From the moment a child first recognizes his or her reflection, their sense of self awareness is forever changed. So too was humanity’s when we got our first look at the planet from space. It was a life-changing event on a species-wide scale — our microcosm suddenly became extremely macro and we were able to finally see ourselves against the grander backdrop of the universe.
Last Friday May 10th marked the anniversary of the first colour pictures taken of Earth from space. Captured by the Apollo 10 crew, it marked the first time we were able to bring back images of our blue marble, in full colour.
As the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield had many important duties aboard the giant Earth-orbiting laboratory, not the least of which was overseeing the safety of the crew.
But as Hadfield’s time aboard the ISS comes to a close, a review of his tenure reveals what has been obvious to everyone following his adventures on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook, and to every student who participated in a video chat or amateur radio conversation with him:
Chris Hadfield has made the unreachable corners of outer space personal, fun, and incredibly interesting.
Space and the arts are no strangers, having been pretty friendly over the years.
It’s not, for instance, uncommon for astronauts to know how to wield a guitar, with the most recent renaissance man aboard the ISS being Canada’s Earth-space ambassador, Commander Chris Hadfield.
Now, after a series of (gone-viral) live chats with celebs and students, and clever info segments about life’s minutiae aboard the Station, Hadfield will be holding his last live broadcast with Earth on Monday, May 6.
For almost a year now, California’s SpaceX has seemed a little like the rabbit of the U.S. commercial space race – fast, sleek, glamorous, and running circles around its closest competitor, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia.
As soon as you drop the word ‘drone’ into the conversation, be prepared to enter a hot-topic subduction zone. The word alone is a loaded one, bringing to mind militaristic and spying capabilities, as well as UN investigations.
The reality is, drones can serve peaceful purposes for both humanity and the planet – for everything from environmental monitoring and mapping, to aerial photography and documenting human life.
According to the Federation Aviation Administration (FAA), small personal drones “will likely experience the greatest near-term growth in civil and commercial operations because of their versatility and relatively low initial cost and operating expenses.”
On March 13, 2013, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Astronaut Chris Hadfield became the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station. It was an important day for Canada, for the CSA, and for the 53-year old space veteran who’s been training for this moment since he was 14 years old.
“The ISS is an orbiting research vessel of unprecedented capability, and Canada is in the thick of it,” explained Hadfield in his official statement as commander, “… the 130 experiments currently on the ISS are pushing back the edge of what is possible.”
by Theras Wood If a future civilization were to begin flipping through our history (e)books, how would they interpret our society’s treatment of the Earth? Would they regard us with scorn? Perhaps they’d laud us for our stalwart self-interest.
by Theras Wood Concern for the future of the world is something each generation grapples with, in its own way. For the last six years, Earth Hour has been amplifying those concerned voices by ‘uniting the world to protect the planet.’ Organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Earth Hour encourages businesses and individuals to flick offRead more…
As celestial visitors go, asteroid 2012 DA-14 will rank among the better guests.
We’ve known it’s been coming for almost a year, and it’s only sticking around for just over a day. It’s pretty big, and there may be some crowding of Earth’s personal space, but it promised not to make a mess. And it has delivered on its projected message.
It was the closest asteroid flyby in our recorded history.
But as close as it was, Asteroid DA-14 didn’t plummet towards Earth today. People didn’t parish in its wake. Economic centres didn’t crumble. Ecosystems weren’t devastated.
Coincidentally, a meteor did burn-up over, and eventually hit, Russia today. And it could have just as easily hit anywhere else on the world — a densely-populated, major economic centre, for instance.
While the two phenomena are not related, what these close encounters have done is reignite discussion around the need for a plan to deal with asteroids and meteors, should one ever become a threat to Earth.
