Scistrike-blog - Science Denier Hall Of Shame

Successful launch of OrbitalATK Antares rocket at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia

Watch as NASA Test-Fires the RS-25 Rocket Engine

NASA test-fired an RS-25 rocket engine today, 08/18/2016 at the Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis in Mississippi. The RS-25 is one of four modified space shuttle main engines that will help lift the huge SLS rocket off the ground assisted by two solid rocket boosters.* The RS-25 engines are fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Combined, the four RS-25 engines on SLS will generate 2…

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NASA and Star Trek

Star Trek debuted in September 1966 and in its various incarnations, the series has been an inspiration to many, even some of us at NASA. The series allowed its fans to explore “strange new worlds” and to dream of what could be right in their living rooms. To celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary, we’ve collected some Trek-themed photos featuring Star Trek cast members and NASA astronauts. 

Serious Business

The STS-54 crew of the space shuttle Endeavour in their official “gag” photo are costumed as the bridge crew of the Enterprise as depicted in the movie “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” The photo was taken on the Star Trek Adventure set of the Universal Studios California theme park in Los Angeles, California, while the crew was on a west coast training and public relations tour during the Summer of 1992. From left to right: 

Greg Harbaugh (Mission Specialist/Engineering Officer)

Mario "Spock” Runco Jr. (Mission Specialist/1st Officer/Science Officer) 

John Casper (Commander/Captain) 

Susan Helms (Mission Specialist/Communications Officer) 

Don McMonagle (Pilot/Navigation-Helm Officer) 

“I have been, and always shall be, your friend”

Astronaut John Creighton shows the on board Graphical Retrieval Information Display (GRID) computer, which displays a likeness of Mr. Spock aboard STS-051G, June 18, 1985.

“A Keyboard… How Quaint”

Actor James Doohan (who played engineering genius Montgomery Scott in Star Trek) sits in the commanders seat of the Full Fuselage Trainer while astronaut Mario Runco explains the control panel during a tour of Johnson Space Center on Jan. 18, 1991. 

“You Wanted Excitement, How’s Your Adrenaline?”

Actress Nichelle Nichols (Uhura in Star Trek) toured Johnson Space Center in Houston on March 4, 1977, while Apollo 12 lunar module pilot and Skylab II commander Alan Bean showed her what it felt like inside the Lower Body Negative Pressure Device and showed her how the Shuttle Procedures Simulator operated. 

Nichols paid us another visit in 2012 and 2015 with the Space Traveling Museum. 

Infinite Diversity, Infinite Combinations

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti gave the Vulcan salute aboard the International Space Station shortly after the passing of Leonard Nimoy on Feb. 28, 2015. She commented on Tweeter: “ ‘Of all the souls I have encountered.. his was the most human.’ Thx @TheRealNimoy for bringing Spock to life for us”

Live Long And Prosper

While visiting Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, George Takei (Hikaru Sulu on the original series) had the chance to exchange Vulcan salutes with Robonaut on May 29, 2012. 

“Let’s See What’s Out There”

Scott Bakula, who played Captain Jonathan Archer on Star Trek: Enterprise, stands with astronauts Terry Virts and Mike Fincke on set. The two astronauts made guest appearances on the series finale episode “These Are The Voyages …” March 2005.

Boldly Going For Real

Above is the crew of STS-134, the next to last shuttle mission, in their version of the 2009 Star Trek movie poster. 

The crew of Expedition 21 aboard the International Space Station also made a Trek-themed poster in 2009, wearing uniforms from Star Trek: The Next Generation with the Enterprise NX-01 silhouette in the background.

Learn more about Star Trek and NASA.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com 

Ad Astra, John Glenn (1921-2016)

An astronaut. 

A pilot. 

A husband. 

A father. 

A United States Senator.

An American hero. 

An original.

John Glenn (1921-2016) was all those things and more. When he rocketed into space on Feb. 20, 1962, to become the first American to orbit Earth, the flight set the nation on course to meet ever-more ambitious goals.

The life and career of Senator Glenn eclipses those of many. In spite of his accomplishments, he was a humble and gracious man (and 4-term U.S. senator).

During Glenn’s first flight, a scheduled 30-minute test to determine whether Glenn could fly the capsule manually became a matter of life and death when the automatic system malfunctioned after the first orbit.

“I went to manual control and continued in that mode during the second and third orbits, and during re-entry,” Glenn recalled later.  “The malfunction just forced me to prove very rapidly what had been planned over a longer period of time.” Another problem seemed even more serious – telemetry indicated the spacecraft’s heat shield was loose. It seemed possible that Glenn and the spacecraft would be incinerated on re-entry.  Glenn left the retrorocket pack in place to steady the heat shield during re-entry. “It made for a very spectacular re-entry from where I was sitting,” he said. Big chunks of the burning material came flying by the window.

He wasn’t sure whether the flaming debris was the rocket pack or the heat shield breaking up. “Fortunately,” he told an interviewer,“ it was the rocket pack – or I wouldn’t be answering these questions.”

In the words of President Obama, who awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012: “When John Glenn blasted off from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas rocket in 1962, he lifted the hopes of a nation. And when his Friendship 7 spacecraft splashed down a few hours later, the first American to orbit the Earth reminded us that with courage and a spirit of discovery there’s no limit to the heights we can reach together. With John’s passing, our nation has lost an icon and Michelle and I have lost a friend. John spent his life breaking barriers, from defending our freedom as a decorated Marine Corps fighter pilot in World War II and Korea, to setting a transcontinental speed record … The last of America’s first astronauts has left us, but propelled by their example we know that our future here on Earth compels us to keep reaching for the heavens.  On behalf of a grateful nation, Godspeed, John Glenn.”

Glenn left the Astronaut Corps in 1964 and resigned from the Marine Corps in 1965. And, after some time in private industry ran for and was elected ti the U.S. Senate in 1974, carrying all 88 counties of Ohio. He was re-elected in 1980 with the largest margin in Ohio history. Ohio returned him to the Senate for a third term in 1986. In 1992 he was elected again, becoming the first popularly elected senator from his state to win four consecutive terms. During his last term he was the ranking member of both the Governmental Affairs Committee and the Subcommittee on Air/Land Forces in the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also served on the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Special Committee on Aging. He was considered one of the Senate’s leading experts on technical and scientific matters, and won wide respect for his work to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

In 1998, Glenn flew on the STS-95 Discovery shuttle flight, a 9-day mission during which the crew supported a variety of research payloads including deployment of the Spartan solar-observing spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test Platform, and Glenn’s investigations on space flight and the aging process.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden remembers, “Senator Glenn’s legacy is one of risk and accomplishment, of history created and duty to country carried out under great pressure with the whole world watching.”

Today, we honor him for all that he stood for and continues to stand for – grace under pressure, humility, ability, strength. 

Godspeed, John Glenn.

Homeopathy Huckster of the Month: Dana Ullman, MPH CCH

#Homeopathy Huckster of the Month: Dana Ullman, MPH CCH

Dana Ullman, MPH CCH, maintains a web site titled ‘Homeopathic Educational Services'[1] for the sale of homeopathic ‘remedies’. It is an educational site in much the same way that amazon.com is an educational site. It states:

Why our site is trustworthy AND worthy of your business and support!

Our owner is Dana Ullman, MPH, who TIME magazine described as “the Leading Proselytizer of Homeopathy”…

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#NASASocial #ToBennuAndBack

Asteroid Terms: Explained

There are interesting asteroid characters in our solar system, including an asteroid that has its own moon and even one that is shaped like a dog bone! Our OSIRIS-REx mission launches at 7:05 p.m. EDT today and will travel to asteroid Bennu.

Scientists chose Bennu as the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission because of its composition, size and proximity to Earth. Bennu is a rare B-type asteroid (primitive and carbon-rich), which is expected to have organic compounds and water-bearing minerals like clays.

Our OSIRIS-REx mission will travel to Bennu and bring a small sample back to Earth for study.

When talking about asteroids, there are some terms scientists use that might not be in your typical vocabulary…but we’ll help with that!

Here are a few terms you should know:

Orbital Eccentricity: This number describes the shape of an asteroid’s orbit by how elliptical it is. For asteroids in orbit around the sun, eccentricity is a number between 0 and 1, with 0 being a perfectly circular orbit and 0.99 being a highly elliptical orbit.

Inclination: The angle, in degrees, of how tilted an asteroid’s orbit is compared to another plane of reference, usually the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

Orbital Period: The number of days it takes for an asteroid to revolve once around the sun. For example, the Earth’s orbital period is 365 days.

Perihelion Distance: The distance between an asteroid and the sun when the asteroid is closest to the sun.

Aphelion Distance: The distance between the asteroid and the sun when the asteroid is farthest away from the sun.

Astronomical unit: A distance unit commonly used to describe orbits of objects around the sun. The distance from the Earth to the sun is one astronomical unit, or 1 AU, equivalent to about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.

Diameter: A measure of the size of an asteroid. It is the length of a line from a point on the surface, through the center of the asteroid, extending out to the opposite surface. Irregularly shaped asteroids may have different diameters depending on which direction they are measured.

Rotation Period: The time it takes for an asteroid to complete one revolution around its axis of rotation. For example, the rotation period of the Earth is approximately 24 hours, or 1 day.

Spectral Type: The classification of an asteroid, based on a measurement of the light reflected by the asteroid. 

Watch live launch coverage of OSIRIS-REx to asteroid Bennu starting at 5:30 p.m, on NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

It's about time we explained why Science Denier Hall of Shame exists. Here's the short answer.

Fake NASA Images? NO! A Simple Test You Can Perform

Seen the two NASA photos of Earth with differing land mass sizes? SDHoS was asked a question about the apparent differences in land mass size between two photos of the Earth, one from 1978 and the other from 2012. The apparent differences were used by the flat earth crowd and various other conspiracy theorists to support the claim that the photos were faked. Could this be true??? No. The observed…

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In this video, we examine a rant by youtuber Jeranism against Stephen Hawking. Jeranism spends no time refuting any of Hawking's theories, but spends an inordinate amount of time criticizing Mr. Hawking for having and displaying symptoms of advanced ALS. At one point he even laughs at the fact that Mr. Hawking cannot speak.

Eric Dubay is at it again with his flat-earther nonsense.