Celebrating Human Endeavor, Rising Above Challenges: Remembering Apollo 1, Challenger STS-51L, Columbia STS-107

In dedication to the bright future of exploration and evolution of human understanding out among the Galaxy Stars, we pause to remember and celebrate the great individuals who sacrifice everything in the pursuit of knowledge and ability, in peace for all. On January 27, 48 years ago Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee were lost in a fire during an Apollo 1 launch simulation test. January 28 is the 29th anniversary of the catastrophic breakup of Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51L at 73 seconds after launch, which took the lives of seven astronauts, Francis “Dick” Scobee, Michael Smith, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnick and Ronald McNair. The passing of fellow astronauts Richard Husband, Laurel Clark, Ilan Ramon, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown and Kalpana Chawla, due to disintegration upon reentry of Space Shuttle Columbia STS-107 is remembered for the 11th year on February 1. The silver lining on these somber clouds is that the Space Age surges on with more and more pioneering individuals and enterprises, ambitious countries emerging as actors on the space exploration frontier, and the 6 major spacefaring powers continuing to expand human reach to the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto and beyond. (Image Credit: NASA, R. Williams (STScI) / the Hubble Deep Field Team and NASA)

MONDAY

Jan 26 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 42 preparing spacesuits & gear for upcoming EVAs, loading SpaceX CRS 5 with experiments / samples to return to Earth; ISS deboost by ATV-5 to occur Jan 28.

Jan 26 — Chang’e-3 Lander & Yutu Rover, Sinus Iridum / Mare Imbrium, 44.12°N 19.51°W, Moon Surface: Now hibernating in Lunar Night 14 until ~Jan 31, instruments in good health continue to make observations; first-ever image of spiral galaxy (M101) from Moon obtained / published in collaboration with ILOA.

Jan 26 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Taking gravity measurements of moon Titan to detect liquid water / ammonia ocean underneath its surface & radar measurements for sand dunes, river channels, land formations.

Jan 26 — SpaceX, Multiple Locations: NewSpace company receiving US$1B of new investment funding, bringing company value to ~US$10B; analyzing data from recent Falcon 9 booster landing attempt; preparing for next launch Feb 8.

Jan 26 — Flexure Engineering, Seattle WA: Hosting 5th International Workshop on Lunar Surface Applications Apr 15-17, other Lunar workshops to advance knowledge of LunarCube technologies, opportunities in cislunar space, lunar science & ISRU.

Jan 26 — Mars One, The Hague, The Netherlands: Planning to send student science project to germinate Arabidopsis Thaliana seeds in a container to Mars surface on lander in 2018.

Jan 26 — Google Lunar X Prize Foundation, San Francisco CA: GLXP Milestone Prizes winners announced today; Astrobotic has already been awarded US$750K, remaining milestone competitors are Hakuto (Japan), Team Indus (India), Moon Express (U.S.), Part-Time Scientists (Germany); at California Academy of Sciences, 18:00 – 22:00 PST.

Jan 26 — Johnson Space Center, NASA, Online / Houston TX: NASA, Boeing, SpaceX Discuss Plan for Launching American Astronauts from the U.S. in 2017; featuring Charles Bolden, Kathy Lueders, Gwynne Shotwell, John Elbon, Mike Fincke, Ellen Ochoa; 11:00 CST, live coverage available.

Jan 26 — The Space Show, Online / Tiburon CA: Dr. David Livingston talks with Marc Rayman, Dawn Chief Engineer & Mission Director at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Humans in Space – Busy with Science, Preparing for EVAs

The International Space Station six-member Expedition 42 crew (T-B, L-R) Commander Barry Wilmore (NASA), Elena Serova (RSA), Alexander Samokutyaev (RSA), Anton Shkaplerov (RSA), Terry Virts (NASA) and Samantha Cristoforetti (ESA) continue science / technology experiments, cargo transfers from ESA ATV-5 and SpaceX Dragon CRS-5, routine maintenance and preparation for USA Extra-Vehicular Activities planned for February 16, 20 and 25. Virts and Wilmore will help prepare the station for the installation of 2 docking adapters that will allow commercial spacecraft to connect to ISS by installing power and data cables and a communications gear. They will also grease the station’s 17.6-meter long robotic Canadarm2. Other living guests orbiting ~418 km above Earth include flatworms, fruit flies and lettuce plants. The crew will remain aboard until March 12 when 3 members will return to Earth, marking the start of Expedition 43. On March 27 the long-awaited full-year mission for NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russia Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will begin. (Image Credit: NASA, RSA, ESA)

Jan 26-30 — National Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Bonamanzi, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Cosmology on Safari.

Jan 26 — Moon: At first quarter, 18:48.

Jan 26 — Asteroid 357439 (2004 BL86): Near-Earth flyby (0.008 AU) about 3 times distance from Earth to Moon; ~549 meters across, will be closest any space rock this large flies by Earth until 2027; should be visible in N America with amateur binoculars / telescopes.

Jan 26 — Asteroid 2015 AK45: Near-Earth flyby (0.012 AU).

Continued from…

Oct 16, 2014 – Jun 11 — NASA, University of Hawai`i, Mauna Loa HI: Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Mission 3.

Nov 19, 2014 – Jan 31 — Foundation for Space Development, Online / Cape Town, South Africa: Africa2Moon Mission fundraising campaign.

Dec 20, 2014 – Mar 15 — Cantor Arts Center, Stanford CA: Exhibition: Loose in Some Real Tropics: Robert Rauschenberg’s “Stoned Moon” Projects, 1969–70; 34 large-format lithographs with scenes of Apollo 11 astronauts, machinery, facilities.

Jan 18-27 — Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Korea Institute for Advanced Studies, Busan, South Korea: 9th Asian Winter School on Strings, Particles and Cosmology.

TUESDAY

Jan 27 — 48th Apollo 1 Observation, Nationwide USA: Increasing space awareness and education, remembrances / events honor three Apollo 1 crew members, Command Pilot Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee, whose lives were lost when a launch rehearsal test resulted in a cabin fire.