People, Businesses, Places & Events
David Hearn takes outreach to new level with Kissimmee Park Observatory
Public outreach is an oft used and abused term nowadays, but I find it the wrong label for astronomy. In Astronomy we are reaching out for the stars! What is really meant in this context is knowledge sharing and encouraging people to raise their eyes to the stars. I found it somewhat depressing that a …
Team Unicorn: Intergalactic force of awesome
By all accounts, Team Unicorn should not exist. Like the fabled unicorns of ancient mythology, geek girls are also supposed to be the stuff of myth and legend, whispered about in reverent tones at Comic Con, but only ever seen fleetingly out of the corner of one’s eye. And yet, these magical beasts are very …
Abandon in place: Betty Grissom’s last visit to Apollo 1 memorial?
Is Gus Grissom’s widow herself about to “abandon in place” the memorial vigil she has maintained over the last 48 years since the fiery death suffered by her husband, Astronaut Commander Virgil “Gus” Grissom and fellow astronauts Roger Chaffee and Ed White back in 1967 at Pad 34 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS)? They …
Boeing’s CST-100 passes two new milestones in development
The Boeing Company recently announced the completion of more developmental requirements for their Crew Space Transportation 100 (CST-100) spacecraft that includes a software safety test and hardware design review. Passing this phase of testing is considered a milestone for a company that is competing to return flights of astronauts from U.S soil in the coming …
‘In Saturn’s Rings’: One man’s journey to make a space film
When filmmaker Stephen Van Vuuren first saw images of Saturn retuned by the Cassini spacecraft, he saw something more in them. He not only saw the beauty of the ringed planet, he saw a motion picture camera flying through space. Van Vuuren grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, with dreams of being an astronaut. …
Taking a first look at ‘Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey’
“Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” beams onto our television screens on March 9 across 10 U.S. networks, including FOX and National Geographic Channel, with a multi-network simulcast in the United States. Global releases will follow shortly after on National Geographic and FOX branded channels in 180 countries within a week of the U.S. premiere. Fronted by …
Ann Druyan preserves the legacy of Sagan’s ‘Cosmos’ with ‘A Spacetime Odyssey’
How often are you so moved by your job that you actually shed tears? On “Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey,” this was a fairly regular occurrence. It is impossible to work on something of such scale and import without being overcome, now and again, in the exact same way you hope your audience will be. I …
Jackee Mohl looks to the future as a structural engineer for Boeing’s V-22 Osprey
What do you get when a talented female engineer is one of the masterminds behind the design of an aircraft crossed between a helicopter and a jet fighter? There exists a sort of “hybrid” military, tiltrotor aircraft that takes off and lands as a helicopter, and flies like an airplane. The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey …
Neil deGrasse Tyson is a conduit to knowledge
What to say about Neil deGrasse Tyson that hasn’t already been said? These are the facts: Neil is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at New York City’s American Museum of Natural History. He is an astrophysicist and New York Times bestselling author, former host of “NOVA ScienceNow,” and frequent guest on such shows as …
Wonders of the Cosmos: Neil deGrasse Tyson answers readers’ questions
The pursuit of knowledge is just half the odyssey of a scientist. Being able to communicate that knowledge to a broader audience is the other half. Few, if any, excel better at the second part of the equation than the famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. It is little wonder then that he was chosen to …