Benefits of Space Exploration--Is it worth the risk? Is it worth the expense? Definitely YES!
July 20, 2009 is 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).
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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.
Simultaneous Cockpit and Outside Views of Shuttle Launch!
Shuttle launch from inside orbitor
view from the crew cabin as we reach for the stars
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Space Available on eBay!
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NASA News--The Picture of the Day!
Fetching RSS feed... please stand bySpace--the last frontier!
FIGURE: Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-3) Landing At White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, 1982When I was a kid in elementary school, the "Space Race" was just starting. After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the U.S. jumped into the race with more attention to sciences in the schools--and this was brought to me through my schools and through the radio and television we watched. Yuri Gagarin made the news by being the first man in space. We exitedly listened to the radio when John Glenn orbited the Earth, and we followed the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.
I was living in New Mexico--near White Sands Missile Range and Holloman Air Force Base--and much of the research on aeronautics, rocket propulsion, and space science took place seemingly on our doorstep. The "Space Race" was constantly on our minds. As a 4th grade project, I wrote to NASA for information on the Gemini project. They sent back an amazing package of photos, brochures, and other documents that described in great details the inner workings of the spacecraft, the astronaut training and personnel, and Houston Space Center Mission Control. Pretty heady stuff for a 4th grader...
A few years later when I was a 7th grader--I was out with friends, when we heard about the fire with Apollo 1. What a time of mourning for astronauts Grissom, White, and Chaffee. However, the incident sparked even further interest in the space program for me:
Track the Space Station. Click Here
Space Station Sightings. Click Here
You Want Shuttle Specs? Click Here.
Shuttle Reference. Click Here.
Wanna be an Astronaut? Click Here to Start.
More Information about NASA. Click Here.
The Russian Space Agency! Click Here!
The Japanese Space Agency! Click Here!
The Chinese National Space Agency! Click Here!
The Canadian Space Agency! Click Here!
Space on a Shirt, Space on Your Wall, or Space on Your Desk...
News from Space! To the Galaxy and Beyond!
Aeronautical and Space Research News Coming from NASA... and NASA Partners...
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The Space Race Expands!
Two years after the Apollo 1 disaster, my family and I were sitting in someone else's living room to watch Apollo 11 orbiting and the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) landing on the moon. What a thrill to watch Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking and cavorting on the moon!A week later, my folks and I flew to our new home overseas--where there was a NASA tracking station near our home. (Here's an Inspirational Story about a Youngster on Guam Saving the Apollo 11 Mission!)
We were fortunate to be on the runway on Guam when the astronauts--the first to visit the moon--visited the island. And I was able to shake hands with Armstrong and Collins as they proceded down the line to meet the waiting islanders. Later, we were still on Guam through the rest of the Apollo projects.
I later became a science teacher at a local high school--and again, continued watching NASA and its adventures. To keep the students interested in science, NASA was the best of my models. My classes watched as the Space Shuttle Enterprise was launched from a 747 and proceded to glide to a successful landing. Then, we had two astronauts visit the island on their tour to get acquainted with the global tracking stations. The two astronauts were Ellison Onizuka and John McBride. They put on a special program for the science teaching faculty at the high school where I was teaching. Again, I got to shake their hands and get close to the NASA program. I didn't realize at the time that Onizuka and the "Teacher in Space" Christa McAuliff would be lost on the Space Shuttle Challenger.
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After my teaching career ended a year later in 1981, I returned to New Mexico--where I got a job as a photographer/writer for a local newspaper. One of my coolest assignments was to be on the runway at White Sands Missile Range for the Space Shuttle Columbia landing. I was at the White Sands Runway for the preparation, the landing, and then the transport of the Shuttle back to Florida.
Space Stuff For Your Space!
The International Space Station (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 01/05/2010) 
List Price: $5.99
The MIR Space Station: A Precursor to Space Colonization
Amazon Price: (as of 01/05/2010)
List Price: $79.95
Space Station Seventh Grade
Amazon Price: $23.00 (as of 01/05/2010)
List Price: $23.00
Space Station Mars (Clubhouse Book)
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 01/05/2010)
List Price: $15.95
The International Space Station: Building for the Future (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration)
Amazon Price: $30.36 (as of 01/05/2010)
List Price: $39.95
The Space Race Continues....
After leaving the newspaper, I landed a job at White Sands Missile Range as a technical writer-editor. Some of my work involved that for radars and missile launchers as well as for propulsion chemistry and computer software. Eventually, my technical writing enabled me to get a job with the US Dept of Energy in Albuquerque, which led to a job at Livermore National Lab in California, which led to a totally cool job at NASA-Ames Research Center with the International Space Station Project (ISSP) Gravitational Biology Facility. This project brought together my biology and chemistry degree and my technical editing and writing background in addition to my many experiences and involvements and interests with earlier NASA projects. I had learned a bit of Japanese and Russian when I was in high school and college on Guam--and now I was able to more effectively communicate with the Japanese and Russian engineers and scientists working on the joint International Space Station Project. We were working on making our project compatible with the Japanese and Russian modules of the Space Station. (You can click on their links in the text module above.) Again, I didn't know that I may have been passing astronaut/mission specialist Kalpana Chawla in the hallways on occasion. Kalpana died in the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in 2003. Pilot William McCool attended the very same high school on Guam that I had been a teacher at. He also died in the Columbia accident. International Space Station Project -- ISSP
Tour of the International Space Station
Think know the International Space Station? Take this NASA tour to learn more about one of the most challenging projects in the history of exploration! There's more information at www.nasa.gov/station.
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Space--the Next Generation...
The Space Shuttles are now using a design that is more than 28 years old. Their internal systems have been updated and new systems have been added, but the overall design is now almost ancient by technology standards. New designs are being worked on for when the shuttles become obsolete. Space will continue to need human presence--if only to retrieve and repair ailing satellites or for space station operations. But further exploration also beckons. Missions to Mars and other solar systems and other galaxies--the stuff of the science fiction of our youth--are becoming possibilities with many new technologies.The benefits provided by space research?
They are almost too many to list (and many are so subtle that you might not recognize their use here on Earth).
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Miniaturized computing systems. Life support and monitoring systems. New methods for pharmaceutical development. New forms of telecommunications and satellite transmissions. Global positioning systems (the NAVSTAR created by the US in conjunction with NASA and the GLONASS created by the Soviet Union and now operated and managed by the Russian Federation.
Photovoltaic solar cells for satellite and other spacecraft power sources have greatly advanced with higher efficiencies and lower costs--largely due to the extensive use in the astronautic fields.
Hermetically sealed, non-spoiling food preparation methods for space-flight also have application to Earth-bound uses. Velcro. Kevlar. Heat-resistant ceramics and tiles for heat-shields. Water purification methods. Air purification methods. Hazardous waste treatment methods. Physical health and osteoporosis therapy methods and studies. These are to name only a few.
Find SPACE!
If you want to learn more about Space--these folks can help you with that!
- New Mexico Space Museum International Space Hall of Fame
- New Mexico Space Museum
- International Space Hall -- Alamogordo, New Mexico
- International Space Hall--Alamogordo, New Mexico
- Manned Space Flight--NASAs Web Site
- This Website provides interesting links within the NASA organization that you can use to explore further.
- Hong Kong Space Museum
- This website is the official site of the Hong Kong Space Museum -- although it's the Hong Kong Space Museum, its physical location is across Victoria Harbor on Kowloon. The Hong Kong Space Museum is only a few short steps away from the Star Ferry Terminal.
Space Station Fly-By, View of Shuttle, Earth
Atlantis docked to the International Space Station
Atlantis docked to the International Space Station FLIGHT DAY 3: Rendezvous Operations Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver Docking to the International Space Station Hatch Opening and Welcoming by Expedition 13 Crew
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A Parting Shot with Some Humor!
Locked in Space
I won't be working for PIXAR anytime soon, but this is short film i made with Blender 2.44. www.dogsolitude9.com/lis1
curated content from YouTube
Find Your Home From Space! Zoom In To Your Backyard Now!
Space Camp... Movie Closer to Reality than One Might Assume
Space Camp
Amazon Price: $12.49 (as of 01/05/2010)
There's Plenty of Space Here for Your Notes! (Be Sure to Rate Me!)
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- HorseAndPony HorseAndPony Sep 22, 2009 @ 5:42 pm
- This is a great lens. What a great adventure.
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- poddys poddys Nov 11, 2008 @ 10:41 pm
- This is a very nice lens. I saw a launch from Titusville in October 2007 and it was awesome. 5***** well deserved.
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- Teddi14 Teddi14 Sep 21, 2008 @ 10:38 pm
- Nice lens. Awesome pics. I have a lens about our Solar System. I am going to lensroll this lens to it. Check it out. :-) BTW 5*'s
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- LtlDandelion LtlDandelion Aug 27, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
- Great lens! Thanks for sharing some interesting links.
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- mp3-addict mp3-addict Sep 21, 2007 @ 1:08 pm
- Can not believe I am the 1st to add 5 stars!!
I like the lens very much! Although it is not really up to the point, but check my lens - the music which Yuri Gagarin - the 1st man ever in space contributed to!! PPK
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- UncleScurvy UncleScurvy Aug 8, 2007 @ 3:28 pm
- There are even shuttle buleprints available on ebay!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem
by EditorDave
Living on Guam is what now "defines" me. It was such a dramatic difference in my life and outlook on things that there's no way I'd be the same...
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