Wednesday, April 8th Topic with KC1HHK

NATIONAL ZOO LOVERS DAY

Each year on April 8th, National Zoo Lovers Day encourages us to explore our local zoos. Each year millions of people visit zoos and learn about the many animals that live there. Also known as zoological parks, many of them serve as breeding centers. These facilities are relied upon when species are endangered or at risk of becoming endangered. They also provide education to the public about a broad variety of animals and their habitats.

A few zoo facts:

The Vienna Zoo is the oldest existing zoo and was opened to the public in 1765.
The United State's first zoo open to the public, Central Park Zoo, opened in 1864 in New York.
Philadelphia Zoo holds the oldest zoo charter, formed in 1859. It officially opened to the public in 1874.
There are 350 zoos in the United States
Approximately 175 million people visit a zoo each year.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom has had more than 9.8 million annual visitors.
More than 3.2 million people visit the San Diego Zoo each year.

Massachusetts

Franklin Park Zoo – Large AZA-accredited zoo in Boston with diverse global wildlife.
Stone Zoo – Zoo New England’s other AZA-accredited location with varied exhibits.
Southwick’s Zoo – One of New England’s largest privately owned zoological parks with hundreds of animals.
Buttonwood Park Zoo – Historic zoo with diverse species and conservation efforts.
Capron Park Zoo (Attleboro, MA) — Small zoo with family-friendly exhibits.
Lupa Zoo (Ludlow, MA) — Wildlife facility focused on education and conservation.

New Hampshire

Charmingfare Farm (Candia, NH) — Includes a petting zoo with farm and some exotic animals.
Squam Lake Natural Science Center (Holderness, NH) — Wildlife education center with local animals.

Maine

York's Wild Kingdom – A combined zoo and amusement park with exotic animals and family rides.
Maine Wildlife Park (Gray, ME) – A state wildlife park featuring native Maine species (not a traditional zoo but wildlife exhibits often included in region zoo lists).

Have you visited a zoo lately?

Monday, April 6th Topic with KC1SOO

Greenbelt Trails

Source - https://www.ecga.org/trailmaps

The Essex County Greenbelt Association maintains dozens of conservation areas and trail systems across Essex County. These trails are free and open to the public, designed for everything from casual walks to more rugged hikes.

They span a wide variety of environments:

Coastal marshes
Dense forests
Open farmland
River and pond systems

There are even curated “gentle trails” for easier walks and accessibility-focused outings.

1. Favorite Trail Experiences

Have you hiked any local spots like Gloucester, Ipswich, or Rowley areas?
Do you prefer coastal views or wooded trails?

2. Technology Meets Nature

Anyone using the GreenbeltGo Trails App?
- It lets you track your position, download offline maps, and navigate trails easily.
Do you bring GPS, APRS, or radios when hiking?

Wednesday, April 1st Topic with KC1HHK

🚀 A Milestone in Space Exploration

• First crewed lunar mission in over 50 years — Artemis II marks the first time humans have headed beyond low Earth orbit since NASA’s Apollo missions in the early 1970s.
• Historic human return to deep space — four astronauts are set to travel around the Moon and back on a roughly 10-day journey.

👩‍🚀 The Crew and Records

• Diverse and record-setting team — the four astronauts include Americans Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
• Firsts for a lunar mission:
• First woman to go around the Moon (Christina Koch)
• First Black astronaut in cislunar space (Victor Glover)
• First Canadian on a Moon mission (Jeremy Hansen)

🛰️ The Spacecraft & Rocket

• Space Launch System (SLS) — a 322-foot-tall (≈98 m) super-heavy booster will propel the Orion spacecraft into a translunar trajectory.
• Orion spacecraft — designed for deep-space missions with advanced life-support, navigation, and communications systems. Tonight’s flight tests these critical systems with crew aboard.

🌕 The Mission Profile

• No lunar landing — Artemis II is a lunar flyby: the crew will loop around the Moon and return to Earth, not land on its surface.
• Free-return trajectory — the spacecraft’s path uses the Moon’s gravity like a slingshot, taking the crew farther from Earth than humans have ever traveled before.
• Pacific splashdown — the capsule is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down at the end of the mission.

📅 Launch Details

• Launch window opening: ~6:24 p.m. EDT (≈18:24 Eastern) from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
• Two-hour window: extends until ~8:24 p.m. if conditions are good.
• Backup opportunities: additional daily windows are available April 2–6 if needed.

🌍 Why It Matters

• Builds toward future lunar landings — Artemis II is a crucial test for hardware and procedures that will enable surface missions like Artemis III and beyond.
• Gateway to Mars — NASA sees sustained lunar exploration as a stepping stone toward eventual human missions to Mars.

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