Astronaut Hall of Fame

Here is the list of participants.

Top Ten Scientific Discoveries Made During Apollo Exploration of the Moon

From the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum here:

1. The Moon is not a primordial object; it is an evolved terrestrial planet with internal zoning similar to that of Earth.

2. The Moon is ancient and still preserves an early history (the first billion years) that must be common to all terrestrial planets.

3. The youngest Moon rocks are virtually as old as the oldest Earth rocks. The earliest processes and events that probably affected both planetary bodies can now only be found on the Moon.

4. The Moon and Earth are genetically related and formed from different proportions of a common reservoir of materials.

5. The Moon is lifeless; it contains no living organisms, fossils, or native organic compounds.

6. All Moon rocks originated through high-temperature processes with little or no involvement with water. They are roughly divisible into three types: basalts, anorthosites, and breccias.

7. Early in its history, the Moon was melted to great depths to form a "magma ocean." The lunar highlands contain the remnants of early, low density rocks that floated to the surface of the magma ocean.

8. The lunar magma ocean was followed by a series of huge asteroid impacts that created basins which were later filled by lava flows.

9. The Moon is slightly asymmetrical in bulk form, possibly as a consequence of its evolution under Earth's gravitational influence. Its crust is thicker on the far side, while most volcanic basins -- and unusual mass concentrations -- occur on the near side.

10. The surface of the Moon is covered by a rubble pile of rock fragments and dust, called the lunar regolith, that contains a unique radiation history of the Sun which is of importance to understanding climate changes on Earth.

I find Number 10 most interesting. Have the climatologists figured in their climate change models the lunar regolith radiation history of the Sun? Just wondering. I'll have to go investigate.

Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia"

Smithsonian Photograph
I've been up and close to the "Columbia" Command Module at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It is a great exhibit.

Facts about the Apollo 11 Command Module here:

The blunt-end design for the Command Module was chosen to build upon experience gained with the similarly shaped Mercury and Gemini spacecraft. The spacecraft reentered the atmosphere with its protective heat shield facing forward. Layers of special "ablative" material on the shield were purposely allowed to burn away during reentry to help dissipate the extremely high temperatures caused by atmospheric friction.

Height: 3.2 m (10 ft 7 in)
Maximum Diameter: 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in)
Weight: 5,900 kg (13,000 lb)
Manufacturer: North American Rockwell for NASA
Launch Vehicle: Saturn V

LRO first Moon Pictures

LRO or Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken its first pictures of the Moon on June 30. The first pictures were taken on the moon's terminator (line separating light and dark).

"Our first images were taken along the moon's terminator -- the dividing line between day and night -- making us initially unsure of how they would turn out," said LROC Principal Investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe. "Because of the deep shadowing, subtle topography is exaggerated, suggesting a craggy and inhospitable surface. In reality, the area is similar to the region where the Apollo 16 astronauts safely explored in 1972. While these are magnificent in their own right, the main message is that LROC is nearly ready to begin its mission."

More pictures will come as LRO orbits around the Moon. It is in an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon and by next month its orbit will become circular about 31 miles above the Moons surface.

Apollo 11 Landing site

From a link to the National Space and Air Museum here about the Apollo 11 landing site:

Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility)
00.67408 °N latitude, 23.47297 °E longitude

For the first lunar landing, Mare Tranquilitatis was the site chosen because it is a relatively smooth and level area. It does, however, have a high density of craters and in the last seconds before landing, the LM had to be manually piloted by Neil Armstrong to avoid a sharp-rimmed ray crater measuring some 180 meters across and 30 meters deep known as West. The LM landed safely some 6 km from the originally intended landing site.

The Apollo 11 LM landed approximately 400 meters west of West crater and 20km south-southwest of the crater Sabine D in the southwestern part of Mare Tranquilitatis. The lunar surface at the landing site consisted of fragmental debris ranging in size from fine particles to blocks about 0.8 meter wide.

The landing site is 41.5 km north-northeast of the western promontory of the Kant Plateau, which is the nearest highland region. The Surveyor 5 spacecraft is approximately 25 km north-northwest of the Apollo 11 landing site, and the impact crater formed by Ranger 8 is 69 km northeast of the landing site.

Happy Fourth to All!

NASA Apollo 11 launch

Moonstruck on the Space Coast

We Choose the Moon

Moon Landing Memories

Florida Today has launched Moon Landing Memories. A collection of photographs of the Apollo missions. Most are B&W but some color. Back then all were made of celluloid and not digitized. I was amazed at granny and dust seen on some. You don't see that anymore with digitization! Very historic in telling the story in pictures of the Apollo program and Moon landings.

**18TH JUNE 2009** 'NASA'S' RETURN TO THE MOON (if they actually went there)

Japan's Satellite finally Crashes Into the Moon June 11th 2009

Haynes Apollo 11 Owners Manual

How cool is that! HT to Bad Astronomy here.

Happy 16th Anniversary to "APOD"

First post here at APOD archive

And today's Astronomy Picture of the Day here.

NorKor ICBM range--Alaska

From Military.com here:

The missile being prepared for launch is believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of up to 4,000 miles, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unnamed South Korean official.

That would put Alaska within striking range.

Today, the North said again that it is being provoked by South Korea and the United States, saying that the number of spy planes operating in its airspace has risen dramatically.

"The U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets perpetrated at least 200 cases of aerial espionage against the DPRK in May, or 30 cases more than those in the same month of last year," it said in a report in its official Korean Central News Agency.

The Ground Based Mid-Range missile Defense are housed in Vandenberg AFB and Fort Greely in Alaska. Should be fully deployed in 2011. Let's hope we don't have to use them, but if NorKor's do launch we'll be there to knock them down.
Missile Defense Agency page here.

Apollo Pictures

STS-125 Hubble Release

Amazing inside look at the crew and deploying the Hubble Space Telescope. Great job crew sts-125! Hubble will be a working telescope for years to come!

Got it! Atlantis Has a Hold on Hubble

Atlantis Day two HTS mission

Apollo 10 astronauts enjoy zero-G

Another Apollo 10 video