Space Stories: Stories from Apollo 8, Dealing with Space Weather, and a Militarized Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000

Here are some recent stories related to the upcoming Artemis II launch.

—Associated Press: “Apollo vs. Artemis: What to Know about NASA’s Return to the Moon“

NASA’s Apollo moonshots are a tough act to follow, even after all this time. As four astronauts get set to blast off on humanity’s first trip to the moon in more than half a century, comparisons between Apollo and NASA’s new Artemis program are inevitable. The world’s first lunar visitors orbited the moon on Apollo 8. The Artemis II crew will play it safe and zip around the moon in an out-and-back slingshot. Another key difference: Artemis reflects more of society, with a woman, person of color and Canadian rocketing away.

—Scientific American: “How NASA Will Keep the Artemis II Astronauts Safe from Space Weather“

The hazards that the Artemis II crew must navigate during their 10-day flight are plentiful, starting from the second they launch aboard the most powerful rocket to ever carry humans and continuing all the way through their return to Earth nestled inside the Orion capsule. Many threats the crew will face are obvious, but not all of them are. Take, for example, radiation, which with moderate exposures can increase an astronaut’s long-term risk of cancer and with heavy doses can cause acute sickness. The Artemis II crew will be the first humans in decades to travel beyond low-Earth orbit, fully discarding the protection of Earth’s magnetic field. And while most aspects of cosmic radiation are straightforward to plan for, the outlier is space weather.

—Ars Technica: “NASA is Leading the Way to the Moon, But the Military Won’t Be Far Behind“

Today, potential conflict zones in space are limited to a region between low-Earth orbit and geosynchronous orbit, from a few hundred miles altitude up to 22,000 miles. The Space Force is in the final stages of developing a roadmap for the next 15 years, identifying where the service needs to grow and evolve to respond to changing threats and priorities. The document hasn’t been released publicly, but Pentagon officials have said it will address the possibility of the the Moon or cislunar space, the region of space around the Moon, becoming a theater for military operations.

Astronomy Question: Do You Know Your Moon?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): An astronaut’s bootprint in the lunar soil from the Apollo 11 mission.(NASA)

Multiple Choice: Which statement below is NOT TRUE about the Moon?

A. Lunar dust smells like a chemical solvent.
B. Some craters on the Moon are colder than the surface of Pluto.
C. The Moon has an atmosphere.
D. The Moon orbits the Sun rather than the Earth.

Take a guess and then check your answer by going to the “Astronomy Question Answer Sheet” page.

Sci-Fi Quote: William Shatner Defends Starfleet Academy

Posted on by onespaceman2000

“Star Trek exists in more than one world. It exists in the fantasy of science fiction – weird and wonderful things that play unimaginable possibilities of exploration and human endeavor. But it also exists in the fantasy of human beings, the perfection of human beings, the exploration that human beings have made since the dawn of time and the continuing exploration – physically mentally and morally. It’s that aspect of Star Trek that I’ve always loved, to look at something physically that doesn’t exist now by these talented writers & designers but also to tackle the eternal human questions the agonies, the ecstasies. Star Trek should exist for a long time to come based on those truths. I for one would love to see its continuity. It’s with sorrow that I hear about the cancellation of the new Star Trek series.”

-William Shatner’s comments on Twitter/X regarding the recent announcement that Star Trek’s Starfleet Academy will end after two seasons. In a follow-up post, highlighting the criticism that the new series was too woke, he continued:

During the first airing of my Star Trek series where a kiss was objectionable; many southern stations pulled the episode & condemned the show. Using today’s vernacular it would absolutely be called “woke DEI crap” because it went against “norms” of society for its time. Not a lot seems to have changed.

Note: Andy Weir, author of Project Hail Mary, is one of the parties criticizing the new series and the direction of Star Trek, but some of it sounds like sour grapes.

Television: Starfleet Academy to End After Two Seasons

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Paramount+

Nothing gold can stay, Robert Frost once wrote. Just enjoy it while it is here.

And so it goes with Star Trek as well. The new television series Starfleet Academy will last for only two seasons and then disappear. While I had originally thought that promising a second season before the first one aired was premature, it turns outs it was brilliant given the fickle habits of today’s viewers. Now the series has a chance to bring some closure.

I have enjoyed the first season. While it was not perfect, it was finding its way to tell a new story to a new generation of Star Trek viewers. At a time that Star Wars seems to have run out of steam, the new series showed that Star Trek still had more to say with a whole new cast of characters rather than endlessly recycling the past. I am hopeful that it can continue to do so even with this ending.

The series co-showrunners and executive producers, Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau, wrote a few words that also quoted this bit from Gene Roddenberry that says a lot in these times:

Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms. […] If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, to take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind, here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.

Space Quote: Is the Commercial Sector Ready for its Own Space Station?

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Image (Credit): The ISS’s “window to the world” is pictured from the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module. (NASA)

“We expected a launch market that was going to take off. We expected tourism to take off. We expected the ability to do research and technology development on the International Space Station, bring it back to Earth and mass produce it…We’re not seeing any of those three things.”

–Statement by Joel Montalbano, NASA’s acting associate administrator for space operations, addressing the need for NASA to build onto the current International Space Station (ISS), which is part of the newly announced NASA space initiatives. Mr. Montalbano was speaking at a March 25th hearing before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. The vice ranking member of the full committee, Rep. George Whitesides (D-CA), questioned NASA’s new approach, stating:

Based on the old plan, several companies raised probably in excess of $2 billion in private capital and did so on the expectation that NASA would follow through…My concern is that if NASA is not a reliable partner for private investors, we’re not going to get that money and we’re not going to then save money by being able to cost-share with the private sector.