African Americans In Space by Kale Cunningham

February is Black History Month, so I decided to make a space article devoted to African Americans that helped us better understand space.

1: Guion Bluford

Guion Bluford was born on November 22, 1942. In 1964 he graduated from Penn State with a degree in aerospace engineering. Shortly after he joined the American Air Force, he was selected by NASA in 1978 to be the first African American to go into space. After waiting for 5 years he finally did on the mission STS-8 aboard the space shuttle Challenger (Please note that the shuttle Challenger flew 9 times before exploding.) 

Bluford went on to fly three more space shuttle flights before retiring from NASA in the summer of 1993. 

2: Ronald McNair

For the next few astronauts, I will mention the ones that we lost in tragedy but they gave excellent services to our country and should be remembered as heroes. Ronald McNair was born on October 21, 1950. He studied Physics in college and in 1978 was selected as an astronaut for NASA. He flew on STS-41B in 1984 and was supposed to fly again on the mission STS-51-L or as many people know it today the Challenger disaster. On January 28, 1986, he was killed when Challenger blew up nine miles above the Atlantic Ocean, 73 seconds after liftoff. 

3: Michael P. Anderson

Michael Anderson was born in 1959 Anderson studied physics and astronomy at the University of Washington in Seattle. In 1990 he was awarded a Master of Science degree in physics. A few years later he joined the Air Force and in 1995 joined NASA as an astronaut. He flew on mission STS-89 in 1998 and later STS-107 on the space shuttle Columbia in January 2003. But when the crew was coming home they burned up in Earth's atmosphere and Anderson with the rest of his crew was killed.

4: Robert Lawrence Jr.

The last astronaut I will talk about who sadly died was Robert H. Lawrence Jr. he never got to fly into space but I think that he is worth mentioning. 

Born in 1935, he started a military career after getting a chemistry degree. In the summer of 1967, he was picked by the US army for a space secret mission, which would spy on the Soviet Union from low Earth orbit. But sadly just 6 months later he died in a plane crash. A few years after his death the army scrapped the idea of the spy mission because it went over-budget. 

5: Mae Jemison

Mae Jemison was the first female African American to go into space. Born in 1956 she started in a medical career but then switched to a NASA career and flew on the mission STS-47 in 1992. In 1993 she left NASA and founded her own technology company. 

6: Leland D. Melvin

Leland Melvin had a harsh start to his astronaut career after a training accident that left him temporarily deaf, a condition that grounded him from traveling into space. But he overcame this problem and he flew twice into space on STS-122 and STS-129. 

7: Joan Higginbotham 

Went into space on STS-116 after many long years of waiting, before she went into space she oversaw 53 space launches.

8: Bernard A. Harris Jr.

Bernard Harris Jr. made history in 1995 when he became the first African American to walk in space on the mission STS-63. He spent 4 hours and 39 minutes outside the space shuttle. 

9:  Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. With an IQ of 123, he has become one of the many geniuses in the world. He has aired on many different shows, narrated space documentaries, and even hosted some shows.

10: Benjamin Banneker 

Benjamin Banneker was a naturalist, mathematician, and astronomer. Born in 1731, he made observations in the night sky and recorded several pieces of important information. Sadly he died in 1806 when his house was burnt down, the only thing that survived was his astronomer book with his recorded observations.         

65 Years Of America In Space by Kale Cunningham

On January 31, 1958, a four-staged Juno I rocket waited on the launch pad. It was late… almost midnight, but people still crowded a safe distance away from the pad to watch the launch. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California created the satellite that would be launching that day. The probe was called Explorer 1, it was a small satellite that was only around 200 centimeters and it was powered by small batteries. It had an engine at the very back, four long antenna wires in the middle, and a pointy head at the end. It looked more like a missile than a satellite. But the way it looked was not important, it was a message. A message for America's rival the Soviet Union.

In October 1957 the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite named Sputnik 1. It was a huge success and then the next month in November they launch Sputnik 2 with a dog onboard. Another success. 

America had tried to fight back, but it wasn’t successful, in December of that same year they tried launching a rocket with a satellite called Vanguard tv3. But the rocket only got 3 inches off the ground before exploding into a giant fireball. But Vanguard survived the explosion and sent out messages (this was discovered in the rubble). Today you can find Vanguard at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.         

So now this was America’s chance to have a re-do, Explorer 1 needed to get off the pad. But the rocket it was using had a questionable chance, it had a 60% chance of actually reaching space. There were so many ways it could go wrong. At 03:47:56 GMT on February 1 (or 31 January 1958 at 22:47:56 Eastern Time.) The rocket lifted off the pad, the rocket would go through every step of the launch perfectly and reach space. Explore 1 would turn out to be a great success, even though it only operated for less than 5 months, its instruments would detect radiation belts around Earth. The findings were later named Van Allen belts in honor of the man who predicted these belts. 

Explorer 1 finally went silent in May of that year. But it would continue to orbit the Earth until 1970. Over the years we have made more advanced satellites that have helped us understand better. We have agencies like NASA, but we must also remember the start of space exploration in our country.                          

Tropical Deforestation and the Dangers it Poses by Stella Loverich

The scariest thing about working in the jungle is the trees. It might seem silly to be afraid of trees when you spend weeks in the rainforest, but some are hundreds of years old and stretch what seems like miles into the heavens. A single gust of wind can send one creaking and crashing to the ground. You can’t outrun a tree. You can leave your bag on the ground and walk away and the next thing you know, it’s crushed and you can’t get it out. You can lose all your food, water, and supplies that way. A tree can cost you your life. Up to 200 feet tall, they tower above the hot, steamy ground. But the most dangerous thing in the forest won’t be here forever.

The Amazon has lost almost one-fifth of its size in the last fifty years due to mostly illegal farming and logging. Deforestation also has caused the second most greenhouse gas emissions in the world, the first being the burning of fossil fuels. The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world, covering almost 7 million square kilometers. But as time moved on, Brazilians began to regard the Amazon not as an amazing jungle, but empty space to be filled up. 

The jungle is razed in order to build communities and raise cattle. According to a law in the Brazilian government passed in 1965, landowners in the Amazon have to keep 35 to 80 percent of their land under native vegetation. However, since the Amazon is so big, it’s very difficult to maintain this law, called the Forest Code. 

Another danger for the forest is fires. The dry season, around August, is when most of these occur. Farmers may burn land to clear space for cattle, which is fine in small amounts. But as opposed to the year before, 2019 showed a 111% increase in fires, an alarming amount. 

Another scary problem that has come from deforestation is disease. For example, in 1997, a part of the rainforest in Indonesia was burned. The smoke choked the trees and they couldn’t produce fruit, causing the fruit bats to find food somewhere else. They carried disease with them. When they landed in Malaysia, pigs and local pig farmers started to get sick from eating fallen fruit the bats had partly eaten. In 1999, 265 people had gotten sick and 105 people had died from the Nipah virus. This disease had been kept to the wilderness, but with the burning and destroying of trees, it was exposed to the rest of the world, causing outbreaks in Southeast Asia. Many other diseases also have originated from the rainforest and have now spilled over to the rest of the world. 

The cattle industry, accounting for 80% of deforested land, is the main culprit for the clearing of the jungle. Once regarded as the largest carbon sink, it is now estimated that it actually produces more than it takes in, thanks to deforestation. But the footprint isn’t the only problem; deforestation also threatens the people that already lived there. 

Up to 13,000 years ago, the first people migrated to live in the Amazon. Up to 10 million people now reside in the rainforest, but their homes are being threatened by the deforestation inching closer to them every minute. No, that’s not an exaggeration -- 10,000 acres are destroyed every day. Also, after being exposed to new illnesses, the tribes of the Amazon are dying fast. Plus, when indigenous people try to speak up, it often ends in their death. This is a problem that we have to solve together, to save lives, trees, and our earth for future generations. 

It might seem out of your control, but we can influence the future of the Amazon. Here are a couple examples:

• Reducing intake of palm oil*, soy, and meat (especially beef)

• Using responsibly sourced products, like non-tropical wood, recycled paper, gold not mined in the rainforest, and local meat

• Flying and driving less, using public transportation, and avoiding buying unnecessary products (to reduce the overall carbon footprint in the first place)

• Informing other people about the crisis - encouraging them to donate, sharing this article, or telling them about it

While we can’t stop things from happening, we can play a part in ensuring our future generations live a healthy and happy life while the rainforests thrive.

Sources: 

• https://rainforestfoundation.org/engage/10-things-you-can-do/

• https://www.cfr.org/amazon-deforestation/#/en/section2

• https://time.com/amazon-rainforest-disappearing/

• https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/latin-america/brazil/stories-in-brazil/brazils-forest-code/

• https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/palm-oil#:~:text=It%20is%20also%20used%20in,is%20a%20very%20productive%20crop.

• https://www.climate-policy-watcher.org/rain-forest/age-size-and-growth-in-tropical-rainforest-trees.html#:~:text=Twenty%20large%20trees%20from%20near,age%2C%20even%20within%20a%20species.

• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/deforestation

Satellite Retires After 30 Years by Kale Cunningham

NASA’s Geotail mission has retired after 30 years of hard work. 

Launched in July 1992, the spacecraft was a joint mission between the Japanese and American space agencies. Geotail was supposed to be a low-budget mission that would last 4 years returning data around Earth’s magnetosphere, which is a protective magnetic bubble that prevents solar flares from coming into the Earth. But in 1996 when its mission was supposed to end, NASA extended it due to its “high-quality data return.” And on its 10th launch anniversary in 2002, the spacecraft was functioning so smoothly that NASA decided to extend its mission again. Almost a decade later in 2012, 2 of the spacecraft's 3 data recorders failed. Data recorders transmitted all of the data on a spacecraft, everything from the location of the spacecraft to its scientific discoveries. But since one data transmitter was still operating, the mission was extended again. Geotail continued to study Earth for 10 more years until in November 2022, its last data recorder broke. 

“Geotail has been a very productive satellite, and it was the first joint NASA-JAXA mission,” said Don Fairfield, the first project scientist for Geotail. “The mission made important contributions to our understanding of how the solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetic field to produce magnetic storms and auroras.”

The Geotail mission may be over, but its data collected over the course of 30 years can be put to use in understanding our planet better.

The Problem With The Soyuz Capsule by Kale Cunningham

On December 13, 2022 just before a 7 hour spacewalk on the ISS, camera recordings captured something terrifying. Russia’s loyal Soyuz spacecraft was leaking something out into space. NASA delayed the spacewalk until further notice to investigate what was coming out of Soyuz. 

The Soyuz Spacecraft

Soyuz is the longest operating manned spacecraft, its first manned flight was in 1967. It can carry up to three people and has a life system that can keep a crew alive for two months. Sadly also in its history it has also failed 4 times and in those failures 2 of them claimed a total of 4 lives. The other 2 times Soyuz has failed, its high tech system saved itself and the crew. It is Russia’s one and only spacecraft that can take people into space. So as you can imagine, right now it's a little spooked. 

The Spacecraft

Soyuz is an expendable spacecraft meaning unlike reusable spacecraft like the Space Shuttle or Orion capsule it can only be used once. Everytime it safely returns a crew to Earth Russia has to make a new one. This Soyuz space capsule that is leaking out fluids is named Soyuz MS-23. It launched a group of three astronauts from Kazakhstan (Russia doesn’t launch their rockets in their country.) In September of 2022, they were supposed to return this March but now that there's clearly something wrong with it. They will have to wait for another Soyuz space capsule to come up to the space station. But they won’t have to wait long, a rescue craft is already planned and should launch to the ISS next month. 

What it's leaking 

NASA came to a conclusion after surveying it. The spacecraft is leaking out Coolant or what keeps the heat down in the spacecraft. Which is a problem, when the crew returns to Earth, then temperatures would rise above 100 degrees! So the spacecraft is now off limits for the crew onboard. 

For now the crew will just have hang tight           

Image Source: Space.com

Comet Coming Back To Earth After 50,000 Years by Kale Cunningham

Comet C/2022 E3 is flying past Earth next week for the first time in 50,000 years! It will most visible around February 1st, 2023 with the naked eye from Earth.

Over the years thousands of comets fly past Earth, many of them last for months and can be seen with their beautiful tails shining behind them. Many of them fly away for 3-15 years and then come back to Earth. These comets are called Periodic comets or short-period comets and can be seen quite often in a lifetime. But some comets take longer to orbit the sun and only come close to Earth every thousand years these are called 

Long-period comets. Comets are one of the first things to appear in our solar system, made of primarily rock and ice and often called “Dirty snowballs” they have been orbiting our sun for billions of years.  

Comet C/2022 E3 has been on an interesting path ever since it was created. Every 50,000 years it comes close to the Earth and the sun in its orbit, but then spends the rest of its orbit heading away from the sun in a place far beyond the orbit of Pluto, every farther than the furthest man-made probe Voyager 1! 

These comets orbit in a place called the Oort Cloud which is at the very edge of our solar system. The Oort Cloud is a large mysterious ring that surrounds our solar system. Out here there is nothing but dust, ice, rock, and comets. It is believed millions of ghostly comets orbit here, only coming close to the sun every billions of years. 

The Oort cloud is 2 light years away from Earth, so they are not anywhere close to visiting it. It's more of a halfway point from us to the nearest star Alpha Centauri which is four lightyears away from us. 

C/2022 E3 is a recent discovery, it was discovered just last year as it rushed towards Earth. And many long- period comets like C/2022 E3 have been discovered this way too. We have trouble identifying all of the comets in the Oort Cloud because it's just too far away and the comets are too small to see by telescope. Even with our most advanced space telescope James Webb has trouble identifying them. 

So for now we will just watch in mystery and wonder as these ancient, interstellar, snowballs fly past.    

An Apollo 8 Christmas Story by Kale Cunningham

This is a story about three men that risked their lives going onto a dangerous rocket and doing something that had never been done before: Have men orbit the moon. 

The story starts here in 1968.

NASA’s Apollo program of landing a man on the moon was looking more doubtful than ever. The Soviets were still winning the space race. And ever since a horrible fire killed 3 astronauts: Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee in a pre-launch test nearly two years ago, things were looking dark. The Soviet Union however also faced a tragedy 3 months later. The Soyuz 1 mission carried a cosmonaut named 

Vladimir Komarov. Shortly after launch Komarov faced many problems with the spacecraft and had to call his mission short on his 17th orbit. But the parachute system failed and poor Komarov was killed. 

Apollo 7 VS Zond  

Apollo 7 was the first crewed mission of the Apollo program. The great Wally Schirra who had been the 5th American man in space and part in the first space rendezvous on Gemini 6 was the commander. The rookies Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham hitched a ride. The spacecraft was launched into low Earth orbit on the Saturn IB and orbited the Earth for 11 days. It was a test of the Command and Service module (CSM) which would help the crew get into the moon's orbit and back to Earth. And even though Schirra and the others caught a cold and did some talk back to mission control, they flew a perfect mission. Now that the CSM was tested many people thought of testing the Lunar Module (LM) which would land humans on the moon in low Earth orbit. Then Apollo 9 would test a landing in high Earth orbit and Apollo 10 would land humans on the moon. 

But this plan was shattered when the Soviet Union launched an uncrewed mission called Zond 4 high up into space almost to the moon. Even though it burnt up reentering Earth's atmosphere it was still successful. Zond 5 was launched to the moon just months later with plants and two Tortoises onboard. Reentry did not go very well but the spacecraft landed in the Indian Ocean, with everything surviving. The Soviets planned for a manned mission next. But NASA didn’t want that to happen. 

The Switch

The LM was clearly behind schedule and would not be ready until February of 1969 to test in low Earth orbit. And that would not be enough to beat the Soviets; they could land on the moon by the Spring! So NASA made a daring move and they said “Okay we don’t have a lander, but we do have an orbiter. Let's put three guys on there and send them to the moon and return them safely to Earth.” 

Apollo 8 would go to the moon and Apollo 9 would test the LM in low Earth orbit. The crew from Apollo 8 were not happy about leaving their families, especially because Apollo 8 was due for launch around Christmas time. 

The Apollo 8 crew had three people on the mission. These people were: Gemini 7 astronaut Frank Borman, Gemini 7 and 12 astronauts Jim Lovell, and rookie Willam (Bill) Anders. 

The Wild Ride

The training was hard for the Apollo 8 crew; they only had 15 weeks to prepare for the moon. The crew spent hours in a mockup of the CSM. 

And yet they were under-prepared when the launch came on December 21st, 1968. 

The tallest rocket in the World, the Saturn V stood ready for launch, the rocket was loaded with explosive fuel and no one could help thinking about what may go wrong. Apollo 7 had flown on a Saturn 1B which was only a fourth the size of the mighty Saturn V. The crew rode an elevator to the top of the rocket and climbed into the CSM. The pad leader and others closed the hatch and quickly got away from the rocket. The astronauts waited for over 2 hours in the cramped capsule. The crew hoped that this rocket would not blow up. However, the hope was all on one button that if anything went wrong they could go to. The Launch Escape Tower (LET) would be able to carry the astronauts away from the rocket and safely land in the ocean. As the clock counted down.. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1..0...

The Saturn V engines roared out, sending sound waves throughout the Area. The building at mission control shook. 

Many people worried about the crew inside the mighty rocket, Apollo 6 an unmanned rocket test shook so much that the crew could have been killed. 

The Apollo 8 astronauts had an improvement but still shook violently, Anders later recalled that they were being whipped around like “A rat in the jaws of a big terrier.”

The ride got smoother as soon as the first stage burnt out and the second stage fired up. But the trio didn’t expect the sudden cut-off of the second stage and almost slammed their heads into the instrument panel! 

To The Moon!

The astronauts were in low Earth orbit which was a great accomplishment, this had been how far the Apollo 7 astronauts were on their whole mission. The flight plan called for two or three orbits around Earth for a check of the spacecraft before it went to the moon.  1 Hour and 28 Minutes later the third stage turned on and Borman, Lovell, and Anders began the 3 day trip to the moon. 

Orbit 

After a pleasant 3 day's journey through nothing, the astronauts were racing to the moon at 24,200 miles per hour. 

The orbit was a very important part of the mission, the plan was to orbit 10 times around the moon and then return to Earth. But it needed to be at the right speed, too slow and you crash, too fast, and fly out into space forever. But to make things even more nerve-racking the astronauts had to do it behind the moon and wouldn't have mission control to help them. The orbital insertion would take place behind the moon where no signals could reach it. 

As Apollo 8 traveled behind the moon, everyone at NASA crossed their fingers that everything would go right. 

A few minutes later mission control sent out a test call to Apollo 8. 

“Apollo 8, Houston over.” 

This went on for a while, and of course, if they heard nothing then that would have meant they were nothing but ash on the moon. 

But luckily they heard the voice of Frank Borman copying them. Then the Apollo 8 astronauts got ready to speak to the world. 

A Special Message

1968 had been a very hard year for the people of Earth. 

In April civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed, in June, Bobby Kennedy was gunned down, France had trouble with its Economy, and Czechoslovakia, a Soviet Union ally, had been crushed when it wanted freedom from the Soviets. And not to say thousands of people were dying in the Vietnam War. 

The people of Earth needed hope and that's what the astronauts wanted to give. 

Frank Borman had decided to send a message to Earth from the book of Genesis because it didn’t focus on one religion.

Anders began, "For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you". 

"In the beginning, God created heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."  

Then Lovell took over.

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first days. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day." 

Frank Borman then read. 

"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good." 

Borman then added, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth." 

Earthrise 

The astronauts were mapping out the surface, with them they had a black and white camera and a full-color camera. It didn’t really matter though because the moon was black and white anyway. 

As Borman turned the CSM to get a better view, Anders caught sight of Earth. “Oh my god,” he said, grabbing the full-color camera. 

“Hey don’t take that, it's not scheduled” Borman teased. 

Lovell was shocked at what he saw, he later called it “A grand oasis in the big vastness of space.” 

A few orbits later the CSM fried up and sent the astronauts home. 

Afterword 

The crew splashed down in the pacific ocean on 27 December 1968. 

After that two of the astronauts retired: Anders and Borman never flew again. 

Lovell would command one more mission: Apollo 13 (Which is another story)

Apollo 9 flew just 8 weeks later in low Earth orbit. 

Apollo 8 truly was a Christmas gift in the space race and is believed to be why we beat the Soviets to the moon.  

It is considered one of the most successful missions ever in the history of space flight.  

Merry Christmas to all. 

Image Source: NASA

Orion Spacecraft Coming Home by Kale Cunningham

After a successful unmanned flight test, NASA’s Orion spacecraft is coming back to Earth. 

Orion is part of a mission known as Artemis 1, which is the first mission in the Artemis program. Artemis is a multi-billion dollar program with a goal of landing humans back on the surface of the moon by 2025. Orion is the spacecraft with a goal of carrying astronauts to the moon. The spacecraft doesn’t land but orbits the moon instead. Artemis 1 was launched on November 16 to orbit the moon, which it did from November 24- December 1. 

The mission has been a complete success, NASA officials say that Orion is only experiencing small glitches and has functioned flawlessly on its 25 day test flight. 

Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C., made a statement saying, "We talked through that today, as a mission management team, and the spacecraft is fine. There's plenty of redundancy on the vehicle." 

Orion is set to land in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, December 11, at 11 a.m. 

To watch the landing live click here! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21X5lGlDOfg   

50 Years Ago Apollo 17 The Last Manned Mission To The Moon Kale Cunningham

50 years ago, on a dark Florida December night, man launched his last mission to the moon. 

Apollo 17 lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 11:33 pm on December 7. NASA didn’t want to end the Apollo program in fact they were planning missions expanding into Apollo’s 18-25! But the public had lost interest. Apollo 11 was the spotlight and after that it really didn't have the same touch. When Apollo 13 had a disaster in space, people snapped back for the next 4 days as the crew, Jim Lovell, Fred Hasie, and Jack Swigert fought hard with a dying spacecraft to get home. But when they were safely back on Earth the people moved on. Even though Apollo’s 14, 15, and 16 had been flawless, the American Congress was also getting bored. What was the point of moon missions that just landed for a few days and came back home? It was a camping trip for them.

NASA lost funding from Congress and had to cut Apollo down its last mission 17. 

But Apollo 17 would end the epic program with a splash! 

Three full days on the moon! Driving around in the faithful lunar car which everyone at NASA called the LVC (Lunar Roving Vehicle.) 

The crew flying on this mission would be a good one, Gene Cernan was an experienced astronaut having 2 flights under his belt. Although he didn’t have the best luck on those missions. In 1966 he had problems during an EVA (spacewalk.) When discovered that his space suit had trapped air inside and he was like a balloon, Cernan almost lost his life when he tried to get inside the hatch of the spacecraft and was too big to fit through. He ended up bending every part of his body in an uncomfortable way and got through painfully like that. 

Three years later when he was getting down low to the moon on Apollo 10, his spacecraft started to tumble, he managed to stop the spinning but it was still a close call. This time he hoped that he would have better luck. 

The next astronaut, Jack Schmitt had never flown into space before and didn’t have a military background unlike his other crewmates; he was a geologist and would be the first non-test pilot astronaut to walk on the moon. 

To round up the crew Ron Evans, who was also a first timer but one of Gene Cernan’s dearest friends. He had applied to be an astronaut before but failed. However when he tried a second time he made it. Evans would be orbiting the moon while Cernan and Schmitt spent three days on the moon. 

The launch was flawless, and the mission stayed almost perfect on the three day voyage to the moon. The spacecraft got into orbit around the moon without a hitch. The landing was also not event full, Cernan guided the landing which they had named Challenger.  (Not the space shuttle that was built in the 80's, this was a lander not a shuttle!)

Gene Cernan was the first off the latter followed by Schmitt, the astronauts grazed around that beautiful view for a while. And then set up instruments, the Apollo astronauts always said that the first day on the moon was just hard work. Setting up instruments to study science on the moon for days and possibly even years. (One of the tools still works to this day!)

After setting up, both astronauts had another grueling task ahead, unfolding the LRV, the car was folded up in a nice neat packet and the astronauts needed to get it on the ground. Deployment was not easy, the astronauts needed to open up the car slowly but not damage any parts of it. Fortunately the car was deployed without incident. The astronauts then did system checks and went to bed in Challenger. 

Meanwhile, up in Lunar orbit astronaut Ron Evans did a risky untethered spacewalk. The main goal was to take instruments from a closed part of the spacecraft and take them back into the space capsule. Today when astronauts do untethered space walks they use a backpack known as SAFER also called Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue if an astronaut loses his or her grip instead of just floating away they can use the small thrusters on the pack to take them back into position. But back in the 70’s there was no such thing. Meaning if Evans lost his grip, he would doom himself and his crewmates on the moon. Evans was reasonable for telling the crew the spacecraft's positron and without him, the crew could never dock with him and get back home. 

But luck would be on Evans' side, he would execute the spacewalk flawlessly. 

Back on the moon, Cernan and Schmitt were cursing around on their sweet ride. The car didn’t have a top, but it didn’t matter. The car had special fenders that kept all the moon dust from covering the astronauts. 

Cernan and Schmitt both arrived at their destination which was supposed to be a past volcanic area, Schmitt who was an experienced geologist got right to work he could scan the area for some great finds and collect rocks and soil to begin home. Cernan had taken geology classes so he could also be useful. 

Schmitt spotted a huge boulder that looked geologically interesting so he and Cernan went up to it and with complex instruments (Which were considered complex back in the 70’s) such as a cordless drill and a portable hammer went to work and successfully collected parts of the boulder that could tell stories. 

Just as the astronauts were rapping up this day, and were ready to ride home and problem suddenly smashed in. While loading on the tools, Cernan lost his grip on the hammer and to his horror it fell and smashed off the fender. He reported the problem to Mission control. But everyone there told them not to deal with the problem because they had limited oxygen left and they needed to get back to the lander right away. As the astronauts drove back, toxic moon dust sprayed their space suits and when they got back both astronauts spent several minutes dusting themselves off. As the tired astronauts slept, mission control debated what to do with the car problem. And they came out with a surprising solution: they could use back up maps to make a replacement fender! 

The maps were thick paper so they wouldn’t rip or tear and when the astronauts tried the next day it worked better then anyone had expected. With that done the astronauts counted an uneventful third day on the moon and collected more rock and soil samples. But now their time had run out, it was time to go home.

After loading up Challenger with the rocks and soil that they collected, 

Gene Cernan stood looking at the beautiful landscape and with pride said: "As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind."

And with that he climbed back in and the lander took off into the sky. 

A historic moment in the history of naval warfare by Ishaan Pareek

In a daring night-time raid, Ukraine launched an attack on the port of Crimea. The episode is known to have occurred on Saturday, October 30, at about 4:30 a.m. local time. The attackers' force comprised nine air drones and nine sea drones. They traveled a distance of 100 miles to deliver the attack. According to Russia, all air drones were shot down, but an undisclosed amount of sea drones were sunk. Videos of a drone attacking and a helicopter shooting down an air drone is shown down in the credits. In the aftermath of the attack, three-four ships were damaged. Russia claimed that a minehunter known as Ivan Golubets took minor damage. A Ukrainian journalist shared the footage from the moments of the attack that a frigate which was the flagship of the Russian black sea fleet following the sinking of the Moskva called Admiral Makarov, was hit. He also shared that two other ships are known to have carried Kalibr land-attack cruise missiles. It is not known if Ivan Golubets is included in the described ships. The drones were known to have been found near Sevastopol. It is a painted black tiny cigarette boat with cameras and laser distance sensors, likely to detect the distance of its target. Many experts believe it is semi-submersible, meaning it can go just beneath the surface. The antenna is not confirmed to be a Starlink antenna, but it is thought to be because of Starlink's wide use after Elon Musk released it in Ukraine 4 days after the invasion. It likely carries a large explosive in the front of the boat. The UAV probably didn’t travel the whole way to Crime. In the photo, it is visible that there is a Bow Eye for towing, so the UAV was likely carried by another vessel some of the way.

Cubesat Spacecraft Traveling For The Holidays by Kale Cunningham

With Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years coming up, many people across the world are traveling internationally. Over 50 million people are flying across the world to see their families. But they are not the only ones. 

Let’s fly out of Earth and travel into deep space, on November 16, 2022 NASA launched the SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft. 

The mission is called Artemis 1 and is an uncrewed test of the Orion spacecraft that should be able to take humans back to the moon by 2024. But NASA also had stored small microwave sized spacerafts, nested in the top of the second stage of the rocket. These are what we call Cubesats and here's what they are and were there going:

ArgoMoon: Developed by Italian company Argotec and sponsored by ASI Italy’s national space agency, performs autonomous visual-based proximity operations on the in-space stage of SLS. It was successfully turned on shortly after launch. 

Biosentinel: Space is full of harmful radiation that can destroy your DNA, to help protect spacecraft from dangerous radiation NASA is using Biosentinel. The spacecraft will fly out into deep space and study what happens to DNA when in space and what can be done to prevent damage.

EQUULEUS: (EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft) will measure the amount of plasma that surrounds the Earth to help scientists understand the radiation environment in that region.

LunarH-map: Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper, or LunaH-Map, will help investigate the possible presence of water-ice on the Moon. 

However there have been some failures.

Japan’s Omotenashi spacecraft was supposed to land on the moon, it would have been the first time Japan had landed on the moon, the spacecraft should have inflated like a balloon, the spacecraft called back to Earth shortly after launch. But the spacecraft just stopped communication, JAXA (Japan's space agency)  spent three days trying to contract the probe but then gave up hope.

The other five Cubesats, NASA has not released an update on. However they did say that some of them were having trouble with their solar panels charging but other than that they were working fine. 

These Cubesats should help the understanding of deep space and help prepare humans as they go to Mars and beyond.

To get live updates click here!

https://www.space.com/artemis-1-cubesats-deep-space-updates

To learn more about the Artemis 1 mission go here

https://blogs.nasa.gov/

Microwave Sized Spacecraft Reaches Lunar Orbit by Kale Cunningham

On November 13, 2022, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft entered lunar orbit becoming the first Cubesat spacecraft to do so. 

The spacecraft, operated by NASA, was launched in New Zealand on June 28, 2022. But instead of taking the normal three-day mission course, NASA tried something else. 

Most spacecraft, when they go to the moon or other places in the solar system, will fire their engines until there's no fuel left. This can work and the technique is used a lot. But NASA considered a different way; the rocket could slowly make it to the moon by slowly raising its orbit, until it came in contact with the moon. This proved to be successful and could work with future missions. 

CAPSTONE itself is a masterpiece. It is what many people call a Cubesat, which is a microwave sized spacecraft that is normally low-budget but easier to launch. The spacecraft is the first Cubesat to orbit another body besides Earth.

CAPSTONE got into a polar orbit around the moon, which means the spacecraft is circling the moon always at a 90 degrees tip. This was also another first. 

And many spacecraft like this will follow. SpaceX and NASA teamed up to launch a small ice hunting Cubesat called SmallSat, which is supposed to launch within the next few weeks. 

NASA’s Artemis 1 mission with the Orion spacecraft, which is also supposed to launch this month, also carries a dozen of Cubesats hitching a ride on the second stage of the SLS rocket. CAPSTONE is supposed to be a trailblazer in future technology that we can use when we land back on the moon and go to Mars.   

Rating the Seasons of the Year by Stephenie Wang

I will be rating the seasons from best to worst.

Image Source: Dreamstime.com

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The best season of the year, in my opinion, is fall. I think the best season is fall because I like the whole feel and aesthetic of the colors, the weather, and the holidays that are in fall. I think that fall is a cozy and comfortable season for hanging out with friends and family. I also like seeing the leaves fall off of trees while drinking a hot beverage or reading outside.

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 The second best season in my opinion is winter because I like the cold and I also like the feel and the holidays in winter. I like playing in the snow and doing snowball fights with family or friends. I also like to celebrate Christmas and bake cookies with my family, watch Christmas movies, and presents from family and friends.

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 The third best season is spring because I also like the weather and the aesthetic of spring. I also like it because my birthday is in spring. I feel like spring is underrated for a lot of people. I think spring should get more popularity and recognition from others.

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The least best is summer because I hate hot temperatures! Also I hate the mosquitos that bite you every second. The only thing that I like about summer is summer break and that’s it. Ice Cream melts so easily, THAT’S DEPRESSING! I also hate the sunlight because it blinds my eyes! (Don’t call me a vampire ok?)

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Anyways this is my opinion of the seasons, If you like it great! If you don't, that's fine! All of this is my opinion. Thank you for reading!

LOFTID Successfully Completes Mission by Kale Cunningham

NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) just completed its first successful flight in space. The inflatable heat shield launched with the JPSS-2 satellite on November, 10, 2022 at 4:49 am on an Atlas V rocket. LOFTID hitched a ride on the second stage of the rocket and once the JPSS-2 satellite was set free from the rocket, the second stage deorbited and sent the technology destination on its way. 

The biggest concern with the technology team at NASA, was that the heat shield would fail to inflate. But fortunately the deployment went well and it re entered Earth's atmosphere and splashed in the ocean near Hawaii just 2 hours after its launch. It dropped a data recorder in the ocean nearly a mile away from where it landed. When it landed the 13 foot heat shield  opened a parachute before landing at around 15 miles per hour. 

NASA already had a recovery team waiting out in a boat when it splashed down. The team recovered the spacecraft within minutes of splash down and are now currently on their way home.

LOFTID will help land bigger and heavier spacecraft on Mars and over places. The United Launch Alliance (ULA) also wants to work with NASA to use LOFTID technology on their planned reusable Vulcan rockets.

 NASA says the mission was a complete success and even performed  better than expected. 

This is one of the most critical technologies that we're establishing right now with this mission, and also with that first successful orbital flight and recovery," Jim Reuter, NASA's associate administrator for the space technology mission directorate, said. 

Image Source: NASA

MARIE CURIE'S BIRTHDAY 11/7/22 by Carolyn Frank

Marie Curie was an amazing scientist who discovered radiation. She won a nobel prize and sadly died of radiation poisoning due to all the exposure she had to it. TOday is her birthday and I hope you enjoy this poem!

Nobel prize,

Science,

Radiation,

This is Marie's life.

From 1867,

To 1934,

Marie is always in our hearts,

Evermore. 

The Electric Mission Of Apollo 12 Part 2 by Kale Cunningham

Apollo 12 was in bad shape, the mission was supposed to be the second moon landing. But it seemed now that the astronauts would have to abort the mission. 

The data was messy, nothing made sense. Mission controllers couldn’t do anything that helpful, if you have no control then what good does that do? 

But in the back John Aaron, a flight controller who specialized in the Apollo spacecraft's electrical systems, knew of a switch that could possibly help. The SEC switch was basically a reboot system. It could reboot the whole Apollo spacecraft computer system, the problem about SCE was it was barely ever used and mostly forgotten. The Apollo space capsule had around 350 different switches. And normally only half of these were used in a mission. 

“Flight, EECOM, try SCE to aux.” -Aaron suggested 

 Flight director Gerald Griffin answered him puzzled 

“Say again, SEC to off?”  

“Auxiliary flight.” - Aaron repeated 

Griffin had no idea what it meant but at least it was something so  radioed it to the Capcom. (Astronaut communicator)

The Capcom had no idea what it was, but he told Conrad up in the rogue ship. 

But Conrad just scowled and said, “FCE to aux? What the hell is that!?”

“SEC.” the Capcom corrected. 

Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon the experienced astronauts had no idea where to start looking for the switch, but Alan Bean, the rookie onboard, did. The switch was above his arm. He quickly flicked it and just as soon as it started, everything went back to normal. 

The data returned to normal.

“It looks… Everything looks good.” Bean reported calmly.

Indeed it had, the lights and alarms that were going crazy just seconds before were now normal.

After that Apollo 12 would get into Earth orbit, and go on to land on the moon. Conrad and Bean would step foot on the moon for a total of 8 hours (Gordon stayed in orbit around the moon.) 

And an investigation of the incident would show what had happened. 

The rocket had been struck by lightning twice, when the rocket launched lightning had found its way towards the big lightning rod. 

And in the future NASA would not launch a rocket when storms are near.

But Alan Bean did however have problems on Apollo 12 even though he saved the mission.

When the mission splashed down in the ocean a camera fell on his head and gave him a concussion. But this did not stop Bean from flying into space again, on the mission Skylab 3 on America's first space station.

But, he would never forget his first mission that was struck by lightning.                        

The Electric Mission Of Apollo 12 Part 1 by Kale Cunningham

It was a stormy day in Cape Cravel Florida on November 14, 1969. It was however warm and a fresh breeze of the Atlantic was floating in the air.

And Kennedy Space Center at the mighty Saturn V, stood high and proud and on the top in a small capsule astronauts, Pete Conrad, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean. The three astronauts were a part of the Apollo 12 mission or NASA’s second crack at a moon landing. Apollo 11 had landed around 4 months ago, you know the historical flight that Neil Armstorng, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins flew on the amazing mission. And now today it was Conrad's opportunity to be in the spotlight. 

The Commander had flown twice into space and was not going to let some bad weather get in the way of his goal. 

Richard Gordon would remain in orbit around the moon while Conard and Bean landed on the moon. Gordon was well known for his 2 hour space walk on Gemini 11. 

Bean was the rookie of the mission, it would be his first time going into space. But he was a good military pilot and a nice member of the crew. 

But it would seem that the moon mission would have to wait, the bad weather was really slowing things down. And it was putting everyone in a bad mood. And NASA really needed to get the rocket to the moon especially because the president himself Richard Nixon was one of the thousands of people gathering around to see the launch. 

But what seemed like luck at the time, there was a break in the bad weather and NASA grabbed the chance. At 11:22 a.m. the rocket lit its engines and lifted off the ground. 

“This baby is really going! - Conrad yelled over the roar of the rocket 

“Man, is it ever!” - Gordon agreed 

But what no one knew was as soon as the rocket launched it became something else. The storms that had been around the area were thunderstorms. And even though the closest storm was over 20 miles away. The metal on the football field sized rocket, made electricity  come towards it. The rocket was now the world's biggest lighting rod. And it only took seconds and suddenly a large bang shook the rocket. 

“What the hell was that?”  Gordon screamed 

Then to all of the astronaut’s horror, the control panel which was showing normal data seconds before, went wild. 

“Okay, we lost the platform, gang, I don’t know what happened here; we have everything in the world drop out.” - Conrad radio back to the ground. And yes indeed they had. Almost Everything going crazy 

data with nothing but a mix of numbers, letters, and symbols poured in from the rocket. And it seemed so bad that some people in mission control thought that Conard would have to abort the mission…. 

New Way To Land On Mars? by Kale Cunningham

Landing on Mars is no easy job, just getting a spacecraft down on the surface costs millions of dollars. For space agencies like NASA who have landed on the surface of Mars successfully nine times.  However,  that has involved using parachutes, airbags, jet packs, and costy engines. The landing system which NASA calls EDL (Entry, Descent and Landing), can cost up to 300 million dollars on its own! Which is almost the cost it takes to build a rocket to get there in the first place! And with more missions coming up in Mars exploration, NASA needs a cheaper way to land on the surface Mars and other objects.

And one way to do that, how about crashing into it?

Rather than slow a spacecraft’s high-speed descent, use a shock absorbed shield on the spacecraft. Like the crumple zone of a car and absorbs the energy of a hard impact. So meet SHIELD (Simplified High Impact Energy Landing Device), a mission test at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL.) 

Image Source: NASA

“We think we could go to more treacherous areas, where we wouldn’t want to risk trying to place a billion-dollar rover with our current landing systems,” said SHIELD’s project manager, Lou Giersch “Maybe we could even land several of these at different difficult-to-access locations to build a network.” 

Could it be possible? The SHIELD team created a prototype and on August 12, 2022 they dropped it 90 feet to the ground with a cell phone attracted. The probe impacted the ground at 110 mile per hour, but the shield completely absorbed the impact. And the shield wasn’t hitting any normal ground at 110 miles per hour it hit pure steel. 

And the cell phone didn’t have a single crack on it! 

The idea may sound crazy, but it has been done before. 

In the 1970s and 1980s when the Soviet Union landed probes on Venus, when they detached the parachutes. The shock shield would absorb the ground in final seconds on the landing. And NASA uses shock absorber shields on some manned spacecraft before they splashdown in the ocean around 18 miles per hour. 

So here's what a mission would look like using SHIELD: a probe would have a heat shield protecting it from the heat of the atmosphere as it entered it. After that it would deploy a small parachute that would slow it down from 1,000 miles per hour down to 100 miles per hour. And then after a couple of minutes it would cut the parachute and hopefully make a hard landing on the surface. 

A test flight could be made sometime in the late 2020s and could start becoming popular in the 2030s.   

To Watch a Video of the success click here! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkejVTkAnXc

NASA Ready For New Technology Demonstration For Future by Kale Cunningham

NASA is getting ready to launch the JPSS-2 satellite, or Joint Polar Satellite System-2. Scheduled to lift off on November 1st (Please note that the launch could change.)

However the JPSS-2 satellite is not the main goal for the mission, hitchhiking on board the LOFTID 

(Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator) 

LOFTID is an inflatable heat shield, which has a main goal of proving itself for future missions to Mars and other worlds. 

Heat shields are needed to help spacecraft from burning up in the atmospheres of planets, a spacecraft travels so fast to get to another planet and when they reach there, a spacecraft going so fast is going to create friction, which gets so hot it will be able to melt steel. All of the times NASA or other space agencies have landed on other planets, they have used metal heat shields that have protected them. But now with bigger and heavier spacecraft coming up like the Mars sample return mission and manned missions to other planets, metal heat shields will just be too heavy and expensive to use. 

So NASA decided to come up with a cheaper way, which was LOFTID. 

Before it inflates it is the size of a person, and when LOFTID does inflate it stretches over 20 feet, and it can inflate minutes before a planned landing, instead of just being dead weight. 

LOFTID is made of the same material of metal heat shields, and to get rid of heat, it has small holes that slowly let heat go past it. 

The planned mission is for it to launch and enter Earth's atmosphere, survive and parachute in the Pacific ocean. 

Hopefully this will be successful and show that the inflatable heat shield could help the first people to land on Mars, and beyond. 

Watch an animation of LOFTID’s deployment!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6IbqNFHcuU

To watch the live event on November 1st 

(Please note that it could change)

Click here! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21X5lGlDOfg

20 Years Of The Atlas V: America’s Most Hard Working Rocket by Kale Cunningham

The Atlas 5 or Atlas V rocket is one of America’s most hardest working rockets, alongside the Space Shuttle, Delta ll, Falcon 9, and the legendary Saturn V. 

The Atlas V was first supposed to be a low budget, but useful rocket for Network services. The first launch launched a basic communication satellite into low Earth orbit. The second launch successfully got the first satellite by the country Greece. And by the time the third launch rolled the rocket had grabbed the attention of the US military, who was having trouble sharing rockets with NASA saw this as a better option then playing tug of war over the Delta ll rocket. 

In 2004 NASA asked the developers  Lockheed Martin and ULA (United Launch Alliance) with the Atlas's biggest challenge yet. 

NASA was building a probe that would fly past the dwarf planet Pluto, and they needed someone to launch the human sized spacecraft around 3.2 billion miles to the far away world and couldn't find anyone else to do it. It was a really big leap from just launching satellites less than a million miles into low Earth orbit to over 3 billion miles, but Lockheed Martin and ULA decided to take the Changelle, and on January, 19, 2006 the Atlas V rocket sent the probe whom NASA had named New Horizons to Pluto at 10 miles per second, the fastest speed ever traveled at that time. New Horizons would fly by Pluto in the summer of 2015 returning data and up close images of the small world, just 9 years after launch. 

 NASA was impressed by Lockheed Martin and ULA’s grand Atlas V rocket and have been able to launch many space probes since. Some of the highlights include: 

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to the Moon 2009 

Curiosity rover to Mars 2011 

Juno probe to Jupiter 2011 

MAVEN to Mars 2013

Insight to Mars 2018 

Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter to Mars 2020 

Landsat 9 to map Earth 2021 

The Boeing Starliner spacecraft to the ISS in May 2022.

In 2021 ULA and Lockheed Martin announced that the rocket would retire in the late 2020s but until then would host at least 20 more launches.  

As of today the Atlas V is one of the few rockets that has not had a single launch failure so far. Leaving it with a success rate of around 99%. Most rockets only have a success rate of 95% or less.

The Atlas V rocket is a true hero in the rocket committee and its legacy will not end there, ULA is trying to fund a bigger rocket much like it, but more powerful and faster. 

As of today the Atlas V is active and healthy