Ad Astra Sally K.!

We need more adventurers like Sally Ride. The first American woman in space, Sally Ride immediately became a household name and a beacon of aspiration for women of all ages when she flew on the seventh Space Shuttle mission. At a time when it seemed that one of the basic criteria for becoming an astronaut was to be male, Ride opened a new chapter as an explorer. Ride's selection as the first American woman in space was a clear indicator of NASA's acknowledgement of the importance of diversity. Since here first flight in 1983, more than 40 women have become NASA astronauts. Clearly, she inspired women to pursue the high call to space and likely inspired scores more to pursue careers in science and technology fields.

Ride was finishing her doctorate in astrophysics at Stanford University in 1977 when she saw a NASA ad calling for astronaut candidates in the Stanford student newspaper. She applied immediately and when selected for astronaut training two years later, was among a group of 35 chosen (including five other women) from over 8000 applicants.

For Ride, when this unique opportunity presented itself, she saw it as a career possibility she couldn't resist. After all, her parents supported her childhood interest by providing a telescope for her; she was 10 years old when Alan Shepard became the first American in space, 11 when John Glenn flew his three orbits and 18 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin  set foot on the moon. So by the time she's studying astrophysics and sees the ad calling for astronaut candidates for the then-new space shuttle program, she realizes this as her chance to be on the cutting edge of space exploration, to participate in the adventure of a lifetime.

Flying on two shuttle missions as a mission specialist, her duties included performing experiments and launching and retrieving satellites. Her third flight assignment was cancelled due to the explosion of shuttle Challenger in 1986. Later, she would be the only person to serve on the disaster review board for both shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Among her many other achievements and appointments, she served as a member of the President's committee on Science and technology and the National Research Council's Space Studies Board.

She was a frequent guest speaker at science museums and conferences around the world. This was probably an outgrowth of her strong advocacy of better science educational experiences for kids, especially for girls. I had several conversations with Ride about ways to improve science education during her visits to the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia where I am Chief Astronomer and a Senior Science Educator. While some have described Ride as an 'absent heroine', I found her to be quite the opposite in that she regularly demonstrated her understanding of being a role model by visiting schools, writing books, giving speeches, and in 2001 founding 'Sally Ride Science', a company 'dedicated to supporting girls' and boys' interest in science, math and technology' and more specifically aims 'to make a difference in girls' lives and in society's perception of their roles in technological fields.' Well beyond the end of her space career, Ride used her knowledge, experiences, intellect, celebrity and influence to help others, particularly children, to better understand and appreciate science.

Today we see a space program much evolved from the time when Ride was flying. We have a fully operational space station; the Chinese have a space station and plans to visit the moon by 2020; private companies now offer flights to the edge of space for $200,000 and NASA is on the verge of 'outsourcing' some of its basic operations. Ride spent over fourteen days in space - not a record by any means, but she leveraged what time she did spend in space to become a truly inspirational leader showing kids, particularly girls, what they can achieve in the exciting fields of sci-tech through desire, education and dedication. She demonstrated that if you want to, you can become an explorer, an adventurer, and can even blaze trails, opening doors for others and that it can all be done in a quiet, dignified manner while maintaining a personal life.

Her legacy carries on well beyond what she could have ever imagined in the lives she changed with her pioneering spirit.

Ad Astra Sally K. Ride!

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Opens New Era in Space Access

At 3:44 a.m. today, a SpaceEx Falcon 9 rocket carried their Dragon space capsule into earth orbit, bound for rendezvous with International Space Station. The launch represents the first attempt for a non-NASA American spacecraft to re-supply ISS since the close of the Space Shuttle Program ten months ago. The 180-foot tall, 367 ton rocket flawlessly pushed up to a 210-mile altitude where on Thursday it will meet ISS, if all systems continue to perform as expected. SpaceX has been steadily working towards developing a safe and affordable launch vehicle system since 2002.

Although many people, including many revered veterans of America’s space program, are doubtful that an independent organization like SpaceX can develop launch capability, while just the beginning of the mission, this launch will hopefully give skeptics more data with which they might form a more reasoned opinion.

SpaceX actually is not the first independent contractor to attempt to provide launch services. The French corporation Arianespace has been providing launch services for corporate and national clients worldwide, since 1980.  One of their clients, the European Space Agency, a partner of the ISS program, has been re-supplying ISS with their 6-ton freight capacity Automated Transfer Vehicle since 2008. Swiss-owned SeaLaunch, with 32 launches under its belt has been providing heavy-lift launch and recovery services since 1999. Its partners and sub-contractors include the Russian Energia corporation and the American Boeing Commercial Space Company, using the Ukrainian-built Zenit rocket.  To say “It’s not rocket science” would carry the sentiment too far but the use of successful long-range rocket technology has been known for 70 years, so it’s not surprising that SpaceX has tackled the challenge or has a good chance to be successful at providing safe and low-cost space access outside of NASA.

John Holdren, assistant to the President for Space and Technology sets the context of SpaceX’s efforts clearly in his congratulatory message to SpaceX this morning:

"Congratulations to the teams at SpaceX and NASA for this morning's successful launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Every launch into space is a thrilling event, but this one is especially exciting because it represents the potential of a new era in American spaceflight. Partnering with U.S. companies such as SpaceX to provide cargo and eventually crew service to the International Space Station is a cornerstone of the president's plan for maintaining America's leadership in space. This expanded role for the private sector will free up more of NASA's resources to do what NASA does best -- tackle the most demanding technological challenges in space, including those of human space flight beyond low Earth orbit. I could not be more proud of our NASA and SpaceX scientists and engineers, and I look forward to following this and many more missions like it."

In the recent past, I’ve been trying to get skeptics to realize that the American space program has not come to an end because of the close of the Space Shuttle program but is instead evolving into a new type of space programming in which our national space agency lets go of the routine, almost mundane work of schlepping water and toilet paper up to ISS and gets on with the big, exciting, challenging missions of deep space exploration – returning to the moon, going on to asteroids and Mars and establishing real outposts in low earth orbit, on the moon and on Mars.  Without this first step in the evolution of NASA and the American space effort, we’ll never be able to shake off the old and embrace the new. No, it will not be an easy shift nor will it be without risk – unfortunately the history of exploration will always punctuated by those who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the advance of mankind. But in almost every effort, the risk has been worth the cost, just as this will be worth the noise of skeptics trapped in the past.

For today though, let’s wave our hats and shout Hurrah for the successful launch of Falcon and Dragon and for the ever-hopeful entrepreneurial spirit of those like Elon Musk who believe in the bright future ahead – in space.

SuperMoon 2012

Look! Up in the air!  It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s SUPER-MOON!

This month’s full moon occurs this Saturday, May 5th at 11:35 p.m.  It coincides with a minimum perigee just one hour earlier, bringing the moon 3 percent closer to Earth than average perigees. The result? The moon will appear 14% larger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons this year – a super moon.

The elliptical shape of the moon’s orbit allows for both a minimum distance and a maximum distance from Earth. The minimum is called ‘perigee’ (‘peri’ - Latin for close to, ‘gee’ - Earth), the maximum is ‘apogee’ (‘apo’ Latin –‘far from’).  The moon’s orbit also slowly rotates around Earth. This means the dates for perigee and apogee gradually slide along the calendar from month to month.

Although an optical illusion already causes the moon to appear unusually large at moonrise, with a minimum perigee 3% closer than average, the full moon will appear even larger when it rises Saturday at 7:49 p.m EDT.

Is it really ‘super’? Only as far as ocean tides are concerned. With this ‘close’ close approach, the moon will exert 42 times more force on tides than it would at the next apogee two weeks later.

Will the close approach cause any disasterous effects? Nope. No earthquakes, tidal waves, crime sprees, heart attacks, or volcanic eruptions. ‘Supermoon’ actually happens once a year, quite frequently when measured in geologic or even astronomical time. And it seems the earth has managed to survive each time.

Then why do we call it ‘super’? As Madison Avenue has directed us, everything should sound more attractive or interesting when supersized! Well, almost everything….  Great time to get a ‘moon-tan’ or blame your drunken walk home Saturday night on the extra gravitational pull of the moon. Enjoy!