In other liquidy news...

Artist's rendering:
(Duh.)
Titan Lakes.

Sounds like some cheesy, cul-de-sacky subdivision, no?

And way up there, He'll hear our prayer and show us wheeerre...

...there's WATER!

Dibs on the first beach house.

Eclipse goes high-tech.

By now most of you probably know that a dragon is going to eat the Sun tomorrow, and even though the the United States wasn't invited to the party, we can still enjoy it thanks to the fact that we live in the fuuuuuuutuuuure.

If you are lucky enough to live in the viewing area...

Why bother with this contraption?
With modern technology, you can view tomorrow's solar eclipse without even having to leave your easy chair. (If you have a laptop, that is.)

Just click here to watch.

And whatever you do, DO NOT look directly at the Sun. That's just stupid.

Doing just that rendered this eyeball's unfortunate owner blind.

I mean, I like seeing eclipses as much as the next guy, but I like seeing period even better.

July 31

On this day in 1969, Mariner 6


[Above: Not a ceiling fan.]



made a flyby of Mars and sent back photos like this one, to the delight of the astronomical world.

I know, right?




28 years later, the Mars Pathfinder mission gave us this image:

Happy 50th birthday, NASA!

An Act

To provide for research into problems of flight within and outside the earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

TITLE I -- SHORT TITLE, DECLARATION OF POLICY, AND DEFINITIONS

SHORT TITLE

Sec. 101. This act may be cited as the "National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958".

DECLARATION OF POLICY AND PURPOSE

Sec. 102. (a) The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind.

(b) The Congress declares that the general welfare and security of the United States require that adequate provision be made for aeronautical and space activities. The Congress further declares that such activities shall be the responsibility of, and shall be directed by, a civilian agency exercising control over aeronautical and space activities sponsored by the United States, except that activities peculiar to or primarily associated with the development of weapons systems, military operations, or the defense of the United States (including the research and development necessary to make effective provision for the defense of the United States) shall be the responsibility of, and shall be directed by, the Department of Defense; and that determination as to which such agency has responsibility for and direction of any such activity shall be made by the President in conformity with section 201 (e).

(c) The aeronautical and space activities of the United States shall be conducted so as to contribute materially to one or more of the following objectives:

(1) The expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space;

(2) The improvement of the usefulness, performance, speed, safety, and efficiency of aeronautical and space

vehicles;

(3) The development and operation of vehicles capable of carrying instruments, equipment, supplies and living organisms through space;

(4) The establishment of long-range studies of the potential benefits to be gained from, the opportunities for, and the problems involved in the utilization of aeronautical and space activities for peaceful and scientific purposes.

(5) The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in aeronautical and space science and technology and in the application thereof to the conduct of peaceful activities within and outside the atmosphere.

(6) The making available to agencies directly concerned with national defenses of discoveries that have military value or significance, and the furnishing by such agencies, to the civilian agency established to direct and control nonmilitary aeronautical and space activities, of information as to discoveries which have value or significance to that agency;

(7) Cooperation by the United States with other nations and groups of nations in work done pursuant to this Act and in the peaceful application of the results, thereof; and

(8) The most effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the United States, with close cooperation among all interested agencies of the United States in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, facilities, and equipment.

(d) It is the purpose of this Act to carry out and effectuate the policies declared in subsections (a), (b), and (c).

ENTIRE ACT.

Back home again.

On July 24, 1969, Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a mission duration of 8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes, and 35 seconds.
The race to the moon was over.
President Kennedy's challenge had been answered with resounding success.
The greatest technological achievement in human history was, well, history.
The moonshot was an amazing feat of brilliance, courage, ingenuity, and dedication.
I was reading James Oberg's "Star-Crossed Orbits: Inside the US-Russian Space Alliance" and he mentioned something I had never before considered. The Apollo program gave Russia (and the world) a healthy fear of the technological abilities of the U.S.

In the Introduction, he quotes space scientist Paul Spudis:

"Here's Apollo's legacy: Any technological challenge America undertakes, it can accomplish. The reason this legacy had concurrency was the success of Apollo. We had attempted, and successfully achieved a technical goal - one so difficult and demanding, that it made virtually any similar goal seem equally achievable."

There you have it. America didn't just get a few thousand pounds of moon rocks and some nice pictures for the cover of Life magazine. America got technological credibility with the world, and that's something you can't put a price on.

Little Guy, 1. Highly Educated Astronomers with Zillion Dollar Observatories, 0

On this date in 1995, amateur astronomers Alan Hale(Not that Alan Hale, people. Focus!)

and Thomas Bopp, working independently of each other and never having met, both discovered a new comet.

Alan Hale was tracking known comets in his driveway in New Mexico when he stumbled on a new comet. Once he established that he was viewing an unknown object, he contacted the proper authorities for such matters that same night.
Meanwhile, over in Arizona, Thomas Bopp, who did not even own a telescope, happened upon the object while glancing through the eyepiece of a friend's telescope.
He, too, confirmed that this object was not listed on any star atlas, and he, too, contacted the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.
The next morning, it was announced that a new comet had been discovered!
By the time all was said and done, Comet Hale-Bopp had been visible to the naked eye for a staggering 569 days. (The previous record was held by the Great Comet of 1811, which was visible for about 9 months.) For more than 8 weeks, Hale-Bopp had a magnitude of 0, and was just slightly dimmer than Sirius, the brightest star in our sky. (Sirius has an apparent magnitude of -1.47, for comparison.)
Hale-Bopp, with its gorgeous two tails, (one of which was blue) remains a favorite memory for many stargazers.
Keep watching the skies, little buddies.
You might get all famous and whatnot.

P.S. For all you health nuts out there, Hale-Bopp will return in the year 4377.
Enjoy.

Today in history.

On July 23, 1999, space shuttle Columbia lifted off to begin STS-93. This, the 95th mission of the space shuttle program, was important for several reasons. First, it carried as its payload the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which, like the Hubble Space Telescope, would in time allow us to significantly increase our understanding of the universe. (As a bonus, we are still getting some amazingly beautiful photos out of the deal.)

Most importantly, this mission was the first to be commanded by a woman, and what a remarkable woman she is.

Eileen Marie Collins was born November 19, 1956 in Elmira, New York.

Even though the Collins family struggled mightily in Eileen's formative years, she was still able to attend Catholic schools due to her parents' sacrifice and hard work. In the afternoons, Eileen would rush home from St. Patrick's School and then Notre Dame High School in time for Star Trek and Lost in Space. It was from Star Trek that she developed her interest in flying and space travel, her mother later said. At young Eileen's request, her parents would take her to the Elmira Regional Airport to watch the planes take off and land.

Eileen knew she would need money if she wanted to earn her pilot's license. Father Eagan, the pastor at St. Patrick's, knew money was tight in the Collins household and gave Eileen a job counting the collection envelopes. Father Eagan would remain a very influential person in Eileen's life, and she still considers herself "very religious."

In an earlier interview, her parents described their daughter as "a very ordinary person, a down-to-earth individual. She's very thoughtful. Nobody handed her anything. Everything she is today, she's earned."

When Eileen was just nine years old, her parents divorced. After her father lost his job, the Collins family was forced to go on food stamps and live in public housing for a time. "The food stamp program did what it was designed to do, which is help people get through hard times in their lives," Collins said.

Eileen had the astronaut bug from childhood, but she never told anyone her dream. Though she knew the astronaut corps consisted of only men, she never let that bother her. "I'm not sure why. I'm not going to try to analyze it. I just figured there were only men, but I still wanted to do it. And I didn't think there was any reason a woman couldn't do it." Collins says she never told anyone her dream because she absolutely refused to hear, "You can't do that."

" I didn't want to fight it. And when I started my flying lessons, I didn't tell my friends. I don't even think I told my parents."

When Eileen was a teenager, she got a job at a pizza parlor. By 1977, she had saved enough money to take flying lessons and get her pilot's license. The following year, she graduated from Syracuse University. With good grades, flying experience, and a letter from her ROTC supervisor, she became one of the first women to go straight from college to the US Air Force pilot training program.

In 1990, Lt. Col. Eileen Collins was selected to the NASA astronaut training program as a member of Selection Group 13, the "Hairballs."

In 1995, Collins was selected to pilot STS-63, the first time a woman was chosen for the job. During STS-63, Discovery rendezvoused with the Mir Space Station. Collins would later visit Mir on STS-84 as well.

On July 26, 2005, Collins commanded STS-114, the emotional "Return to Flight" following the Columbia disaster. During this mission, Collins became the first shuttle commander to perform a "Rendezvous-Pitch Maneuver", wherein a shuttle pilot performs a "backflip" near the International Space Station, allowing the ISS crew to photograph the underbelly of the orbiter to check for damage which may have occurred during liftoff.

[Below: Cdr. Eileen Collins performs the first Rendezvous-Pitch Maneuver ever.]

Collins retired from both NASA and the USAF in 2005, citing a desire to spend more time with her husband and two small children. Her daughter, she once said, "thinks all moms fly the space shuttle."

Here's to Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, who refused to take "No" for an answer, even from herself.
The space program (and indeed the world) are better for having her.

SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK. NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY.

Also on this date back in 2006, Everyone's Favorite Saturn-Orbiting Spacecraft found the long-suspected Lakes of Titan.
It had long been assumed that the terribly smoggy atmosphere of Titan was caused by lakes on its surface. Of course, having a terribly smoggy atmosphere makes it impossible to see much. Unless, of course, you fly as close as 950 km to said surface.
The landforms seen by the spacecraft indicate they were shaped by flowing liquid.
Shorelines are quite visible in the images.
With the Cassie images, scientists would later discover that at least 14% of Titan is covered in liquid. One of the lakes is 40,000 square miles, bigger than Lake Superior. Planetary scientists think the lakes are probably filled with liquid methane, ethane, and dissolved nitrogen.
Peep this, y'all:

Heh heh heh heh heh! Heh heh heh heh heh! Heheheheheheheheheheheheh!

On this date in 1995, STS-70, the 100th US manned spaceflight, returned home after a nine day mission.
You may recall that STS-70 was the mission delayed because woodpeckers had pecked holes in the foam insulation of Discovery's external tank.
The official patch of STS-70 is shown here:
And here is the unofficial patch from STS-70: