(NASA photo Aurora Borealis from shuttle)
The current shuttle mission, Discovery STS-116, has meant that our television has been tuned to the NASA channel almost exclusively for the past few days. This is the third successful NASA mission of 2006, and one we celebrate.
Because the two space-walkers needed daylight to see and work, the effort carried across a period of space night. The two took advantage of their down time to "sight see" the earth below - Sunni for her first, Beamer for his "umpteenth." During the brief 30+ minute "night," they flew at 18,000+ mph over Baja California, Arizona, Chicago, Iceland, the Atlantic, Africa, etc. Bill inside gave them words about where they were. Silence. Then with a practiced eye, "there's Chicago," said Beamer. More silence. The partners took care not to interrupt the other's unique opportunity for their unprecidented adventure. Quietly, almost with awe, Beamer introduced Sunni to the arctic winter experience. "And there's the aurora." More silence as the earth flew below.
NASA's scientific image was considerably burnished by the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics to one of its own, John C. Mather of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. To quote from NASA's website,
Mather, a senior project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, was honored for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite, or COBE. This satellite, launched in 1989, helped to validate the Big Bang Theory. Professor George Smoot of the University of California at Berkeley, who also worked on the COBE project, was co-recipient of the Nobel Award.
. . . During Nobel Week there was also great excitement among the Swedish people about the mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery, whose crew includes Sweden’s first astronaut, Christer Fugelsang. Prior to Discovery’s lift-off, I spoke with a lady named Angela about the anticipation building for the Shuttle mission.
I think it's very exciting for the Swedish people, because we are a very small country. It's nine million people. It's not that often one person makes a difference international-wise. That’s why it’s so exciting … There’s been a big media information about him. A countdown on the television every morning as to the possibility of (the launch) at three o’clock at the morning and also they had a service to wake you up. If you set SMS to the SVT they make a phone call and wake you up in the morning so you can actually watch the take off. So that’s pretty big.
Google and NASA announced that they are joining forces in significant new technological ways. Google is going to build a big new campus on the grounds of Nasa's Ames Research Center in California. Further partnering news is quoted from a (12/18/06) USA Today article:
Google and NASA Ames Research Center said Monday that they have finalized an agreement to deliver more of the space agency's imagery and information through the Internet's leading search engine.
. . . Under the arrangement, Ames will feed Google with its weather forecasting information, three-dimensional maps of the moon and Mars, and real-time tracking of the International Space Station and space shuttle flights so the pictures and data are available to anyone with an Internet connection.
. . . Ames and Google also have vowed to work together to solve complex computing problems, including large-scale data management.
NASA is an independent agency. It is good to be able to celebrate at least something coming out of the federal government's executive branch that is not connected to making war, that is positive, and that is working. With our current president's job approval rating at an all time low, according to a Zogby poll, the coming holidays demand better news.
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