of NYC --- FEBRUARY 2012

A NEWS & EVENTS WEBSITE FOR METRO-NYC SPACEFARERS

Metro NYC is the Big Space Apple, thriving with events, places, groups, activists, art, writers, work and new concepts about space! This independent news website by a journalist and space exploration activist who works for a major daily city newspaper provides a selection of those activities for public participation and information. In realizing the need to sustain the welfare of home planet Spaceship Earth, facing severe environmental challenges, as essential and absolutely vital to the creative and peaceful exploration of space, "ASTRO-GAIA NEWS of NYC" also provides a "HOMEPLANET REPORT of NYC" website on page two of this site relating to Metro NYC environmental events, activities and news. SUSTAIN SPACESHIP EARTH --- AD ASTRA!

FEBRUARY 20, 1962: JOHN GLENN, FIRST AMERICAN TO ORBIT EARTH Fifty years ago on February 20, 1962 NASA Project Mercury astronaut John H. Glenn, thrust spaceward atop an Atlas rocket on the shoulders of visionary giants, soared into spaceflight history when he became the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits in just under five hours aboard "Friendship 7" igniting people's pride. On March 1, 1962 NYC gave him a spectacular Broadway ticket tape parade [see YouTube video below]. The "ASTRO-GAIA NEWS of NYC" editor/publisher was there, with tears of joy in his eyes, by Broadway at City Hall Park with his mother as Glenn waved and smiled at the happy roar of the tremendous cheering crowd, tickertape floating everywhere with Walter Cronkite at a CBS booth above across the street. Scott Carpenter in his "Aurora 7" spac capsule would follow Glenn into orbit for three spins in over nine hours on May 24, and Walter "Wally" Schirra of Oradell, Bergen County in New Jersey would make six orbits on October 3 in his "Sigma 7" space capsule. Two Soviet cosmonauts aboard Vostok space capsules would fly in a tandem orbital spaceflight in August lasting a few days. In Vostok 3 Andrian Nikolayev flew 64 orbits from August 11 to 15, while Pavel Popovich orbited 48 times from August 12 to 16. And two American X-15 rocket-plane test pilots would make suborbital flights, earning NASA astronaut wings for space hops above 50 miles high. On July 17 Bob White soared up 59.6 miles, making the front page of "Life Magazine" and John McKay reached 58.7 miles later in the summer. Glenn, who became a U.S. senator from Ohio and was once a presidential hopeful, would fly in a space shuttle in 1998 at age 77. He first won fame by an historic record-setting coast-to-coast U.S. Marine Corps military jet flight in 1957, and appeared with child actor Eddie Hodges on the "Name That Tune" music TV quiz show in that year.

NYSKIES ASTRONOMY FREE PUBLIC SEMINARS THE NEXT NYSKIES ASTRONOMY SEMINAR IS ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17 AT 6:30 P.M. IN THE MCBURNEY HOUSE Y FUNCTION ROOM IN CHELSEA @ 125 WEST 14th ST bet. 6th & 7th Avenues. NSS members welcomed! TOPIC TBA. The Feb. 3 seminar was a presentation on the "MID-&-LATE WINTER SKY" by Moderator JOHN PAZMINO. The Jan. 20 seminar topic was: "SO NEAR, SO BIG, YET SO DARK! -- VENUS IN 2012" with moderator Pazmino. and planetary positions homework is at: www.nyskies.org/articles/pazmino/syn-sid.htm. Also click-on and visit this site: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspects_of_Venus. Venus, we note, shares the sky in March with Jupiter in a dazzling display. Checkout the "Globe at Night" info at www.nyskies.org/gannyc.htm for more on Venus. On June 6 comes the Venus transit across the Sun, the first since 2004 with the next being in far-off 2117. The "don't-miss" Venus transit will be visible late afternoon and early evening on this June 6 through telescopes in NYC equipped with essential indirect viewing protections. A seminar in the late Spring will be held about the event. THE JAN. 6 SEMINAR TOPIC WAS "SO FAR, SO SMALL, YET SO BRIGHT! MARS IN 2012" with PAZMINO. Seminar included a Happy Perihelion Doorprize Drawing. The Dec. 16 seminar topic was "Stairs to the Stars -- Distances in the Universe." There was also a memorial tribute by John Pazmino to Stu Rorer and his passion for astronomy. The Dec. 2 seminar topic was "Northern Lights Over NYC?" by John Pazmino. The seminar homework assignment was at: www.nyskies.org/articles/pazmino/aurorany.htm -- The Aurora Borealis seen in NYC is a once-in-a-decade rarity. At the Nov. 4 seminar special guest speaker was Dr. Edward Belbruno, author of "Fly Me to the Moon: An Insider's Guide to the New Science of Space Travel" [Princeton University Press], mathematician, NASA science consultant and artist. He spoke on "The GRAIL Lunar Spacecrafts' Trajectory and Other Uses of the Revolutionary Ballistic Capture Methods." NOTE: "The 2012 Observer's Handbook" is OUT NOW: www.nyskies.org/oh.htm. **************************************************

GRAIL SPACECRAFT NOW ORBITING MOON -- BELBRUNO'S WORK KEY TO MISSION

Jan. 1, 2012 -- The two GRAIL [Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory] spacecraft, launched by NASA on September 10, reached and orbited the Moon this New Year's weekend. An article by science reporter Kenneth Chang in today's Sunday NY Times -- "Spacecraft Sent to Orbit Moon Will Map Its Gravational Field" -- on page 14 mentioned: "Instead of taking a direct three-day trip to the Moon, they followed a longer, lower-energy trajectory that headed toward the Sun before looping back to cross paths with the Moon" using the now well-proven method first proposed by Dr. Edward Belbruno [NSS-NYC chapter honorary vice president!] over two decades ago and first used in saving the Japanese Hiten craft back then, bound for the Moon. This week's TIME magazine in an article about the twin GRAIL spacecraft called Dr. Belbruno's trajectory work key to the mission [link to TIME article above]. Space activist and musician Elaine Walker and Belbruno were president and vice president of the revived NSS-NY chapter in 2000. GRAIL miision site: www.solarsystem.nasa.gov/grail/home/cfm

ISS NOW HAS FULL CREW Of SIX ASTRONAUTS

The lead International article in "The New York Times" for Sunday, November 13 was headlined "NASA Hitches a Ride on a Russian Craft, and Begins a New Dependent Phase" by Kenneth Chang. It concerned the then anticipated successful launch on November 14 of a Soyuz mission from Baikonor Cosmodrome carrying NASA astronaut Daniel Burbank with two Russian cosmonauts, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin to replace the current ISS crew, which includes a NASA astronaut, set to return from low-Earth-orbit. The article noted that Soyuz launches, which have been launching Russian, American and other nation's space travelers for years even with the shuttle in operation, are now "a mudane event" compared with the thrills of the 1960s, and the launches and returns are not always mentioned in the news media. It is the first such launch -- and a well-publicized launch at that -- since NASA ended its space shuttle program and occured soon after a Chinese uncrewed craft docked with a prototype space station module and Russia tries to rescue its hobbled Phobos-Grunt Martian-bound spaceprobe now trapped in Earth orbit.

Then in December another Soyuz was orbited with a Russian, an American and a Dutch astronaut. It docked with the ISS on December 23, once again giving the space station a full crew of six astronauts. A page ten one-paragraph item in The New York Times of December 24 told of the event.

AS POLS & PRESS DERIDE HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT BEYOND EARTH, RECORD NUMBER OF NASA ASTRONAUT APPLICATIONS SOAR! As politicians and the press ridicule opponents' proposals for human spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit and other worldly outposts calling them "wacky" and "lunacy" the public seems to be more hungry for human space travel than ever before. In a one paragraph item in The New York Times of Feb. 4, 2012 by Times science reporter Kenneth Chang: "Job Seekers Still Drawn to Space" [National Briefing -- page A11], he reports that NASA's recent call for astronaut candidates resulted in over 6,300 applicants in response. It is, Chang reported, "The second highest in (NASA's) history and about double the 2,500 to 3,500 applications it usually gets." Far Out! Let's get star trekking! On February 6 the lead space news stories on the www.space.com website were "NASA Awash In Astronaut Applications But Still Lacks Spaceships" by Managing Editor Tarig Malik and "Russian Space Woes Stress Need for Private Spaceships." For those who remember the childhood and exploratory fascination of seeing classic 1950's futuristic flicks such as "Destination Moon" (1950), "Rocketship XM" (1950), "Project Moonbase" (1953) and "Conquest of Space" (1955), and the thrilling astronaut orbital and lunar spaceflights of the 1960s and early 1970s, and visions of human space travel way beyond Earth orbit by and in the 21st Century, the current derision of such exciting adventures is truly disheatening and frightening. The fact that a record number of applicants, the highest since 1975, are now seeking space travel is a testament to the reality of space alure and gives fiction to the politicians and press making fun of lunar and maritian bases, a giant backwards step in human vision and will. -- Harold Egeln *********************************************************

EDWIN HUBBLE ON WQXR CLASSICAL MUSIC RADIO NOV. 26, 2011

A rare radio broadcast, first heard 66 years ago, featuring famed astronomer Edwin Hubble, for whom the famous Hubble Space Telescope was named after in the 1980s, was heard on NYC's classical music station WQXR on Friday evening, November 26 during the weekly New York Philharmonic program, hosted by Alec Baldwin. It followed a performance of "The Planets" by Holtz, conducted by Zubin Mehta.

The full broadcast recording from November 18, 1945 was on a program called "Science Talk," said Baldwin, noting that it was "believed to be the only voice recording of Hubble" extant. Hubble's topic was "The Exploration of Space" about the then known "1,000-million-lightyears-wide" observable universe filled with millions of galaxies, called "stellar systems" and "nebulae" by Hubble. "The venture stirs the imagination profoundly," he said of space exploration through astronomy in the 10-minute broadcast. Hubble spoke of the Mount Wilson Observatory and its 100-meter telescope, foreseeing bigger telescopes in the future. Did he think of possible telescopes in space, like the HST?

Fittingly, in the theme of "Astro-Gaia News of NYC" the Hubble recording was followed by a performance of "The Pines of Rome" by Respegi.

X37B MISSION, IN 2ND LEO SPACEFLIGHT, EXTENDED

DEC. 2, 2011 -- The secret surveillance mission of the Boeing X37B top secret non-crewed USAF military space plane, illustrated here in a 2004 NASA/MSFC artwork, is being extended after nine months in low-earth-orbit (launched March 5, 2011), according to the HUFFINGTON POST news blog (link below), Space.com and other media. It is the robotic X37B's second orbital mission, apparently surveying mainly Middle East activities according to speculation, as the militarization of space continues, despite treaties and agreements.

The X37 orbital test space plane was orginally conceived as NASA's next space transportation system in a post-shuttle era before the program was transferred to the Air Force in 2004. It had been under the purvue of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama.

"BEYOND PLANET EARTH: THE FUTURE OF SPACE EXPLORATION" OPENS AT AMNH NOVEMBER 19, 2011 --- "SPACE PROGRAM 2.0: MARS" OPENS AT PARK AVENUE ARMORY MAY 18, 2012

...... Spacefarers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains to Earth's gravity! -- In 2011 and 2012 the vision of human space travel and settlement looms large and lively in NYC, "the Big Space Apple" with two major exhibitions keeping the dream of humanity's space destiny alive with the opening "Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration" featured exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History on November 19, and the "Space Program 2.0: Mars" art-science installation of a fictional planetary mission by NY artist Tom Sachs at the Park Avenue Armory on May 18.

With "Beyond Planet Earth" the AMNH invites visitors to "step into the future in this new exhibition that boldly predict's humanity's next steps in space." For more information visit www.amnh.org/beyond or call 1-212-769-5100. The exhibition was announced in The New York Times Weekend Arts on Friday, October 14.

Next May 18 through June 17, 2012, we can take a simulated journey from Park Avenue to the red planet Mars thanks to the artistry and imagination of Tom Sachs, as announced in the NY Times "Arts, Briefly" column by Carol Vogel ["A Space Trip to Mars at Park Avenue Armory] on October 4, the 54th anniversary of the first space satellite to orbit the Earth.

The installation presented by the armory and Creative Time is described in the Sachs' video on You-Tube at the link below. The artist, "obsessed with space exploration for quite some time," writes Vogel, had an exhibit in LA in 2007 on "Space Program." Engage!

[Illustration from NASA.]

SPACE FUTURE IN DANGER! IN RESPONSE, SPACE LITERACY FOUNDATION FORMS

"Our space future is in danger!" said Jay Wittner, a National Space Society board member in Florida who announced this month the formation of the new nonprofit SPACE LITERACY FOUNDATION (SLF) in response to the lack of a coordinated space vision and definate program in the United States to further expand the human presence in space.

"In the 25 years since I joined NSS, I've never been so concerned about our future in space as I am today,' Wittner, SLF founder and executive director said in his announcement. "The space shuttle retirement and the lack of vision in Congess all point to rough waters ahead for NASA. Given the challenges we face, we must continue our current efforts in support of space and mount new ones as well."

In forming the SLF, with an impressive board and support team, several of whom are well-known for their work and talent, Wittner said, "The goals of the SLF are the same of the NSS, but our strategies and tactics are new." The new nonprofit organization aims to inform, educate and activate the public, and open new doors on the Internet to greatly enhance public outreach for existing organizations.

"I created the SLF so your organization can use the latest Internet video communications tools in educating the public," Wittner said. That includes letting them create their own online video programs, among other Digital Age technologies for the Space Age. SLF also aspires to go "beyond preaching to the choir" and do active outreach to the public, and those digital tools will help.

NYC JOURNALIST & NSS-NY ORGANIZER ENDORSES 'THRILLING' NEW INITATIVE

"The formation of the Space Literacy Foundation is an essential and thrilling innovation in space advocacy, a welcomed practical step forward for achieving our mutual goals and an inspired upward vision," said Harold Egeln, NSS-NY coordinator. "With a focus on extending the tools of digital technology to empower space advocates even more and help extend their reach to a wider public, SLF is doing a wonderful service and is building a techno-bridge to the stars."

Egeln, a space travel advocate since childhood and space activist for 30 years, is also "Astro-Gaia News of NYC" site producer and works as a reporter for the "Brooklyn Daily Eagle" who has used his professional journalistic skills in writing many space science articles at that storied New York City newspaper.

For full detailed information about SLF, visit its website at www.SpaceLiteracy.com and view the informative and upbeat videos that are featured on this exciting site.

********************************************************

"USEFUL STAR NAMES" -- A NEW BOOK BY NYC ASTRONOMER THOMAS HAMILTON!

New York astronomer and planetarium scholar Thomas Hamilton, whose time travel alternative history novel "TIME FOR PATRIOTS" created a science fiction sensation just a few years ago (it's also a Kindle e-book), has a new book out now, the nonfiction "USEFUL STAR NAMES" published by Strategic Book Publishers - ISBN# 978-61204-614-3. For more information on Hamilton, click on the following URL links: www.ssd.jpl.nasa,gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=4897 and www.planetariumscholars.webs.com

To view the book cover, click on this PDF: 9781612046143-Hamilton_CV_08060.pdf

Hamilton is a longtime Staten Islander who wrote shows for programmable planetaria, was an astronomy teacher for 32 years, a college planetarium director, a planetarium student trainer. founder of the Hamilton Planetarium Scholarship Fund. and an award-winning local public access cable tv producer. He is a former Apollo Project scientist who determined radar and fuel requirements. who was the first in the 1960s to propose an astronaut mission to an asteroid, and was among a team that first detected the signal of Sputnik I in October 1957 while he was a Columbia University student. He is the "SPACE BYTES" columnist for this news site. Last year he had a main belt asteroid, discovered on August 22, 1987, named after him: 4897 Tomhamilton,

Another new nonfiction book by Hamilton is due out by Christmas about the 100 nearest stars and nearest brown drawfs. Ad Astra, Tom!

SPACESHIP EARTH & THE COSMIC CONNECTION -- WHERE GAGARIN MEETS GAIA "Our Vision: People living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity." -- the National Space Society "We must turn to the heavens -- and as soon as possible -- so we may begin solving some of the very real ecological and energy problems we face." -- Physics Professor Dr. Gregory Matloff of NYC College of Technology-CUNY "Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship, I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance its beauty, not destroy it." -- Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human traveler in space, April 12, 1961

"We're starting a new club to explore space!" said an excited Dennis "The Menace" Mitchell, wearing a child's space suit costume and helmet accompanied by three other enthused children in the same uniforms, to "Mr. Wilson" played by Joseph Kearns. "Someday we'll build a spaceship and go millions of miles!" -- said Dennis, played by Jay North, on the popular situation comedy TV series "Dennis the Menace" on the first episode - "Trouble from Mars" - of its third season in September 1961, the historic year that human spaceflight took-off with the first four astronauts soaring into space, inspiring the youth of the Sixties.

DENNIS "THE MENACE" MITCHELL -- FICTIONAL "FIRST" YOUNGSTER IN SPACE The Jan. 13, 1962 episode opens with a film of the Atlas-Mercury rocket ready to launch, with John Wilson at mission control com, then showing Dennis Mitchell (Jay North, age 11) inside the Mercury capsule wearing an authenic child-sized Mercury astronaut spacesuit. He is launched into orbit as Mr. Wilson instructs Dennis, who blows the first bubble gum in space. After his first orbit, Mr. Wilson tells Dennis it's lunch time, whereupon he takes a hamburger out of his lunch box, which floats in free fall sans the ketchup. Dennis awakes from his dream at his desk, on which the Mercury Redstone and Atlas models sit. At school in his class Mr. Wilson explains the contest to the youngsters. On the blackboard written in chalk is "First American in Space Alan B. Shepherd May 5, 1961." When Dennis later gets his TV message from John "Shorty" Powers, the U.S. Treasury Dept. official at his home makes chicken pox stricken Dennis, missing out on finishing the Junior Astronaut contest, a "full astronaut" by pinning the Project Mercury pin on his pajama shirt lapel (see link above), praised for is ingenuity and initiative in thinking up the savings bond stamps contest earned by work to collect money for buying the stamps for the Junior Astronaut program. Far out!

The Astro-Gaia News of NYC Web Counter is freely provided by the www.digits,com service. YOU ARE FIRST-TIME VISITOR NUMBER....

ASTRO-GAIA NEWS of NYC saw first light on July 20, 2006. UPDATED REGULARY

The ASTRO-GAIA NEWS of NYC freely lists and reports on space and environmental events in the NYC metropolitan area.This independent informational web site was created and is maintained by professional journalist HAROLD EGELN, a member of the National Space Society, the Planetary Society, the National Air & Space Society, the SETI Institute, the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian, S.P.A.C.E. and a lifetime member of the Sierra Club.

This website is one of 18 websites through MSN Web-TV he has created and maintains since 1999.

Egeln is a reporter for the historic "Brooklyn Daily Eagle" newspaper founded in 1841. Over the past 30 years he has worked as executive director of the NYC Council for a SANE Nuclear Policy (now Peace Action); a reporter for the "Home Reporter," "Brooklyn Spectator," "Courier-Life," "Brooklyn's Progress," and "Guardian Radical Weekly," as well as "Downtown" as its environmental columnist. He was also briefly a media aide to a NYC City Council member and a host of the "Jobs-TV" program on Brooklyn Community Access Television.

"ASTRO-GAIA NEWS of NYC" is copyright2011İHarold Egeln. All Rights Reserved

*********************************************************

FOR NYC SPACE ORGANIZATIONS, EVENTS, ACTIVITIES & NEWS PLEASE CLICK-ON NEXT PAGE....