Bulletin 3 27 October Introducing . . . William Gregory This week’s audioconference guest speaker is NASA astronaut William Gregory (Lieutenant Colonel, USAF). He became an astronaut in 1991 after being selected by NASA in 1990. Lieutenant Colonel Gregory has had a variety of technical assignments. He served as pilot on the Space Shuttle Endeavor when it launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 2 March 1995. When they landed on 18 March 1995, the crew established a new mission duration record of 16 days, 15 hours, 8 minutes and 46 seconds, while completing 262 orbits and travelling nearly seven million miles. On completion of this, his first mission, Lieutenant Colonel Gregory had logged 400 hours in space. Lieutenant Colonel Gregory currently serves as the astronaut office representative for rendezvous and proximity operations. Before joining NASA Lieutenant Colonel Gregory was in the air force. Between 1981 and 1986, he served as an operational fighter pilot flying the D and F models of the F-111. He has been an instructor pilot at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom and Cannon Air Force Base (AFB), New Mexico. He attended the USAF Test Pilot School in 1987. Between 1988 and 1990 Lieutenant Colonel Gregory served as a test pilot flying the F-4, A-7D, and all five models of the F-15. He has flown more than 40 types of aircraft and has accumulated more than 4,300 hours of flight time. Lieutenant Colonel Gregory was born in 1957 in New York. He is married and enjoys distance running, biking, triathlons, water and snow skiing. Frequently asked questions about space Some more of the common questions people have about space: Question: When are humans going to Mars? Answer: First we must successfully build and operate the planned international Space Station to gain experience with other nations in space co-operation; develop an affordable mission scenario that can be accomplished in around 10 years; and allow time for the world economy to improve substantially. NASA currently plans to operate the Space Station for at least the first 10 years of the next century, sending astronauts back to the Moon or on to Mars during the second decade of the new century. Question: What is the temperature in space? Answer: Temperatures in space depend on whether the thermometer is in sunlight or darkness. Near the Earth and the Moon objects in direct sunlight can heat up to around 121 degrees C. In the shade, objects can cool down to around -156 degrees C. This extreme range is the reason why the thermal designs of spacecraft and space suits are so important. Space activity - landing on a strange planet... (an activity to develop skills in observation and classification) Imagine you are a crew from another planet which has arrived on Earth. Your duty is to ‘find and record’ as much data and information as you can about this ‘strange’ planet to send back to your home planet. How will you classify the information? For example, think about how you’d determine whether an object is living or non-living (e.g.: movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion, nutrition = Mrs. Gren!) You could walk around the playground recording the information about the objects you see in terms of their classification criteria. Collect some ‘samples’ (remember to leave living ‘samples’ alone) that are easily able to be ‘beamed’ back to the home planet. Record observations, comments and other data about the expedition on a recording sheet, and fax these to your home planet (perhaps another school) for further analysis. Visiting astronaut NASA astronaut Dr. Shannon Lucid arrives in New Zealand next week to start her Telecom tour. Dr. Lucid is spending two weeks in New Zealand to take part in Telecom’s Space Explorers programme. She has been an astronaut for 18 years and holds the record for the longest time spent by a woman in space - by spending 188 days aboard the Russian Space Station Mir. She also set the record for the longest time spent by an American in space. Dr. Lucid will talk about her time on Mir and her other space experiences in audioconferences on 5 November and 12 November. During her visit she will also be giving talks at several host schools. She’ll be talking about what it’s like to be an astronaut and her various missions. The host school schedule is attached to this week’s bulletin. If you’d like to be invited to a host school for one of Dr. Lucid’s talks please fill out your details on the bottom of the schedule and fax to Danielle on the Adventure Line 0800 253-020. The deadline for responding is 5.00pm this Wednesday (29 October). Numbers are limited, so it is vital that you let us know how many people are attending and we will fax you back confirmation. Planet profile All about . . . Earth Earth is the fifth largest of the planets in diameter and is the third closest planet to the sun. The average distance of the Earth from the sun is 149,503,000 km. It is the only planet known to support life, although some other planets also have atmospheres and contain water. Based on information revealed by artificial satellites the Earth is not a perfect sphere but is slightly pear-shaped because the equator bulges 21 km; the North Pole bulges 10 m; and the South Pole is indented about 31 m. In common with the entire solar system, the Earth is moving through space at the rate of approximately 20.1 km/sec or 72,360 km/hr towards the constellation of Hercules. The Milky Way galaxy as a whole, however, is moving toward the constellation Leo at about 600 km/sec. The Earth and its satellite - the Moon - also move together around the sun. The approximate length of the Earth’s orbit is 938,900,000 km and the Earth travels along it at a speed of about 106,000 km/hr. The Earth rotates on its axis once every 23 hr 56 min 4.1 sec (based on the solar year). Space homepage Apparently some of you can’t see the Space Explorers icon on the TEF homepage (www.telecom.co.nz/tef/explorers/). The page has been updated to include the new link to the Space Explorers site. If you can't see the icon of the space shuttle on this page, it may be that your browser is not checking to see if the page is the latest version. You can click the "Refresh" or "Reload" button to ensure you’re seeing the latest version of the page. Get your work on the Net "Alien Worlds" is a section of the Space Explorers site where you can contribute pictures of alien creatures, machines and planets. If you email your creations as an attached computer file we do our best to post them on to the site. Try using computer drawing tools such as CorelDraw, MacPaint, MS Paint or a shareware program like Paint Shop Pro (for PC). Don't worry too much about the "file format" - if we have problems, we can always email you back! The history of astronauts Spacemen of fiction - Jules Verne’s travellers to the Moon, or the comic strip heroes Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers - were familiar characters midway through this century but no one could accurately describe a real astronaut - there were none! Then in 1959 NASA asked the United States military services to list their members who met specific qualifications. This was the start of a search for pilots to take part in the exciting new manned space flight programme. NASA was seeking people with jet aircraft flight experience and engineering training who could also fit in the small cabin space in the Mercury capsule that was being designed. Basically, those 1959 requirements were: younger than 40; shorter than 5ft 11 (180.34cm); excellent physical condition; bachelor’s degree or equivalent in engineering; qualified jet pilot; graduate of test pilot school and at least 1500 hours flying time. More than 500 men qualified. Military and medical records were examined; psychological and technical tests were given; personal interviews were conducted by psychological and medical specialists. At the end of the first screening many candidates were eliminated and others decided they no longer wanted to be considered. Even more stringent physical and psychological examinations followed and in April 1959 NASA announced its selection of seven men as the first American astronauts. They were Navy Lieutenant M. Scott Carpenter; Air Force Captains L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, and Donald K. “Deke” Slayton; Marine Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr., and Navy Lieutenant Commanders Walter M. Schirra, Jr., and Alan B. Shepard, Jr. Each flew in Project Mercury except Slayton, who was grounded with a previously undiscovered heart condition. After doctors certified that the condition had cleared up, Slayton took part in this first mission 16 years after his selection - as a member of the American crew on the Apollo Soyuz Test Project, the world’s first internationally staffed space flight, in July 1975. More recruiting... Three years after the first selection, NASA issued another call for Gemini and Apollo astronaut trainees. Experience in flying high-performance aircraft was still stressed as was education. The age limit was lowered to 35, the maximum height raised to 6 ft (182.88cm), and the programme was opened to qualified civilians. This second recruitment brought more than 200 applications. The list was screened to 32 and then reduced to nine in September 1962. Fourteen more astronaut trainees were chosen from nearly 300 applicants in October 1963. By then the main emphasis had shifted away from flight experience toward superior academic qualifications. In October 1964 applications were invited on the basis of educational background alone. These people were called scientist-astronauts because the 400-plus applicants who met minimum requirements had a doctorate or equivalent experience in natural sciences, medicine, or engineering. These applications were turned over to the National Academy of Sciences in Washington for evaluation. Sixteen were recommended to NASA, and six were selected in June 1965. Although the call for volunteers did not specify flight experience, two of the applicants were qualified jet pilots and did not need the year of basic flight training the others had. Another 19 pilot astronauts were brought into the programme in April 1966, and 11 scientist-astronauts were added in mid-1967. When the Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory programme was cancelled in mid-1969, seven astronaut trainees transferred to NASA. Explorers mystery quiz - Bulletin 3 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 31 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: What is the biggest known planet we can see from Earth? Question two: What is the Milky Way? Last week’s winner The winner of last week’s Explorers Mystery Quiz was Room 2, Te Kowhai School, Hamilton. Last week’s answers Answer one: Astronomers estimate we cover 50,000 galaxies with a space the size of our thumb nail - held at arms length. Answer two: NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 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: [email protected]