories (and I still keep in contact with many of them).

Many folks sometimes fuss about the so-called friviolity of NASA and what it does... they think the money could be better spent on what they think is "more important"... but after working with NASA (as well as following NASA through much of its history as a major fan), I now believe even more strongly about the benefit that NASA programs can provide not only the United States, but the world in general. 

Two T-38s escorting the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-3) to a landing at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, March 1982

Weather satellites come to mind. Surveillance satellites as well. Surveillance satellites can track weather patterns, track plant diseases, and things like tsunami formations to help us learn how to avoid being harmed by these natural events.  Advances in vacuum technology, materials processing, health and fitness studies, and engineering have also come about through much of the work taking place with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.