A Brief History On February 7, 1984, two astronauts from the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-41-B made space exploration history by taking the first untethered space walk outside of their space ship. Digging Deeper Not being attached by any sort of lifeline had to be a terrifying prospect, but astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart, both on their first space flight, operated outside the Challenger free of any safety line for over 5 hours. In 1972, President Richard Nixon announced the NASA Space Shuttle program, an ambitious program sadly remembered for the Challenger and Columbia disasters, but…
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A Brief History This article, published on February 5, 2023, presents a compilation of our three recent videos that in some way mention the 2023 China balloon incident. Digging Deeper Our first video asks some questions about some top news stories of the first week of February 2023. Our second video answers the question posed at the end of the first video. Finally, our third video explores a bit more about the US political controversy concerning the balloon incident. Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What are your thoughts about the 2023 China balloon incident? If you liked this…
A Brief History On February 5, 2023, America is abuzz with partisan bickering over the way President Biden handled the alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down on February 4th. Digging Deeper Despite Republican criticism that President Biden “waited” to decide to take action, the White House reports that Biden had ordered the balloon to be shot down back on February 1st, and that the military waited until the spy in the sky was over water for the safety of those on the ground. The balloon is reportedly the size of “three buses,” and presumably would weigh hundreds or even thousands…
A Brief History On February 5, 2023, Americans were flooded with a variety of opinions about the Chinese “spy” balloon that had crossed much of the US and was shot down by a US fighter plane off the coast of South Carolina yesterday. Digging Deeper Some of the controversies concerning this event include: Chinese outrage over US action against their alleged “weather balloon.” China’s promise to “retaliate.” Why did President Biden wait until the balloon was off the coast to shoot it down? Why didn’t President Trump shoot down the three Chinese balloons that crossed the US during his administration?…
A Brief History On February 3, 1509, the Arabian Sea portion of the Indian Ocean witnessed a naval battle that had centuries of effects on the global balance of power when a Portuguese fleet defeated a combined fleet of Asian warships at the Battle of Diu, India. Digging Deeper The Portuguese put together a force of 18 warships along with 1200 soldiers to face a fleet of 46 warships and an additional 70 to 150 smaller war boats of the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, the Republic of Venice, and the Ottoman…