A Brief History On July 29, 2021, the International Space Station suffered an engine malfunction in its Russian Nauka module, inadvertently firing its thrusters, causing the giant man-made satellite to spin out of control! Digging Deeper Luckily the problem was fixed, and operations continued normally after about an hour of extreme tension on board the craft as well as in the ground control center. Launched in 1998, the temporary loss of control has so far been the most serious problem threatening the Space Station. Created with the international cooperation of five countries plus the European Space Agency, bringing the total…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On July 28, 1854, the USS Constellation was commissioned, a sloop-of-war, the last sail-only warship for the US Navy. The second US Navy ship of the name, the first was built in 1797 and was scrapped in 1853. Digging Deeper While seeking to strengthen the US Navy, economics mattered and the Navy sought to save money by using available stocks of Oak and to eschew the use of an expensive steam engine. Constellation would be economical to build and to operate. With a length of 191 feet and a beam of 43 feet, Constellation displaced 1400 tons,…
A Brief History On July 27, 1789, the Department of Foreign Affairs was created, becoming the first of many US Federal departments and agencies. As you may guess, this department is now called the Department of State. Digging Deeper How many agencies and departments does the Federal Government currently have? We have 15 Cabinet level departments, each led by a secretary appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. The most recently added Department is the Department of Homeland Security, added in 2002. Meanwhile, we now have a staggering 438 Federal agencies. Despite this enormous growth in bureaucracy, there…
A Brief History On July 26, 2005, Mumbai, India, received an incredible 39.17 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. Mumbai is the most populous city in what is now the most populous country in the world, with 12.5 million inhabitants. Obviously, such an enormous amount of rain created massive flooding, and sadly about 1,100 people died in the floods. Digging Deeper To put this enormous amount of rain in perspective, Cleveland, Ohio, a typical US city, has a record 24 hour rainfall of just 4.59 inches on September 7, 1996. The contiguous states US record for a single…
A Brief History On July 25, 1984, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya exited her Salyut 7 space capsule while in orbit, thus becoming the first woman to ever engage in an EVA, or “extravehicular activity” in space. Most of us usually call such activity a “spacewalk.” Digging Deeper The US has had 56 women in space, and the world has now sent into space about 75 ladies. The Soviets were the real pioneers with women in space with Valentina Tereshkova becoming the first woman space traveler in 1963. The Soviets did not send another woman into orbit until 1982, with the…