Lunar Development

Shuttle Grounded: All of US Human Space Flight up in the Air

The space station can not be completed without the shuttle. It is unclear if it can even continue to be used indefinitely without the shuttle. Even if the shuttle flies again it will be nearly impossible to make the 2010 deadline for completing.

The Hubble Space Telescope will not see another shuttle, no matter the political will. By the time the shuttle is flying again and considered safe enough to fly anywhere but the station it will be too late for the Hubble.

The Vision for the Exploration of Space now needs a new time line and a new approach. If the shuttle is permanently grounded and the station is canceled the VSE can be greatly accelerated.

The Shuttle Derived Heavy Lift has been dealt a major blow. If we can not fly the shuttle because of the External tank, it makes no sense to use it in the next generation of space transportation. The other part of the shuttle architecture that was going to be maintained was the Solid Rocket Boosters, these caused the loss of the Challenger, it has always been highly questionable to launch humans with solid fueled rockets. The Shuttle hardware is 1970’s technology. The External Tank and the Solid rocket Boosters were the result of compromises and were not anyone’s first choice. NASA should go back to the drawing board for a new heavy lift vehicle, start with a blank page using 21st century technology and lessons learned from all previous launch vehicles. While keeping in mind that this vehicle will carry everything to develop of the Moon and explore Mars.

More Acknowledging The Greatest Human Achievement

A Man in Utah wants to make July 20th a National Holiday in recognition of the Moon Landing.

Apollo, Pennsylvania has an Annual Apollo Moon Landing Celebration.

Elvoterra- a celebration by William Simon, Rand Simberg,and Margaret Jordan is a plan for a ceremony.

Lunar Education

Here is everything you need to bring the Moon into your class room.  These are links to lunar related educational sites. Many of these sites are specifically designed for teachers and include curriculum and lesson plans. Some have printables and worksheets. Most are free.

Teaching about space is a great way to bring science into the classroom, since students think it is fun and exciting. The Moon is an easy part of space to teach since it is close and familiar.

Apollo History

Apollo 8

Apollo 10

Apollo Lunar Module

Apollo Lunar Rover

Primary Education

Apollo Moon Scapes Toys & Teachers Guide

Outer Space Theme Activities

StarChild : The Moon

he Moon Zoom Astronomy

NASA Space Place- What do we know about the Moon?

Answers to Moon Questions

General

Lunar Planetary Institute- EXPLORE! Fun with Science

Moon Clock and Moon Calculator

Lunar Distance

NASA Explorer Schools

NASA Explorer Schools Launches Lunar Challenge

Lunar Life Support

The Moon - Hands-on Classroom Activities

The Virtual Solar System

Visit the Moon in  Idaho/ Crators of the Moon National Park Geological Classroom Activities

Space Day

Your Age and Weight on other Planets

Exploring the Moon Teachers Guide

Ice on the Moon

Phases of the Moon

Telling time by the light of the Moon

Birthday Moons

MoonQuest

Earth, Moon and Beyond

Using the Moon as a Tool for Discovery Oriented Learning

Nova/ To the Moon

Our Battered Moon

Acknowledging The Greatest Human Achievement

Edward Hudgins of  The  Objectivist Center  has suggested July 20^th as Human Achievement Day  in honor of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.

Google Moon has a good map of the landing sites.

BBC did a program on the Moon Trees.

Exploration without Science is Tourism

From the  AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY STATEMENT ON THE VISION FOR SPACE EXPLORATION

The American Astronomical Society urges that a vigorous, focused program of scientific research form the core of the implementation of the Vision for Space Exploration. The President’s initiative for the civilian space program places emphasis on exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond by humans and robots. Science is exploration, whether it involves directly sampling the surface of Mars, or gathering in the faint and ancient light of distant galaxies. Exploration without science is tourism.

Any NASA funded exploration should be strongly science based.

There seems to be a hostility towards science based exploration on the Web and I find it highly disturbing. I have nothing against space tourism as long as the tourist are paying their own way. The US tax payers should not fund space tourism especially not in the name of exploration.

I totally agree with this statement the difference betwen tourism and exploration is data gathering. Gathering of data includes making, maps, taking pictures and taking samples and is not necessarily done by scienctists but if exploration is not about gathering data it is a waste.