A Neil Alden Armstrong
Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20th, 1969. The lunar module, the Eagle, landed at 20:17:39 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). Which was approximately 9:32pm on the East Coast of America. When Neil walked down the ladder he said, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Michael Collins was the astronaut who stayed on the command module.
B Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin was an astronaut. His friend was Neil Armstrong; they were on the moon first. They brought a moon rover with them. He walked on the moon 2 hours and 15 minutes. Also, he was the first person to hold a religious ceremony on the moon. Buzz Aldrin is one of America's greatest heroes.
Galileo named the holes on the moon craters which mean Cup in Latin in 1609. During the Apollo Project it was discovered that the moons craters were made from asteroids and meteorites. The smallest craters are microscopic in size and the biggest crater is 1600 miles in diameter and it's called the Aitken basin. The Aitken basin is the largest in the whole Solar System. Lunar Craters sometimes have Lunar Mares in them.
Doctors know to work on keeping the astronaut healthy. Radiation, zero gravity, bone loss and muscle atrophy (shrivel) are some of the things that astronauts need look out for. The astronauts would have to exercise for at least two hours daily. It takes about six months to get to Mars which would be in travel time alone one year before they can get back to Earth. So, if they got sick with an illness or have to have surgery it would be good if they had a doctor aboard the ship. They would also need medicine for any kind of illness.
E Mars Space Rover
The rover’s names are Spirit and Opportunity. The rovers were supposed to work for three months but Opportunity is still working as of Oct. 19, 2011. Spirit however ran out of power in June 3, 2005. Spirit explored on Mars with over 4.8 miles. Opportunity is still driving around with 21.08 miles. The NASA employees are hoping that Opportunity can go to Cape York on Mars so it can recharge and continue working.
Astronauts need to store food so it won't spoil. They eat salt and pepper in liquid form because the salt and pepper would float away and could get stuck in an air vent, or the astronaut’s eyes, mouth or nose. Some food comes in packaging so it won't float away. There is an oven on the ship or space station that will heat the food to the right temperature. Some foods need to apply water like spaghetti and macaroni and cheese because they are dehydrated.
Galileo Spacecraft was launched on October 18, 1989 and crashed onto Jupiter almost 14 years later on September 21, 2003. It traveled 2,878,053,418 miles. While traveling to Jupiter, Galileo recorded an asteroid with a moon and a comet slamming into a planet. Galileo also found that Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, has a possible ocean and holds more water than all the water on Earth. Also, Europa was found to have a thin oxygen atmosphere and ionosphere.
Hubble has found Galaxies, Planets, Black Holes and something called Dark Energy. Dark Energy is causing the universe to speed up and expand quicker. They have found 100's of extra- solar planets in our Milky Way. The Hubble Telescope has orbited the earth for over 20 years. It was named after Edwin Hubble an American astronomer who confirmed there were other galaxies beside the Milky Way.
I International Space Station
Astronauts from Russia, North America and Europe temporarily live at the (ISS) International Space Station which is orbiting earth. "The mission of the International Space Station is to enable long-term exploration of space and provide benefits to people on Earth." The station is there so we can eventually go into space and live there. It tests the effects of weightlessness on humans. It's as long as a football field and cost approximately $58.5 billion since 1985. If you would like to tour the ISS go to http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/ISSRG/ it will give you a 360 degree look in the space station.
J Johnson Space Center
September 1961 NASA established what would become the Johnson Space Center in Texas, it was first called Manned Space Center; February 1973 the name was changed from Manned Space Center to Johnson Space Center. The Johnson Space Center is home to the astronaut corp. and mission control. This is where the astronauts train. The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory which has 6.2 million gallons of water is where the astronauts train for extra vehicular activities (work outside the shuttle or ISS); it simulates zero-g conditions. Zero-g conditions mean that the astronaut is experiencing no gravity or zero-gravity.
K Kennedy Space Center
The Kennedy Space Center is located on Merrit Island in Florida. This is where they launched the Space Shuttles, Apollo missions, and Saturn V. The Space Shuttle also landed there. My family and I actually went and watched the STS-133 Discovery launch from Kennedy Space Center during February 24, 2011. There were two more launches after Discovery, the launches where Endeavour in May 2011 and Atlantis was the last launch which was on July 8, 2011. We stayed in someone’s yard to watch the launch it ended up they were actually from WV. The launch was really loud and the ground shook because we were directly across from the shuttle. After that we went to Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex and walked around.
STS-133 Discovery Crew
Image : The STS-133 crew members are (clockwise, from upper left) Mission Specialists Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott, Steve Bowen and Michael Barratt, Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Eric Boe. This is the crew of the shuttle that I saw launched on Feb. 24, 2011. Photo credit: NASA
L Lunar Space Rover
The LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) or Moon buggy was first sent to the moon on Apollo 15. In 1965-1967. Boeing gave an estimate of $19,000,000 for four LRV's. But it cost $38,000,000 instead. The LRV went up on the Apollo 15 mission on July 31, 1971. The LRV helped the astronauts get farther from the Lunar Module (LM) than walking. Eugene Cernan got the LRV to go 11.2 mph which became the unofficial lunar land speed record. Eugene was the fastest and the last"est" man on the moon.
Mercury is the planet closest to our sun. It takes it 88 days to go around the sun. It takes 176 Earth days to go from sunrise to sunset or to make one day on Mercury. The temperature to get up to 450 degrees C to -170 degrees C. Mercury has no moons. It was names after the Roman God Mercury and the Greeks gave it two names; Apollo and Hermes. Water Ice was found on Mercury in craters located on the poles because the sunlight doesn't get down into the craters because the craters are shielded from direct sunlight.
NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It is the agency for space and how animals and people do in space which is under the United States Government. The first American man into space was Alan Shepard who piloted the Mercury-Redstone 3 and the first man to orbit the earth was John Glenn who was on Friendship 7. The first man in space ever was Yuri Gagarin from Russia. NASA's manned missions are Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and then the Space Shuttle. Twenty-nine people have died during space training or space flight. The Space Mirror Memorial at John F. Kennedy Space Center in Houston, TX remembers these brave men and women.
O Observatories dealing with Space
Space Observatories are looking for planets, galaxies and other solar systems. The observatories measure in Gamma Rays, X-Rays, UV, Visible, Infared, Microwave and Radio waves. You can go to http://www.ask.com/wiki/List_of_astronomical_observatories or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_astronomical_observatories to see the list of space observatories around the world. We have the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. My teacher, Miss Jennings, has been in it.
Our Solar System has eight planets. The planets are, in order from the sun Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto was recently, 2006, classified as a Dwarf Planet by the IAU, International Astronomy Union. Right now IAU has classified five Dwarf Planets. They are: Pluto, Ceres, Makemake, Eris, and Haumea located in the Kuiper Belt. The first discovered besides Earth we believe is Venus.
A quadrantid is basically a meteor shower. This happens in January. It actually happens in the constellation Bootes; if you look between the handle of the Big Dipper and the head of the constellation Draco you will be looking at Bootes. This meteor shower happens every year. At its peak hour it averages about 110 meteors per hour.
R Sally Ride
She is known as the first woman to orbit the earth in space. She rode on the Space Shuttle Challenger two times before it blew up in 1986. Sally has spent 343 hours in space which is 14 days, 7 hours and 46 minutes. When the Challenger expl0ded she was asked to join the investigation team to discover what happened. Presently she is living in California and works for the California Space Institute at the University of California, San Diego.
S Space Shuttle
This is Space Shuttle Discovery on Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. I actually got to watch the last launch of Discovery on February 24, 2011 down in Florida while visiting my Grandpa and Grandma Smith. Challenger and Columbia where two shuttles that exploded; The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff because of a broken O-ring. Columbia exploded February 1, 2003 because of damage to the wing during re-entry. A part of the external fuel tank peeled off and punctured a hole into the wing. This hole in the wing built up during re-entry and eventually caused the whole plane to rip apart.
Green Bank Telescope National Radio Astronomy Observatory is called GBT for the Green Bank Telescope. It's also names after Robert C. Byrd a WV Senator. Students can go to Green Bank and take tours and use some of the smaller telescopes. You cannot use digital cameras because it messes with the telescope by creating man-made radio waves. What are the origins of life on Earth; How old is the universe; how big is the universe; what is dark energy; what’s a Black Hole; Are we alone; and what happens when a star dies? Who knows yet?
NRAO The Green Bank Telescope looks for these types of formations.
The Universe is defined as everything that is dead and alive. Our Universe has way more planets like Earth out there. The Universe is still expanding. Some theories about the beginning of the Universe are The Big Bang Theory and Creation Theory. God could have made the Big Bang Theory to work with the Creation Theory. He could have just said "Boom!"
There are two Voyager spacecrafts. They are called Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Their mission was to explore Jupiter and Saturn. They found the Jupiter’s moon Io has volcanic activity. It also shows us more information about Saturn's Rings. The mission was extended and now Voyager 2 is exploring Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 and 2 explored moons from Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. The spacecrafts carry a greeting for any intelligent life forms that they might encounter in 55 different languages.
Water covers over 2/3rds of the earth (70.9%), 1.7% is in icecaps and glaciers, another 1.7% is found in groundwater. Water can be found in three states of matter; liquid, solid, and gas. Water is important for survival in space. According to Answers.com "Given a launch cost of $10,000 per pound for space shuttle cargo, a gallon of water (8.3 lbs) costs approximately $83,000 to launch into space." This is very expensive. NASA spends many millions of dollars sending water into space for the astronauts to drink, clean themselves and breathe since the air is humidified.
X x-29 Forward Swept Wing Aircraft
NASA created the X-29 Forward Swept Wing Aircraft to help design and develop future aircrafts. NASA worked with Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility to tests the limits of technology and the design of aircrafts. Many planes stall at 18 degrees but the X-29 can go above that stall angle at 45 degrees. We researched and found that most planes stall at 18 degrees but we weren't sure if this is correct. So, we called Todd Ensign at the NASA ERC IV and V in Fairmont for information on the "stall angle" of a plane. Space Flight.
Y Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin, a Russian, was the first man into space on Vostok 1. He was also known as the first person to orbit the earth. He had two daughters Elena and Galina. He died in a plane crash in 1968. He became a world wide celebrity and toured many places promoting Russian Space Flight.
Z Zero gravity or Zero-G
Zero Gravity is an impossibility, because of the presence of gravity everywhere. Zero-G is something that can be obtained by going up in a Boeing 727 and doing parabolic arcs which give you the feeling of weightlessness. You can experience Zero-G if you are willing to spend $4950.00 with a company called Zero-G Corporation which has 7 United States locations. My teacher, Miss Stacy, actually had a friend who did this. I would really like to do this someday.