This month celebrates all things space science. From the anniversary of the Moon landing to celestial events, the month of July offers us the perfect opportunity to celebrate all the cosmic wonders our galaxy and beyond have to offer.
The Artemis mega Moon rocket is NASA's latest and most powerful launch vehicle. It's intended to return astronauts, robots, and supplies to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years! Adam Mann, a journalist who specializes in astronomy, physics, and space science, discusses how the SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion are part of NASA's Artemis program, which intends to bring the first woman and the first person of color to the Moon by 2026 and eventually establish a permanent crewed presence on our natural satellite. (Please see the Live Science link below.)
https://www.livescience.com/artemis-rocket-space-launch-system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Launch_System
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(spacecraft)
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/around-the-moon-with-nasa-s-first-launch-of-sls-with-orion
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/
Personally, I'll never forget the excitement and pride I felt in the late 1950s and the 1960s when the Mercury Seven astronauts were selected and courageously performed their missions. The Mercury Seven were Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Donald "Deke" Slayton, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, and Scott Carpenter. They were HEROES-in today's vernacular we would call them SUPERHEROES for sure-and so were the inspiring astronauts of the Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs.
In addition to being immortalized by history, the Mercury Seven were memorialized vividly by the literary journalist Tom Wolfe in his chronicle of the mid-Twentieth Century Space Race entitled The Right Stuff, and their story was further popularized by a highly entertaining film of the same name and again, only a few years ago, by a television series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Seven
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gemini
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_Stuff_(book)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_Stuff_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_Stuff_(TV_series)
The tradition of memorializing the "real life" excitement of space exploration continued with the docudrama Apollo 13, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon, which dramatized the aborted Apollo 13 Lunar mission crewed by Jim Lovell, Jack Sweigert, and Fred Haise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13_(film)
The mystery of space and the challenge of space exploration continue to capture our imagination.
What are your thoughts on sending people back to the Moon? Please share them freely here.
And here are a few other July dates in science and math:
July 8 Math 2.0 Day
https://www.holidayscalendar.com/event/math-2-0-day/
July 20 Space Exploration Day & Anniversary of the Moon Landing
https://nationaltoday.com/space-exploration-day/#:~:text=We%20celebrate%20Space%20Exploration%20Day,place%20on%20July%2020%2C%201969.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11
…and here's a list of July's science anniversaries of all kinds during the past millenium!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:History_of_science/Selected_anniversaries/July
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Elliot Richman, PhD
AAAS Superhero
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
AAAS Communities & Sections: Chemistry, Physics, History & Philosophy of Science, Science In History, Ask A Scientist, Climate Change Connections, Covid-19 & Emerging Infectious Diseases, LSEN, STEAM Enthusiasts,
richmanelliot@gmail.com
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