Also in April, we looked at another NASA tragedy, one that nearly destroyed a fledgling space program. January 27, 67 and the crew of Apollo/Saturn 204 (commonly known as Apollo 1 mission) were training for the first crewed Apollo flight. During this training, tragedy struck. We told you what happened and what the results were.
We met two amazing women from two different centuries. Caroline Herschel's parents concluded that she would never marry but would live her life as an old maid. Instead, she became one of the most important people in the history of astronomy - the First Lady of Astronomy. Sharon Christa Corrigan was born September 2, 1948 to Edward and Grace Corrigan, the first of five children. On January 28, 1986, aboard the space shuttle Challenger, the world lost one of its greatest resources, Christa McAuliffe.
On May 15, many people were able to watch a spectacular lunar eclipse. Soon after that, we answered one of the most frequent questions concerning the space program; “How do you use the bathroom in space?”
As the school year was drawing to a close, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board was still hard at work, trying to determine what had caused the destruction of the Columbia. The tests with pieces of foam striking a wing were very powerful, indeed, but not conclusive. At around the same time, we were examining the life of a man who would have understood why the piece of foam insulation struck the wing, Sir Isaac Newton.
More than 30 years after the last person left the moon, are we on the verge of returning? Two companies think so. In May, we looked at Earth’s Moon and wondered when we would return, and whether it would be for mining or tourism. Then, before the fifth month ended, we provided you with a calendar of Astronomical events.
In June, some schools were out, while others were completing their terms. We were discussing the possibility of a catastrophic collision by an asteroid. We also looked at the International Space Station, and the emergency escape vehicle, the X-38. If that wasn’t scary enough, we looked at the first space disaster, the crash of the Soyuz 1 spacecraft.
Diving back into astronomy, our ninth planet came under scrutiny next, as we discussed whether Pluto was a planet or not. According to the International Astronomical Union, it is. Whew, that was close.
Next, with the anniversary of Apollo 11 just a month away, I recalled being a nine-year-old boy watching Neal Armstrong take that one small step/giant leap. I knew then that I wanted to be an astronaut. It didn’t happen for me, but it may not be too late for others, so I told you how to become an astronaut.
Our journeys took us in a completely different direction next. We dove into our research to interview four NASA astronauts who had become aquanauts, temporarily aboard the Aquarius underwater habitat. We found NEEMO, the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations; mission 5, and interviewed the aquanauts.
