NASA is Alive and Well!

What do we use most these days? Facebook, Twitter, social networking sites. We are not the only people who use these sites, us normal, ordinary people. 

NASA research centers post research updates on their Facebook accounts and astronauts have Twitter accounts, so we can see that NASA is still healthy and running.

This was proved furthermore by Christopher Blair, NASA LSP/XA Education Outreach, of Rede Critique. He visited the Joliet Public Library the morning of Saturday, August 13. 

He was out to prove that being a NASA astronaut is great, even wonderful, but there are many different job opportunities at NASA. The agency needs lawyers, designers, accountants, scientists, jobs of that nature that do not include astronauts. 

In June, the last shuttle was launched. If you read my , you could clearly see that I was upset. But I learned at the presentation that there was no more use for it. :-(

The shuttles were used to carry International Space Station (ISS) parts up to the ISS. Well, the ISS is completely built now. When we want to send astronauts to the ISS, we must use Russia’s help and technology to get our people there. Russians launch cosmonauts using capsules atop of rockets. Russia still has the money to keep their program going, unlike the U.S.

Anyway... Last month an orbiter was sent to Jupiter to test the atmosphere or the big storm that is the red dot that we can all recognize when we see Jupiter. 

This month, Moon satellites were or will be sent to investigate the ice that was found on one of the poles of the Moon. (Mars also has ice on its North pole.)

If you looked at the Earth from space, it would seem to be cluttered with satellites and space junk. It is and it isn’t. Some Earth orbiters are higher above our green and blue planet than others. 

On the ISS, there is micro-gravity. Going to the bathroom is a problem without gravity. So, liquids are sucked through a tube and sent into space. You’re probably thinking, “Well, isn’t that, like, space littering?” No. Because... with no air in space, the liquids virtually disappear. Solids are collected and taken back to Earth and properly disposed of. 

All of this and more was told to the attendants of Blair’s exhibition. You can learn more by visiting http://www.nasa.gov/, heavens-above.com, http://hubblesite.org/, and by searching “space sites” in Google. 

To discover more about and with NASA, visit the Joliet Area Historical Museum located at 204 North Ottawa St. in Joliet. In conjunction with Blair’s presentation, NASA had a that I visited at the museum. It is now gone. 

At the museum, there is a permanent exhibit all about Joliet’s John C. Houbolt, creator of the idea for the lunar orbit rendezvous on Apollo 11. For more information, call 815-723-5201 or visit the museum Web site. John C. Houbolt is one of my inspirations to become an aerospace engineer and an astronaut.

You can contact Christopher Blair at one of the following on business days:

Address: RCJV-VA-4 Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899

Phone: 321-867-4090

Fax: 321-867-7242

Email: christopher.e.blair@nasa.gov 

Website: http://www.rede-inc.com 

Space out!

Abby