It's Not Rocket Science

On August 7, 2007 NASA will launch its 22^nd mission to the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Endeavour was rolled out of assembly to the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week. NASA celebrated the arrival of Endeavour and welcomed visitors to KSC with a banner in front of the launchpad exclaiming

The problem is that "the orbiter is named after HM Bark Endeavour, the ship commanded by 18th century explorer James Cook; the name also honored Endeavour, the Command Module of Apollo 15. This is why the name is spelled in the British English manner." Read Shuttle's Name Misspelled . Endeavour's mission is expected to last 11 days.

That florist's window sign that offers
'HELLIUM BALOON ARRANGEMENTS'
doesn't seem so bad now.

Another CL Life Lesson Proven True: PDPS (Public Displays of Poor Spelling) are embarrassing and should be avoided. Ask any NASA engineer or scientist how he feels about PDPS; I'm sure you'll find he agrees.

Related Reading: Sadly Mistaken

Tags: [NASA] [Kennedy Space Center]
[Endeavor] [Endeavour]
[International Space Station]

[James Cook] [Commander Scott J. Kelly]

[Canadian Space Agency] [Richard Mastracchio]
[Dave Williams]

It's A Smaller World

Researchers at the University of Bonn used a system known as VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) to measure the earth. They have found the diameter of Earth is 5 mm smaller than the previous measurement estimates.

Scientifically, this is significant. One factor used to determine satellite launch and orbit positions is the diameter of the earth. With LiveEarth performances ready around the globe (July 7/07), there are some who will be quick to interpret the results of Dr. Axel Nothnagel's study as The World is Shrinking. In fact, the study doesn't report that the size of Earth has changed over time, but that the diameter of the planet is about 5 mm smaller than the original estimates.

I don't want to be one to say I told you so; but in fact, I already knew that the world was smaller than original estimates. Here's how:

It's a Small World
Four years ago, Jessica joined the Etobicoke Dolphins BB hockey team. A talented left-winger on that team was Kim Selke. Since joining the Dolphins, it has been our privilege to mix with Kim and her parents, Debby and Gary Selke.

Kim has 2 sisters who are accomplished equestrian riders. My niece, Shannon is a gifted equestrianist too. She no longer competes, but for several years, Shannon has worked as a groom at a barn north of Toronto. Besides her responsibilities at the home barn, Shannon transports the horses to shows and prepares them for competition. It's very hard work, but she does it because she loves horses. Shannon knows Leanne and Kathleen Selke from the shows. At these levels, the competitions are their own community.

It's a Little Bit Smaller
The school Jessica goes to is not in our city. Her program is available at just one secondary school in our district, which happens to be in a different city. During her freshman year, we discovered that Kim Selke has two cousins who attend the same high school as Jessica. Rebecca played on the school hockey team with Jessica; Maggie and Jess played together on the school soccer team.

This proves to me that it's not just a small world, but that Earth is smaller than we used to think. Thank you Dr. Nothnagel for providing the science to support our theory.



Tags: [University of Bonn] [LiveEarth]
[Measure Earth's Diameter] [NASA]
[It's A Small World] [Etobicoke Dolphins]
[Ontario Equestrian Federation] [Dr. Axel Nothnagel]