People, Businesses, Places & Events
Farouk El-Baz’s space odyssey from NASA to Star Trek
Farouk El-Baz once trained the astronauts who were planning for the 1969 Apollo Moon landing. Today, the former NASA geologist is training students at Boston University in how to use satellite images and other sensors to study the Earth. Of his role within the Apollo program, particularly Apollo 11’s crewed lunar landing, the Egyptian-born El-Baz said, “We …
NASA pioneer Katherine Johnson celebrates 100th birthday
Katherine Johnson, a trailblazing mathematician whose calculations were instrumental in every major NASA spaceflight program, celebrated her 100th birthday on August 26. Johnson mapped the flight of Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space in 1961. And when John Glenn was preparing for his first orbital flight in 1962, he didn’t trust NASA’s …
NASA mission in Senegal promotes scientific discovery
When NASA scientists assembled telescopes in her home country of Senegal, Binita Yanni knew very little about astronomy and didn’t realize a career in planetary sciences was even a possibility. Determined to learn why 21 U.S. telescopes were stationed throughout the Senegalese countryside, the 20-year-old chemical engineering student approached lead scientist Adriana Ocampo on the …
The Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017
A Total Solar Eclipse is a once in a lifetime event for most people and often occurs in a very specific area for just a short period of time. For the first time in a very long time the USA will experience a Total Solar Eclipse across the entire country from the West Coast to the …
America’s gateway to space: LC-39A
The iconic launch pads, Pads 39A and 39B at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39, have been the starting point for many space flights including the first manned lunar landing. The original design for Launch Complex 39 called for three to five launch pads, designated 39A – 39E, that would have been spaced approximately 1.6 …
Remembering Gene Cernan
Gene Cernan passed away in Houston, Texas, on January 16, 2017. He was the second American to walk in space and the last human to leave his bootprints on the surface of the Moon. Cernan flew to space three times as a member of the Gemini 9, Apollo 10 and Apollo 17 missions. According to a …