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PAGE CONTENTS:
Space Travel Tidbits
12 Space Shuttle Moments
A Word From the Moon
In Event of Moon Disaster
Astronauts have a patch of velcro inside their helmets that acts as anose scratcher. Another
velcro tidbit -- the manufacturing processused to create silent velcro for the U.S. Army is a military secret.
Abe Silverstein, who headed NASA's Space Flight Development Program, proposed the name Apollo for the space exploration
programs in the 1960s. He chose that legendary Greek name because the virile Apollo was a god who rode through the skies in
a magnificent golden chariot. The precedent of naming manned spacecraft for mythological gods had been set earlier with Project
Mercury, also named by Silverstein.
What's so difficult about shaving in
space?
When astronauts first shaved in space, their weightless whiskers floated up to the ceiling. A special razor
had to be developed which drew the whiskers in like a vacuum cleaner.
What were the last words spoken from
the moon?
The last words spoken from the moon were from Eugene Cernan, Commander of the Apollo 17 Mission on 11
December 1972. "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."
The Eagle Has Landed
On July 20, 1969, the dream of many men
and women throughout history came true: someone reached and walked on the moon.
And no, it wasn't made of green cheese and did not have any forms of life or water on it. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin
Aldrin were the first two human beings to walk on the moon. What was even more amazing was that this was viewed on television
by millions of people around the globe. Our view of the world would never be the same.
The Apollo 11 plaque left on the Moon says, "Here men from the
planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. "WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND."
"Happy Birthday" was the first song to be performed in outer space,
sung by the Apollo IX astronauts on March 8, 1969.
How do astronauts go to the bathroom?
Thanks to gravity, we here on earth take going to the bathroom for
granted, but using the toilet in space isn't nearly as easy. For a long time, says NASA, astronauts actually taped a plastic
bag to their backsides to collect feces and used a hose-and-bag device to urinate. Then, in the early 70s, NASA improved bathroom
technology with its vacuum toilet. To defecate, astronauts now sit on this toilet and turn the vacuum on. Urination is done
through what looks like your vacuum cleaner's hose attachment. Using this toilet is a bit tricky, so part of the preparation
for space travel includes potty training, but it sure beats the old bag system.
Why do spacemen tend to shrink?
When astronauts remain weightless in space for prolonged periods, scientists
have discovered their bones lose a measurable amount of weight and thickness. This means that weightlessness actually cause
human beings to shrink.
The multi-layered space suite worn by astronauts on the Apollo moon
landings weighed 180 pounds on Earth and 30 pounds on the moon with the reduced lunar gravity.
MEDICAL TRAINING IN SPACE
Space flights
are likely to be longer in the future, increasing the risk crews will face a medical emergency during a mission. NASA ordered
development of a realistic training simulator and got a lifelike mannequin that can teach astronauts, flight surgeons and
other mission personnel how to effectively manage medical emergencies in space. "This patient simulator is no dummy. It breathes,
has a heartbeat, pupils that react to light and medications, a pulse that can be felt at five locations, and lung sounds,"
said Dr. Hal Doerr, head of the Medical Operational Support Team, a joint project of the National Space Biomedical Research
Institute, NASA Johnson Space Center and Wyle Labs. "About 200 parameters can be changed, so we can create any type of patient
and then simulate medical events that could happen." The patient simulator is linked to a sophisticated computer, designed
along the lines of a flight simulator, that controls the patient's reactions and can be programmed to mimic various situations
that could occur.
Who was the first to eat in space?
Astronaut
John Glenn ate the first meal in space when he ate pureed applesauce squeezed from a tube aboard Friendship 7 in 1962.
12 Space Shuttle Moments
Even though NASA plans to retire its venerable space shuttle fleet
before 2010 comes to an end, the space shuttle program can still make a little history. When Endeavour launched, it finally
put a teacher into space: 55-year-old Barbara Morgan.
Well, actually, it put a teacher-turned-astronaut into space.
Shuttle commander Scott Kelly said, "I don't have a teacher as a crewmember. I have a crewmember who used to be a teacher."
That's because after teacher Christa McAuliffe died in the Challenger disaster of 1986, NASA ended its "Teacher in Space"
program. McAuliffe's backup, Barbara Morgan, was invited back--but not until 1998, and only if she gave up teaching to become
a full-time astronaut.
Morgan says, "Christa was, is, and always will be our 'Teacher
in Space,' our first teacher to fly. She truly knew what this was all about--not just bringing the world to her classroom,
but also helping to show the world what teachers do." So today, for us, it's hats off to teachers, and a review of 12 other
key moments in the space shuttle program.
August 1977 - NASA's pace shuttle program takes flight
as the space shuttle Enterprise lifts off the back of a modified Boeing 747 and glides to Edwards Air Force Base. Designed
to test the structural integrity and free-glide abilities of the shuttle, Enterprise was never made for space.
April 1981 - The space shuttle Columbia lifts
off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the first shuttle astronauts: commander John Young and pilot
Robert Crippen. Columbia launches again in November, becoming the world's first reusable spacecraft.
June 1983 – Riding the space shuttle Challenger,
astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman to fly in space.
August 1983 - Just two months after Ride's historic
flight, mission specialist Guion Bluford becomes the first African-American to fly in space, also aboard the Challenger.
February 1984 - Astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert
Stewart leave Challenger with "rocket packs," for the world's first untethered spacewalk.
January 1986 - After 24 successful missions, the
space shuttle program experiences its first tragedy. Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing its seven-person
crew. An investigation blames cold weather, questionable safety procedures, and faulty O-ring seals on the solid rocket
boosters. The investigation and resulting safety changes keep the program grounded for more than two years.
April 1990 - The shuttle Discovery lifts off with
the most famous payload in the program's history: the Hubble Space Telescope. High hopes for the multi-billion-dollar
project are quickly dashed when defects in the Hubble's main mirror prevent it from focusing properly.
December 1993 - During perhaps the most complex shuttle
mission ever attempted, the crew of the Endeavor fixes Hubble's vision. After five spacewalks totaling more than 35 hours,
four astronauts complete repairs to the telescope and redeploy it into orbit. The Hubble subsequently turns in years of spectacular
service.
November 1996 - Columbia makes the longest space
shuttle flight yet, spanning almost 18 days with a crew of five.
October 1998 - John Glenn returns to space aboard
the Discovery, 36 years after becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. Participating in a variety of experiments to
test the effects of space flight on aging and the human body, the 77-year-old senator and former Mercury astronaut becomes
the oldest person ever to fly in space.
December 1998 - The Endeavor lifts off to begin assembly
of the International Space Station. Using the shuttle's robotic arm, astronauts attach their payload, the American-built
Unity node, to the orbiting Russian-built Zarya module. It's the first of many shuttle launches to help assemble what will
become the largest orbiting structure ever made.
February 2003 - More than two weeks after its launch,
Columbia breaks up during re-entry, killing its seven-person crew. An investigation points to chunks of foam insulation from
the shuttle's external fuel tank that fell onto the shuttle's left wing during takeoff, damaging its heat-protective tiles.
It's the beginning of the end for NASA's shuttle program.
--Christopher Call
KnowledgeNews is brought to you by Every Learner, Inc., an
independent small business dedicated to supporting lifelong learners. Copyright © 2007, Every Learner, Inc. All rights reserved.
A Word From the Moon
On July 20, 1969, more than half a billion people watched
a 38-year-old aeronautical engineer step onto the fine-grain surface of the moon. People heard the former test pilot, Apollo
11 mission commander Neil Armstrong, say these words:
"That's one small step
for man, one giant leap
for
mankind."
Humans everywhere cheered. Grammarians everywhere grimaced.
Surely the able astronaut meant to say:
"That's one small step for a man,
one giant
leap for mankind."
Later, back on Earth, Armstrong basically said, "Uh,
roger that, grammar control. I meant to say the a." Armstrong told his authorized biographer, history professor James
Hansen, "Perhaps it was a suppressed sound that didn't get picked up by the voice mike. . . . Certainly the a was intended,
because that's the only way the statement makes any sense." Otherwise, while it sounds heroic, it means "that's one small
step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind."
Now, it looks like Neil Armstrong may finally be vindicated.
A former TV anchorman and current computer programmer named Peter Shann Ford says that he has discovered the a Armstrong
left on the moon in 1969. Using off-the-shelf voice editing software, the multitalented Australian has produced sound wave
graphs that he says unmistakably show an uttered a. Armstrong simply said it too fast to hear. (Armstrong admits he
swallows syllables in his biography.)
It is the lost lunar vowel, says Ford, ready for reentry
into the historical record. Armstrong says he has "reviewed the data and Peter Ford's analysis of it" and finds it "persuasive."
NASA's own sound engineers say they'll review the tapes and make a ruling. Either way, there's no doubt about the words on
the plaque that Apollo 11 left on the moon:
"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon
the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."
Michael Himick
October 5, 2006
Copright 2006, KnowledgeNews. All rights reserved.
In Event of Moon Disaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from "In Event of Moon Disaster".
"In Event of Moon Disaster" was a proposed speech
drafted by William Safire. It was intended to be read by President Richard Nixon during the Apollo 11 lunar landing
in July, 1969, had a catastrophe occurred that would have prevented Apollo 11 astronauts
Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin from leaving the surface of the Moon. It is considered a haunting glimpse of
the worst case scenario that inevitably could have made the historic landing a much more somber one. As the mission
was successful and the astronauts returned safely, the speech was never used.
The speech was part of a memo from Safire to Nixon's chief
of staff, H. R. Haldeman. It detailed Safire's suggestions about how the Administration would react to a disaster that would
leave Armstrong and Aldrin stranded on the Moon, including a speech, presidential phone calls to the "widows-to-be," and a
religious ceremony for the astronauts.
The actual text of the memo was as follows:
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To: H. R. Haldeman
From: Bill Safire
July 18, 1969.
IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER:
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore
in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there
is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most
noble goal: the search for truth and understanding. They will be mourned
by their families and friends; they will be mourned by the nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will
be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to
feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at the stars and saw their heroes
in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search
will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to
come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.
PRIOR TO THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT:
The President should telephone each of the widows-to-be.
AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT, AT THE POINT WHEN NASA ENDS COMMUNICATIONS
WITH THE MEN:
A clergyman should adopt the same procedure as a burial at sea,
commending their souls to "the deepest of the deep," concluding with the Lord's Prayer.
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