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☆ How the Columbia disaster changed the future of spaceflight
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The CNN Original Series “Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight” uncovers the events that ultimately led to disaster. The tragedy killed seven astronauts as the Columbia shuttle disintegrated upon its return to Earth on February 1, 2003, due to damage the vehicle sustained during launch. Changes at NASA were necessary, according to a formal investigation about the Columbia disaster published six months after the accident. Cultural changes: ‘Safety days,’ review boards and round tablesColumbia marked the second deadly mishap for the shuttle program after the space shuttle Challenger exploded during launch in January 1986. Following the Columbia disaster, NASA grounded its remaining fleet of three shuttles as the space agency sought to parse what went wrong.

Persons: ”, “, ” Wayne Hale, Rick D, Evelyn Husband, Bill Readdy, Bruce Weaver, Hale, ” Hale, Garrett Reisman, ” Reisman, Ilan Ramon, Reisman, —, NASA didn’t, SpaceX’s, Kevin Dietsch Organizations: CNN, Shuttle Columbia, Sunday, Columbia, SpaceX, NASA, Space Shuttle Columbia, Kennedy Space Center, Getty, Endeavour, Atlantis, International Space, Elon, Boeing, Columbia —, Challenger, International Space Station, Vigilance, ” Locations: Russia, AFP, California, Israel, Columbia

☆ Back in the ’90s, This Eclipse Webcast Put the Cosmos on Demand
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Katrina Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Feb. 26, 1998, hundreds of people gathered to watch a total solar eclipse. They oohed and aahed as the feathery streams of the top of the solar atmosphere burst into view. Except that crowd wasn’t actually in Aruba. They were thousands of miles away in San Francisco, clustered in front of a screen at a museum called the Exploratorium. For what might have been the first time in the history of the internet, a solar eclipse was streamed live.

Persons: wasn’t, Charlie Organizations: Technology, NASA, Challenger Locations: Aruba, San Francisco

All parts of the vertical launch configuration are authentic components of the shuttle system, including the rust-colored external tank, which was flight-qualified. The external tank arrived by barge and made a similar trip across the city. A groundbreaking ceremony for the Air and Space Center was held in 2022 on the 11th anniversary of Endeavour’s final return from space. The 116-foot-long (35.3-meter-long) rocket motors were trucked to Los Angeles from the Mojave Desert in October and were installed the following month. Atlantis is at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where it is displayed as if in orbit with its payload doors open and robotic arm extended.

Persons: — NASA's, Samuel Oschin, Steven F Organizations: ANGELES, Space Shuttle Endeavour, Samuel, Samuel Oschin Air, Space Center, California Science Center, Endeavour, Los Angeles International Airport, NASA Boeing, Air and Space, NASA, Shuttle Challenger, Columbia, Atlantis, Enterprise, Kennedy Space Center, National Air, Intrepid Museum Locations: Los Angeles, Exposition Park, Florida, Chantilly , Virginia, New York

☆ The 75 most impactful TV moments are debuts, farewells and historic firsts
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

These and more indelible moments appear on the Television Academy’s new list of the 75 most impactful moments in TV history, spanning introductions, endings and history-making events. MTV premieres with its first music video – “Video Killed the Radio Star,” 198113. “All in the Family” – viewers meet the working-class Bunker family, 197135. 8.” M*A*S*H” series finale, 198326. But these classic TV moments that stirred audiences when they first aired are still resonant and frequently referenced in contemporary culture.

Persons: Martin Luther King Jr, Mister Rogers, Clemmons, Whitney, George Floyd’s, Lucy ”, Neil Armstrong, O.J, Simpson, Ford Bronco, Walter Cronkite, John F, Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr, Nixon, Barack Obama’s, Rodney King’s, Princess Diana’s, Queen Elizabeth II’s, Rodney King, William Shatner’s Captain Kirk, Nichelle Nichols, Uhura, Nichols, Ellen DeGeneres, “ Ellen ”, Sammy Davis , Jr, Archie, “, Lucy ” – Lucy Ricardo, Little Ricky, Lucille Ball, “ Maude ” – Bea Arthur’s Maude, Kelly Clarkson, – Kirk, Kunta Kinte, LeVar Burton, ”, Matt Zoller Seitz, Kunta, Levar Burton, George Carlin, Gordon, Walter White, Bart, Homer, Ted Turner, Sophia, Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, it’s, hallucinating, King Cole, White Walker, ” – Julia Child, boeuf, “ Julia ” –, Julia, “ Will, Grace ”, James Farley, Tony Soprano, Will Hart, It’s, Hawkeye, “ Newhart, Robert Hartley, Bob Newhart, –, “ Mary Tyler Moore, Mary, Ted Danson’s Sam, Bette Midler, Johnny Carson, weren't, Robb, Catelyn, Ed Sullivan, Elvis, “ Charlie Brown, – Linus, Charlie Brown, Carol Burnett, Lucy ” – Lucy, “ Dallas, Mary Tyler Moore, Mary can’t, Chuckles, “ Seinfeld, Jerry, Will Smith, Chris Rock, Harry Bemis, Kinte, Toby, Elmer Fudd, Siegfried, Bugs Bunny, Michael Jackson’s, Oprah ”, Oprah Winfrey, Robb Stark, Hooper, Big, Mr, offscreen, Bill, Frank, Justin Timberlake, Janet, Luke, Laura get, – Whitney Houston, “ Peter Pan ”, “ Walt, Disney Organizations: CNN, The, Television, “, Space Shuttle, NFL, Ford, Capitol, MTV, Radio Star, ABC, Getty, Variety, Oceanic Airlines, Democratic National, HBO, Super, “ Dallas, Beatles, US, Nazi, Pontiac Locations: Angeles, New York, Southern, Monica, “, Valhalla

☆ Ed Dwight was NASA's first Black astronaut candidate in the 1960s. A new documentary tells his forgotten story.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-14 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Two decades before Bluford's flight, Ed Dwight was an Air Force pilot who trained to be the first Black astronaut. Whitney Young of the National Urban League urged Kennedy to push the Air Force to find and train the first Black astronaut. Dwight said the famed pilot felt slighted and not being included in the decision to train a Black astronaut. "All of a sudden we were able to hire astronauts who didn't look like the classic NASA astronaut," Bolden said. During his flight, Glover had a group call with Dwight, Bluford, Bolden, and other Black astronauts.

Persons: Ed Dwight, Robert Lawrence, NASA didn't, —, Guion Bluford, Bluford, Dwight, Lisa Cortés, hadn't, John F, Kennedy, Whitney Young, Cortés, Dwight wasn't, Chuck Yeager, Yeager, Frederick Gregory, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Park, Ella Fitzgerald, Martin Luther King, Craig F, Walker, Ed, Leland Melvin, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, Bernard Harris , Jr, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, Ron McNair, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Charles Bolden , Jr, Tamayo Méndez, Gregory, Bolden, McNair, they'll, Charles Bolden, Melvin, de Mendoza, Katherine Johnson, Ed's, kickstart, Victor Glover, George Floyd, who's, Leland D, Victor, Glover Organizations: NASA, Service, Air Force, Black, Atlanta Constitution, National Urban League, Bettmann, Denver's, Denver, Getty, Soviet Union, Space Shuttle Challenger, Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Station, NASA’s Office, Education, Geographic, Disney Locations: Atlanta, Rosa, Cuban, Cuba, United States, Soviet Union

☆ A former McDonalds franchise owner dubbed 'McCongressman' wants to be the GOP's next House Majority Leader — and he's handing out McGriddles to win his colleagues over
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

GOP Rep. Kevin Hern, a former McDonald's franchise owner, wants to be House Majority Leader. AdvertisementAdvertisementRep. Kevin Hern wants to be the next House Majority Leader, and he's got at least one unconventional trick up his sleeve to try to pull it off: McDonald's. "I fucking wish," one House GOP staffer told Insider via text when asked if they'd received a delivery. "Pissed," a staffer from another House GOP office wrote, saying they also hadn't received any McGriddles. Hern, the current chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, launched his campaign for majority leader on Wednesday after House Republicans nominated current House Majority Leader Steve Scalise to replace McCarthy as speaker.

Persons: Kevin Hern, he's, Bacon, —, they'd, hadn't, Steve Scalise, McCarthy, Hern, Byron Donalds of, Tom Emmer, Elise Stefanik Organizations: Republicans, GOP, Service, Oklahoma Republican, Washington Examiner, Republican, Committee Locations: Oklahoma, Punchbowl, Hern, Byron Donalds of Florida, Minnesota, New York, Scalise

☆ Strange ‘earthquake lights’ explained
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —I once felt the immense force unleashed by an earthquake in 1999 when I was living in Taipei, Taiwan. It was a feeling I was reminded of again this week when writing about a mysterious seismic phenomenon witnessed during Morocco’s recent devastating earthquake. Force of natureReports of multicolor “earthquake lights,” such as the ones seen in videos captured before Morocco’s 6.8 magnitude quake on September 8, go back centuries to ancient Greece. Researchers are beginning to understand the different forms the lights take and where they might appear. One 2014 study found the mystery lights could result from certain rocks when put under stress, but there is still no consensus on exactly what causes these outbursts.

Persons: CNN —, James Webb, Rhea Seddon, Anna Fisher, Judy Resnik, Shannon Lucid, Sally Ride, Kathy Sullivan, dryly, Arabella, Anita, Miss Baker, wasn’t, Jesse Rorabaugh, ”, Mattia Menchetti, Frank Rubio, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, NASA, United, of Evolutionary, CNN Space, Science Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, Greece, Mexico City, Thailand, Africa, Guam, North America, United Nations, Europe, Italy, Spain

☆ ‘The Six’: Stories of NASA’s first women astronauts revealed
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Catherine E. Shoichet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But the journalist started wondering about the other women who had trained alongside Ride in NASA’s first coed astronaut class. More than 1,500 women applied to become astronauts between 1976 and 1977, Grush writes. "The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts" by Loren Grush is out September 12. NASAWhy these astronauts’ experiences resonate todayWhile Ride was first, ultimately every member of The Six flew on a space shuttle. In her book, Grush chronicles their journeys, including the 1986 Challenger disaster that killed Resnik on her second space shuttle flight.

Persons: Sally Ride, “, crewmates, Loren Grush, ” Grush, —, “ I’m, ”, Grush, Arabella, Anita —, Miss Baker —, Ruth Bates Harris, Simon, Schuster, Judy Resnik, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, Anna Fisher, Rhea Seddon, Seddon, Fisher, Resnik, Sullivan, NBC’s Tom Brokaw, George Abbey, Abbey, Ride, Bob Crippen, Crippen, Sally wasn’t, ” Sullivan, “ NASA’s, Artemis Organizations: CNN, Bloomberg, NASA, Johnson Space Center, Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, ”, The, Challenger Locations: Houston, NASA's, Florida

☆ Remembering Sally Ride: 40th anniversary of her historic spaceflight
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —It has been 40 years since Sally Ride became the first woman from the United States to travel into outer space. She was not open about her personal life, according to former NASA astronaut Steve Hawley, who was married to Ride from 1982 to 1987. However, the educational company she cofounded, Sally Ride Science, revealed more of her personal life in her 2012 obituary, recognizing her longtime partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, after Ride died of pancreatic cancer. NASASherr’s book “Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space” was first published in 2014. A trailblazer’s legacyRide’s ambition and love of knowledge extended far beyond her role as an astronaut, Sherr noted.

Persons: Sally Ride, Steve Hawley, Sally, Tam O’Shaughnessy, Ride, NASA hasn’t, General, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Artemis, NASA's, Lynn Sherr, “, Sherr, ” Sherr, Dale Moore, ”, Billie Jean King, Martin Luther King Jr, ’, King Charles III, Prince of Wales, ‘, Valentina Tereshkova, Svetlana Savitskaya, Ride’s, Lyndon B, Johnson, Gloria Steinem, Richard Drew, Tam O'Shaughnessy, Barack Obama, Kevin Dietsch, O’Shaughnessy, Charles Tasnadi, Eileen Collins, NASA’s Koch, Jessica Meir, —, Rob Navias Organizations: CNN, NASA, Sally Ride, NASA’s, Space Center, CAPCOM, Johnson Space Center, ABC News, Ride, Edwards Air Force Base, Stanford University, Stanford Daily, Soviet Union, Girls Club of America, Magazine, White, UPI, Sally Ride Science, University of California, UC San Diego, Poets, State Department, United Nations Locations: United States, Houston, California, Soviet, New York, Washington ,, San Diego, Columbia

☆ Biden to Deliver Oval Office Address as U.S. Averts Default
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Michael D. Shear | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Presidents often reserve the Oval Office for addresses to the nation about war, economic crises or natural disasters. President Ronald Reagan delivered somber remarks from the Oval Office about the space shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986. President Donald J. Trump announced pandemic restrictions from the Oval Office in early 2020. Mr. Biden’s decision to use the same venue on Friday underscores how close he believes the two sides had veered toward economic calamity. White House officials were cagey about what Mr. Biden planned to say in his remarks.

Persons: Ronald Reagan, Donald J, Mr, Biden, “ Organizations: Office, Trump, United, ”, Republican Locations: United States

☆ Mike Pride, Who Proved a Regional Newspaper Could Work, Dies at 76
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Sam Roberts | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The cause was myelofibrosis, a rare type of blood cancer, his son Dr. Yuri Pride said. As The Monitor’s managing editor from 1978 to 1983 and its editor until he retired in 2008, Mr. Pride won the National Press Foundation’s Editor of the Year Award in 1987 for overseeing The Monitor’s eloquent coverage of the death of a hometown heroine, the astronaut and teacher Christa McAuliffe, in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. In 2008, Preston Gannaway of The Monitor won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for her intimate chronicle of a family coping with a parent’s terminal illness. Under Mr. Pride’s leadership, the New England Newspaper & Press Association named The Monitor New England newspaper of the year 19 times.

☆ The Man Who Tried to Stop the Space Shuttle Challenger’s Launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Rachel M. Mccleary | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was preparing the space shuttle Challenger for launch on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986. It was an unusually cold morning for Cape Canaveral, Fla.—too cold, warned the engineers of NASA contractor Morton Thiokol, builder of the shuttle’s solid rocket motors. The day before the launch, Thiokol engineers and executives met with NASA officials on a teleconference. A Thiokol engineer reported the anticipated temperature during the following day’s launch time would be around 26 degrees. Erring on the side of caution, Boisjoly, Thompson and other engineers recommended delaying the launch.

☆ Piece of Challenger space shuttle discovered at bottom of Atlantic near Florida's coast
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Minyvonne Burke | Minyvonne Burke Is A Senior Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A section of the destroyed space shuttle Challenger was found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida more than three decades after it broke apart and killed all seven people aboard. Because of the artifact's proximity to the Florida Space Coast as well as the construction of the object, the team contacted NASA. The discovery is one of the biggest pieces of the spacecraft ever found, said Michael Ciannilli, a NASA official. It disintegrated 46,000 feet above the ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. She had been selected as the primary candidate for the NASA Teacher in Space Project in July 1985.

☆ Piece of Challenger Space Shuttle Found by Documentary Crew Off Florida Coast
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Talal Ansari | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A dive team working on a documentary discovered part of the space shuttle Challenger off the coast of Florida. A section of the space shuttle Challenger was found on the ocean floor more than three decades after it exploded moments after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. National Aeronautics and Space Administration leaders confirmed Thursday that footage shot by a documentary film crew earlier this year showed a section of the Challenger.

☆ Piece of Challenger Space Shuttle Found By Documentary Crew Off Florida Coast
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Talal Ansari | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Divers find Challenger space shuttle wreckage off Florida coast
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Dan Whitcomb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The NASA logo hangs in the Mission Operations Control Center at Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, U.S., October 26, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File PhotoNov 10 (Reuters) - Divers from a documentary crew looking for the wreckage of a World War Two aircraft off the coast of Florida found a 20-foot section of the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded and broke apart shortly after its launch in 1986, NASA said on Thursday. The find marks the first time in 25 years that a piece of the Challenger has been located. The Challenger erupted into a ball of flame 73 seconds after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 28, 1986. It remains one of the worst disasters in the history of the U.S. space program.

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