Wow. A lot has happened since my last post. July 13th would have marked the Space Shuttle's return but a fuel gauge malfunctioned in the External Tank. The "Return to Space" mission was delayed 13 days. Also on that day Patrick Stewart, the actor who portrayed Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Xavier in the X-Men movies, celebrated his 65th birthday and Harrison Ford, famous for portraying the characters Han Solo and Indiana Jones turned 63.
One week later on the 20th, the day would mark the 36th Anniversary of man's landing on the moon.
Unfortnately the day would mark the passing of scifi icon. James Doohan who famously portrayed the Chief Engineer of the Starship Enterprise, Lt. Commander/Commander/Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott, on the scifi series Star Trek and seven subsequent movies dies at the age of 85. He had been suffering from an number of ailments, including diabetes and Parkinson's Disease. This was a sad day for Star Trek fans around the world.
One day of sadness turns into a day of happiness and joy six days later when at 9:39 AM CDT on July 26th, 2005 Space Shuttle Discovery launches from Cape Canaveral, FL on a mission to resupply and repair the International Space Station. However, NASA's "Return to Space" was cut short when it was discovered that a piece of foam broke off the external tank during launch of Discovery.
Two and a half years earlier Space Shuttle Columbia would be struck by a piece of foam from the tank, breaching the forward edge of the right wing. This impact spelled doom for Columbia. Columbia broke apart and burned up during re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003. I was on my way to the mall that morning and heard about it on the radio and was shocked. I couldn't believe that it happened again. I'm old enough to remember the loss of Challenger, which I still remember. It was a sad day in 1986 and in 2003.
After the Columbia accident, NASA took measures to protect the orbiter, specifically redesigning the external tank along with some other modifications. As for Discovery, NASA stated that once the orbiter returned, flights of the shuttle fleet would be suspendend until a way could be found to prevent foam from falling off the external tank during launch. Originally scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 8, Discovery returned to Earth, landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California this morning at 7:11 CDT on this day, August 9, 2005.
Saturday, August 6, 2005 and today August 9, 2005 mark the 60th anniversary of the atomic bomings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan respectfully. These bombings in 1945 lead to the surrender of Japan on August 15. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese were killed and wounded by the atomic bombs. Survivors would and continue to suffer from radiation sickness.
Late on Sunday, August 7, 2005 famous ABC journalist and news anchor Peter Jennings, who had been battling lung cancer since April, died at the age of 67. He spent more then 20 years anchoring ABC's World News Tonight. He was a pillar in the television journalism world and will be sorrily missed.
