New Era of Space Exploration Dawns, Reflections on Challenger, Columbia, Apollo 1: In Memoriam

As the USA and international partners are set to begin Artemis mission series by November, reestablishing humanity as a multi-world species mid-decade on Artemis 3, it is appropriate to commemorate the pioneers who gave their lives in the pursuit of space exploration. 54 years have elapsed since the crew of Apollo 1, pilot Roger Chaffee, Commander Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Senior Pilot Edward White II perished in a test stand fire at Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 34 on January 27, 1967. 35 years ago, Challenger STS-51L was lost shortly after launch, ending the lives of Gregory Jarvis, ‘First Teacher in Space’ Christa McAuliffe, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnick, Francis “Dick” Scobee and Michael Smith on January 28, 1986. 18 years ago, Columbia STS-107 broke apart upon atmospheric reentry, killing Michael Anderson, David Brown, ‘1st Indian American astronaut’ Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Richard Husband, William McCool and ‘1st Israeli Astronaut’ Ilan Ramon. The enduring vision of these courageous souls lives on in the worldwide space community, endeavoring to make space travel possible for those all those who wish to explore its depths; Astronauts Memorial Foundation will hold Day of Remembrance observation at Center for Space Education (KSC), as will all national space centers. Former FAA Commercial Space Transportation Administrator George Nield has suggested reestablishment of the Teacher in Space program, buoying a national spaceport initiative – a fitting tribute. (Image Credits: NASA)

MONDAY

Interstellar Activities with IRG, Breakthrough Initiatives and possible IU in Ad Astra State

Interstellar studies and R&D remain a focus for various enterprises and organizations including Centauri Dreams, Tau Zero Foundation, Ad Astra Kansas Foundation, 100-Year Starship, Interstellar Research Group (formerly TVIW), Icarus Interstellar, Starship Congress, Initiative for Interstellar Studies and Breakthrough Initiatives. While ESA Gaia maps more than 1B stars in the Milky Way Galaxy and research groups work to identify habitable exoplanets – of which 36 may host intelligent life – Stanford Prof. Bruce Macintosh will talk about ‘Emerging Pictures of Distant Worlds’ on January 25. NASA is funding Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe launching 2025 to study solar wind and interactions with the local galactic neighborhood beyond, and has 5 probes on interstellar trajectories: Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and New Horizons. Ad Astra Kansas Day 2021 in Topeka is scheduled April 24, on the anniversary of the deployment of Hubble by native Kansan Astronaut Steve Hawley. With the bounty of interstellar information and efforts to achieve interstellar observations, communications, transportation in the 21st Century, the first Interstellar University (IU) could begin in the ‘Ad Astra Per Aspera’ state of Kansas, perhaps around 29 Jan 2022 on the anniversary of Kansas becoming the 34th star in the USA flag. IRG will be holding its 7th Interstellar Symposium September 24-27 in Tucson AZ and now has its interstellar database available online. (Image Credits: IRG, AAKF, 100YSS, i4is, ESO / M. Kornmesser, NASA, SPC, ILOA, et al)

Jan 25 — Stanford University

Jan 25 — Keck Institute for Space Studies, Online / Pasadena CA: Webinar: The Ultraviolet Spotlight on Exoplanets; by Professor Evgenya Shkolnik from Arizona State University; 17:00 PST.

Jan 25 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Online / Washington DC: Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032 – Panel on Ocean Worlds and Dwarf Planets Meeting #14.

Jan 25 — NASA, Online / Washington DC: Science Mission Directorate Community Town Hall Meeting; with Thomas Zurbuchen, 14:00 EST.

Jan 25-28 — UC Santa Barbara, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Online / Santa Barbara CA: Multiwavelength Probes of Galactic Atmospheres.

Jan 25 — Moon: 0.31° NNE of M35 cluster, 14:00.

Jan 25 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 BA3: Near Earth Flyby (0.004 AU)

Jan 25 — Aten Asteroid 468727 (2010 JE87): Near Earth Flyby (0.040 AU)

Jan 25 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 BH2: Near Earth Flyby (0.049 AU)

Continued From…

Nov 4, 2020 – Feb 28, 2021 — International Astronautical Federation, Online: Abstracts Submission Open: 72nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2021); being held Oct 25-29.

Jan 18-29 — Committee on Space Research, Online / Antofagasta, Chile: COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop: Data Analysis for Planetary Science.

Jan 20 – Feb 28 — CNSA Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, Online / Beijing, China: Global Campaign soliciting nominations for the name of Tianwen-1 Mars rover.

Jan 24-29 — Israeli Space Agency in the Ministry of Science and Technology, Israel Space Agency, Online: 2021 Israel Space Week; featuring Astronauts Jessica Meyer, Charlie Bolden, Scott Kelly, representatives from SpaceIL, NASA, ESA.