Tag Archives: NASA

Monday Titanic News

A sure sign spring is here is when lambs appear.
Spring Lamb In The Sunshine
Photo: Tanya Hall/publicdomainpictures.net

Welcome to Spring everyone! For those of you down under, Happy Autumn. Here are some news stories you may find of interest.

The story of the Sunderland man who survived the Titanic disaster thanks to a game of cards (Sunderland Echo, 21 Mar 2021)

One of the very many stories to be told in its aftermath, is that of a glass worker from Sunderland who was one of the lucky survivors. Had Charles Whilems gone to bed earlier on that fateful night he would never have been heard of again

Fact Check-J.P. Morgan did not sink the Titanic to push forward plans for the U.S. Federal Reserve (Reuters, 17 Mar 2021)

A widely-shared meme has taken several facts about the Titanic out of context to  make unsubstantiated claims that imply the ship’s sinking was a deliberate act. This is not true – experts widely agree the sinking of the Titanic was an accident. The meme was posted?to Facebook?on March 1 and has been shared more than 600 times. It consists of two images: one of the ship and a  second of American financier John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan. These sit alongside a wall of text that suggests Morgan had motive to sink the Titanic?because it was hosting three powerful people who opposed his idea for a centralised banking system, ie: the U.S.?Federal Reserve.

NASA Astronaut and Physician, Dr. Scott Parazynski to Join Titanic Survey Expedition (KHQ.com, 16 Mar 2021 (via PR Newswire)

“Challenging environments are incredible catalysts for innovation,” shares Dr. Scott Parazynski. “Being part of the inaugural expeditionary team for the Titanic Survey Expedition with my friend and colleague, Stockton Rush, is an amazing opportunity. I am looking forward to working with the OceanGate Expeditions team to demonstrate the cutting edge submersible technology that has the power to change the way humans explore our deep oceans, understand our planet, and investigate other planets. Our home planet is extraordinary, and my bucket list will get an additional check mark as part of this ground-breaking OceanGate expedition,” says Parazynski.

Why Was Utah’s Only Titanic Passenger Not Among The Survivors?(Salt Lake Magazine, 15 Mar 2021)

Pulling a treasured artifact from her purse, Liz holds the postcard up against an enlarged copy displayed prominently on one wall. Dated April 1, 1912, the card bears an illustration of London’s Piccadilly Circus on one side and Irene’s gracefully sloping scrawl on the back with her ill-fated words, “Finish London soon—am going to sail on one of the biggest ships afloat: the Titanic, an American Liner.” This was the last dispatch from 30-year-old Irene, the only Utahn aboard the RMS Titanic. She drowned with more than 1,500 passengers hours after the liner struck an iceberg in the early hours of April 15, 1912 sinking to the ocean floor in the frigid north Atlantic on its way from Southampton to New York.

Remembering the Challenger Explosion 28 Jan 1986

I was at work when news trickled through the office that something had occurred to the space shuttle Challenger. By noon (Pacific time), more details had become known. Challenger had exploded after liftoff killing everyone aboard. Lunch was quiet as this news was digested. At dinner I remember watching Tom Brokaw on NBC describe the awful events of that day.

For those who boarded the shuttle on 28 Jan 1986, it was lifetime ambition coming true. Each of them had been selected to be part of this mission. The most well known was Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher from New Hampshire. She had won a competition to be the first teacher in space. The space shuttle program, launched in 1976, had been a success. It was the first time a space vehicle would use reusable vehicle. And had been used bring satellite equipment into space and perform scientific experiments.

Hundreds had assembled to watch the launch; many of them family members of the astronauts aboard. A live feed of the launch was being watched by school kids all over the country. The news networks were there as well to cover the launch. The launch had been delayed since 23 January due to poor weather and technical issues. The morning of the launch had been cold at Cape Canaveral, Florida. An unusual cold wave had hit Florida and temperatures had dropped to below freezing during the night.

At 11:38 am EST, Challenger lifted off and began her ascent. The assembled crowd watched as the shuttle moved upwards. A minute after the launch, they were told to go for full throttle. And then, 73 seconds into the flight, there was an explosion. Spectators on the ground stood in disbelief at the forking plume and smoke. Millions, including school children, saw it as well on television. At first no one was quite sure what happened. Then confirmation was made that the shuttle had been destroyed.



That night President Ronald Reagan made a public address to the nation. It was a simple but powerful address. But his closing remarks have always remained with me:

 The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.” (President Reagan’s Address to the Nation, 28 Jan 1986)

President Reagan appointed a special commission to determine what went wrong, and to develop ways to prevent it from happening again. Former secretary of state William Rodgers led the commission which had former astronaut Neil Armstrong and former test pilot Chuck Yeager on it. Also on the panel was noted physicist Richard Feynman. Feynman clashed with Rodgers and was unafraid to call out NASA for its failures. He also graphically demonstrated during a live hearing how the O-rings were less resilient in cold weather. He did this by lowering a sample of it in ice-cold water and showing when he took it out how inflexible it was. Ultimately it was the O-rings that were at fault. The hard cold during the night had caused it to contract and thus no longer provide proper sealing. When it was subjected to high heat, it lost coherence which led to the chain of events where the shuttle exploded. It would be two years before another space shuttle would be launched. Both Morton Thiokol and the U.S. government contributed to a settlement fund of $7.7 million dollars to the families of the Challenger astronauts.

The crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-51-L pose for their official portrait on November 15, 1985. In the back row from left to right: Ellison S. Onizuka, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, and Judy Resnik. In the front row from left to right: Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ron McNair.
Source: NASA
Public Domain



This Day in History: January 28, 1986
Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident
Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger: Address to the Nation, January 28, 1986

James Cameron Donates Deepsea Challenger To Woods Hole

The famed movie director is donating his deepsea vehicle used in the dive to Challenger Deep in 2012. Challenger Deep is the lowest point of Mariana Trench, one of the deepest seabeds in the world. Its innovative features and design got praise from scientists. No other deepsea vehicle can go as deep as Deepsea Challenger, making it a very important craft indeed.

Cameron, the New York Times reports, said it is the ideal outcome. The main goal is to “capitalize on the engineering advances to the highest possible degree.” Woods Hole will be getting the vehicle in June. Cameron will become an advisor to Woods Hole. Woods Hole, of course, is quite happy to be getting the vehicle. Susan Avery, president/director of Woods Hole says “Partnerships such as this one represent a new paradigm and will accelerate the progress of ocean science and technology development.”

The donation also is another example of a transition from government funded research to private sector. Something that has been slowly been going on for a while. Perhaps one of the first cracks was way back in the heady days of the space program. They needed pens to work in space, which is a problem in free fall (commonly called zero gravity) where common ballpoints fail to work. Fortunately Paul Fisher had been working on a better refill for ballpoint pens. He perfected one using a cartridge pressurized by nitrogen so that it did not rely on gravity to work. This resulted in a pen that worked in space, underwater, upside down, or in freezing cold or hot deserts. NASA had been working on such a pen but had not been successful. Fisher patented his ingenious design in 1965. In 1968 the Apollo 7 astronauts were the first to use the Fisher space pen (it took two years of NASA testing). The rest, as they say, is history.

Source: Titanic’ Director Donates Deep-Sea Craft To Institute(26 Mar 2013, New York Times)

For information about Apollo 7:

James Cameron’s Expedition – Bismarck

Exploring the Deep: The Titanic Expeditions

Fisher Space Bullet Space Pen – Matte Black, Gift Boxed (400B)

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