Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V16_1/V16NO109.TXT

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-13 | 31KB

Date: Tue,  2 Feb 93 05:05:33
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V16 #109
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Tue,  2 Feb 93       Volume 16 : Issue 109

Today's Topics:
                     ** INTERSTELLAR HYDROGEN **
                             Beanstalk?+
                     Cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin
                   Expensive shuttle toilets (Why?)
Fluidic envelope on a point gravitational source suspended in a uniform field
                    Food production in Biosphere 2
                         IMDISP 7.9 and VESA
                       Lunar bill briefing book
                Mir/SSF(Fred) Combo Mission.. (2 msgs)
              misguided knee-jerkers (was Re: 1986, "PC"
             Observing the Znamya space mirror experiment
                      parachutes on Challenger?
                      Prescription for Disaster
                     psychotic newsgroup readers
                            Space Colonies
                   TAGS (was Re: Precursors to SSF)
            Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger (3 msgs)
                                Well..

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
    "[e-mail]", and (un)subscription requests of the form
    "Subscribe Space <your name>" to one of these addresses: listserv@uga
    (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle
    (THENET), or [e-mail] (Internet).
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 22:54:47 GMT
From: Dave Michelson <[e-mail]>
Subject: ** INTERSTELLAR HYDROGEN **
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(PFENNIGER Daniel) writes:
>
>From these numbers one deduces that most of the mass (~density*volume)
>is cold, the cold mass dominating the hotter forms by a factor between
>~100 and ~10000.
>

Indeed, Herbert Friedman (in The Astronomer's Universe, p 231, 1990) notes that

   "Most of the gas in the Galaxy is cold, neutral atomic hydrogen."


---
Dave Michelson                             University of British Columbia
[e-mail]                                  Antenna Laboratory

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 22:12:24 GMT
From: Jordin Kare <[e-mail]>
Subject: Beanstalk?+
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:
>
>...A constant taper beanstalk is beyond
>the theoretical strength of materials of anything we have a clue about
>producing. A tapered beanstalk is theoretically possible, but would be so
>huge that it would be impractical to construct. A very long thread on
                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>this subject occurred here last summer.
>Gary
>--

At least 22,400 miles long, presumably, unless it was rotating :-)

    Jordin Kare

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 18:43:21 GMT
From: Glenn Chapman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article 52294 Janna Ore Nugent stated:

>     I've read several brief references to Cosmonaut Vasyutin lately.
> He was a crew member of the Soyuz T-14 mission when he had to be
> evacuated for "emergency medical reasons" in November 1985.  In
> fact all three crew members of the T-14 mission were evacuated at
> that time.  The official reason for the evacuation was that
> Cosmonaut Vasyutin had an abdominal problem which required surgery.
> However, I've read several suggestions that Cosmonaut Vasyutin
> actually suffered from a psychiatric illness.
>
      Looking at one of my old posting on Vladimir Vasyutin, commander of `
the Soyuz T-14 mission to Salyut 7 in Sept. '85, I retrived this.  He
became ill and was running 104 degrees temperatures when the mission
landed in Nov 85, long before it was expected to come down.  It turned out
that he had a prostate infection, which is the reason why they were so
quiet about it.  If there is one thing that was even more secret in the old
USSR  society than the military it was things even slightly related to
sexual functions or, um, related equipment.  That by the way was mission was
their first attempt at a crew switchoff.  Sorry I do not have the exact
reference to the articles discussing this now, so I cannot give a better
source.


                                                        Glenn Chapman
                                                        School Eng. Science
                                                        Simon Fraser U.
                                                        Burnaby, B.C., Canada
                                                        [e-mail]






------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 19:45:14 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Expensive shuttle toilets (Why?)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

I recently was asked a non-astonomy related question here at the
planetarium for which I cannot seem to find the answer.  The student
wanted to know why the toilets installed in the shuttle were so
expensive.  I recall some flap about this some time ago (1-2 years
maybe, or has it been longer than that?).  If someone could point me
to a possible source of information on this, or the "official"
response, I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

Scott Miller, Program Coordinator
Rauch Memorial Planetarium
University of Louisville
[e-mail]

P.S.  e-mail is fine, or post to sci.space or sci.astro if you really
feel it is appropritate to that group.  Thanks, again.

jsm

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 19:46:39 GMT
From: Benjamin T Dehner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Fluidic envelope on a point gravitational source suspended in a uniform field
Newsgroups: talk.origins,sci.space

In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bill Hyde) writes:

>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Benjamin T Dehner) writes:
>|>
>|> where
>|>     m = molecule mass = 5.31e-23 g  (O2, for example)
>|>         T = temperature = 250K  (Why not?)


>    A good characteristic temperature for the exosphere
>    (the "escape zone" of the atmosphere") is about 600K.
>    This is mostly caused by high energy UV.  If Ted's
>    saturn/star were very red, perhaps a lower value could be
>    used, but since human eyes are adapted to the current
>    solar spectrum I doubt he'd use that argument.

    Not knowing any better, I used a very simplictic approach to
my calculations.  I also wanted to see if Ted's models were possible even
from the most basic mechanics principals.  It appears that injecting reality,
as above, makes the case even worse than it already appeared.  I tried to
be very generous with my estimations, and see if I could achieve some sort
of model that was at least possible from basic physical principles.

>    The escape velocity you've caluculated is lower than that
>    for mars.  Despite being cooler than earth, and having once
>    had an atmosphere/hydrosphere, the surface pressure on mars
>    is about 10 mb.  In Ted's scenario earth would lose its
>    atmosphere far more rapidly than mars lost its.

    Also keep in mind that the escape velocity will be lower than
what I have calculated in this escape zone, since you are already far away
from earth.  Or, to put it another way, in the escape velocity calculations,
you must also include a pressure-gradient force term in the integral.  (Lots
of atmosphere near earth, none in outer space => outward pressure.)  This
makes the problem of retaining an atmosphere worse yet.
    I'm still mystified by the silence of Mr. Holden on this matter.
We have tried to at least attempt a consideration of his basic model, with
calculations of some of the parameters, something which I have requested
for some time now.  All of these basic calculation have showed his presented
scenario to be physically impossible.  If you disagree with this, which
of our various assumptions do you hold invalid?  I am asking for a critique
of the models we have presented.

Ben

P.S.  Thanks go to Bill Hyde for contributing his knowledge on atmospheric
structure and dynamics to my primitive models.  I know just enough about the
area to know that I am making horrendous simplifications, if not necessarily
where and what they are.

>                        Bill Hyde
>Department of Oceanography
>Dalhousie University,
>Halifax, Nova Scotia
>[e-mail] or hyde@dalac

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benjamin T. Dehner    Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
[e-mail]       Iowa State University
                      Ames, IA 50011

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 01 Feb 93 16:36:00 PST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Food production in Biosphere 2


Food production in Biosphere 2

As I said in my last post, the unprecedentedly  cloudy
weather has caused a new set of problems growing our
food.   The cloudy  weather has been concurrent with (maybe
partly responsible for) increased insect pest problems.

In some cases, particularly with the grain crops, we are
likely to get only one quarter to one half the projected yields
from this year's winter crops. Our sweet potato crops have
also been set back by about two months.  The low light
levels came just at a time when the grain crops needed the
energy from the sun to tiller and set good seed heads,
without the energy they just did not do so well. In addition
to the weather, a steadily increasing numbers of mites
damaged the sweet potato crop. The mites which thrive in
humid cloudy conditions  increased in numbers over the
winter months of December and January. We managed
somewhat to keep them in check by regular spraying with a
non-toxic horticultural oil which 'suffocates' the mite on
contact, but despite these efforts and the introduction of 2
species of predatory mite during closure, the mites reached
damaging levels.

We have had to use some seed reserve for dietary
supplements which we were hoping to replace with new
seed stock in the spring. It now looks as if we may need to
import some beans and grain as a supplement to the diet
unless the potato and grain crops improve over the next
couple of months with a return of sunnier conditions.

 Plant samples have also been exported  for extensive
testing to analyze  other factors that may be involved  in the
low yields. To date we have produced approximately 88%
of our food . The other 12% has been drawn from a 3
month supply of food that was grown in Biosphere 2 before
the experiment began, and from seed reserve .

If we do have to import some food, we will have provided
ourselves with between 80% and 90% of our food during
this first two year mission. The aim is to bring production up
to 100% during the next mission and we expect to be
making many refinements to the system, based on our
experiences as the research continues.

That is the latest news.

Taber MacCallum
Biosphere 2 crew
The above is my opinion only, and does not represent the
views or policy of Space Biospheres Ventures in any way.


------------------------------

Date: 1 Feb 93 21:16:20 GMT
From: Mike Newberry <[e-mail]>
Subject: IMDISP 7.9 and VESA
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Martin Connors) writes:
>Having had IMDISP7.7a give sort of good results with VESA VGA (nice
>display of images except there were horizontal lines every 100 or so
>lines), I downloaded 7.9 and find that I cannot get images to display
>properly at all - sometimes nothing, sometimes a vertical white bar.
>Anyone got VESA experience with imdisp 7.9. BTW this is with a Local Bus
>Tseng T4000-based clone? board, and I use a VESA driver (ETIVESA) in a DOS
>shell under Windows.
>
>--
>Martin Connors         |
>Space Research         | [e-mail]  [phone]
>University of Alberta  |

I haven't any idea why IMDISP wouldn't work on a VESA compatible video
card.  VESA provides extensions to the basic video BIOS functions.  If
IMDISP will work on a non-VESA card, and it does, then it should also
work on a VESA based card.  Ron Baalke, one of the IMDISP programmers
says that IMDISP is not intended to be VESA compatible.  Therefore, since
VESA provides BIOS *extensions* which are not used by IMDISP, IMDISP should
indeed run.  There's somehting else going on here--maybe a bug in the IMDISP
code in which it sends an erroneous command to the card which does nothing
on a non-VESA card but accidentally executes a VESA function on the
VESA compatible card.

Mike Newberry

------------------------------

Date: 01 Feb 93  11:00:08
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Lunar bill briefing book
Newsgroups: sci.space

       Info Kits for Back to the Moon bill Available
-
Informational kits for the Lunar Resources Data Purchase Act (also
known as the 'Back to the Moon bill')  are now available.
Anyone wishing a copy of the info packet, please e-mail your
U.S. postal service address.
-
The packet contains the first draft of the Act, the rationale for
the bill, Congressional strategy and tactics, and information
on the SeaWIFS program, wherein NASA is purchasing ocean data from
the private sector.
-
The Lunar Resources Data Purchase Act, to be introduced in the 103rd
Congress, will jump start the U.S. lunar exploration program by
authorizing the government to purchase lunar science data from the
private sector. Providers of the data, which may include private and
non-profit entities, will be selected on the basis of competitive
bidding.
-
For more information, please call San Diego L5, a chapter of the
National Space Society, at 619/295-3690, or leave E-mail.

--- Maximus 2.01wb

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 22:09:43 GMT
From: Gerald Cecil <[e-mail]>
Subject: Mir/SSF(Fred) Combo Mission..
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article [e-mail], [e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:
>Mir's orbital inclination means that Shuttle can't reach it with much
>cargo. It's an expensive orbit to reach from the Cape's latitude.

This myth keeps coming up & it's not correct.  You take only an order 15%
payload hit to launch to Mir's inclination from the Cape.  More significant,
SSF modules would need much heavier radiation shielding at high inclination
because of passage through the South Atlantic Anomaly and generally higher
rad fluxes, especially during solar *minimum*.  The shielding would add about
5 metric tons to each module, if I correctly recall our net discussion on
this topic last summer.
---
Gerald Cecil [e-mail]  919-962-7169
Physics & Astronomy, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255 USA

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 23:57:59 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Mir/SSF(Fred) Combo Mission..
Newsgroups: sci.space

Michael Adams wrote:
> Do some mining of waste space debris.. After all there must
> be a lot of junk in space that is just there for the taking and using..
> Why must we spend more money to send materials into space when the materials
> have already been sent into space..

Sort of brings to mind this scene:

Private:  Hey, Sarge, I'm outta ammo!
Sergeant:  Just reach up and grab some of those bullets flyin' overhead.

-Bill Gawne,  Space Telescope Science Institute

------------------------------

Date: 1 Feb 93 15:12:38
From: "J. Eric Townsend" <[e-mail]>
Subject: misguided knee-jerkers (was Re: 1986, "PC"
Newsgroups: sci.space

From: [e-mail] (FRANK NEY)
-> I can't believe they wouldn't let you discuss on of the most tragic
-> events in recent history.

-I can.  Public schools are notorious for the collection of politically
-correct liberals infesting them.  They probably thought that the money
 -would have been better spent on welfare and that NASA and the
 -Challenger Seven deserved what they got.

Oh, like the "PC Lib" who told my mom that we were going to hell
because we didn't believe in God?  And who accused me of spreading
non-Christian ideas? ( I was 5 years old, by the way. )

At any rate, several people I know had kids in school during the
challeneger disaster.  I was living in Houston, watching it live.
Friends of mine went to school with kids of astronauts, including ones
who died/have died working for NASA.

The only people *I* heard try to suppress discussion were profs at UH
who said "Yes, it's horrible, but we've got a schedule to keep up
with".  I heard nothing but *good* things from my friends about how
their kids' teachers were doing things like "let's talk about the
risks of exploration since all we normally talk about are the
benefits".


--
J. Eric Townsend --  [e-mail] -- 415.604.4311 (DoD# 0378)
A CM-5 administration list has been formed.  To subscribe, send email to
[e-mail] with a body of:
               subscribe cm5-managers your_full_name

------------------------------

Date: 1 Feb 1993 22:53:23 GMT
From: "David M. Palmer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Observing the Znamya space mirror experiment
Newsgroups: sci.space

Does anyone have any information that could help to watch the
Znamya space mirror?  Specificaly, when is it going to be deployed,
for how long, will it be in approximately the same orbit as Mir,
or does anyone have the expected elements?


Background: Znamya is a small (~20 meter diameter?) space mirror
that the Russians will deploy from their progress space
freighter after it undocks with Mir.  The purpose is to
gain experience in solar sails, and in the use of reflected
sunlight to illumniate Earth from space.

--
        David M. Palmer        [e-mail]
                    [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 22:53:07 GMT
From: Jeff Bytof <[e-mail]>
Subject: parachutes on Challenger?
Newsgroups: sci.space

Were parachutes available to the crew of the Challenger?

-Jeff Bytof

------------------------------

Date: 1 Feb 93 10:33:48 +1030
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Prescription for Disaster
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle

With the recent anniversary of the Shuttle Disaster I would like to bring
to the attention of sci.space readers the following book:

"Prescription for Disaster: From the glory of Apollo to the betrayal of the
Shuttle," by Joesph J. Trento with reporting and editing by Susan B. Trento,
Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56415-7.

This is the best book I've read on the Shuttle Disaster. The reason its so
good is that it starts from the very beginning (when NASA were doing things
right), explaining what happened that eventuallu led to Challenger's end on
28 January 1986. Be warned though: the tale it tells is extremely shocking
(especially near the end describing what was happening at NASA HQ during the
eighties). It made me sick to the stomach. If you want to believe in the fairy
tale NASA this book is not for you. If you want to know what was really going
on and are prepared for the grim truth, I cannot recommend this book more
highly.

Where was I when the dream died? It was after midnight on 29 January in
Adelaide, South Australia at the time of the disaster. The day before had been
very hot and I was outside sleeping under the stars. I found out when my
brother woke me up and said "The shuttle's blown up!". "What!" I said. We
rushed inside to watch it on TV. I recorded the explosion, trying to work out
what had gone wrong. At work (where I was just starting on my Masters degree)
we listened to Reagan's speech on the disaster. I kept a radio next to me,
listening for the latest news. Back home that day, I watched the launch over
and over. I wrote a letter to The Advertiser about the launch (which didn't get
published). I eventually became sick of watching it.  I couldn't stand watching
seven people die.

--
Steven S. Pietrobon,  Australian Space Centre for Signal Processing
Signal Processing Research Institute, University of South Australia
The Levels, SA 5095, Australia.     [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 19:19:16 GMT
From: Tesuji <[e-mail]>
Subject: psychotic newsgroup readers
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.privacy

X-Anon-To:sci.space,sci.astro,alt.privacy

A response I received from the Challenger transcript article:


From: [e-mail]


   Hello. I was a friend of one of the seven brave souls who died aboard
   Challenger. I would like to thank you for making my life hell with
   your posting. I thankfully didn't read all of it. Perhaps, if I were
   a less-kind person, I would spend the effort to track you down and
   show you the effect your post had on me. However, it has been bad
   enough on me that I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy (for which title
   you qualify).

   Any asshole who posts such stuff is sick in the first place, but to do
   it anonymously, with no sources or references, is beneath contempt. I
   sincerely hope that you enjoy the knowledge that you have destroyed my
   life after I have spent many years recuperating. Probably many others
   as well. If I ever find out your identity, I will sue you. Or kill you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To find out more about the anon service, send mail to [e-mail].
Due to the double-blind system, any replies to this message will be anonymized,
and an anonymous id will be allocated automatically. You have been warned.

------------------------------

From: "Paul C. Dolber" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space Colonies
Newsgroups: sci.space

Date: 1 Feb 93 18:50:42 GMT
Organization: Duke University Computer Science Dept.; Durham, N.C.
Lines: 11
Sender: [e-mail]
Source-Info:  Sender is really [e-mail]

My sixth-grade son is required to write a long paper of sorts for his
"Language Arts" class on some future issue, and has chosen "space
colonies/colonization."  Besides checking into books, which he has
already done, he should also be investigating less routine sources.
We found nothing of interest in the sci.space FAQ, save that the L-5
society -- a good source, I had thought -- is long since moribund.  Can
anyone out there point him (through me) in some interesting directions?
The paper can deal with any and all issues relating to colonization of
space (meant to include moons, planets, etc.), including why, and when,
and at what cost, and how.  If you can help, please drop me a line
at [e-mail].  Thanks, Paul Dolber.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 21:13:43 GMT
From: Edmund Hack <arabia!hack>
Subject: TAGS (was Re: Precursors to SSF)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
    (John Roberts) writes:
>
>One problem for which no solution has been found yet: in-orbit fax machines.

Known as TAGS, Text And Graphics System.

>If SSF uses the same fax design as the Shuttle, and they want to have a
>working fax most of the time, then they'll have to ship up 52 new fax machines
>a year. One good feature of this - as each fax machine jams, it can be
>lowered from SSF by tether, thus reducing the orbital debris problem, and
>boosting SSF's orbit at the same time. :-)  :-)  :-)

I know a few of the TAGS engineers - it was a real low-budget job.  They
took an existing mil-spec fax design (from the Navy, I think) and adapted
it into the STS systems.  This takes some work, as "hooks and scars" for
add onw weren't in the original design of the STS.
>
>(I haven't finished analyzing the tapes from STS-54 yet, but I haven't heard
>of the fax machine jamming on that mission. If in fact they had the fax on
>board and used it, and it *didn't* jam, that would be a major milestone! :-)

I haven't found out either.  I'll see if anyone knows.  They have made
progress in adapting the system for 0g use and jams were getting less
frequent.

--
Edmund Hack - Lockheed Engineering & Sciences Co. - Houston, TX
[e-mail] - I speak only for myself, unless blah, blah..
"I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV."
"Detail Dress Circuits" "Belt: Above A, Below B" "Close B ClothesMode"

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 19:16:00 GMT
From: "Robert S. Hill" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Mary Shafer) writes...
>I was sitting in the conference room here at Dryden, watching NASA
>Select and re-reading the syllabus for my 1330 flight in the Calspan
>Variable-Stability Learjet.  After I regained my composure, I called
>down to the Test Pilot School and told the Calspan pilot that we'd
>lost the Shuttle and all on board.

I was in the Goddard Space Flight Center cafeteria eating lunch with my
co-workers.  We were watching the closed-circuit, but could not
hear the sound.  I did not know enough of the detailed timing and
appearance of shuttle launches to see that something had gone wrong,
but one of my friends saw it immediately, and of course, when the
shuttle was obviously not there any more, I knew it too.

>I've seen at least one person call the deaths of the astronauts a
>great tragedy; here in the flight test community, this is not a
>widely-held belief.  Those seven people were doing something that they
>_really_ wanted to do, something that they had volunteered for, waited
>for, trained for.  They knew and accepted the risks.  Their deaths
>were sad, of course, but it was not a great tragedy.

Certainly, yours is a valid and respectable view.  The tragedy, if
such it was, was partly in the symbolism of NASA and the national
affection for it as an institution.  It was also in the fact that it
was the Teacher in Space flight, and the sense of identification
that gave to many kids.

Robert S. Hill
[e-mail]

**My opinions only, not those of NASA or Hughes STX**

------------------------------

Date: 1 Feb 93 17:12:11 EST
From: "John F. Woods" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle

[e-mail] (Sean Michael Gallagher) writes:
>[e-mail] (Nick Haines) writes:
>>Oh, give me a break. Seven trained people, flying a brand-new,
>>more-or-less untested vehicle? They knew the risks. How is this even
>>comparable to massive tragedies like the famines in the Horn of
>>Africa, or the Azerbaijan earthquake, or even to the Lockerbie
>>bombing? To any airliner crash? There are even highway pileups which
>>kill more.
>>Sure, it's a tragedy. But don't go blowing it out of proportion.
>There are many tragedies which occur every day in the world, but if I felt as
>deeply about each of them as I do about Challenger, I wouldn't be sane for
>very long.

In the old sense of the word, an airliner crash is not a tragedy, and
the Challenger accident is (perhaps by a stretch).  To use the
dictionary I have at hand, a tragedy is "a dramatic or literary work
depicting a protagonist engaged in a morally significant struggle
ending in ruin or profound unhappiness."  (I wish I had a better
dictionary handy, since that misses the definition a bit that I got in
Humanities classes.)  Anyway, while an airliner crash certainly
affects the lives of the friends and relatives of those on board (to
say nothing of the engineers who wonder "uh oh, was that MY part that
failed?" :-), it doesn't affect "very many" people (not in comparison
to the 5 billion or so total), and there's just not much of a
"significant struggle" aspect to the Red-Eye Special from Boston to
DC.  People who watch too much TV may get briefly exercised about it,
but soon there'll be some other gruesome event on the evening news to
take their minds off of it.

The Challenger accident deeply affected people who never met the
astronauts, *tens of millions of people*, people who didn't forget
about it after the reporters left the Cape.  To those who believe that
the drive to explore is an important part of the human spirit, space
exploration certainly qualifies as a significant struggle.  In
addition to the obvious profound unhappiness associated with the
event, it nearly resulted in shutting down the entire space program,
a great example of ruin and a potential tragedy in its own right.
In literature, tragedies are not distinguished by the body count, but
by the context and results.

------------------------------

Date: 1 Feb 93 16:58:24 -0600
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle

     Where was I?
          I was there.  I was 12 miles away in Rockledge, FL at my highschool
where I was a junior. We always took time out from our classes to watch all
launches and cheer them on. My father works at Kennedy Space Center, so I've
always taken a special interest in aerospace. I remember standing in our
school's courtyard with many of my peers surrounding me, everyone cheering
wildly as we see this awesome bird in flight.  Just as quickly, it seemed,
our cheers started to fade. We had grown up watching launch after launch, and
somehow most of us just knew...something wasn't right.  I ran to the front
office to watch the bulletins on tv to see what was wrong. No one could speak.
I guess we assumed our space shuttle was invincible...But I have faith and much
pride in our space program, and I just want all of those who work at the space
centers to know that, and many more people feel the same way.
     (My father's name is Charles Dean in case anyone at KSC knows him, and if
you do, tell him I said, "Hi".)
                                        Alana Cutshall
                                        Harding University

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 23:33:05 GMT
From: Otto Maddox <[e-mail]>
Subject: Well..
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.misc,rec.arts.startrek.tech

     How long would it take a ship traveling at Warp 1 to get to a
planet that is 60 light years away?

     I have a an answer in my head but I wanna see if I am doing this
thing
right.


Otto Maddox
[ [e-mail] ] [ [e-mail] ]

------------------------------

End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 109
------------------------------