Total Solar Eclipse Today

I remember the 1970 total solar eclipse that ran up the East Coast of the United States and got a mention in Carly Simon's hit song You're So Vain.   It was the last total solar eclipse we experienced in the continental United States until this one that is happening today.

If you live in the 70 mile wide path of totality that will stretch from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina, you're going to get the celestial skywatching treat of seeing a total solar eclipse.

Assuming your local weather cooperates.

Those of us in Houston will only get a partial solar eclipse that covers about 67% of the Sun that will start around 11:46 AM CDT and end around 2:45 PM CDT.

But in any case, whether it is the total or partial, be advised not to look directly at it/   You can go to you local planetarium to see it or check out this webstream broadcast of it on NASA's website.

The ISS Will Finally Get A Black Astronaut On It!

NASA has launched 14 African Americans into space through it history.   Thanks to the movie Hidden Figures, we now know that African-American women played a prominent role in America's first manned space mission.

But NASA hasn't sent an African American astronaut to the International Space Station,  and that is thankfully about to change.

On Wednesday NASA announced that Dr. Jeanette J. Epps would become the first African American to board and stay on the ISS.   She will join fellow astronaut Andrew Feustel as a flight engineer on Expedition 56 to the ISS that will launch in May 2018 ,and will stay onboard for Expedition 57

Epps has a PhD in aerospace engineering, and has been a NASA astronaut since 2009

The Syracuse, NY native will become when that May 2018 launch happens the 13th woman to spend time on the ISS and only the fourth African American woman to fly in space.

She's currently training for that historic mission, and looking forward to seeing it happen.  .

Looking Forward To Seeing 'Hidden Figures'

As a native Houstonian who also grew up as a space junkie, loved it when we got to do a field trip to NASA stating in our junior high school years.    There was also the one I earned with my writing skills in ninth grade for a joint NASA-HISD contest that got me a nonstandard tour of the Johnson Space Center and a chance to meet the first group of African-American shuttle astronauts that included Dr. Mae Jemison,  Dr Ron McNair and Charles Bolden.

Even as well versed in Black history as I have been, I was unaware of the stories of Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who were African-American women working in NASA's Langley, VA computation facility..

Computers do that task now, but before they were developed to handle that task human beings crunched the numbers.

Johnson  (who is still here with us at age 98), Vaughan and Jackson were part of the group of women mathematicians called computers who cross checked the math the male engineers were doing that would get John Glenn into orbit around the Earth.

The movie is based on the book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly, and stars Taraji P Henson as Katherine Goble Johnson, Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan and Janelle Monae as Mary Winston Jackson.

Math prodigy Katherine is plucked from the computing room and assigned to the Space Task Force team that will calculate the launch coordinates and trajectory of the Atlas rocket that will launch Glenn into space.  

Of course, this being 1961 Virginia, she is met with a double whammy of gender and racist indifference,  One engineer played by Jim Parsons named Paul Stafford stands out in not giving her a warm welcome to the male dominated unit.  Because of the segregation of the day, the nearest bathroom for her to use is in a distant building on the NASA Langley campus  

Vaughan does the work of a supervisor, being in charge of several dozen computers, but doesn't get the title or the money that comes with it. is treated with condescension by her boss played by Kirsten Dunst, and is repeatedly denied promotion.

Jackson has a more understanding Polish born boss, but she too runs into Jim Crow segregation when she is denied the opportunity to take the graduate level physics courses she needs to qualify for the engineering opening she wants and has to sue to do so..

Houston, naturally is one of the cities in which this movie is opening in limited release, with it opening in the rest of the country on January 13.   I hope you'll go see this movie.

Flying By Pluto

Because I am a Kennedy Baby, I have grown up as a serious space junkie watching NASA and the US space program undertake some amazing exploratory manned and unmanned space missions .  

The Mercury missions started a year before I was born.  The Gemini missions happened when I was a toddler, and I spent some of my Saturday mornings as a teen watching as an elementary school student and into my early teen years Walter Cronkite cover the various Apollo moon landings.

I got to see the launch of Skylab as a teen and the three missions that happened on it in 1973-74.  I was saddened when our initial US space station burned up on reentry over the Pacific in 1979 before it could be refurbished and boosted into a higher orbit.   I watched the Voyager I and 2 probe launches in 1977 as a high school student that flew by Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and off into interstellar space and the Space Shuttle program.

I have grown to adulthood during a period where the knowledge of our solar system and space has exponentially grown. While bassackwards elements of the GOP may hate science, I and many reality based Americans, especially those of us who have grown up here in a Houston in which NASA is an important sector for our local economy, don't.

I am also quite aware that NASA technology and ongoing research is benefiting our 21st century  lives today.

Today at 7:49 AM EDT the New Horizons probe will zip by Pluto a mere 7800 miles above its surface to take pictures of the planet.  It will do the same to Pluto's moon Charon form 12,000 miles over its surface before zooming off into the Kuiper Belt and a rendezvous with a dwarf planet to be named later.

When that flyby of Pluto happens, the USA will become the first spacefaring nation to have sent probes to all the known planets (I still consider Pluto as a planet along with the IAU) in our solar system.

As New Horizons gets closer to Pluto, I also with the rest of humanity will get to see close up pictures of it for the very first time.

And I'm so looking forward to that along with every other space junkie.

Happy Martian New Year!

If you were sitting on the planet Mars, you'd be celebrating a brand new year this week.

The Red Planet has a similar axial tile to or planetary home and a day that last 40 minutes longer.   But because of an eccentric orbit, it takes Mars nearly two Earth years to make on trip around the Sun.

The Curiosity rover roaming the Gale Crater in Mars' southern hemisphere over the last three years has been doing experiments and ascertaining through soil and rock sample analysis with its onboard instrumentation suite whether Mars once harbored life, and if we Earthlings could live there.

There are even people contemplating if we could actually terraform Mars so that we could comfortably live on the planet.

On Friday, NASA will celebrate the occasion at a event for space enthusiasts in the town of Mars, PA, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh.  The town of 1700 has a flying saucer sculpture in the town square, and will celebrate the occasion with a festival that has an outer space costume contest and exhibits from NASA.

And if you want to attend the next one, here's your save the date moment for it.  It's scheduled to happen May 5, 2017.

With the upcoming Pennsylvania event, NASA wishes to inspire kids to take science and technology courses.   Their goal is hopefully when NASA is ready to tackle the scientific and engineering challenges of manned missions to Mars in the 2030's and we have the political and societal will to do so, they will have a pool of qualified STEM trained people to select from.

Happy Martian New Year!  In the meantime, we'll keep looking thorough our telescopes, watching movies, reading sci-fi books with Mars as part of the plot, and contemplating if we have what it takes and the will to make that dream a reality.

Aircraft Carrier Sized Asteroid to Pass Between Earth And Moon Tomorrow

As you long time readers know I'm fascinated by all things space related, and the news that an aircraft carrier sized asteroid is passing between the Earth and the Moon got my attention.

The asteroid is named 2005 YU55 and it is being watched by ground antennas as it approaches Earth from the direction of the sun.  It will pass within 202,000 miles of our home planet and less than 150,000 miles from the Moon at 5:28 PM CST tomorrow.

That's the closest approach any space rock has made to our planet in 35 years, but scientists are satisfied it won't hit either the Earth or the Moon.  

"We’re extremely confident, 100 percent confident, that this is not a threat,” said the Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program.  "But it is an opportunity.”

If it did it according to Purdue University professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences Jay Melosh, it would be a very bad day for the planet.  If it struck land it would gouge out a crater four miles wide and 1700 feet deep with the explosive power of 25,000 Hiroshima bombs.  If it hit the ocean it would cause a 70 foot high tsunami that would speed toward the nations bordering whatever ocean it hit.

Melosh also echoed what Yeomans stated in terms of the Earth and Moon being safe this time, but hope both of y'all double and triple checked your math.

At any rate, not canceling any plans I had for Wednesday either.  .  
. .

The Space Shuttle Program Made Black History As Well

The Space Shuttle program concluded with Atlantis touching down at the Kennedy Space Center earlier this morning in Florida at 5:56 AM EDT to cap a successful STS-135 mission and close out its 30 year run.

During that time 355 individuals from 16 countries flew 852 times on the five shuttles, traveled over 542 million miles, over 20,000 earth orbits and a lot of historical firsts.

We African Americans also played major roles in shaping this part of America's spacefaring history.

In addition to the people who worked in the ground support roles, Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols worked for NASA, helped recruit some of the first class of African American astronauts and lead the charge to get more African American kids interested in science, engineering and math careers.  

There were 20 African American astronauts, and out of the 355 individuals that flew on the various shuttles, 14 of those African American astronauts got to fly into space. We witnessed much African American history being made as the result of those shuttle flights.      


During the launch of the STS-8 mission aboard Challenger the first African American in space, Dr. Guion Bluford on August 30, 1983.  It was the first of his four trips into space, with launches aboard STS-8, STS-61-A in October-November 1985, STS-39 in April-May 1991 and STS-53 in December 1992. 

Bluford however wasn't the first African descended person to go into space. That honor went to Cuba's Arnoldo Tamayo Mendez on September 18, 1980.

Dr. Mae C. Jemison became the first African American woman in space as part of the STS-47 crew on September 12, 1992 aboard Endeavour. 

Frederick D. Gregory became the first African American to command a shuttle flight when Discovery blasted off on November 23, 1989 on the STS-33 mission.  He was also the first to pilot a shuttle when Challenger took off during the STS 51-B mission on April 29, 1985.

Gregory was the deputy administrator of NASA from 2002-2005 and became interim director of NASA covering the period when Sean O'Keefe resigned on February 20, 2005 to Michael Griffin's April 14, 2005 swearing in.


Gen. Charles Bolden was the second African-American astronaut to pilot a shuttle and the first to command a shuttle mission.  He piloted the Columbia during the January 1986 STS-61C mission and Discovery during the STS-31 mission in April 1990.  He was the commander of the STS-45 mission aboard Atlantis from March 24-April 2, 1992 and STS-60 mission aboard Discovery in February 1994 before he became the current NASA administrator on July 17, 2009.  

The first shuttle mission to launch two African Americans simultaneously into space was STS-116 on December 9, 2006.  Aboard Discovery was Robert Curbeam, Jr on his third fight and Joan Higginbotham on her maiden trip into space. 

That Black history milestone was repeated on November 16, 2009 when STS-129 launched with Dr. Robert Satcher and Leland Melvin aboard.

There have been five African-American astronauts who have performed spacewalks in the history of the shuttle program.  The first was by Bernard Harris when he emerged from Discovery on February 9, 1995 during STS-63 to perform his EVA that lasted 4 hours and 39 minutes. 

Astronaut Winston Scott would perform 3 total spacewalks during his STS-72 and STS-87 missions.   Scott's first spacewalk was a 6 hour and 54 minute one on January 17, 1996 and he performed two during the STS 87 mission.  The first was a 7 hour and 43 minute EVA on November 25, 1997.   The December 3 EVA was 4 hours and 59 minutes in duration. 

Robert Satcher would perform two EVA's during the STS-129 mission on November 19 (6 hours and 37 minutes) and November 23, 2009 (5 hours 42 minutes)

But it was Robert Curbeam, Jr. who would become the hardest working man in the spacewalking business, totaling 7 total EVA's across two of his three shuttle missions..

Curbeam performed the first three during his second mission aboard STS-98.   The first on February 10, 2001 was 7 hours and 34 minutes in duration.   The second EVA on February 12, 2001 was 6 hours and 50 minutes long and the third on February 14 lasted 5 hours and 25 minutes.    

Curbeam was even busier during the December 2006 STS-116 mission.  The first EVA was a 6 hour 26 minute one on December 12, followed up by a 5 hour one on December 14, a 7 hour and 31 minute one on December 16 and a 6 hour and 38 minute EVA on December 18 to make up number seven. .   . 

STS-133 astronaut B. Alvin Drew's March 2, 2011 6 hour and 37 minute EVA during Discovery's last mission has the distinction being the last one performed by an African American astronaut   Drew also holds the distinction of being the 200th human to walk in space when he did so for 6 hours and 14 minutes on February 28, 2011.

African-American women aren't left out of this space shuttle program history making either.  As I mentioned earlier, Mae Jemison was the first of three launched into space in 1992 with her historic flight being followed by a long interval until Stephanie Wilson and Joan Higginbotham were launched a few months apart in July and December 2006.  

And for you sorority sisters keeping score, Dr. Mae Jemison is an AKA while Dr. Joan Higginbotham is a member of Delta Sigma Theta.   For you fellas wanting to know what astronaut belongs to your frat, here it is.   Winston Scott is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha,  Bernard Harris is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi,  and Frederick Gregory and the late Ron McNair are members of Omega Psi Phi. 

But back to the spacefaring ladies for a minute. 

Stephanie Wilson would not only become the second African American woman into space when she was launched on July 4, 2006 aboard Discovery as part of the STS-121 crew, she would go into space two more times as part of the STS-120 mission on October 23, 2007 and STS-131 on April 5, 2010.  

Wilson was also part of the historic April 9, 2010 day when four women, the most ever in space at one time, met on board the International Space Station.   STS-131 was also notable because three women were launched and part of a shuttle flight crew.  .

That history also includes the people we tragically lost.   Dr. Ron McNair flew previously on STS-41-B on February 3, 1984 and was part of the ill fated Challenger crew that perished in January 28, 1986 shortly after liftoff.    

Col Michael P. Anderson flew previously on STS-89 but died when the Columbia broke up over eastern Texas on February 1, 2003 during reentry on the STS-107 mission. 

We'll also remember our first ever African American astronaut, US Air Force Col. Robert H. Lawrence, Jr.   Had he lived, it's possible he could have become a shuttle program astronaut.

He was selected in June 1967 to become part of the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory program.  Unfortunately he was killed in a December 8, 1967 training accident at Edwards Air Force Base in California..

Because of the increasing technical capabilities of spy satellites, the MOL program became obsolete and was canceled in 1969.   Seven of its 14 selected astronauts were under age 35 and given the option to be transferred to NASA.    Those seven accepted the transfer and every one of those former MOL astronauts flew shuttle missions. 

So it's not a stretch to say that had he lived, Lawrence could have had the distinction of becoming the nation's first African-American astronaut launched into space since he was only 32 at the time of his death.   

Discussing our first African American astronaut is a nice segue into discussing the shuttle program's African American astronauts that didn't get an opportunity to be part of a shuttle mission.  


Livingston Holder was a mission payload specialist who was scheduled for an STS mission aboard the Challenger until it was destroyed in 1986 and that mission was subsequently canceled during the 32 month hiatus to investigate the tragedy. 

Astronauts Michael E. Belt, Dr. Yvonne Cagle (astronaut Class of 1996) and Jeannette J. Epps (selected as an astronaut in June 2009) didn't get to fly any shuttle missions.

It's ironic that the NASA Space Shuttle program went out the way the earlier Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab programs started and ended with predominately white crews since there were no African American astronauts selected for the final STS-134 and STS-135 missions.  

The contributions of African Americans to the success of the shuttle program, in advancing our scientific knowledge, our spacefaring legacy and being integral parts of it are undeniable facts.

We know that if America ignores the parsimonious  neo-Luddites in the Tea Klux Klan and sees the wisdom of remaining a spacefaring nation, there will be African Americans ready and able to make significant contributions toward helping us to keep reaching for the stars and build on the sterling legacy of African descended shuttle astronauts. .

And as we do so, we'll be writing the next chapters of Black history..