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- 1. Sputnik Moment – The Role of STEM, Humanities and Arts in US Competitiveness How the future works today. The Citadel, 2.1.2011 JIM BRAZELL jim.brazell@radicalplatypus.com
- 2. General Bernard Schriever Feb. 19, 1957 Inaugural Air Force Office of Scientific Research Astronautics Symposium in San Diego. Commander of Western Development Division Headquarters Charles Wilson
- 4. STEM Knowledge Mergers Skill Mergers ?
- 7. Character Physical Ed STEM Liberal Arts “Well Rounded” How do we cultivate innovation and innovators?
- 8. What is the Citadel? Bell and Riegerix
- 10. “The liberal arts... military science… engineering… have been part of our mission.” --Major Stephen Smith
- 11. “We are an academic institution.. with a rigorous cadet lifestyle.. Prepare students for life and principled leadership…” --Spike Mett, Mathematics Professor Harry Potter
- 12. How do you do career preparation? “…personal relationships between faculty and cadets.” --Charles Grotesch, Dean Science and Engineering
- 13. Character Physical Ed STEM Liberal Arts “Well Rounded” What is next for the Citadel?
- 14. “STEM initiative at the Citadel.. To get young people excited about STEM… and the possibilities for creativity… to exercise leadership.” --Spike Mett, Mathematics Professor
- 16. What is next for the Citadel? Does STEM change what and how you learn and build character?
- 17. Project Forecast
- 18. 1970
- 20. The key 21st Century issues: war, environmental degradation, globalization, population explosion, hunger, poverty and the…
- 21. The key 21st Century issues: …competitiveness of the military, companies, students and workers.
- 22. September 2010
- 23. SURVIVAL ENVIRO SECURITY LIFE QUALITY WEALTH JOBS INNOVATION How do we cultivate innovation and innovators?
- 26. http://geeklit.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html Nokia Research Center, Helsinki Finland in MIT Technology Review How many of you have a cell phone in your pocket?
- 29. Mixed Reality
- 30. Imaginary Cognitive VirtualPhysical cyberSPACE How do we cultivate innovation and innovators?
- 34. Sea Land SpaceAir cyberSPACE How do we cultivate innovation and innovators?
- 35. In 1994 a single super computer with the power of an X-box did not exist.
- 36. USC ISI and Tactical Language Training (ITSEC 2005)
- 37. "While we tend to focus on simulators associated with our flying mission such as aircrew training, air traffic control and aircraft maintenance ... the fact is simulators permeate every aspect of qualification training in the United States Air Force, as well as the other military services," General Rice said. An array of simulation systems supporting all of the military services, first responders, the Department of Homeland Security and the health care industry were on display across some 220,000 square feet of floor space. The environments featured technologies to enhance capabilities ranging from irregular warfare to casualty care and serious games.
- 38. Case study: Emergency Response Training, Pjotr van Schothorst VSTEP BV, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- 39. $7.5 million project that immerses students in the hectic environment of a hospital's intensive care unit and places them in a first-person role as a health-care professional. Funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, Pulse!! is being developed by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which in turn hired Hunt Valley (Md.)-based BreakAway to produce and design the platform. –Business Week http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/apr2006/id20060410_051875.htm Pulse!!
- 40. DMC Lab Project: Medical Leadership Trainer - Scenario Authoring Engine “Joe Medic” UT Austin DMC and Fort Sam Houston AMED NCO Academy
- 41. Improved Target Acquisition System Trainer
- 45. Video Games: A Route to Large-Scale STEM Education? Merrilea J. Mayo, 1/2/2009, sciencemag.org
- 47. Your body controls the computer
- 48. Thisisarobot
- 49. Or, is the computer controlling us? Who is controlling whom?
- 50. Software Computer ElectricalActuator Sensors How do we cultivate innovation and innovators?
- 51. Home Technology
- 52. Your car is a robot. TSTC West TX, Sweetwater, 10.31.2006
- 59. Tesla 256 MPGe
- 61. EpistemeTechne Art/Craft & Knowledge Mind Body Unification
- 62. Shell Test Track 1,000 MPG eq. Fuel Cell Car
- 63. Software Computer ElectricalActuator Chemistry How do we cultivate innovation and innovators?
- 64. National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, IL Agricultural Genomics
- 65. Software Computer ElectricalActuator Bilology How do we cultivate innovation and innovators?
- 66. Physics – CASPER Science and Technology R&D Technician 4.16.2007, Baylor Waco
- 67. Software Computer ElectricalActuator Optics How do we cultivate innovation and innovators?
- 70. A living, breathing lung-on-a-chip has been developed. As well as mimicking the cellular structure of the lung, the chip copies its behavior too: it can "breathe.“ About the size of a rubber eraser, the device was developed by a team from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19085-lungonachip-points-to- alternative-to-animal-tests.html
- 71. Medtronic – Deep Brain Stimulation Parkinson's disease, Essential Tremor and Dystopia http://www.neurotexasinstitute.com/our-procedures/deep-brain-stimulation.aspx
- 72. Electronics Machines Software Computer How do we cultivate innovation and innovators? Physics Chemistry Neurology Biology Systems
- 73. FIRST LEGO® LEAGUE Over 80,000 middle- school students in 34 countries participate in the Nano Quest Challenge. 2006 NANO QUEST CHALLENGE
- 74. From TSTC Game Report 2004
- 76. Stagnant scientific education imperils U.S. economic leadership: U.S. mathematics and science K-12 education ranks 48th worldwide.2005 - 2010
- 77. Dr. David Thornburg, Center for Professional Development
- 78. 1829
- 79. “The artificial combination of sulphur, nitre and charcoal, has revolutionized the customs and the arts of war, and even in military life, has given the mind the advantages over the body… Discovery is the process of science; invention is the work of art.” –Jacob Bigelow, M.D., Elements of Technology 1829
- 80. http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/news/photos/2000/2000images/PIC00022.jpg Brett Williams, Rocket Man, Fredicksburg HS August, 2, 2000
- 81. How do you relate the complex ideas of physics to 21st century students? “…For instance, this is liquid nitrogen and a balloon…” --Erik Rooman, Adjunct Professor, Physics
- 82. Storm the Citadel “Army, Navy, Air Force Marine Teams… K-12 and Physical Plant will participate…”
- 83. Erik Rooman
- 84. “Combine concept, theory and real world…” See it, hear it, do it… “Turn it over to student leadership…” –Erik Rooman, Adjunct Professor, Physics
- 85. Applied Problem Solving World Knowledge The key missing literacy of the 21st century is transdisciplinarity.
- 86. Innovation is a function of moving beyond the disciplines, solving real world problems and integrating theory and applied techniques to create new knowledge, tools, processes, systems, environments, etc. In a word transdisciplinarity.
- 87. Dr. David Thornburg, Center for Professional Development. “Design and Arts,” adapted by Jim Brazell, 2008. ARTS TEAMS
- 88. October 30, 2010, Denton High School Automotive Technology Program students set a new world record of a 1/8 mile in 9.93 seconds at the National Electric Drag Racing Association’s class DR/H 72 volt Dragsters. The previous record stood at 10.49 seconds in the 1/8 mile since 2002. --Denton Record Chronicle http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/utilities/clickedimage/index.html
- 89. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/magazine/30OLIN-t.html?_r=1 The Hands-On Approach: Building a different breed of engineer at Olin College. By JOHN SCHWARTZ Published: September 30, 2007, New York Times Magazine
- 90. Georgia Aster (Symphyotrichum georgianum) research in Dr. Danny Gustafson’s research laboratory.
- 93. “Education through experience formed the foundation of the Laboratory School curriculum. Science was mastered in the garden as well in the classroom, where sandboxes offered opportunities for individual experiments in landforms and erosion.” --University of Chicago, Centennial Catalogues http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/projects/centcat/centcats/fac/facch08_01.html John Dewey (1858- 1952) and the Progressive Education Movement
- 94. 1928
- 96. How do you teach biology different than when you learned it? “When I was in school I did not do science in school.” At the Citadel, students are in the lab with faculty doing researh.”
- 97. What is next for the Citadel? Does STEM change what and how you learn and build character?
- 99. “For at least the past six years the US Department of Defense, nuclear laboratory sites and other sensitive US civilian government sites have been deeply penetrated, multiple times, by other nation states. The cyber threat to the United States affects all aspects of society, business and government..."July 2010
- 100. “Every 15 seconds a new life form is released on the Internet.” --Dr. Fred Chang, University of Texas San Antonio
- 101. Stuxnet – Cyber War?
- 103. “The cyber threat to the United States affects all aspects of society, business, and government, but there is neither a broad cadre of cyber experts nor an established cyber career field to build upon, particularly within the Federal Government. [Using an] airplane analogy, we have a shortage of ‘pilots’ (and ‘ground crews’ to support them) for cyberspace.” --Center for Strategic and International Studies, Report of the Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, December 2008
- 107. Source: Harbor Research, 2003 85% of CI controlled by industry. –General Webber
- 108. http://www.thenewnewinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/24th-air-force.jpg “The 5th pillar is innovation – How do we leverage the tech base… and build a culture of cyber...” Major General Richard E. Webber, Commander 24th Air Force
- 109. Kansas Air National Guard, Butler Community College April 7 to 11, 2008
- 110. Holmes High School
- 111. technical security - deploying and managing appliances software security - designing and coding secure applications security testing - trying to sneak into your client's systems operational security management - monitoring and managing security incidents information risk management - creating and managing business-level policies audit - at any number of levels from technical to standards compliance vulnerabilities research - looking for bugs in software and reverse engineering viruses
- 112. “The cyber threat to the United States affects all aspects of society, business, and government, but there is neither a broad cadre of cyber experts nor an established cyber career field to build upon….” (Center for Strategic and International Studies, Report of the Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, December 2008) “I cannot get the technical security people I need.” (Gen. Charles Croome, Commander, Joint Task Force Global Network Operations,‐ in response to a question from a CSIS Commissioner asking what is the most critical problem he faces in meeting the growing cyber challenge. May 28, 2008) “There are about 1,000 security people in the US who have the specialized security skills to operate effectively in cyberspace. We need 10,000 to 30,000.” (Jim Gosler, Sandia Fellow, NSA Visiting Scientist, and the founding Director of the CIA’s Clandestine Information Technology Office, October 3, 2008.)
- 113. The report, Designing our Digital Future, identifies network and information technology (NIT) as a critical lynch pin in the US science and technology workforce. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), from 1998-2008, NIT occupations have comprised between 52% and 58% of all science and technology occupations. Cyberspace is the crucible upon which US wealth creation has been built since the Apollo program—spanning engineering, life science, physical science, and social science occupations. According to BLS 2009 projections, cyberspace (NIT) will add 762,700 jobs growing more than twice as fast as the average for all occupations in the economy, according to the 2008-2018 forecast.
- 114. The most famous US aviator of World War l... a pioneer of air-power... court-martialed for his prophecy that Japan might cripple the US navy at Pearl Harbor... a voice in the wilderness... whose reputation was restored by Congress after World War ll... and immortalized by Gary Cooper in the film of his life... (1879-1936) In April 1925 he was transferred to the minor post of Air Officer of the VIII Corps area in San Antonio, Texas, and reversion to the rank of colonel.
- 116. How CyberPatriot works • Multi-round competition – Qualifying rounds are virtual and teams compete simultaneously – Teams download VMware images and attempt to secure them over a given period of time – Teams connected to centralized scoring platform – Teams graded against known solution sets • Finals held in Orlando and Washington DC Cyber Patriot highschoolcdc.com
- 117. nationalccdc.org
- 121. “He was not serious when he talked about the end of the world in 2012 but he is an adamant believer that the world is flat, that Stonehenge was built by aliens…” Lynne Hale, Lucas Film Rep, Wired, Jan. 20, 2011
- 123. 1,000 MPG eq. Fuel Cell Car
- 125. “The first person to walk on Mars will be from San Antonio.”
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Defense Secretary Charles Wilson
- http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8 October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born » Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building. http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building.
- http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building. http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building.
- McDermott's Contributions to San Antonio http://www.anbhf.org/laureates/mcdermott.html In a tribute to Robert McDermott recently, Mayor Henry Cisneros of San Antonio stated that "when the economic history of San Antonio in the 1980s is written, the most influential individual will be him (McDermott)" [4]. After his arrival in San Antonio, McDermott was selected as President of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. In this position he initiated the San Antonio Economic Development Council which began a drive to bring business development into San Antonio. When the Hispanic population felt they were not being included, McDermott founded United San Antonio which pulled all the disparate community groups together. In the 1980s he was responsible for getting an undergraduate engineering program at the University of Texas at San Antonio first and later graduate programs in the sciences. With this groundwork laid, he began moving in a formal sense to make San Antonio a biotechnology center for the future. He founded the Texas Research and Technology Foundation, which was established to develop a Texas Research Park. He also helped arrange for the first major gift of $15,000,000 for the park from H. Ross Perot. Today he is regarded as the key influential business leader in San Antonio. In addition to his personal contributions, McDermott believes that USAA should be a corporate good citizen, and it has been so. USAA's Volunteer Corps gave over 30m000 volunteer hours to San Antonio just last year and USA is the city's largest private-sector United Way contributor. Although USAA employees constitute only 2% of San Antonio's work force, they contributed 10% of the total monies collected by United Way. Brigadier General Robert F. McDermott and USAA - Service Plus Ethics Equals Success Dreamers and doers rarely come in the same package. The historical record is replete with figures who seem to have extraordinary vision, but who are unable to make their dreams come into reality. On the other hand, there are many who have been able to execute the ideas of others, but who do not seem to be able to think in broad terms bout the future. Recent historical scholarship placed John F. Kennedy in the first category and Lyndon Baines Johnson in the second. Robert F. McDermott, Chairman and CEO of USAA is one of the rare individuals who have brilliant conceptual ideas an who have been able to put them into operation. The First Career Prior to becoming CEO of USAA, McDermott had already demonstrated these traits while serving on active duty in the Air Force as the first permanent Dean of the newly founded USAF Academy. Upon assuming his position, the new Dean wished to make the Academy a premier undergraduate academic institution, as well as developer of professional military officers and leaders. He wished to attract first-rate applicants chosen without regard to political connections and to challenge them to meet their potential. He introduced sweeping innovations by overcoming opposition from the military establishment, particularly at West Point and Annapolis, political insiders in Washington, and those who wanted no change at all. The changes included introducing over 25 academic majors, setting up cooperative Master's degree programs with outstanding institutions, building a first class library, faculty and staff, and introducing the "whole man" admission program with little regard to political connections. All this resulted in McDermott getting the Air Force Academy accredited by the North Central Association prior to its first class graduating. This was an unheard of accomplishment. When he retired in 1968, the other military academies were already changing curriculum and procedures to match the newest of the academies. At a ceremony at West Point in 1989, the Superintendent of the US Air Force Academy, Lt. General Charles Hamm, referred to McDermott as the Sylvanus Thayer of the twentieth century, crediting McDermott with bringing all US service academies "into the twentieth century" [6]. USAA - The McDermott Infrastructure With his outstanding reputation as an insurance scholar developed through his teaching and two published books, his solid academic preparation including an MBA from Harvard, and his national reputation as a visionary, organizer, leader and manager, he came to USAA as an Executive Vice President in July of 1968. Over the next six months he would observe all facets of USAA's operation and begin formulating his visions for the future of USAA. When he assumed the role of President and CEO of USAA on January 1, 1969, the company was in good shape overall. Serving the auto property and casualty insurance needs of active duty officers since 1922, it had a solid reputation and had penetrated 70% of its potential market. It also provided homeowners insurance in some states and had just begun offering a basic life insurance policy. The members (USAA is actually a reciprocal insurance exchange - a member-owned cooperative if you will) were basically happy and contented with their company. On the face of it, it would not seem that a new man could do a great deal better than was already being done, but McDermott had observed much during his six-month orientation. While the small company was doing well and had assets of $200,000,000, it was doing well with increasing difficulty. Although basically solid financially, the Board had accorded the departing President "special recognition" by raising the annual dividend to all the members to a new high. This put the previous president in a rosy glow, but placed USAA in a hazardous cash position. One of McDermott's first acts was to cancel the "extra" dividend which created immediate unrest among the members, but which was necessary if the company were to get through a temporary financial crisis. It did. In the operating levels of USAA, McDermott noted many problems. The approximately 3,000 employees (over 90% women) did not like the work at all, and the annual turnover rate of 43% made this clear. To initiate a new automobile insurance [policy required 55 different steps at 55 different desks. Some of these simple steps were mind deadening, like pulling staples or unsealing envelops. The operation required moving files up and down seven different floors, and claims and underwriting maintained separate records on each member. At each desk were shelves and bins piled high with records requiring some action or awaiting filing. So confusing was the operation and so many records misplaced that a crew of dozens of college students searched for missing records every night in order to return them to where they were needed. Most employees felt that USAA was a good place to start, but few wanted to remain there and a career was unthinkable. The employees had little education and less loyalty to USAA. It was clear to McDermott that if USAA were to be a truly great company, sweeping changes would have to occur. Gathering with him a small number of those he brought on board and a few incumbents, he held a serious long-range planning meeting at the American Management Association's Conference Center in Hamilton, New York to set the future course for USAA. At this meeting and, to a lesser extent, those of the next two years, he began to reveal his goals for the future. On the operational side he challenged USAA to become a "paperless" insurance company, which seemed unreachable at the time. He committed USAA fully to use the newest technology to improve the operation and to make employees' jobs more meaningful. As a result, he was certain productivity would rise. He challenged the company to work through a myriad of state regulations and laws to enable USAA to provide automobile and property insurance to all members in all states. As far as employees were concerned, McDermott wanted sweeping changes to orient employees to provide better and more ethical service to the members. He proposed to accomplish this by developing a "corporate culture" that would provide an ethical, and service-oriented foundation that would permeate the entire company. He instituted the USAA Creed which charged members and employees to serve "each other with integrity and dependability" [25]. The goal in handling auto claims would be not to pay as little as possible and still satisfy the member, but to exercise "the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct while transacting claims business" [24]. Providing timely and responsive service with integrity and ethical conduct would build member faith and strengthen USAA for future growth. Training on ethical conduct became a staple in new employee orientation and all training courses. He even sought a new logo to give the company a more solid and a more modern look. McDermott recognized that a corporate culture in itself would not work without building pride among the employees. He challenged USAA to build new employment incentives including pay and other benefits. He pushed the Board of Directors in the direction of building a new facility to house all of USAA to increase efficiency and to give the employees more pride. Perhaps most important of all, he insisted programs be developed to encourage each employee to grow to his or her maximum potential. During McDermott's first few years, dozens of changes swept over USAA and its employees. The pattern for the larger changes was similar - first the vision, followed by long and short-range plans to accomplish the task. Then specialists, often outside consultants, would help in the development of operational ideas and selection of equipment. At the same time, intelligent, hard-working individuals were placed in charge of the projects and were given latitude to build teams and develop the operation programs. At almost the same juncture, plans were made to train affected employees and to prepare them physically and psychologically for the changes. These efforts tended to bring in innovations more quickly than expected with strong acceptance by the employees themselves. The results were more efficiency, productivity, and pride in a job done better than before. A typical example was the introduction of a computer system designed to produce multi-car policies. Today, all companies issue policies that list all the cars owned by a family. In 1969, each car had its own policy. The administrative work required to produce these policies was labor-intensive and expensive. With the introduction of a multi-car computer software system, all vehicles were listed on one policy. Just this change enabled USAA to increase its productivity enormously, deleting hundreds of manpower spaces in one year. A second benefit of this new system was to spread the auto renewal periods throughout the year. This enabled USAA to level out the workload and make more efficient use of available manpower. Over time, the development of USAA's gigantic information systems continually increased productivity and enabled it to provide better service to the members. At the present time, USAA has the largest IBM facility in the United States in terms of the numbers of transactions completed daily. The statistical growth is shown in Appendix 1, but does not really show what it means to the company today. Whereas issuing a policy in 1969 took 55 steps and an inordinate amount of time, today one Policy Service employee handles the entire transaction using his or her computer screen and the policy is on its way to the member in three days or less. This effort was highlighted recently in the February 13, 1989 issue of Fortune magazine [1]. Today, McDermott's earliest visions of leading-edge technology continue to unfold. Still working toward a "paperless" environment, USAA had been working on the development of imaging techniques. After a short experiment with 3M in 1984, McDermott convinced John Akers, CEO of IBM, to work with USAA in development and execution of the image-processing system. Working as partners, USA and IBM computer specialists and engineers were successful. In late 1988, John Akers came to USAA to cut the ribbon and see the new system in operation. Very simply, a document, such as a police report is given the USAA number and entered into the computer system by a process resembling a data fax to the casual observer. Only in this case the document is stored on an optical disk and is ready for recall at any of USAA's image computer screens in a split second. By the spring of 1989 USAA had all policy service documents on optical disks rendering the millions of pieces of paper expendable. After everything is entered on the optical disks, lost documents and misplaced files will become folklore instead of reality. McDermott's effort in improving his work force and pushing USAA into leading edge technology have combined into what Ed Yourdon called in the February 1989 issue of American Programmer one of the extremely rare "Exemplary Data Processing Organizations" in the country [26]. He pointed out how much "influence an exemplary CEO can have in the creation and motivation of an exemplary data processing organization." Improving the Work Force One of McDermott's earliest visions had been to improve working conditions by developing a new facility able to house all USAA employees under one roof. In 1969 he personally looked over properties. He rejected sites convenient to the city center where most employees lived and selected a site in the undeveloped northwest part of the city. He talked the Board of Directors into authorizing the purchase of 286 acres. He wanted good access for the employees and to build a campus-like setting. He wanted room for growth and did not want others encroaching upon USAA itself or its view. Today, the USAA property sits in the center of the fastest-growing area of the city and the value of the property has escalated like the population of San Antonio. As far as the building itself was concerned, McDermott wanted it to be a place where the employees would be proud and happy to work. He wanted the principal aesthetic costs concentrated on the interior and not the exterior. When completed in 1975, it turned out to be a state-of-the-art building for 1989 and was, and still is, the second largest horizontal office building in the country. All the flooring is "computer flooring" enabling the thousands of miles of computer and telephone wiring to be out of sight and to make internal moves easy and economical. The building has a center spine and on the main floor, three different courtyards where the employees can relax body and mind. Each courtyard has a different theme providing additional aesthetic beauty. The work areas themselves have cubicles including telephones and a computer terminal and are located adjacent to the courtyards for breaks. The building also contains other amenities to increase the comfort of the employees. Included is a company store to purchase sundry items, a ticket counter to purchase discounted tickets to San Antonio attractions, a contract post office, a health clinic, exercise gymnasium and outstanding cafeterias. Getting good employees to come to USAA was only one step. Retention of good employees was the next. To assist in both these tasks, McDermott introduced programs to improve the physical well being and health of the employees and to help them develop to achieve their individual potential as well. Building and maintaining the physical well being of the USAA employees has been a multi-faceted program. In 1972, McDermott convinced the USAA Board of Directors to incorporate a physical fitness center into the new building. The resultant 9,700 square foot center houses lockers, saunas, steam rooms, cardiovascular treadmills and exercise bicycles, a Nordic skier and rowing machines. Two professional exercise physiologists monitor the individual exercise programs. Almost 2,000 employees participate in the center's programs. Outside the building are 35 acres devoted to fitness activity areas which include five miles of jogging trails winding through the trees, a multi-purpose soccer field, softball fields, basketball and volleyball courts, and tennis courts. All are equipped with lights for evening use. This year almost 3,000 employees participated in various intramural sports leagues. The fitness and athletic program is balanced by a first-class health service staff and program. Its eight registered nurses provide a complete health-oriented program for employees. Among the programs conducted are brown-bag health seminars, free allergy and flue immunizations, on-site mammograms, free diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol testing and an annual Health Fair. The Health Services staff also provides smoking cessation training which was of significant help when McDermott phased in a "no smoking" policy in all USAA buildings. At the present time, smoking is authorized in only a few lounges and a small section of the cafeterias, with the goal to eliminate all smoking by the end of 1990. Free comprehensive physical examinations are provided to employees over 50 years of age. Confidential employee counseling is also provided. In 1980 alone, the counselors served over 3,000 employees. Part of the counseling service also includes information on area childcare facilities. Other wellness incentives include low-priced "Treat Yourself Right" menus in the cafeteria which encourage good eating habits and a full-time safety director who insures employees have safe working areas and equipment. One result of the employees perceiving that USAA cares for them and that USAA is actually making things healthier and safer for them, is USAA's absentee rate which is 45% below the national average. Helping individuals meet their potential have been the highly successful USAA education and training programs. Soon after McDermott arrived at USAA, he decided to centralize training and education and brought on board a professional educator to do it. McDermott's programs had two great impacts. First, there was visible improvem But there are many ways insurers' costs can be reduced through more efficient operation, and through more effective advocacy of health and safety programs. Some companies, like USAA in San Antonio, operate much more efficiently than the industry average. According to NICO (National Insurance Consumer Organization -a Nader group) auto insurance rates would drop by an average of 17% nationally if all companies were as efficient as USAA. And USAA provides a 14% dividend to its cooperative owners [11]. In testimony before the same committee, Harvey Rosenfield, the author of California's Proposition 103 also had positive words for USAA in contrast to other insurers: Moreover, a huge portion of the premium dollar goes to waste and inefficiency on a massive level. For example, according to Best Aggregates and Averages (1988) 23 cents of every dollar of auto insurance Fireman's Fund wrote in 1987 went to claims adjustments and defense lawyers' fees and 28.9 cents went to agent's commissions, executive salaries and other overhead expenses. Contrast that with USAA, a company which itself does exceptionally well in the insurance business and is appreciated by its customers for its excellent service. It paid 12.3 cents per premium dollar to its lawyers, and 6.9 cents per dollar to overhead [15]. USAA has continued to provide service to its members with integrity and distinction, but also has consistently made profits to protect the members' interests and to keep products at a level as inexpensive as possible. In Appendix 1 is a chart which dramatizes the tremendous growth in USAA under General McDermott from the end of 1968 to 1988. As this article goes into publications, the dramatic growth has continued in all the areas noted. For example, USAA's owned and managed assets now exceed 16 billion dollars and USAA has almost 13,000 employees. A National Leader for Automobile Safety McDermott has long been a proponent of vehicle safety. For over a decade he has worked with automobile manufacturers, insurance institutes, private sector businesses, local and national politicians, and the media to secure improved automobile safety equipment and better safety legislation for the country. To this end, he has also initiated two separate safety campaigns, one in 1982 and one in 1988. These addressed the problem of deaths, injuries and property damage incurred through unsafe driving and inadequate safety technology. General McDermott held a national press conference on safety in Washington, D.C. on January 5, 1982.. He also made an appearance on the McNeil-Lehrer Report on the next night. During the interview, he further touted the use of passive restraints and called for prompt governmental acceptance of more rigid safety standards for automobiles. During the 1982 safety campaign, McDermott made history by making USAA the first insurance company to publish a comprehensive report on the comparative safety of domestic and foreign automobiles. The report, produced in conjunction with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (HHS), showed the statistical results of actual automobile crashes involving injuries and deaths. It listed which automobiles were most "crashworthy," and which were more likely to cause injury or death in a crash [10]. Another aspect of the first safety campaign was General McDermott's testimony at the November 28, 1983, Department of Transportation Hearing in Los Angeles, California. The thrust of his testimony was to point out the indecisiveness and ambivalence with which the government has treated auto safety by not mandating better passive restraint technology - air bangs in particular -- to automobile manufacturers. As not only an insurance company executive, but also a father and grandfather, he implored haste in implementing improved safety legislation and recommended "a pragmatic, action-oriented approach to get passive restraint technology into existing cars and built into the net generation of automobiles" [9]. An even more extensive and far-reaching safety campaign known as DRIVE SMART was sanctioned by General McDermott in 1988. At the campaign kickoff on Wednesday, March 30, 1988 at a press conference in Washington, D.C., General McDermott announced that USAA would imitate the most extensive package of auto insurance discounts and incentives ever offered [3]. These incentives and discounts were recognized by then-Secretary of Transportation Jim Burnley as bellwether actions in corporate leadership. He stated in a message at the press conference, "I am delighted to say that General Robert F. McDermott, Chairman of the United Services Automobile Association, has accepted the challenge and in turn is setting the standard for the insurance industry. This is not only a fine example of private sector initiative, but of the leadership industry can provide and credibility it can lend in developing public support for new safety technology. " Ralph Nader also stated that "USAA was setting the pace for Allstate, State Farm, Travelers and others" [12]. Included in USAA's program were an Air Bag Safety Bonus and Air Bag Replacement Guarantee, an Air Bag Premium Discount, a Child Safety Seat Discount, an Anti-Lock Brake Discount and other incentives as well. The DRIVE SMART campaign began in San Antonio, Texas, in early April and will continue through 1989 and beyond. In the campaign, USAA spearheads a group of 35 business, community, educational and religious organizations pledging to commit time and resources to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities on American roads. The purpose of the campaign is multi-dimensional, informing people on the four general topics including responsible driving, the use of restraints, proper vehicle maintenance, and buying "smart cars" - cars with the latest safety features. To this end, General McDermott authorized USAA's development of a variety of materials and services to support the campaign. These included billboards, bench ads, taxi and bus ad boards, safety-related videotapes, dozens of public service announcements (PSAs) for radio and television, posters, brochures, bumper stickers, decals and safety displays. Many of the materials were produced in English and Spanish to widen their audience appeal. These materials were also made available without USAA logos so that organizations could use their own logos or message. USAA made these available at no cost to any organization willing to promote the idea of automobile safety. Soon the campaign took on a statewide and nationwide focus. The Texas Highway Department adopted the theme and expanded it to DRIVE SMART TEXAS, placing DRIVE SMART TEXAS signs near entrances and exits of high-traffic areas in the state. Through the cooperation of some business sector participants (e.g. Taco Bell and 7-Eleven), the campaign entered regional and national markets through television advertising and distribution of USAA-produced DRIVE SMART materials at their locations. Public service ads in magazines were then focused toward both military and civilian communities throughout the country. McDermott carried the safety message personally to a national audience in September 1988 when he keynoted the second National Injury Control Conference. The conference was sponsored by the U.S. Center for Disease Control, and about 500 physicians, researchers and educators attended. Additionally, a USAA-sponsored DRIVE SMART AMERICA display appeared at both the National Conference of State Legislatures in Reno, Nevada, and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 1988 National Convention in Washington, D.C. for the purpose of enhancing political interest on safety issues. In all, a total of over 6.5 billion nationwide media impressions for DRIVE SMART were made in 1988. In January of 1989, Diane Stead, Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wrote a letter to McDermott. In it she said she wished "to personally commend you on the actions taken by USAA throughout the year to increase the safety of our nation's motoring public" [22]. McDermott's Contributions to San Antonio In a tribute to Robert McDermott recently, Mayor Henry Cisneros of San Antonio stated that "when the economic history of San Antonio in the 1980s is written, the most influential individual will be him (McDermott)" [4]. After his arrival in San Antonio, McDermott was selected as President of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. In this position he initiated the San Antonio Economic Development Council which began a drive to bring business development into San Antonio. When the Hispanic population felt they were not being included, McDermott founded United San Antonio which pulled all the disparate community groups together. In the 1980s he was responsible for getting an undergraduate engineering program at the University of Texas at San Antonio first and later graduate programs in the sciences. With this groundwork laid, he began moving in a formal sense to make San Antonio a biotechnology center for the future. He founded the Texas Research and Technology Foundation, which was established to develop a Texas Research Park. He also helped arrange for the first major gift of $15,000,000 for the park from H. Ross Perot. Today he is regarded as the key influential business leader in San Antonio. In addition to his personal contributions, McDermott believes that USAA should be a corporate good citizen, and it has been so. USAA's Volunteer Corps gave over 30m000 volunteer hours to San Antonio just last year and USA is the city's largest private-sector United Way contributor. Although USAA employees constitute only 2% of San Antonio's work force, they contributed 10% of the total monies collected by United Way. Promulgating Ethical Ideals In addition to what McDermott has done to instill a system of corporate ethics and to integrate it into normal business activity, he has made two other major contributions as well. He is the Chairman of the International Leadership Center Foundation in Dallas. This Foundation supports Leadership America, recognized as the premier off-campus leadership training program for college students in the country. The mission of the Foundation has four principal parts: -Providing ideas, advice and personal involvement to aid the Center in broadening the vision of current and emerging leaders by improving their leadership capabilities; -Formulating policies that insure excellence in all Center activities; -Promulgating high traditional American moral and ethical values that underlie successful leadership through all Foundation and Center activities; -Designing, developing and implementing plans that insure the financial stability and growth of the International Leadership Center. Participating students have all agreed that the Leadership America Program ahs had a major impact upon them because it shows the importance of ethics and values as a foundation for leadership. As a second major action, USAA is underwriting a series of four nationally-televised programs under the title "Raising Good Kids in Bad Times." Produced by Emmy Award-winning producer Arnold Shapiro, the first program, "See Dick and Jane Lie, Cheat and Steal: Teaching Morality to Kids," will air on U.S. Commercial stations in April. Tom Selleck will host the program. Other films will include "The Truth About Teaching," hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, "The American Dream Contest," hosted by Michael Landon, "New & Improved Kids," with Loni Anderson, and James Garner holding the reins on "Take Me to your Leaders." The series has already been contracted by over 98% of the national television market. Robert F. McDermott's achievements in his chosen careers and his efforts on behalf of the insurance and financial services industry, his community and our society and nation resulted in his selection to the American National Business Hall of Fame in 1989. His achievements underline that personal ethical conduct, integrity and respect for God and country provide a foundation for success when carried into the world of business. *This article by Paul T. Ringenbach was originally published in The Journal of Business Leadership, Volume 3, Number 2, Summer 1990. *Copyright 1990. The American National Business Hall of Fame. All rights reserved. No portion of ANBHF may be duplicated, redistributed or manipulated without the expressed permission of the ANBHF. REFERENCES 1. Alster, Norm. (1989, February 13). What flexible workers can do. Fortune, p. 64.2. Best's Insurance Reports. (1989). USAA received an A+ (Superior) rating in Best's Property-Casualty (p. 2625) and Life-Health (p. 2264). Oldwich, NJ: AM Best Company.3. Burnley, James. (Secretary of Transportation). (1988, March 30). [Remarks at a press conference to announce the beginning of the DRIVE SMART safety campaign.] Washington, D.C.4. Cisneros, Henry. (Mayor of San Antonio). (1988, October 6). [Remarks given at the dedication of USAA Towers]. San Antonio, Texas.5. Elkind, Peter. (1987, Spring). McDermott's mission. Best of Business, p. 8-15.6. Hamm, Lt. General Charles R. (Superintendent of the U.S> Air Force Academy). (1988, November 4). {Remarks at the dedication of Arnold Auditorium, United States Military Academy]. West Point, New York.7. IDC Financial Publications, Inc. (1989, February). S&L - Savings Bank Financial Quarterly, p. 82.8. Mack, Toni. (1988, July 25). They have faith in us. Forbes, p. 82.9. McDermott, Robert F. (Chairman USAA). (1983, November 28). [Testimony before the California Department of Transportation]. Los Angeles, California.10. McDermott, Robert F. (1982, January 19). Americans are dying for better gas mileage. Wall Street Journal, p. 13.11. Nader, Ralph. (Founder of Public Interest Research Group). (1988, December 6). [Testimony before the Commerce, Consumer Protection and Competitiveness Sub-Committee, U.S. House of Representatives]. Washington, D.C.12. Nader, Ralph. (Founder of the Center for Auto Safety). (1988, March 20). [Response to the announcement of USAA safety incentives]. Washington, D.C.13. Nussbaum, Bruce, et. Al. (1985, January 21). The new corporate elite. Business Week, p. 63.14. Reich, Kenneth (1988, June 7). USAA again ranks first in satisfaction on auto insurance. Los Angeles Times, p. 3.15. Rosenfield Harvey. (Architect of California's Proposition 103). (1988, December 6). [Testimony before the Commerce, Consumer Protection and Competitiveness Sub-Committee, U.S. House of Representatives]. Washington, D.C.16. Staff. (1970, June). Consumer Reports, p. 433.17. Staff. (1977, June). Consumer Reports, p. 377.18. Staff. (1980, September). Consumer Reports, p. 543.19. Staff. (1984, September). Consumer Reports, p. 508.20. Staff. (1988, October). Which companies offer better service? Consumer Reports, p. 628.21. Staff. (1989, February/March). Twenty-first century mail communications system on-line at insurance concern. Mail: The Journal of Mail Distribution, p. 16-17.15.22. Stead, Diane. (Administrator of the National Highway Safety Administration). (1989, January). [Letter to Robert F. McDermott, USAA]. San Antonio, Texas.23. Turco, Frank. (1988, March 24). Ratio of complaints against 19 insurers stirs state scrutiny. Arizona Republic, p. c7.24. USAA Public Affairs Department. (1985). A mission of trust: USAA Corporate culture. (San Antonio, Texas: USAA Publishing Services.25. USAA Strategic Planning and Analysis. (1988). Strategic planning guidance document. (San Antonio, Texas: USAA Publishing Services.26. Yourdon, Ed. (1989, February 2). Exemplary data processing organizations. American Programmer, p. 26.27. Zemke, Ron, Shaaf, Dick (1989). The service edge. (Foreword by Tom Peters). New York: New American Library. nt in the service USAA could provide to its members because of the improved education and training the employees received. Second, was the great morale factor it proved to be. McDermott began off-duty educational programs offered in USAA facilities and paid 100% tuition reimbursement for employees attending colleges and university courses. It did not stop there. He also paid for professional development courses leading to professional designations such as CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter) and CPCU (Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter). McDermott's centralized training concept has provided USAA with a broad diversity of training from entry-level training for claims and policy service personnel to management development courses to make technical personnel ready to assume supervisory positions. The Management Information Seminar provides senior managers a forum to learn about other divisions of the company and to mingle with other senior USAA executives and senior managers. The result is a free flow of ideas across divisions to help all the diverse elements be of maximum benefit to each other. USAA Growth and Diversification In the first long-range planning meeting at Hamilton, New York, McDermott had set out his vision of growth for USAA. The first order of business was to strengthen and expand the Property and Casualty business which was the heart of the company. Developing the ethical and service policy and strengthening the employees were critical parts of the foundation for growth as was development of computer systems to support the growth and improved service. USAA expansion in the Property and Casualty area had two parts - expanding the geographical area in which USAA could sell insurance and capturing a larger portion of the targeted market. When McDermott arrived, USAA could sell auto insurance in 48 of 50 states, but was able to sell homeowner policies in only 31 of 50 states. As a reciprocal insurance exchange that sold only to military officers this was a problem. When officers were ordered to states where USAA could not sell, membership suffered. McDermott established a corporate legal staff and charged it with getting USAA licensed for both lines in all states. With this underway, he initiated USAA's first corporate marketing staff and charged it with bringing in more members. The combination of the two initiatives resulted in USAA being licensed for auto and homeowner policies in all states, and as of the end of 1988, the penetration of the active duty officer market had reached 97%. When one eliminates those who can not be insured, such as those stationed in Warsaw Pact countries, and those without cars, USAA has close to 100% of those active-duty officers it is willing to insure. Today USAA is the 6th largest private automobile and homeowners insurer in the United States. From the beginning, McDermott combined his own sixth sense with those of members' desires to diversify USAA and add lines he believed could be supported. One of the key innovations was his decision to offer automobile and homeowners insurance to children of members through a new USAA subsidiary. With USAA Board of Directors' support, the program went into full swing and is now the fastest growing portion of the Property and Casualty business at USAA. At the end of 1968, USAA had only a small life insurance program in addition to the property and casualty insurance. As result of formal and informal surveys of members, McDermott wished to expand USAA offerings. Under the original bylaws, this was prohibited and so he had to convince the USAA Board of directors to change them to permit diversification. By virtue of his own persuasion and the desires of the membership, the Board reluctantly agreed. Its reluctance stemmed from the tradition-bound mind-set of those wishing to sell property and casualty insurance only. In 1968, USAA stood 504th among American life insurance companies in terms of life insurance in force, but that was soon to change. At that time, USAA offered only whole life insurance policies. Over the years other products were added to the line, and the life insurance ranking climbed slowly at first and then with increasing intensity. Now the USAA Life Insurance Company offers a full range of life insurance products an has added a number of health insurance products as well. In 1976, a line of annuities was also added. Today USAA stands 55th in national raking based on the dollars of ordinary life insurance in force. Success in life insurance led to further entries into the financial services area. Under the USAA Investment Management Company (IMCO), begun in 1983, 12 no-load mutual funds were added over time, each tailored to different member desires and needs. Some of them include money market, growth, tax-exempt, international and precious metals funds. Today, USAA stands 34th in national mutual fund group ranking. In addition to the mutual funds, a real estate division has offered Real Estate Limited Partnerships. Among the youngest of the financial services offerings, the Real Estate Division turned a profit in 1988 and has great future promise. USAA also added a Discount Brokerage, which now numbers 38,000 active accounts and handles stock transfers for IMCO, cutting USAA costs. Almost from his arrival at USAA, McDermott had wanted to open a bank, but various rules and regulations prohibited insurance companies from doing so. In the early 1980s, deregulation of financial institutions and other legal and regulatory provisions made it seem possible for USAA to open a savings and loan institution. In October of 1983, a window of opportunity opened and McDermott moved quickly. On December 30, 1983, USAA capitalized its new savings and loan with $20,000,000 and opened in a renovated trailer building on the USAA property. USAA members joined at a rapid rate. One pundit at the time pointed out that USAA members felt very strongly about the integrity of USAA and its backing of the savings and loan since they sent money to a trailer pointed at the Mexican border. Today, only six years later, the USAA Federal Savings Bank has over $1 billion in assets and has received top marks from independent raters [7]. Another sign of USAA members' strong faith in USAA and what it backs is the USAA Federal Savings Bank's experience with the MasterCard. USAA sent 240,000 pre-approved credit card applications to members. Industry experts predicted that 10-12% might be a reasonable return based on USAA reputation. In the first couple of months, USAA members returned applications to establish a return rate of over 50%. Today over 1 million USAA MasterCards are in use, and USAA's national standing is fifth in sales volume for all institutions issuing a MasterCard. USAA purchased another financial institution in Utah in 1988 and opened the FDIC-insured USAA Federal Savings Association with a gold MasterCard following shortly thereafter. In 1988, in another McDermott innovation, USAA opened the USAA Towers, a luxury retirement center in San Antonio. The 23-story, $75,000,000 building has won high ratings from the retired community and the retirement industry. Many of the strides McDermott has made in the financial services area have produced accolades from members and have received praise from a variety of respected financial institutions. In 1987, the Nilson Report and NBC's Today Show proclaimed the USAA MasterCard as the number one buy in the country. Many of the mutual funds have been praised as excellent investments in national publications such as Fortune and Money. The USAA Federal Savings Bank was given ICD Financial Publishing's first-ever "perfect" rating for an institution with assets of over $50,000,000[7]. USAA Life Insurance Company has received A.M. Best A+ rating since 1975 and the Property and Casualty Division for much longer [2]. The success of all of these USAA programs has been due to the excellent relationship of mutual trust and confidence built up between USAA and its members based on the ethical conduct and integrity of the customers and the company itself. "Service to the Member" is the watchword continually espoused in USAA and is the clearest expression of USAA's positive relationship with its members. That "Service to the Member" philosophy implanted by McDermott has continued during USAA's rapid growth, and a key element of that service is member contact. As a direct-writer, USAA relies primarily on telephone and postal communication with its members. Over the years, McDermott has guided the staff to a communications status - technologically and from the standpoint of efficiency - that ensures members have fast and direct contact with USAA. In 1969, about 99% of USAA's member contact was by mail. Today USAA relies more on the immediacy of telephone contact. Its employees receive about 17.8 million calls a year, and average daily phone volume is about 65,000 calls. With over 1,000 lines, USAA is the largest single point of termination for WATS lines in the country. Still, USAA continues to rely heavily on use of the mail. It is the nation's largest direct mailer in terms of sales volume and fifth largest internationally. A staff of more than 450, full- and part-time, handle approximately 27 million incoming and 73 million outgoing pieces of mail annually. Technology, combined with employee morale and esprit de corps, ensures USAA members receive the best possible communications service [21]. How well USAA is doing in providing service to its members can be measured in a number of ways. The steady growth of USAA and success of its diversification efforts are surely one measure. Another are surveys USAA administers to members which show great member satisfaction. It would be easy to write off USAA's surveys of its own members, but the findings have been confirmed in a number of other places by different institutions. For example, the October 1988 issue of Consumer Reports picked USAA as one of the best three companies in the nation in terms of service. The other two were much smaller firms [20]. This was the 4th such judgment by Consumer Reports over the past 20 years [16, 17, 18, 19]. USAA had the best record in the state for both homeowners and private auto insurance in terms of the fewest number of complaints per one thousand policyholders [14]. The Arizona Insurance Department had the same findings for USAA personal lines insurance [23]. In an industry categorized as a "service Industry", USAA is clearly one of the national leaders due to the leadership of Robert McDermott. In its January 21, 1985 issue, Business Week selected 50 leaders who were representative of the new corporate elite. Of the 9 selected in the "service Gurus" category, McDermott was the only CEO of an insurance firm selected [13]. In the July 25, 1988, Forbes, McDermott said in an interview with Toni Mack that , "if you put service number one, everything else will follow," and so it has [8]. Most recently USAA was among 101 companies singled out in the 1989 book The Service Edge by Ron Zemke with Dick Schaaf [27]. In his foreword to the book, Tom Peters said that the 101 companies described will hopefully have "good management at the top, and throughout any firm, to appreciate just what an unstinting dedication to service can amount to - and to challenge each and every one of us about making such a commitment in our own outfits" [27]. It is clear that providing great service to its own members, USAA has caught national attention as well. McDermott's leadership qualities, within and outside the insurance industry, and his concern for community and country were also reflected in a Best of Business Quarterly interview that appeared in the journal's Spring 1987 issue [5]. Fiscal Management Providing great service has not been done without consideration of the bottom line. USAA has consistently maintained the lowest cost/expense ratio in the insurance industry and has paid dividends to members every year. In the aftermath of the insurance revolt in California in the November 1988 election, consumer advocate Ralph Nader testified before the House Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Competitiveness Subcommittee on December 6, 1988.Although Nader excoriated the insurance industry, he had positive testimony for USAA. He stated:
- http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8 October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born » Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building. http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building.
- http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8 October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born » Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building. http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building.
- Whyville has its own system of self governance
- http://www.robotdirectory.org/pics/cakemonster/Nano-Scoop3.jpg
- Cybernetics is a theory of the communication and control of regulatory feedback. The term cybernetics stems from the Greek kybernetes (meaning steersman, governor, pilot, or rudder). Cybernetics is the discipline that studies communication and control in living beings and in the machines built by humans. A more philosophical definition, suggested in 1958 by Louis Couffignal, one of the pioneers of cybernetics in the 1930s, considers cybernetics as "the art of assuring efficiency of action" (see external links for reference).
- Lung-on-a-chip points to alternative to animal tests 19:00 24 June 2010 by Duncan Graham-Rowe A living, breathing lung-on-a-chip has been developed that can mimic the boundary between the lung's air sacs and its capillaries. It's at this boundary that inhaled pathogens and potentially harmful nanoparticles pass into the bloodstream. Reproducing those processes on a chip could one day provide an alternative to animal testing for drug development and toxicity screening. The coin-sized lung-on-a-chip consists of a simple network of microfluidic channels etched into a rubbery, transparent polymer called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The central channel contains two layers of human cells, separated by a porous membrane (see image). In the upper layer the cells come from alveoli, the cavities deep inside the lung where gases pass between the lungs and the bloodstream. The lower layer contains endothelium cells from the capillaries that carry oxygen-rich blood away. Breathe in… As well as mimicking the cellular structure of the lung, the chip copies its behaviour too: it can "breathe". As air pressure in two channels flanking the main channel is periodically reduced and increased, the central membrane is widened, stretching the cells as it does to, before they contract once more as the pressure is increased, says Donald Ingber, director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and leader of the lung-on-a-chip team. Because the device is transparent, it's possible to make real-time measurements of the inflammatory response that occurs when pathogens or silica nanoparticles are introduced into the airflow chamber. The measurements are made using high-resolution fluorescence microscopy. The extent to which these particles pass into the simulated bloodstream can also be recorded, Ingber says. These measurements show that the "breathing" mechanism appears to encourage the uptake of silica nanoparticles – a result that the team found also occurs when they introduced the same nanoparticles into a mouse lung connected to a ventilator. Lifelike response The fact that the lung-on-a-chip behaves so much like the real mouse lung is an encouraging sign that ethically acceptable and cheaper alternatives to animal testing may be on the way. Cell-culture techniques, which are also being investigated as an option, cannot take into account important mechanical influences that help regulate the organs, such as the stretching of lung tissue caused by breathing. "This is something that has been missing from almost all in vitro models," Ingber says. Anthony Holmes, of the UK National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research in London, agrees. "There's lot of evidence that the normal functions of organs require certain physical stimulations," he says. The lungs are one example but it applies equally to bone, cartilage and other tissues. "It's a nice model and an interesting approach." "It's wonderful that it breathes, and definitely a step in the right direction," says Kelly BéruBé, a cell biologist at Cardiff University, UK, who acts as scientific adviser to the UK's Safer Medicines Trust. But she warns that the immortalised cell lines used in the lung-on-a-chip tend not to have the same properties as "primary" cells taken from patients. "Unless they can get primary cells, they are not going to be able to replace animal tests." Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1188302
- Parkinson's disease - Deep brain stimulation is most commonly used for treatment of Parkinson's disease symptoms such as tremor, walking problems, stiffness and slowed movement. Essential tremor - A chronic condition that causes uncontrollable trembling of the voice or body part; the most common areas affected are the hands and arms. DSB is mainly used to control the tremor in the hand and arm. Dystonia - A neurological disorder characterized by repetitive muscle contractions, which causes twisting and jerking of the body or body part. Deep brain stimulation is generally used to help control abnormal movement of the body.
- http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8 October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born » Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building. http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building.
- 200 studenst involved
- Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering wants to fix. At its tiny campus in Needham, Mass
- Georgia Aster (Symphyotrichum georgianum) research in Dr. Danny Gustafson’s research laboratory.
- The Child-Centered School (1926, with Ann Shumaker)Teacher, engineer, historian, educational theorist, and student of psychology and sociology, Harold Rugg (1886-1960) was one of the most versatile educators associated with the progressive education movement.http://www.answers.com/topic/harold-rugg#ixzz1CL7NIMaP
- http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8 October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born » Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building. http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building.
- WikiLeaks: Who are the hackers behind Operation Payback? 'Hacktivist' group Anonymous, linked to message board 4chan, has led online assault against MasterCard and Paypal websitesFollow the latest on our WikiLeaks live blog Share2427 Comments (305) Josh Halliday and Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 December 2010 16.46 GMT Article history MasterCard was forced offline by activists protesting against the blocking of payments to WikiLeaks. Photograph: Tim Wimborne/Reuters The MasterCard website was forced offline for several hours today, following an online assault led by a shadowy group of hackers protesting against the card issuer's decision to block payments made to the WikiLeaks website. The "distributed denial of service" attack was apparently orchestrated by a "hacktivist" group calling itself Anonymous, which has in recent days temporarily paralysed the websites of Post Finance, the Swiss bank which closed WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange's account, and the website of the Swedish prosecution office. Twitter is next in its sights, following allegations that the social networking site is "censoring" visibility of the breadth of discussion of WikiLeaks by preventing it from appearing in Twitter's "trends". Twitter has denied that it is doing this, saying its systems identify topics that are "being talked about more right now than they were previously" – which doesn't include WikiLeaks. But who, or what, is – or are – Anonymous? A 22-year-old spokesman, who wished to be known only as "Coldblood", told the Guardian that the group – which is about a thousand strong – is "quite a loose band of people who share the same kind of ideals" and wish to be a force for "chaotic good". There is no real command structure in the group, the London-based spokesman said, while most of its members are teenagers who are "trying to make an impact on what happens with the limited knowledge they have". But others are parents, IT professionals and people who happen to have time – and resources – on their hands. The group has gained notoriety for its attacks on copyright-enforcement agencies and organisations such as the Church of Scientology. Anonymous was born out of the influential internet messageboard 4chan, a forum popular with hackers and gamers, in 2003. The group's name is a tribute to 4chan's early days, when any posting to its forums where no name was given was ascribed to "Anonymous". But the ephemeral group, which picks up causes "whenever it feels like it", has now "gone beyond 4Chan into something bigger", its spokesman said. The membership of Anonymous is impossible to pin down; it has been described as being like a flock of birds – the only way you can identify members is by what they're doing together. Essentially, once enough people on the 4chan message boards decide that an issue is worth pursuing in large enough numbers, it becomes an "Anonymous" cause. The group counts the current campaign in support of WikiLeaks as "probably one of [its] most high profile yet". The group gained notoriety more recently for a number of sustained assaults against the sites of US music industry body RIAA, Kiss musician Gene Simmons, and solicitors' firms involved in lawsuits against people suspected of illegal filesharing. In early 2008, Anonymous launched a campaign against the Church of Scientology, bringing down related websites and promising to "expel" the religion from the internet. "We're against corporations and government interfering on the internet," Coldblood added. "We believe it should be open and free for everyone. Governments shouldn't try to censor because they don't agree with it. "Anonymous is supporting WikiLeaks not because we agree or disagree with the data that is being sent out, but we disagree with any from of censorship on the internet. If we let WikiLeaks fall without a fight then governments will think they can just take down any sites they wish or disagree with." The spokesman said Anonymous plans to "move away" from DDoS attacks and instead focus on "methods to support" WikiLeaks, such as mirroring the site. "There's no doubt in [Anonymous members'] mind that they are breaking [the] law," he said of the latest attacks. "But they feel that there's safety in numbers." Anonymous refused to say whether it would target government-owned websites next, but warned: "anything goes."
- General William 'Billy' Mitchell (1879-1936) was the renowned pioneer of US air power and generally regarded as one of the most far-sighted military leaders of his age. He also happened to be my cousin! Immediately after World War l, he predicted that air bombardment would dominate warfare in the future. In the early 1920s he horrified and angered US military strategists with his claim that bombs could sink ships and predicted the attack on Pearl Harbour 20 years later. When they refused to believe him he successfully bombed and sank warships to prove his point. Furious at his outspoken criticism of out-dated military thinking, he was court-marshalled for 'insubordination'. He never lived to see his predictions proved correct but was posthumously awarded a special Congressional Medal of Honour in 1948. Sadly too, he never saw the 1956 Gary Cooper film which restored his reputation as a national hero. Of Scottish origin, he grew up in Milwaukee with my grandmother, Christian Mitchell Croil, whose faith in him never wavered. Mitchell's skills may well have influenced her brother (and Mitchell's cousin), the Canadian World War 1 'ace', Air Marshal George Mitchell Croil who, in World War ll, was in charge of the training, in Canada, of thousands of British and other Allied pilots. Mitchell gave his name to Mitchell Air Base (now the General Mitchell International Airport) in the USA, just as Croil is remembered by Croil Air Force Base in Canada. See below for full and thumbnail images of Billy Mitchell. For an exhibition celebrating the achievements of General 'Billy' Mitchell (with photographs of him before, during and after World War l; with his friend Orville Wright; with his aircraft; the test-bombing of warships; and as portrayed in 1956 by Gary Cooper in 'The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell') see: The Billy Mitchell Exhibition.(From 'Webster's American Military Biographies' (Merriam Co., 1978 – Billy Mitchell, pp 284-285) plus additional information from other sources: Brief Biography WILLIAM 'BILLY' MITCHELL is the most famous and controversial figure in American air power history. He was the son of the wealthy Wisconsin senator Colonel John Lendrum Mitchell and his second wife Harriet Becker – and a grandson of millionaire railroad maker Alexander Mitchell of Milwaukee. He was born in Nice, France, on December 28 [29?], 1879, while his parents were on an extended tour of Europe. When he was three the family returned to Milwaukee where he was educated at Racine College and at Columbian University (now George Washington University, Washington, DC). He left Columbian in 1898 before graduating to enlist in the 1st Wisconsin Infantry as a junior lieutenant in the Spanish-American war, receiving a field commission in the Signals Corps that same year. He was an outstanding junior officer, displaying a rare degree of initiative, courage and leadership. He served in Cuba and the Philippines and distinguished himself in 1901-1902, under the most difficult conditions, by establishing a communications system for the Army throughout the wilderness of Alaska. After various duties he attended the School of the Line and the Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1907-1909.After duty on the Mexican border, he was attached in 1912 to the General Staff – at the time its youngest member – and in 1915 was assigned to the aviation section of the Signal Corps. As a 38 year-old major in the US Army Air-Service he learned to fly in 1916, training with Walter E. Lees and taking his first solo flight in a Curtiss JN4 at the Atlantic Coast Aeronautical Station, Virginia, in the spring of 1917. At this time he became a close friend of Orville Wright who, with his brother, had pioneered aviation in the USA and from whom many of Mitchell's military aircraft were obtained. Thus began Mitchell's twenty years' advocacy of the use of military air power.He was already in Europe as an observer when the United States entered World War I in 1917. In April 1917, only a few days after the United States had entered the war, Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell met extensively with British and French air leaders and studied their operations. He quickly took charge and began preparations for the American air units that were to follow. The story of American aviation mobilisation in World War I was not a glorious one. It took months before pilots arrived in France and even longer for any aircraft. Nonetheless, Mitchell rapidly earned a reputation as a daring, flamboyant, and tireless leader. As the first American to fly over enemy lines in combat, he also proved to be a highly effective air commander, advancing rapidly in rank and responsibility to become Air Officer of the American Expeditionary Forces and Air Officer of I Corps (a combat post more to his liking). He then established and headed the US Air Service. In 1918 he was appointed Commander of all Allied Air Services – the same year that his brother, John Mitchell, was killed on the Western Front in France. In September 1918 he successfully attempted a mass bombing attack over German positions with nearly 1,500 planes as part of the attack on the St. Mihiel salient. As commander of the combined air service of the army group, he engaged in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, leading a large bombing force in a behind-the-lines air strike. But his plans for strategic bombing of the German homeland and for massive parachute invasions were cut short by the Armistice. Recognised as the top American combat airman of the war (he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, and several foreign decorations), Mitchell, nevertheless, managed to alienate most of his superiors – both flying and non-flying – during his 18 months in France. Returning to the US in early 1919, Mitchell was appointed the deputy chief of the Air Service, retaining his one-star rank under Gen. Charles T. Menoher and later Mason Patrick.In the early 1920s he outspokenly advocated the creation of an air force independent of the army and continued working on improvements in aircraft and their use. But his great crusade was his claim that aircraft were capable of sinking ships – even rendering the battleship obsolete. To the fury of his superiors and the Navy Department, he proved his point at Chesapeake Bay in 1921 and again in 1923, by test-bombing and sinking several captured and elderly battleships (among them Ostfriesland) which were sent to the bottom of the Atlantic.In April 1925 he was transferred to the minor post of Air Officer of the VIII Corps area in San Antonio, Texas, and reversion to the rank of colonel. Although such demotions were not unusual at the time – Mason Patrick himself had gone from major general to colonel upon returning to the Corps of Engineers in 1919 – the move was nonetheless widely seen as punishment and exile. He was persistently critical of the low state of preparation of the tiny Air Service and of the poor quality of its equipment. Clearly there was a streak of arrogance and intolerance in his nature and he was one of the first to recognise the power of harnessing media attention. Frequently photographed with friends and acquaintances such as the Prince of Wales, Will Rogers, Henry Ford, and Orville Wright, he easily upset colleagues and superiors. Thus it was when the Navy dirigible (a gas-filled air-ship) Shenandoah crashed in a storm, killing 14 of the crew, Mitchell issued his famous 1925 statement to the press accusing senior leaders in the Army and Navy of incompetence and "almost treasonable administration of the national defence." He was, as he expected, court-martialled and used the December 1925 trial as a platform for his views. He was found guilty of insubordination and suspended from active duty for five years without pay. (Note: The conviction vote was not unanimous. A single dissenting vote was cast by Col. Douglas MacArthur)Mitchell elected to resign instead, as of 1 February 1926, and retired to a farm near Middleburg, Virginia. He continued to promote air power and to warn of the dangers of being outstripped by other nations, particularly Japan. In the early 1920s he had already hypothesised a possible attack by Japanese aircraft launched from great carrier ships and directed at the Hawaiian Islands (twenty years before the Pearl Harbor attack) but from 1926 onwards he continued to write and preach the gospel of air power to all who would listen. The election of Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Navy man, was viewed by Mitchell as advantageous for air power. In fact, he believed the new president would appoint him as assistant secretary of war for air or perhaps even secretary of defence in a new and unified military organisation. Such hopes never materialised. Mitchell died in New York City on February 19, 1936, of a variety of ailments, including a bad heart and influenza. His plea for an independent air force was met to some degree by the creation of GHQ Air Force in March 1935. While subsequent events, including the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, proved the validity of many of his prophesies and many of his ideas were adopted by the Army Air Force in World War II, the utter decisiveness he claimed for air power had not by then materialised.In 1946, a grateful Congress posthumously promoted him to the rank of Major General and authorised a special Congressional Medal in his honour, which was presented to his son John in 1948 by Gen. Carl Spaatz, chief of staff of the newly established independent air force.In 1970, Billy Mitchell was invested among 'These We Honor' at the International Aerospace Museum's 'Hall of Fame' in San Diego, California.Among Mitchell's published works were 'Our Air Force: The Keystone of National Defense', 1921; 'Winged Defense', 1925; and 'Skyways: A Book of Modern Aeronautics', 1930.'The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell' (100 min.) – 1955 motion picture.CAST: Gary Cooper, Rod Steiger, Ralph Bellamy, Elizabeth Montgomery, Darren McGavin, Charles, Bickford, Jack Lord, Peter Graves.CREDITS: Writers, Milton Sperling, Emmet Lavery; Producer, Milton Sperling; Director, Otto Preminger.SUMMARY: Brigadier General Billy Mitchell has devoted his life to the military, and to developing a superior air defense force for the U.S. When top army brass fail to recognize the importance of air power following its crucial role in winning WWI, Mitchell initiates a campaign to change their minds a campaign that will ultimately lead to his demotion and the most controversial military trial in U.S. history. Biographies of General 'Billy' Mitchell There are several biographies of Mitchell and the most balanced and useful treatment of this important airman is unquestionably Alfred F. Hurley's, 'Billy Mitchell: Crusader for Air Power', revised ed. (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1975). Hurley deals sparingly with the general's early career and personal life, concentrating instead on his war experiences, the post-war years, and his theories of air power employment. Mitchell was the first prominent American to espouse publicly a vision of strategic air power that would dominate future war. He believed that aircraft were inherently offensive and were strategic weapons that revolutionised war by allowing a direct attack on the "vital centres" of an enemy country. These vital centres were the mighty industrial areas that produced the vast amount of armaments and equipment so necessary in modern war. He did not see this as either illegal or immoral. In fact, given the trench carnage of the First World War that slaughtered millions, he argued that air power provided a quicker and more humane method of waging war. To carry out effectively this mission of strategic attack, he argued that it was necessary to separate aviation from the Army and Navy because they were too traditional and surface-oriented. Mitchell's persistent jibes at the Navy were especially nasty, and Hurley argues they not only fostered bitter inter-service rivalry but also spurred the Navy to greater efforts in developing carrier-based aviation – the precise opposite of what Mitchell intended. Nonetheless, Hurley concludes these shortcomings were more than balanced by a vision and foresight regarding the future of war, later proved substantially correct, that sustained the fledgling air force during its early and difficult years.There are several other published accounts of Mitchell's life. Most are hagiographies written during or soon after World War II depicting him as a prophet without honour and as a martyr for air power. Surprisingly, few even discuss his air power theories and concentrate instead on the sensational aspects of his career. Of this genre, the best is Isaac Don Levine's 'Mitchell: Pioneer of Air Power' (New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1943; revised in 1958 but without significant new material). Levine reveals Mitchell's personal life, including his early years as a junior officer, basing his story largely on letters and interviews. Although no footnotes or bibliography are included, Levine obviously did a great deal of research. Unfortunately, besides employing an overly breathless prose, the book suffers from a strong bias: Mitchell is glorified and his very real character flaws are ignored. Mitchell was vain, petulant, racist, overbearing and egotistical. Although his aggressive advocacy of air power was entertaining and won much publicity, it is questionable if his antics actually swayed public opinion or that of Congress. Indeed, it could even be argued that his incessant and vicious attacks on the Navy did more harm than good and induced an animosity between sailors and airmen that has never really abated.Three biographies that are, frankly, of little value are Emile Gauvreau and Lester Cohen's 'Billy Mitchell: Founder of Our Air Force and Prophet Without Honor' (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc., 1942); Roger Burlingame's 'General Billy Mitchell: Champion of Air Defense' (New York: McGrawHill, 1952); and Ruth Mitchell's 'My Brother Bill: The Life of General "Billy" Mitchell' (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovich, 1953). This last does, however, quote heavily from Mitchell's unpublished manuscript describing his tour in Alaska from 1901 to 1903. This little-known story of the Signal Corps's efforts to string a telegraph line across the territory is quite interesting. Another work that is a cut above those just mentioned is Burke Davis's 'The Billy Mitchell Affair' (New York: Random House, 1967). This treatment is unique in that it covers in some detail Mitchell's famous report of his visit to Hawaii in 1924 in which he predicted a future war with Japan that opened with a carrier-based air attack on Pearl Harbor. In addition, Davis had access to the transcript of Mitchell's court-martial. His coverage of that event is fairly extensive, and although his treatment is even-handed, it tends to put the airman in a favourable light and as a victim of Army conservatism.A doctoral dissertation that takes a different view of the court proceedings is Michael L. Grumelli's 'Trial of Faith: The Dissent and Court Martial of Billy Mitchell' (Rutgers University, 1991). This is an interesting and detailed account of Mitchell's 1925 trial for insubordination arguing that the general was convicted not only because he was guilty as charged but also because his defence lawyer was woefully inept. Bungled cross-examinations and a clever prosecutor produced testimony from expert witnesses that revealed virtually all of Mitchell's charges of military incompetence and negligence to be unfounded. Grumelli concludes that Mitchell's decision to provoke a public court-martial was a serious miscalculation that quickly revealed his "tremendous arrogance, extreme self-righteousness, gross exaggerations and blatant inaccuracies". He further concludes that Mitchell, who was surprised at his conviction, spent the rest of his life vainly seeking vindication, but instead found himself fading quickly into obscurity, devoid of either influence or importance. His rejection by Roosevelt for a senior post in the administration was the last straw.Raymond R. Flugel's PhD dissertation, 'United States Air Power Doctrine: A Study of the Influence of William Mitchell and Giulio Douhet at the Air Corps Tactical School, 1921-35' (University of Oklahoma, 1965) argues that there was a direct link between the two air theorists. Flugel even argues that Mitchell's writings owed a heavy debt to Douhet, a debt never acknowledged. He bases this charge on the discovery of a partial translation of 'Command of the Air' (published in Italian in 1921) in the Air Service archives, dated 1922. This was at least a decade prior to the translation of a French edition done for the Air Corps by Dorothy Benedict and George Kenney. Unfortunately, this discovery, which is indeed an important one, is totally wasted by the author's flawed methodology. Flugel attempts to show plagiarism by a textual analysis of 'Command of the Air', Mitchell's writings of the mid-1920s, and the textbooks of the same era. He actually reproduces several paragraphs, underlining similar words and phrases to show their similarity. However, instead of using the newly discovered 1922 translation – which presumably would have been available to Mitchell – Flugel instead relies on the Dino Ferrari translation of 1942! Because the two versions have significant differences, Flugel's charges remain unproven.Published over two decades after his death are Mitchell's 'Memoirs of World War I: From Start to Finish of Our Greatest War' (New York: Random House, 1960; parts of the diaries were serialised in Liberty magazine in 1928). This is a compilation of his experiences in France from April 1917 to the Armistice based on the diaries he kept at the time (now lost). As with any such work, it is not clear how many of the opinions and predictions presented here were of later device. Not surprisingly, Mitchell comes across looking quite prescient as to the unfolding of the war. There are, however, some notable aspects to this book. The distaste and low regard Mitchell held for Benjamin Foulois, his nominal superior, is apparent. It is a pity that two of the most senior and most important American airmen, who should have been close allies in their advocacy of air power, were bitter enemies. Also apparent is Mitchell's remarkable curiosity about all things regarding air warfare. This book is replete with descriptions of myriad and diverse details such as what time weather reports arrive at a fighter squadron and in what format, the construction of the shock absorbers on a captured German aircraft, and the type of parachutes used by balloon observers. One other revealing aspect of this memoir is Mitchell's already emerging disdain for "non-flying officers" in Washington who "know nothing about air power," yet try to direct its course. According to this book, Mitchell returned to the United States in 1919 already convinced of the need for a separate service liberated from the control of narrow-minded surface officers.Another of Mitchell's own works that should be noted is his 'General Greely: The Story of a Great American' (NY: Putnam's, 1935). Adolphus W. Greely was one of the more interesting characters of his era. He fought in the Civil War, strung telegraph wire across the south-west United States, and was an internationally known Arctic explorer. In 1887 he was promoted to brigadier general and named Chief Signal Officer of the US Army, a post he held until his retirement in 1906. During those two decades he modernised the Signal Corps dramatically, but perhaps most significantly by pushing for a rejuvenation of the Balloon Crops and by encouraging experimentation in heavier-than-air flight. Although he had retired before the Wright Brother's had sold their first plane to the Army's Signal Corps, Mitchell credits him for creating an atmosphere of innovation that made such a contract possible. Of importance, Mitchell uses this biography as a vehicle for recounting some of his own experiences as a junior officer in Greely's Signal Corps. As a result, Mitchell gives us some insights into his activities during the Spanish-American War, his tour in the Philippines during the insurrection there, and of his rugged adventures in Alaska. Mitchell wrote this biography in 1935, the year Greely died. It came out in print the following year, soon after Mitchell's own death. Billy Mitchell Solos At Newport News "Jimmie Johnson was assigned to teach Major Mitchell to fly and Walter Lees gave him some dual instruction also. They found him a very apt pupil who was ready to solo after a few hours – four, I believe – of dual instruction. I well remember that fall day when Jimmy turned him loose for his solo. As was customary at that time, when a student was making his first solo flight, all other pilots would land and taxi their planes to the side of the landing strip for the safety of all concerned and a white handkerchief was tied to the plane about to solo. Mitchell's take-off was uneventful, but when he circled the field and came in to bring his plane into a landing position, he found that he had gained more altitude than on previous turns, because he was minus the accustomed weight of the instructor in the airplane with him, so when he approached the previously arranged spot, he came in too fast for the three-point landing and the momentum of the machine was sufficient to take him off the ground again. He pulled the plane up, making a half loop and landed and nosed over. There hung Billy Mitchell upside down, strapped in his seat by his safety belt. Paul, (Culver) who was standing nearby, ran over to him, then released his belt, and helped him to his feet. No doubt his pride was hurt, but he wasn't and when Paul assured him of that he took a snap shot of the plane, turned turtle, with the small Argus camera which he often wore strapped to his belt for just such occasions. Forever after whenever an airplane turned turtle on landing it was called a "Mitchell." Paul gave a copy of this picture to Brigadier General Mitchell at one of the aircraft shows in Detroit and recalled with him many memories of those days at Newport News. At the same time, Walter Lees, then chief test pilot of the Packard Aircraft Co. presented him with the wheel of the airplane in which he had soloed."From 'The Day The Airmail Began' by Edith Dodd Culver Cub Flyers Enterprises Inc. Walter Remembers The Day "Billy was a grand guy – and the first thing he told Jimmie when he started training was to forget that he was an army major and to treat him as we did anyone learning to fly. One day Jimmy was sick and Captain Baldwin assigned Mitchell to me and I soloed him. "Mitchell was very erratic. One day he would be OK and the next lousy. I just happened to catch him on one of his good days. He made two perfect flights this day". From Walter's Journal Loa Lees & Edith Culver At Curtiss School "Teed Culver and I used to walk to the field where the men were flying. Pops taught Canadians first, then our men when the 1st World War started. It was here that Pops soloed William Mitchell. Jimmie Johnson taught Mitchell, but was sick one day and Pops soloed him. It was quite a feather in his cap. Pops earned $10 per hour there at the last. Pops was sent to a field in Illinois and I went to his parents in Mazomanie (June 16) by train..." Interview with Loa Lees, 1983 General 'Billy' Mitchell: Bibliography USAMHI BiogsRefBranchla Jun 1989, kmg Apr 95 Army War College Vignette US Army War College Commentary (Mar 1968): pp. 32-39. Per(Parameters). Brown, Ann D., comp. A List of References on Brigadier General William Mitchell, 1879-1936. Wash, DC: Lib of Cong, 1942. 33 p. Z8581.55U5. Burlingame, Roger. General Billy Mitchell: Champion of Air Defense. NY: McGraw-Hill, 1952. 212 p. UH130.2M45B8. Davis, Burke. The Billy Mitchell Story. Phila: Chilton, 1969. 149 p. UH130.2M45D3. Gauvreu, Emile H., and Cohen, Lester. Billy Mitchell: Founder of Our Air Force and Prophet Without Honor. NY: Dutton, 1942. 303 p. UH130.2M45G38. Grumelli, Michael L. "Trial of Faith: The Dissent and Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell." PhD dss, Rutgers, 1991. 311 p. UH130.2M45G78. Hurley, Alfred F. Billy Mitchell: Crusader for Air Power. Bloomington: IN U, 1975. 190 p. UH130.2M45H8. Leary, William M. "Billy Mitchell and the Great Transcontinental Air Race of 1919." Air U Rev 35 (May-Jun 1984): pp. 64-76. Per. Levine, Isaac D. Mitchell, Pioneer of Air Power. NY: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1958. 420 p. UH130.2M45L4. Mitchell, Billy. Memoirs of World War I: "From Start to Finish of Our Greatest War." NY: Random House, 1960. Billy Mitchell, 312 p. D606M5. The Opening of Alaska. Anchorage, AK: Cook Inlet Hist Soc, 1982. Billy Mitchell, 111 p. F909M56. Our Air Force: The Keystone of National Defense. NY: Dutton, 1921. Billy Mitchell, 223 p. UH150.1M47. 2nd Lecture on Field Signal Communications. Ft Leavenworth: Infantry and Cavalry School, 1905. Billy Mitchell, 24 p. UJ145M57. Skyways: A Book on Modern Aeronautics. Phila: Lippincott, 1930. 314 p. TL545M67.Billy Mitchell p.2 Winged Defense: The Development and Possibilities of Modern Air Power-Economic and Military. NY: Putnam's, 1925. Billy Mitchell, 261 p. UH23.1M5. Mitchell, Ruth. My Brother Bill: The Life of General "Billy" Mitchell. NY: Harcourt Brace, 1953. 344 p. UH130.2M45M45. Platt, Frank C. Great Battles of World War I: In the Air. NY: Weathervane, 1966. 206 p. D600G69. Ransom, Harry H. "The Battleship Meets the Airplane." Mil Aff 23 (Spg 1959): pp. 21-27. Per. U.S. Congress. House. Select Committee. Inquiry into Operations of the United States Air Services. 6 pts. Hearings, 1925. UG633A55. U.S. President's Aircraft Board. Aircraft. 4 vols. Hearings, 1925. UH23.2A4. See pp. 553-59. Webb, Melody. "Billy Mitchell & the Alaska Telegraph." Amer Hist Illus 20 (Jan 1986): pp. 22-25. Per. Includes summary account of WAMCATS General Billy Mitchell, Champion of Air Defense by Roger Burlingame. Hardcover. Published by Greenwood Publishing Group. Publication date: June 1952. ISBN: 0313201706"Mitchell, a proponent of wartime air strength, saw the future of flight and indeed advanced it in ways recognised abroad as well as at home." Mitchell, William, 1879-1936 Generals United States Biography A Brief Biography of George Hardie (Hardie's archive on Billy Mitchell establishes him as the premier chronicler of Mitchell's life)George Hardie was born in Rockford, Illinois, in 1912 and became interested in aviation as a boy. By 1946, he had begun collecting materials related to aviation and airline models. In 1954, Hardie received an award from the Milwaukee County Historical Society for his work on a photo display of General Billy Mitchell at Mitchell Air Field and began to collect materials related to that early air power proponent. Working in the Milwaukee Post Office, Hardie began a lifetime of researching topics in aviation, as well as collecting items related to flight. By the 1950s, Hardie's work in aviation had earned him an award from the Milwaukee County Historical Society. He also received the General Billy Mitchell Award for Air Power Achievement from the Air Force Association for his research on Wisconsin aviation. Hardie served on the Board of Directors of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) from 1955 to 1960 (a group formed by Milwaukeeans interested in building their own planes) and served as managing editor of Sport Aviation, EAA's magazine, from 1958 to 1960. From 1973 to 1983, Hardie continued his participation in the EAA by serving as display designer and historian. On the board of directors of the American Aviation Historical Society, he was elected president of the organisation in 1961, serving two years. In 1984, Hardie became a charter member of the Friends of the Mitchell Gallery of Flight at the General Mitchell International Airport, serving as its secretary, exhibit designer and historian as well as editor of the organisation's newsletter, Flightlines. In 1991 Hardie was inducted in the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame.BR> A founding member of the Friends of the Mitchell Gallery of Flight, at the General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Hardie has donated his archives to the Golda Meir Library, giving an excellent overview of flight from its origins to the space shuttle launchings. Dominating the George Hardie papers is his collection on General Billy Mitchell, consisting mainly of photographs documenting the general's career, including his famous 1921 bombing of captured German warships in an effort to prove to his superiors the value of air power. Other photographs show General Mitchell with celebrities during the 1920s, such as the Prince of Wales, Will Rogers, Henry Ford, and Orville Wright. The collection has a substantial amount of news clippings, scrapbooks, papers and other memorabilia chronicling the rise and fall of this controversial general, including his service in the Philippines and Alaska, his childhood, his planes and his family.© Christopher Long (1998). Copyright, Syndication & All Rights Reserved Worldwide.The text and graphical content of this and linked documents are the copyright of their author and or creator and site designer, Christopher Long, unless otherwise stated. No publication, reproduction or exploitation of this material may be made in any form prior to clear written agreement of terms with the author or his agents. Christopher Long
- Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition College level cyber competition Sponsored by industry and academic partners 2010 participation: 86 schools, over 600 students Multi-stage competition with finals in San Antonio Defensive in nature for more info
- http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8 October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born » Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building. http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building.