Today, the space shuttle Discovery was launched! I would never have realized this had happened unless I had happened to read the headline on CNN. com today. I believe the simple fact that I had heard nothing about the space launch says a lot about the prominence of space travel in our society right now.
Discovery was launched this evening for the international space station. According to the article from CNN, Discovery is bringing supplies to the space station. On this past Wednesday, a hydrogen leak had been detected on the ship, which delayed the initial launch of the shuttle. All repairs are going well so far.
Discovery is also bringing the supplies needed to expand the crew on the space station, which NASA is planning to double from 3 crew members to 6. Supplies are also being brought to repair a machine on the station that converts urine into drinkable water. (WHAT! Who knew there was a machine that does that! Seems a bit unsanitary...)
According to another news article, the crew being sent to the space station are going to install more solar-energy equipment.
I remember that when I was younger, space launches and space travel, as well as other dealings with NASA, were highly publicized within my school and within the news. Why has universal knowledge of what is going on in space research declined so rapidly in recent time? It makes me sad that there are so many fantastic achievements and updates in the world of space travel and engineering, and that the nation is distracted from such accomplishments.
Images found
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10196685-76.html
and
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH.space/03/15/shuttle.launch/index.html
4 comments:
I think we need to turn the space program around and get people excited about it again because this is really cool stuff
It is so unfortunate that the world doesn't pride in and appreciate space travel as much these days. The fact that there are people living in the international space station still amazes me! I was lucky enough to hear about the launch from a friend in one of my classes, however, if he hadn't said anything I never would've know. What a shame :(
Personally, i find every aeronautical topic absolutely captivating. I guess I'm not a good representation of the majority of people, as my dream job when i grow up is to be an aeronautical engineer. But i have to agree with you; there are so many new discoveries made every day that our society doesn't seem to give ample credit as deserved. Hopefully over the course of our lives, that will change
You are right about the fact space travel is so small in modern society. As we saw in Apollo 13, no one noticed them... till they were dying. Since 100s have already paid to have their own spaceflights, most newspapers see a routine mission to just outside our atmosphere as not even newsworthy.
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