Bulletin 2 20 October Introducing . . . Jerry Ross This week’s audioconference guest speaker is NASA astronaut Jerry Ross (Colonel, USAF). He was selected as an astronaut in May 1980 and has been on five space flights. He has logged 850 hours in space, including nearly 23 hours on four space walks. Most recently, Ross was a mission specialist on STS-74, NASA’s second Space Shuttle mission which met the Russian Space Station Mir. STS-74 launched on 12 November 1995 and landed at Kennedy Space Center on 20 November 1995. During the eight day flight the crew attached a permanent docking module to Mir, conducted some experiments and transferred 11/2 tons (1.524 tonnes) of supplies between Atlantis and the Mir station. The STS-74 mission was accomplished in 129 orbits of the Earth, travelling 3.4 million miles in 196 hours, 30 minutes, 44 seconds. Colonel Ross will serve on the crew of STS-88, the first Space Shuttle mission to carry hardware to space for the assembly of the International Space Station. He is scheduled to do three space walks on this mission which is timed to start in July next year. Colonel Ross is married and has two children. He enjoys softball, racquetball, woodworking, photography, model rocketry, and flying. He has flown in 21 different types of aircraft, holds a private pilot’s licence, and has logged more than 2,800 flying hours, the majority in military aircraft. Colonel Ross’s other missions... Colonel Ross was a mission specialist on the crew of STS 61-B which launched at night from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 26 November 1985. During the mission the crew conducted two six-hour space walks and operated numerous other experiments. After completing 108 orbits of the Earth in 165 hours, STS 61-B Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on 3 December 1985. He then flew as a mission specialist on the crew of STS-27, on board the Orbiter Atlantis, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 2 December 1988 and landed four days later at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Colonel Ross flew as a mission specialist on STS-37 aboard the Orbiter Atlantis. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on 5 April 1991. On this mission Ross performed two space walks totalling 10 hours and 49 minutes to manually deploy the stuck Gamma Ray Observatory antenna and to test some new equipment. After 93 orbits of the Earth in 144 hours, the mission concluded with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base on 11 April 1991. From 26 April 1993 to 6 May 1993 Colonel Ross flew as Payload Commander/Mission Specialist on STS-55 aboard the Orbiter Columbia. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, after 160 orbits of the Earth in 240 hours. Nearly 90 experiments were conducted during the German-sponsored Spacelab D-2 mission to investigate life sciences, material sciences, physics, robotics, astronomy, and the Earth and its atmosphere. On the web Here are a few space sites you might want to check out. http://www.aero.hq.nasa.gov/edu/ http://www.hawastsoc.org/solar/eng/rocket.htm http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/kids/academy/weight.html http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/fun/whereisit/whereisit.exe http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/research/stereo_atlas/SS3D.HTM Frequently Asked Questions about space A couple of the more common questions people ask about space: Question: Does the US flag on the moon mean that the United States owns the moon? Answer: When a NASA astronaut placed the flag on the Moon, the action signified that ‘America went in peace for everyone’. Owning the moon and outer space is prohibited under the United Nations Treaty on Outer Space signed in 1967. Question: How do astronauts in space go to the toilet and bathroom and take care of their personal hygiene? Answer: Astronauts brush their teeth just like they do on Earth. There is no shower on the Shuttle, so astronauts make do with sponge baths until they return home. Each Space Shuttle has a toilet that can be used by both men and women. Designed to be as much as possible like those on Earth, the units use flowing air instead of water to move waste through the system. Solid wastes are compressed and stored onboard, and then removed after landing. All wastewater is vented to space, although future systems may recycle it. The air is filtered to remove odour and bacteria and then returned to the cabin. Space activity - find out all about spacecraft Use the following Internet sites (and others you find) to get as much information as you can about the spacecraft NASA has used and intends to use in the future for its continued exploration of space. Prepare a chart, poster or computer-based presentation that shows details of these, and how they have or are going to be used in the future. Present your findings to the other members of your class. Check out these World Wide Web sites... http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/spacecraft.html http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/scline.gif http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/voyager.html http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/mgs.html http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/cassini.html http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/Jovian.html Planet profile All about . . . Venus The planet Venus is the second closest planet to the sun. Apart from the sun and the moon, Venus is the brightest object in the sky. The planet is called the morning star when it appears in the east at sunrise, and the evening star when it is in the west at sunset. Because of the distances of the orbits of Venus and Earth from the sun, Venus is never visible more than three hours before sunrise or three hours after sunset. The surface temperature on Venus is very high - usually about 462° C. The planet has no detectable magnetic field. Venus has a complete cloud cover making it difficult to study from Earth. Most of our information about it comes from space vehicles, particularly those carrying probes that descend through Venus’s deep atmosphere. Several probes have successfully reached the planet’s surface. The U.S. sent two Pioneer Venus missions in 1978. Pioneer Venus 2 sent four probes to the surface, while the remaining craft explored the upper atmosphere. Pioneer Venus 1 continues to measure Venus’s upper atmosphere. The Magellan probe, launched toward Venus in 1989, began transmitting radar images of the planet in 1990. Find out more information on Venus at this address: http://www.rochedale.powerup.com.au/solar.htm Cassini launch brings end of an era... The Cassini space probe was launched last Wednesday after legal efforts to stop the controversial mission failed. The $3.4 billion Cassini project marks the end of an era in exploration - it is the last of the so-called grand voyagers of the solar system. Cassini is a joint mission to Saturn conducted by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the ringed planet in 2004 after more than six years of interplanetary travel. Its course will take it past Venus, Earth and Jupiter. After arrival, the spacecraft will release the Huygens probe to descend to the surface of Titan - one of Saturn’s moons - then Cassini will orbit Saturn for four years studying the giant gas planet, its rings, moons and magnetic environment. Cassini controversy... Just days before the launch activists - who were concerned about the impact the nuclear-powered space probe would have on the environment - asked the U.S. District Court to stop the launch. Although plutonium has been used in other space missions, the groups said the Cassini project would use a total of 72 pounds (32.7kg) of plutonium, which is more than any previous launch. But the Judge said the economic and scientific harm that NASA and other space agencies involved would suffer if the launch was delayed outweighed the potential harm asserted by the two activist groups. Explorers mystery quiz - Bulletin 2 Answer the Explorers Mystery Quiz questions below correctly and be in to win a Panasonic cassette recorder for your class. You will find the answer to this week’s first question on your Explorers and Adventurers Mystery Trail poster. You might need to do a bit more research to answer question two. Fax your answers to the Telecom Adventure Line: 0800 253-020. Entries close at 5pm on Friday 24 October. The classes whose students correctly answer the most Explorers Mystery Quizzes during the Explorers and Adventurers programme will go into the draw for a grand prize in December. So good luck everyone. This week’s questions Question one: How many galaxies do astronomers estimate we cover with a space the size of our thumb nail held at arms length? Question two: What words do the letters NASA stand for? Last week’s winner The winner of last week’s Explorers Mystery Quiz was Room 11, Hiona Intermediate School, Masterton. Last week’s answers Answer one: Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury Answer two: The number of stars visible to the naked eye from Earth is estimated to be 8000 (4000 from the northern hemisphere and 4000 from the southern hemisphere). Telecom Space Explorers We’ve had a few calls asking us who the guest speakers will be for the weekly audioconferences. Here’s an outline of the programme: Last week - Anne-Marie Robinson, US Space Camp Ambassador to New Zealand and would-be astronaut. This week - NASA astronaut Jerry Ross talks about his space experiences including his missions and space walks. 29 October - NASA astronaut William Gregory talks about his space missions. 5 November - NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid talks about her five months on the Space Station Mir. 12 November - NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid talks about her experiences in space. 19 November - John Dunlop of the Auckland Observatory talks about viewing space. 26 November - speaker yet to be confirmed Space Camp For all you budding astronauts who want to find out more about Space Camp (mentioned in last week’s audioconference), here’s Anne-Marie Robinson’s contact details: Anne Marie Robinson United States Space Camp Ambassador to New Zealand c/o Private Bag 4739 Christchurch Fax 0-3-343 9533 Keep in touch If you’ve got an inquiry or want more information about the Space Explorers programme, the best way to get in touch with Danielle is through the Adventure Line fax (0800 253-020) or email her on: danielle.greig@telecom.co.nz