Sunset (Image by Saumya Balasubramanian)
Sometimes, of course, his questions chip away at the stoutest of theories. For instance, a few years ago, as we mooned about the hills overlooking the bay at sunset and taking in the shades of pinks, oranges, blues, grays, purples, and reds, he said, “
Why is the sunset never green?”
Now, that is a perfectly valid question with a perfectly scientific answer. However, it had me stumped, for it never occurred to me to
ask that particular question. I remember being awed a few years ago when the children had drawn rust and pink-colored skies when asked to imagine a sky for their imaginary world.
It comes as something of a shock to learn that Michael Collins – the US astronaut who manned the Apollo 11 command module orbiting the Moon while fellow astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface – died at age 90, on 28 April. The space flight the three had carried out on the backs of a vast cooperative effort – that included thousands of technicians, scientists and engineers – was the first time humans had left Earth to arrive at another entirely different piece of the solar system’s real estate.
Collins proved to be a contemplative man somewhat beyond the usual among the astronaut fraternity. As he orbited alone, he meditated upon the truth that while he was circling the Moon, he was the most truly solitary human being who had ever lived. The two astronauts on the Moon at least had each other for company and comfort.
Apr 30, 2021
Apr 30, 2021
During the past year, members of NASAâs workforce at the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia have kept their sights on the stars.
Focus has remained on ensuring the safety, security and reliability of NASA s most important missions to enable success during a global pandemic.
In the uncertain circumstances COVID-19 has brought, commitment to mission success held steady and through hard work and responsiveness, the same high quality of service has been maintained across mission-critical systems and software.
Everyday, this workforce makes our program values of safety and excellence a reality. Many could work remotely and did so in the interest of public health without letting the quality of such important work decrease at all.
Outlook for This Week in the Nation’s Capital
Congress. The Senate is in session this week, and the House is out of session until May 10. House Republicans are headed to Orlando, FL this week for their annual issues retreat, which will include numerous speakers, though former President Donald Trump has not been invited. Meanwhile, the Senate is set to vote on numerous nominees as well as on Sen. Tammy Duckworth s (D-IL) Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021, which earned a unanimous vote last month in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Additionally, there are a handful of committee hearings this week, including a hearing from Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on Wednesday on the COVID response and one from House Science, Space, and Technology (SST) on National Science Foundation research. On Thursday, the hearings include ones from the House Education and Labor and House Small Business Committees on Building Back Better and f
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Atmosphere adaptation included, strides forward into ground-breaking scientific developments specifically for the NASA Mars Perseverance Rover 2020 Mission include sensor conductivity operations; thermal shield variations for on-planet versus off-planet or orbiting field protective requirements; nuclear based fuel conversions from heat to electricity and returns to fuel renewals given in solar power regeneration; and mechanical equipment engineering environment sustainable functions of the NASA Mars Perseverance Rover created to complete Mars planet surface sampling. Each of the NASA Mars Perseverance Rover’s scientific development decisions has already started to directly encourage the energy community sectors to use and develop the future thinking in cross-industry applications (such as the po