Dec 2018

  • Attendance: 20 people in attendance, including 1 guest from the Tulsa club!

  • Financials:

October 1 beginning balance $2,621.92

Deposit $160.00 dues

Ending balance $2,781.92

Nov 1 beginning balance $2,781.92

Deposit $215.00 dues

Ending balance $2,996.92

  • For those who haven’t yet paid, dues are due! If would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, do by check.

  • Astronomical League calendars—last chance, $13.00, no shipping.

  • Rick Buck showed his recent fantastic image of the Bubble Nebula.

Abby’s news highlights:

  • NASA scientists have discovered the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the International Space Station. The bacteria strains were found in the ISS’s exercise area and toilet, according to a new study, though they aren’t likely to harm the humans onboard. The bacterium Enterobacter‘s presence on the ISS is worrisome to officials, however, as a pathogenic variety could put the astronauts at risk. A total of five strains were isolated from the ISS’s exercise platform and space toilet

  • As far back as 40,000 years ago (Upper Paleolithic), ancient people kept track of time using relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy—with cave art.

  • A team of astronomers led by Michael Koss of Eureka Scientific Inc. has observed several pairs of galaxies in the final stages of merging together into single, larger galaxies.

  • Astronomers using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have determined that a massive group of galaxies called Abell 1033 is actually two galaxy clusters in the process of colliding.

Upcoming events:

  • Jan. 20--total lunar eclipse. Want to have a public event for this including refreshments. Will run till appx 2 am so will need a site that will accommodate us for that.

  • Jan. 26—Abby is working on a project to sort solar glasses in preparation for the 2019 solar eclipse next July in South America. We will have thousands of them to sort by good ones and bad ones. This will be a youth service project, in cooperation with the Masons, and we will need volunteers from the Club.

  • Date TBD—perhaps next February? Club visit to the Tulsa Planetarium, perhaps on a Friday night from 6-8 pm. Would cost $200-250 for the club—perhaps get the price down to $4.00 each?

Recap of Earthrising event at Cosmosphere by Craig:

The Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS had a stellar event Dec. 1 in honor of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 8. Present were astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Charlie Duke, Harrison Schmitt, Walt Cunningham, and Jack Lousma, as well as a number of Mission Control experts including Milt Windler, Jerry Bostick, Charles Dieterich, Arnie Aldrich, Bill Moon, Frank van Rensselaer, and Charles Lewis. Michael Staab, NASA engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who is working now with the InSight Mars mission was also in attendance. A meet-and-greet was held for those holding VIP tickets. This was followed by a dinner, after which there was a moderated question-and-answer session with the distinguished guests. The evening culminated with a re-broadcast of the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve show featuring the reading of Genesis 1:1-10 and the unforgettable pictures of the lunar surface below. The new head of NASA, Jim Bridenstine, was present and spoke at the dinner. Astronaut Steven Hawley was also in attendance. Some astronaut family members attended, including Dottie Duke, wife of Charlie Duke; Laura Shepard, daughter of Alan Shepard; and Rick Armstrong, son of Neil Armstrong. There were some Apollo 8 exhibits at the dinner, including a section of a Mission Control console and the camera Bill Anders used to take the iconic Earthrise photo.

The weekend also included a private screening of the documentary movie “First to the Moon” followed by a discussion with its creator, Paul Hildebrandt, and a discussion with Robert Kurson, author of Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey.

Main presentation—Jeff Schmidt on Apollo 8, first men to the Moon:

  • Coming up to 50 years since Apollo 8

  • Jeff graduated from Sooner High in 1976. At the time of Apollo 8, it seemed simple enough to build a rocket and point it toward the moon…of course, it’s not that simple!

  • He referred to Arthur C. Clarke’s book, Prelude to Space; Clarke anticipated that going to the Moon would initially be accomplished by the UK and private industry.

  • Jeff also referred to MGM’s movie Forbidden Planet of 1956, and Walt Disney’s Man in Space series of 1955-57.

  • Jeff reviewed the development of the US space program, starting with the V1 and V2 rockets used by Germany in WWII—and developed by Werner von Braun, who then came to the U.S. to start the space program. Von Braun, a German SS officer, spent 2 years as a U.S prisoner of war! Von Braun wanted to focus on space exploration in and of itself in the U.S. but had to work on it at first via development of missiles for the military. Following Russia’s successful launch of Sputnik I on October 4, 1957, and the subsequent failure of the U.S. Vanguard launch on Dec. 6, 1957, he was asked to redirect his efforts toward what he wanted to do in the first place. Von Braun initially wanted a reusable spacecraft that would orbit above the Earth, and then go to the Moon from there, but that did not work out to be the final plan.

  • The Soviets continued to lead in the early development of the space program. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin was the first human to fly in space. Alan Shepard followed on May 5, 1961, but his flight was only suborbital. Over time, the U.S. caught up in the space race after Kennedy’s speech about going to the Moon on May 25, 1961—but not without setbacks. Jeff reviewed the development of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs and their highlights, including John Glenn’s first orbital flight for the U.S. and the first EVA by Ed White. White had to spend more time trying to get back into the spacecraft following his EVA than he spent on the planned EVA itself. He also reviewed the tragic Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967, which set the Apollo program back more than a year but also resulted in a better-designed command module. On the Soviet side, Russia lost astronaut Vladimir Komarov; U.S. astronaut Tom Stafford went to his funeral.

  • As the Apollo program developed, the lunar module development lagged behind, with the risk of missing the deadline of going to the Moon before the end of 1969. As a result of this—and due to CIA intelligence that the Russians were planning a circumlunar mission in late 1968--in August 1968, the Apollo 8 mission was recast as a mission to go to the Moon and orbit, but without the lunar module. This carried risk in and of itself, as the lunar module would have supplied a backup engine and resources for the crew. The mission had further risks—the tests of the Saturn V had not gone fully according to plan and the Saturn V was not yet fully rated for manned flight. The software that would be needed for navigation to the Moon was not yet ready either—and would have to be developed in only four months. Many believed the mission to have a 50/50 chance of bringing the astronauts home. Astronaut Bill Anders anticipated a 1/3 likelihood of success, a 1/3 likelihood of return home safely but without accomplishing all mission objectives, and a 1/3 likelihood of don’t make it home at all.

  • The Apollo 8 mission was 1 ½ lunar orbits, then trans-lunar injection, then 10 lunar orbits with the memorable Christmas Eve reading of Genesis, along with the spectacular Earthrise, which the Apollo 8 astronauts had not fully anticipated! The trans-earth injection proceeded smoothly—as announced by Jim Lovell who declared that there is indeed a Santa Claus--and the astronauts returned safely to Earth.

  • Borman became ill outbound to the Moon and NASA doctors wondered if this would have been caused by passing through the Van Allen radiation belts, but they determined this was not the case.

  • The Apollo 8 mission was a positive offset to a very difficult year for the U.S., with the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, riots and the Vietnam War.

  • After Apollo 8, two more Apollo flights were scheduled to test the lunar module and command module docking and separation, first in Earth orbit, then in lunar orbit, prior to Apollo 11 successful landing on the Moon. Apollo missions continued through Apollo 17, but future lunar missions were canceled. The U.S. then continued with the development of Skylab and eventually the Space Shuttle.

  • Future? A permanently manned space station, then go to the Moon, then Mars