Ms. Trotta's Science Blog: July 2009

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

We Have Liftoff!

Wednesday (7/15), at 6:03 pm, the STS-127 mission (Space Shuttle Endeavour) began it's mission! Endeavour is on its way to the International Space Station to deliver parts to complete the Japanese Laboratory aboard the ISS. This laboratory will be used by astronauts living on the ISS to preform many experiments in space. Below is a link to a video of Endeavour's liftoff on Wednesday. The video was taken from You Tube, however the original version of the video was from NASA TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DNljVcs6Dc

Below is a photo of Endeavour lifting off. This photo was taken from NASA's website.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Endeavour Pushed Back Again!

Just an update...the STS-127 mission to the International Space Station has been postponed again due to bad weather and lightening. Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to launch Wednesday (July 15) at 6:03 pm. Wednesday's weather looks better, with only a 40% chance of a "no-go launch". Check your listings, as well as the NASA website for updates regarding the shuttle launch. Remember to check it out on Wednesday!!!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Space Shuttle Endeavour

Hello class!

I hope you all are enjoying your summer...just a little over a month until school starts up again!
First of all, the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-127) launch has been delayed yet again because of bad weather. The Shuttle was originally supposed to lift off a few days ago, but is now scheduled for Monday. Lift off is slated to be at 6:51 pm on Monday (July 13). Don't forget to watch the launch! You will be able to watch it on the NASA channel (check you listings for the channel). If you don't have the NASA channel, you can watch it on NASA's website (http://www.nasa.gov/). To do this, go to the NASA site and click on NASA TV (Live)...it is about half way down the page. During this mission, the STS-127 crew will travel to the ISS to deliver a part that will be used in completing a laboratory to conduct many different experiments in space. Below is a photo of the Space Shuttle Endeavour during the storm. Good thing the launch pad has a protective structure!

The above information about STS-127 was taken from NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/). The photo of Space Shuttle Endeavour was taken from http://www.spaceweather.com/ however the original image was taken by Gene Blevins of the LA Daily News.

Also, on July 20, 2009, we will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the surface of the moon. Remember, that Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. If you remember from what we studied in class, President Kennedy challenged America to land a man on the moon. Kennedy really believed in the space program, so much so that they named the Kennedy Space Center after him! If you are ever in the Orlando, FL area, you should go!

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth." President Kennedy, May 25, 1961.

President Kennedy believed that we, as a nation, would be able to do this. He knew it would be difficult, but he knew we could do it. Kennedy continued to speak of this goal...

" But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." President Kennedy, September 12, 1962.

In class, we talked about the space program. We talked about the space race (between the US and the Soviet Union), we talked about the Mercury Program, the Gemini Program, and the Apollo Program. All of these missions, leading up to Apollo 11, played an important role in the US landing on the moon. On July 20, 1969, three men (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins) changed the world forever. Since that great day in American, and world, history, there have only been 6 Apollo Missions that landed on the moon, each with 2 astronauts walking on the lunar surface (Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17). Those 12 astronauts were the ONLY men to EVER walk on the moon. No one else has ever come close. That says a lot about our country and our space program. I hope that you all will take a minute on July 20 and remember that one small step that changed the world. We will talk about this great day when we come back to school, but in the meantime, when you look up at the moon, just think of the 6 American flags up there, and think of all the men and women who made it possible.

Below are some pictures taken from http://www.nasa.gov/ dealing with the Apollo 11 mission. All of the pictures were taken from http://www.nasa.gov/

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Astronomy Club Anyone?

Hi class,

Hopefully you are all enjoying your summer break! I have been doing some thinking and thought it would be really cool if we had an astronomy club! We could meet maybe once or twice a month after school and talk about new developments in astronomy, make astronomy related crafts, and even go outside to obseve the sun, moon, stars, and more! I will think more about it and see if we could have this club. I think it will be a lot of fun!

A few things in the world of astronomy to update you on...

1. The ISS will be having a series of flyby's that you can see. I have posted the times for HR. This flyby information has been taken form Spaceweather.com's satellite tracker ( http://spaceweather.com/flybys/flybys.php?zip=20895 )

July 6: 4:42:26 am - 4:44:37 am, NNW, 33 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -2.4

July 6: 10:42:58 pm - 10:45:20 pm, WSW, 51 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.4

July 7: 5:06:46 am - 5:09:09 am, WNW, 71 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.9

July 7: 9:32:20 pm - 9:34:39 pm, SSW, 43 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.0

July 8: 3:56:11 am - 3:58:23 am, NNW, 34 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -2.5

July 8: 9:56:41 pm - 9:59:03 pm, WSW, 48 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.3

July 9: 4:20:28 am - 4:22:51 am, WNW, 67 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.8

July 9: 8:46:22 pm - 8:48:30 pm, SSW, 45 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.1

July 10: 9:10:19 pm - 9:12:40 pm, WSW, 46 degrees (max. elevation), mangitude: -3.2

Remember, the lower the magnitude, the brighter the object is (this is aparent magnitude, which means it is how bright it appears to be to you, from Earth).

Again, all of this information regarding the times of the flyby has been taken from SpaceWeather's Satellite tracker-refer to the website above for more information.

2. The LRO has taken some great pictures of the lunar surface. NASA has released some of the pictures that the LRO has taken. I have posted two of those pictures on here for you to see.

These two above photos were taken from NASA's website (http://www.nasa.gov/) The full link to the photos and the article that they go with is: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc_20090702_a.html

Remember to check out both the NASA website and SpaceWeather to keep up with updates!

One other item I would like to bring to your attention is that Australia has recently set money aside to help preserve/improve the water in the Great Barrier Reef. If you remember when we talked about biomes, we talked briefly about the GBR. It is part of the Neritic Zone in warm, tropical regions. When we talked about rocks/minerals, we talked about coral reefs and described the different types! What type of reef is the Great Barrier Reef? Do you remember? Below is a picture of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.