Tag Archives: John Glenn

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The Other Half of the Sky

Future of Space Travel May
Belong to Female Astronauts

Some two years ago, NASA was looking for a few good astronauts. It found a few good women. In fact, four out of the newest batch of eight space-bound Americans are female, truly a record. Unlike most professions, being an astronaut accurately reflects our demographics.
They may all thank their lucky stars to Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian who became the first woman in orbit 50 years ago last Sunday. As if on cue, Wang Yaping, China’s second female astronaut, has returned to Earth yesterday, after 15 days in space with two others.
Valentina’s launch, two years after Yuri Gagarin’s historical flight, was a second stunning win for the Soviet Union in the early years of the space race. After Godspeed John Glenn, in 1962, it’d take two decades for Sally Ride to, well, ride the Space Shuttle and become the first American female to get there.
As it goes, June seems to be a special time for women in space. Apart from Wang, Liu Yang, China’s first female astronaut, went aloft last year on the 16th, the same day as Valentina‘s, while Sally, who passed away last July, boarded the shuttle 30 years ago, on the 18th.

VALENTINA & THE FEMALE FLYERS
Perhaps mirroring the times, their trips were radically different. Valentina‘s type of orbit is now routinely done by unmanned rockets. Sally rode the no-longer active Shuttle Program, and Wang’s flight is part of China’s ambitious plan to build its own space lab.
Thus, even though our bets are still heavily stacked in the new crop of female astronauts and scientists who may help lift us all to a consistent new program of space exploration, the odds are still against women in space: of 534 space travelers, so far only 57 have been female. So much for demographics.
But let’s not restrict our imagination just yet. When it comes to exploring the physical universe, there’s practically everything to be done. Assuming that we don’t self implode without even trying, within a century we may as well be traveling if not through the stars, then at least among near planets in and outside the Solar System.
It may all start with a quick landing on an asteroid. Then another trip to the Moon, this time not on gossamer wings. A few additional extravagant dreams, and that long haul to Mars, the one-way ticket reserved for a very special breed of not yet born humans, and who, most likely, won’t return to Earth either.
And who’s not to say that on that very open-ended journey, someone may become the first space mother? It’s likely – and even preferable – that nationality won’t be relevant then. Or race. Or, to a certain extent, age. Gender, though, will. And there’s just one that’s been trained on this particular task for 100,000-plus years.

Just the time-frame we need to get used to think, if we’re to vanquish war, climate change, pollution, over population, diminishing natural resources, and, wny not? greed. As a matter of fact, if we do get at least a few of those right, there won’t be really any limits to what we’ll be able to do. Including having a birth in outer space.
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Read Also:
* The Red Chronicles
* Sorry, Not a Winner
* Out There

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Polls & Tallies

Possible Losses Paving the Way
For One Man & His Ideas to Win

From where we’re standing, we’re far from knowing what many of you already know: who’s the U.S. President. Or perhaps you know as much as we do now, 24 hours before. But whether you’re mad about or celebrating the outcome of this election, it’s almost a miracle that it’s actually produced a winner.
That’s because, as predicted with even better accuracy than the result itself, thousands across the land had to wait hours in line to vote, voting machines malfunctioned, suspicious steps were taken by election officials, and many, arguably due to the media frenzy, wound up not voting in the end.
The first sight things could go awfully wrong, or as pessimists had already declared, ‘as expected,’ came not long after results from New Hampshire’s Dixville Notch were in, a 5 to 5 dead-heat tie: Reddit Pennsylvania reader ‘centrapavote’ filmed a machine that would register votes cast for President Obama as if they were for the GOP candidate.
Other contraptions malfunctioned in Ohio precincts, while in central and south Florida, hundreds endured drizzling rain and an average of seven hours wait in line, so to cast their votes. And that may be the reasonably good news, since votes were indeed cast, and defective polling stations were put out of commission.
Much more serious, and again, from where you stand, you may have already a better view of this issue, was the unheard of decision by Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, ‘who asked voting machine giant ES&S to install last-minute, unverified, custom firmware updates on the state’s voting machines,’ according to Boing Boing.

THE KILLING OF YOUR VOTE
Ohio being a ‘swing state,’ (and you thought they’d rather square dance down there, eh?) with 18 electoral votes to be earned by the candidates, two shy of the 2008 election, the move can’t be perceived as purely technical, as in, operating technical problems. It reminded everyone of Florida, circa 2000, and the less than noble job performed Continue reading →

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Meanwhile, Up There


Six Astronauts from Three Nations
Flying High Above Us at 17,300Mph

How easy it is for us to forget. In the time you’ll spend reading this post, Commander Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin, André Kuipers, Oleg Kononenko and Don Pettit, will zip by over us a few times, busy tending to the 30th astronaut expedition to the International Space Station.
Since we’ve started the week marking the 50 years last Monday of John Glenn‘s historical flight circling the Earth aboard the Friendship 7, it’s only fitting to take a few minutes today to think about the current crew of six working 24/7 to keep his legacy, and our stardust dreams, alive.
We do forget about them, sometimes, so focused we must be on our own ant-like business of being alive. But, as flight engineer Don Pettit wrote this week, “when earthlings can see us, we cannot see them. The glare from the full sun effectively turns our windows into mirrors that return our own ghostly reflection.”
Pettit, from Oregon, along with Turkumenian Konokenko and Dutch Kuipers, arrived at the ISS two days before Christmas. Burbank, from Connecticut, was already there, and so was Russians Shkaplerov, who turned 40 last Monday too, and Ivanishin, all brought aloft on board two Soyuz rockets.
They should all be back to Earth for Easter. But make no mistake, these guys are the text-book combination of super-athletes and rocket scientists: if there’s anything humanly possible to do to avert disaster, they’re perfectly capable of doing, with honors, as most of everything they’ve done in life has been.
Up there, though, they’re but a speck of dust, racing among 500,000 other objects of different sizes, all capable of ending their adventurous lives in the time it takes us to complete this sentence. From up there, they can’t expect to get help from any of the seven billion who mostly ignore them.
That’s why this Saturday, out of the blue, we thought we should try to spot them crossing over our heads, as silently as the other heavenly bodies around them. Except that theirs carries some of our own shine and hearts. The ISS is fair game to be wished upon too, just like any other shooting star.
You can follow them on Tweeter, read their blogs or find out more about their mission. You can also talk to your friends or children about them. Or just keep them on your mind, as you go about your daily chores, usual aggravations and small miracles.
Click on the two pictures that illustrate this post for the videos that will help you picture yourself up there, watching us from above, as Pettit says, without really seeing us, but the planet as a whole, as it wakes up and goes dark several times a day.
Here’s to you, ISS and the only star in the vast wide universe to carry six beings just like us. Take good care of them.

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Countdown

Last Blast for
 Pioneer Shuttle

JUST IN: NASA decided to postpone the launch of Discovery until at least Nov. 30. The space shuttle was to leave for his last trip tonight. Technical problems led to repeated postponements of three launch.

Just like a veteran actor after almost 30 years worth of risky performances, NASA’s oldest space shuttle, the Discovery, seems to be having the jitters about taking off one last time. The Florida weather was said to be the latest culprit for the delay. But there were gas leaks earlier in the week, an electrical glitch of some kind the other day and heaven knows what else. That’s why those close to the bird are fooled by none of it.
For them, it’s just the natural anxiety that comes from having to

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Also read:
Back for Good
Up, Up and Away
Final Shuttle

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perform a difficult task one last time, after so many years of a flawless record. After all, the Discovery is the fleet’s busiest Continue reading →