Eugene Shoemaker: The First Man Buried on the Moon
Dr. Eugene Shoemaker became the first man to receive a Moon burial when his ashes landed there with the Lunar Prospector spacecraft on July 31, 1999.
Tag Archive for: NASA
Curiosity Rover Photographed on Mount Sharp from Mars Orbit
Photo recently captured by NASA from Mars orbit shows the Curiosity Rover in a lonely expanse of the Red Planet.
Curiosity Rover on Mars
See that blue speck? That’s the Curiosity Rover photographed by NASA in high definition from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
“When the image was taken,” NASA says, “Curiosity was partway between its investigation of active sand dunes lower on Mount Sharp, and ‘Vera Rubin Ridge,’ a destination uphill where the rover team intends to examine outcrops where hematite has been identified from Mars orbit. The rover’s surroundings include tan rocks and patches of dark sand.”
Curiosity landed on Mars August 6, 2012. According to NASA, “Lower Mount Sharp was chosen as a destination for the Curiosity mission because the layers of the mountain offer exposures of rocks that record environmental conditions from different times in the early history of the Red Planet. Curiosity has found evidence for ancient wet environments that offered conditions favorable for microbial life, if Mars has ever hosted life.”
Total Solar Eclipse Stamps Coming Soon From USPS
New stamp commemorates the Total Solar Eclipse happening on August 21, the first one visible from the continental US since 1979.
On August 21 there will be a total eclipse of the Sun which will be visible from the US for the first time since 1979. The eclipse will travel a narrow path across the entire country, which hasn’t happened since 1918. The path will go from west to east, with the eclipse visible from 14 states.
To commemorate the event, the United States Postal Service has created the Total Solar Eclipse Forever stamp. The stamp depicts a photo taken by astrophysicist Fred Espenak of a total solar eclipse seen from Jalu, Libya, on March 29, 2006. The heat of your thumb or fingers will warm the thermochromic ink to reveal an image of the moon beneath.
These unique stamps will be issued on the summer solstice, June 20, 2017.
For more information on the 2017 total solar eclipse, including maps showing where it will be visible, visit the NASA site right here.
Want to watch the eclipse? Get your eclipse glasses here.
Man Survives Losing Pressure in 1966 Moon Suit Experiment
A NASA experiment went awry when test subject Jim LeBlanc became the only man to survive near vacuum pressures.
In 1966, NASA space suit technician Jim LeBlanc entered a vacuum chamber to test an early Moon suit. Somehow the pressurization hose attached to the suit detached, causing rapid depressurization from 3.8 psi to 0.1 psi in 10 seconds. LeBlanc lost consciousness after 15 seconds. As he fell backward, he said the last thing he remembered was feeling the saliva on his tongue bubbling.
The chamber, which usually takes 30 minutes to pressurize, was brought back to atmospheric pressure in 30 seconds so LeBlanc could be retrieved. He survived with little more than an earache.
Jim LeBlanc inside the vacuum chamber
Alien Structure on Asteroid 1999-RQ36
I don’t usually post much about aliens or UFOs, but the sci-fi/horror geek in me loves the sound of this one.
According to Mysterious Universe, the OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security — Regolith Explorer) spacecraft will be launched in 2016 to study near-Earth asteroid 1999-RQ36, also known as 101955 Bennu. NASA claims the purpose of the study is to “help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth.”
However, they make no mention of the bizarre, pyramid-like shape seen in this video on the surface of the asteroid….
Is it fake? Is it an alien space station? A mining operation? Maybe it is a pyramid containing the burial chamber of our advanced alien creators. What do you think?
