Another week is coming to an end, but a new and exciting opportunity is upon us. With the end of the week, it’s time for a #CurrentEventFriday. Sure, it’s been a while; but today’s entry involves one of my favorite topics—astronomy.
NASA introduced their newest program, Artemis. Project Artemis endeavors to bring Astronauts back to the moon. The last time humans were on the moon was well over four decades ago with Apollo 17. Pres. Trump has promised that he would prioritize a new trip to the moon by 2024. This new project named for the Greek goddess of the hunt; Artemis will accomplish these goals. Artemis was also the twin sister of Apollo so there is symmetry there.
Surprisingly, I almost missed the announcement of the 18 new NASA Astronauts selected for this program. The announcement that appeared in my Instagram feed was liked by millions, including a few of my friends. I went to look for the post on my Facebook feed, and realized I missed it because Facebook’s algorithm thought I’d like to see everyone upset about the election, Covid-19, and humorous memes buried NASA’s post.
I know I’m approaching middle age but still young, but most in my generation and Gen Z aren’t fascinated with space and NASA to their detriment. My impression of Gen X, Boomers, and the Silent generations is that they were excited to meet the Gemini, Mercury, and Apollo crews. Yet, NASA’s post got lost among other news with hardly any excitement like our parents and grandparents had for the first set of Astronauts. I’d like to see my generation and Gen Z treasure space travel rather than ignore it or worse ridicule the newly created Space Force branch of the military. Maybe I’m being too negative about the young’uns but in the midst of such a negative and hope-lacking generation, I’d like to see a positive event to gather around like Boomers and the Silent Generation had in the midst of civil unrest with racial equality and Vietnam. We need hopefulness and a common thing to value, why not space?
Another week begins and it’s time for #HistoryMonday again. That of course means I choose a historical event that occurred on this day and offer my thoughts about that event. Today provides an opportunity for a double-header both dealing with outer space.
The Apollo 1 crew. From left to right: Edward H. White II, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, and Roger B. Chaffee.
On this day in 1967, the AS-204 command module catches on fire at the launch pad while program tests were being conducted at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The fire resulted in deaths of astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chafee. Investigators believed a faulty wire sparked in the oxygen-rich environment of the
Astronauts Grissom and White had already flown space missions during Project Gemini, while Chaffee was expecting to make his first spaceflight with the launch of the AS-204 spacecraft. North American Aviation was responsible for the construction of the spacecraft. Shortly before the spacecraft was delivered to Florida, the crew expressed concern of the plentiful use of flammables such as nylon netting and Velcro that were usually used to secure tools and equipment. Skepticism about the timeline of the program led the crew to jokingly remind the construction manager for the spacecraft that maybe divine intervention was necessary.
Signing of the Outer Space Treaty by representatives of the U.S.S.R., U.K., & U.S.
Also happening subsequently around locations in London, Moscow, and Washington D.C. the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Outer Space Treaty) is signed by a plethora of UN members. The Outer Space Treaty provides the framework for international space law. Signatories to the treaty agreed that weaponizing space is not permissible according to the terms of the contract. By signing this contract and including the moon as safe zone from weaponization, the three major nations of the United States, United Kingdom, and the United Soviet Socialist Republics foresaw that reaching the moon by space travel would be soon accomplished.
Shortly after the AS-204 failure, an investigation was launched by NASA pursuant to their established procedures after the Gemini 8 failure. The investigation determined that a pure oxygen atmosphere, flammable materials, faulty wiring, and restrictive hatch design ultimately contribute to a perfect storm of issues leading to the disaster. Congressional investigations were also launched which included reports from a previous investigation into construction delays and costs of the spacecraft. Based on the investigation of the failures, insulated wiring, fireproof coating of the nylon netting, a 60/40 mix of oxygen to nitrogen under pressure, and an outward opening hatch were to be installed on the next spacecrafts.
The widows of the astronauts asked NASA to officially designate the mission Apollo 1 which the crew had hoped to name the mission before their untimely deaths. NASA complied with this request in honor of the crew’s wishes. Although, three unmanned missions had launched before the new Apollo 1 mission they were left nameless. Of these three flights, only 2 included spacecraft and were connected to the new number sequencing. This resulted in Apollo 4 being the next launch while Apollo 2 & 3 were left unused. The mission and the crew have been memorialized in various locations around the U.S. Of course, as a Hoosier, I’ve visited Gus Grissom’s hometown Mitchell many times and seen a memorial dedicated to his memory in Spring Mill State Park. Grissom’s work at NASA likely inspired a handful of others in Lawrence County, Indiana to become astronauts as well.
The Outer Space Treaty would eventually go into effect on 10 October 1967. It has since been signed by 109 signatories the last being France in September of 1967. Many others have deposited their accession to the treaty at one of the three locations even as recently as February of last year. Follow-up agreements include: The Rescue Agreement of 1968, The Space Liability Convention of 1972, and The Registration Convention of 1976. These treaties are coordinated by the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) to answer relevant questions of space jurisdiction. It’s worth noting these treaties are only agreed upon by Earth parties and it isn’t known whether extraterrestrial parties will sign these treaties. More likely, the United Federation of Planets will combine elements of these treaties with treaties from other planets in order to form their government and law into founding documents next century sometime in 2161.
What do you remember about Gus Grissom and the other astronauts on Apollo 1?
Me: At this moment, 70 people are following this blog and wanting to know what I’m going to post.
Reader: I have a hard time believing that.
Me: Hmm…would you believe 20?
Reader: No, not really.
Me: How about half a dozen of my relatives?
Yeah, I borrowed from Get Smart to see if you’d believe me. Today’s post is about the unbelievable — conspiracy theories. I wanted to address a specific conspiracy theory and argue whether it’s reliable or people need to engage their brains more.
I looked around for a conspiracy theory to address, and I found several out there, but ultimately chose to address the moon landing conspiracy.
If you’re unfamiliar with this theory, many people believe that NASA and other US Governmental authorities collaborated with Hollywood Special Effects studios to demonstrate humans landing on the moon.
Some objections to the validity of the landing include:
There was an absence of stars in the photos.
The photos contained identical backgrounds in separate locations.
The flag planted on the moon waved in a vacuum with no wind.
Lunar soil is too powdery to preserve footprints with detail.
Many of these objections have been answered by NASA and additionally a MythBusters special.
The moonwalk was filmed during lunar daytime which meant the sun was shining brighter than other visible stars.
The “identical” photos were photos with similar landscape just as photos on earth from distant locations look almost identical.
The astronauts unfurled the flag and opened a special flagpole resembling the Greek letter Gamma. The flag fluttered as the astronauts jerked the mechanism and the lack of wind prevented the flag from being moved in the opposite direction.
Earth soil is weathered and rounded, so the particles do not support each other’s weight very well. Lunar soil, because it is not weathered, has a more jagged texture, so the particles “lock” with each other and will hold the shape of the imprint much more clearly along with a vacuum preserving the shape.
Even more of a refutation of the forging of the moon landing is the many moon rocks brought back. Several of these were studied by NASA and sent to museums for display such as the one in this photo I took at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. The rocks’ compositions were proved to have not been subject to weathering as earth samples. Additionally, Soviet cosmonauts also retrieved lunar samples and agreed that their samples and the American samples were nearly identical in composition.
So, what do you think, did we make it to the moon?
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52950777/Signing_OS_Treaty_UN_Photo.0.0.jpg)
On the Radar 